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Cowboy Bebop

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Cowboy Bebop
File:Cowboybeboptitle.jpg
Title screen
Created byShinichiro Watanabe
StarringKoichi Yamadera, Megumi Hayashibara, Unsho Ishizuka, Aoi Tada (Japanese version); Steven Blum, Beau Billingslea, Wendee Lee, Melissa Fahn (English version)
Country of originJapan
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkTV Tokyo (Japan); Cartoon Network (USA)
ReleaseApril 3, 1998 –
June 19, 1998

Cowboy Bebop (Japanese: カウボーイビバップ, but most often written in English, even in Japan) is an anime series by Shinichiro Watanabe that initially ran starting in 1998.

The show was quite popular in Japan and has also been widely popular in the United States, often credited with significantly broadening the popularity of anime in the U.S. Bandai licensed Cowboy Bebop in the United States. Two Cowboy Bebop manga series were created based on the TV show, which were not made by Watanabe but by Yutaka Nanten; TokyoPop publishes both the first and second series in English. Both were published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten.

It has been suggested that the success of Cowboy Bebop is due in large part to the layered nature of its storyline. While the general plot concerns a team of bounty hunters set in a world of the future, the story revolves foremost around the characters and their interactions. Each character has a distinct back story that shapes his outlook, personality, interpersonal interactions, ambitions, desires and motivations.

The multiple layers and deep characters combined with a very free-flowing feel to the story itself (heavily influenced by American culture, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, hence "bebop") and a large number of action sequences (from space battles to hand-to-hand combat) that were considered well-choreographed make Cowboy Bebop widely-respected and well-liked by many who have seen it.

History of Bebop

Cowboy Bebop almost did not make it on Japanese TV. It had an aborted first run on TV Tokyo, broadcasting only episodes 2, 3, 7–15 and 18 starting on April 3, 1998 and running until June 19. Later that year, the series was shown in its entirety on the satellite network WOWOW, starting on October 23 and running until April 23, 1999. Cowboy Bebop was popular enough that a movie, Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira (Knockin' on Heaven's Door), was commissioned and released in Japan in 2001 and later released in the United States as Cowboy Bebop: The Movie in 2003.

File:Cowboy bebop01.jpg
The crew of the Bebop. From left to right: Spike, Jet, Ed, Faye, and Ein (the dog).

In 2001, Cowboy Bebop became the first anime title to be shown as part of the U.S. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of programming. At the time, it was quite the risk as a more "adult" anime had never been broadcast in such a mainstream venue before. However, it turned out to be a rousing success, continuing to be rebroadcast off and on, even today, and it prompted CN to add more anime to its Adult Swim lineup, including InuYasha, Lupin the Third, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Wolf's Rain.

In the U.K. Cowboy Bebop was shown in 2003 as one of the highlights of the schedule of the ill-fated 'cartoon network for adults' CNX.

Bandai released a Cowboy Bebop shooting video game on rails for the PlayStation in 1998 in Japan. A PlayStation 2 Cowboy Bebop video game has been released in Japan already and the American version is on the way. This action game is also being released by Bandai. [1]

Plot

Template:Spoiler In the year 2071, the crew of the ship, Bebop, travel around the Solar System, trying to catch "bounty-heads." In the slang of the era, "cowboys" are bounty hunters, hence the name of the series. Each of the four (or five) bounty hunters contribute their own unique abilities to catching bounties. The story follows less of their actual travails in bounty hunting, but more of exploring the pasts of each character, slowly unravelling each of their stories as the series progresses.

List of Bountyheads in Cowboy Bebop

Background

In the year 2021, a series of ring-shaped hyperspace gateways were constructed across the Solar System, allowing for easy interplanetary travel. Unfortunately, the gate network contained a fatal instability—one that was ignored by the contractors who built the system. The instability grew until a gateway near Earth exploded, releasing a powerful burst of energy that cracked the Moon. Meteoric debris from the Moon destroyed much of Earth's surface, killing billions. People mostly live underground, as debris continues to rain down on the planet daily. Most humans, however, left Earth after the "Gate Incident" and spread out across the solar system, living in colonies on Venus, Mars, some habitable asteroids, and the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Some of the colonies are more hospitable than others - rough Callisto is a dreary and cold moon (with the city of Blue Crow having an all male population), Io is toxic and volcanic, Ganymede is almost completely surrounded by water and known for its fish production, and Saturn's largest moon Titan is a barren desert world which had been at war since the 2060s. There is even a Solar System Penitentiary on Pluto.

At some point between the present day and the events of Cowboy Bebop, the Woolong was established as a universal currency.


Characters

File:SpikeSpiegel001.jpg
Spike Spiegel
Spike Spiegel
A 27-year-old bounty hunter who was born on Mars. Spike was a large up-and-coming player in the Red Dragon crime syndicate during his tenure. Initially partnered with his now ex-friend and mortal enemy, Vicious, a series of events occurred (that are only alluded to in the series, most significantly the love affair with Julia) that caused Spike to leave the syndicate, appearing to die in a blaze of glory. Spike lost one of his eyes sometime before his liberation, eventually having it replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic, which was accidentally colored differently from his natural eye color, giving him the distinct trait of having eyes of two different colors. Spike has very sharp eyesight, making him an expert at sleight-of-hand and abnormally acute perception, though whether he gained this from the implant or through skill alone is unknown. His philosophy is based on the ancient samurai ideals of immediacy: considering oneself as dead, and the idea of death being an awakening from a dream; these are both elements of Bushido illustrated in the Hagakure. Given Spike's previous association with the syndicate, he is well versed in weaponry (usually his personal Jericho 941 and grenades) and hand-to-hand combat skills. He specializes in Jeet Kune Do, the fighting style created by Bruce Lee. Otherwise, Spike is very laid-back and lackadaisical, often a source of consternation for his crewmates. Although some fans claim him to be of Jewish descent (due to his last name which means "mirror" in German and his "fuzzy" hairstyle), director Shinichiro Watanabe stated at Otakon 1999 that he and the staffers initially chose the name Spiegel because they simply liked the sound of it. Most of the other Bebop crew think he's a "lunkhead" due to his happy-go-lucky attitude.
Spike is voiced by Koichi Yamadera in the Japanese version and Steven Blum (as David Lucas) in the English version.
File:JetBlack001.jpg
Jet Black
Jet Black
Jet, a 36-year-old former cop from Ganymede, acts as Spike's foil during the series. Where Spike acts lazy and uninterested, Jet is hard-working and a jack-of-all-trades. Jet was an investigator in the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) for many years until he lost his arm in a sting that went awry. His arm was replaced with a cybernetic limb, but his loss of limb coupled with the general corruption of the police force prompted Jet to quit the ISSP in disgust and become a freelance bounty hunter. Jet also considers himself something of a renaissance man: he cultivates bonsai trees, cooks, and enjoys jazz/blues music, especially Charlie Parker. As a character, Jet is a quintessential oyaji.
Jet is voiced by Unsho Ishizuka in the Japanese version and Beau Billingslea (as John Billingslea) in the English version.
File:FayeValentine001.jpg
Faye Valentine
Faye Valentine
Faye is vice personified. Twenty-three years old (though she was actually born 77 years ago and cryogenically frozen before the gate accident), she is corrupt, mercenary, and totally self-centered. Being a bounty hunter is conducive to her independent-minded lifestyle. Kleptomaniacal and addicted to gambling, Faye uses her skimpy attire and significant sex appeal to get whatever she wants. However, her vain and merciless exterior hides a frightened girl. Stored in cryogenic sleep for 54 years due to a space travel accident, Faye awoke with total amnesia in a mysterious world that she didn't understand, surrounded by people who were all-too-willing to take advantage of her naïveté, which hardened her personality. The surname "Valentine" was merely a name given to her by the doctor that thawed her; the circumstances of her accident, her previous life, and even her real name all remain a mystery, and are only gradually revealed as the series progresses. She also expresses a concealed attraction and concern for Spike during choice moments, such as watching over him after an encounter with Vicious, showing concern before his challenge to the assassin Pierrot le Fou, and finally, as he left the Bebop never to come back alive. It was hinted that she came from Singapore on Earth. She is also known as "Poker Alice."
Faye is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara in the Japanese version and Wendee Lee in the English version.
File:Ed001.jpg
Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV
Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV
The assumed name of an elite netdiver from Earth, Ed is a very strange young girl(assumed to be about 13). Ed could be considered a "free spirit." She is a font of silly exclamations and childish rhymes, easily distracted, and the show's primary source of physical humour. Over the course of the show she rarely walks anywhere, preferring to run, crawl, flip, roll, or even just saunter. Not much is known about her origins, only that she spent some of her earlier childhood in an orphanage. (A man named Applederry Siniz Hesap Lutfen eventually claims to be his father and called him Françoise.) Ed's primary use to the Bebop crew is as a hacker; she is a genius behind a computer, possibly the best ever. Ed has a good rapport with Jet, who acts as a surrogate father, and Faye, who acts as something of a big sister (much to Faye's chagrin). Ed also seems to be the only person who can understand Ein the dog.
Ed is voiced by Aoi Tada in the Japanese version and Melissa Fahn in the English version.
File:Ein001.jpg
The dog Ein
Ein
Ein is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi brought aboard the Bebop by Spike after a failed attempt to capture a bounty. Ein is what is known as a "data dog": while the televised series never explains what this means, the manga shows Ed accessing data stored in Ein's brain via a virtual reality-type interface where he has a conversation with a human proprietor. It is obvious that Ein is abnormally intelligent, as he is able to answer the telephone, use the Internet, and generally do a number of other things that an average canine shouldn't be able to do. Ein initially takes a shine to Jet, but when Ed joins the crew, he comes around to him as well. Frequently the two trade roles, with Ein expressing very human sentiments via facial expression and Ed regressing to a feral state.


File:Vicious001.jpg
Vicious
Vicious
Vicious is a man out of Spike's past. The two were partners together in the Red Dragon crime syndicate, but they began to fall out as a result of loving the same woman, Julia. Vicious lives up to his name: he is ruthless, blood thirsty, cunning and ambitious, willing to do anything in order to secure his position of power. Vicious's weapon of choice is not a firearm but a katana that he wields skillfully. The blood feud between Spike and Vicious is an ongoing storyline throughout Cowboy Bebop. Vicious believes that he is the only one that can kill, or "awaken" Spike.
Vicious is voiced by Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese version and George C. Cole in the English version.
File:CB-Julia001.jpg
Julia
Julia
Julia is a beautiful and mysterious woman out of both Spike and Vicious's pasts. A love triangle between the three led to the falling out between Spike and Vicious, eventually causing Spike to leave the syndicate. Spike himself had wanted to take her with him when he left the syndicate, but she was blackmailed by Vicious to stay. Julia herself only appears in flashbacks until the final two episodes of the series. Julia acts as a stark contrast to the world around her — her blonde hair and her bright red umbrella and automobile standing out in the otherwise drab environs that she inhabits. She really does love Spike, but doesn't want to spend her life on the run from Vicious.
Julia is voiced by Gara Takashima in the Japanese version and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (as Melissa Williamson) in the English version. McGlynn also directs the voices in the English version, also as Melissa Williamson.
Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy are the characters of the TV show Big Shots which provides some information on various bountyheads. The Bebop crew often has the show playing in the background, but seldom pays close attention. They usually get their information from close contacts. Punch and Judy play the "cowboy" persona in a characteristic, "over the top" fashion. Punch adopts a mid-western drawl mixed with a Mexican accent (both faked), and uses random old-West sayings. Judy plays the stereotypical dumb blonde, and always appears in an open bolero jacket with nothing underneath. Big Shots gets cancelled towards the end of the series, and Punch (sans accent and costume) makes a brief cameo revealing his and Judy's fates.
Punch and Judy are voiced by Tsutomu Tareki and Miki Nagasawa in the Japanese version, respectively, and Bill Whizins and Lia Sargent in the English version, respectively.
The Three Old Men
Throughout the series and the movie three old men make frequent appearances. In one episode they say they're former bounty hunters, in another that they were once farmers. They seem on speaking terms with many supporting characters, and though they run into the main characters often there is not much attention paid to them. According to the movie credits, they are called Antonio, Carlos and Jobim, a reference to the Brazilian musician Tom Jobim.

Sessions (episodes)

List of Cowboy Bebop Sessions

The Cowboy Bebop series consists of 26 episodes, referred to as "sessions." Also included in the continuity is the Cowboy Bebop movie, placed between sessions 22 and 23. Many episodes are named explicitly for famous songs—"Honky Tonk Woman," "Jamming with Edward," "Sympathy for the Devil," "Bohemian Rhapsody," "My Funny Valentine," "Speak Like a Child," "Wild Horses," "Hard Luck Woman," "The Real Folk Blues," etc. Titles which do not name a specific song generally combine some plot element of the episode with a broader musical style—"Mushroom Samba," "Cowboy Funk," and "Waltz for Venus," for example.

The Cowboy Bebop movie carries the subtitle Knockin' on Heaven's Door. However, due to a copyright dispute over the title, Columbia Tristar released it in America with the shortened title Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.

The title of session 2, Stray Dog Strut, is a parody of the song "Stray Cat Strut."

Soundtrack

One of the most remarkable elements of Cowboy Bebop is its music, mostly performed by Yoko Kanno and her band, The Seatbelts. The many blues and jazz styled tunes that are incorporated in the series have an incredible strength which often completely changes the mood of the scene or defines it completely. Along with the remix album, Music For Freelance, there are 3 original soundtracks of Cowboy Bebop and a mini-album. There is also a CD Box Set, which includes a variety of tracks from the first original soundtracks, as well as rare/new versions of certain songs, and dialogue tracks from the Japanese version of the show.

Soundtrack list

Staff

The series was created by "Hajime Yatate," a collective pseudonym for members of the staff at Sunrise, the animation studio that also developed Mobile Suit Gundam, Big O, Outlaw Star and Vision of Escaflowne. Cowboy Bebop was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who also directed Macross Plus, Samurai Champloo and the two short films A Detective Story and Kid's Story from the Animatrix. The music of Cowboy Bebop was all composed by Yoko Kanno, who also composed music for Earth Girl Arjuna, Macross Plus, Vision of Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Wolf's Rain.

The Cowboy Bebop movie was animated by Studio BONES, a new studio created by many former employees of Sunrise, and was one of their first projects. They have since developed other popular series like RahXephon, Wolf's Rain and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Influences

  • Cowboy Bebop's influences are many and varied. Many prominent themes present in the TV series have evolved from thematic elements originally present in Kabuki theater. Indeed, one of the defining aspects of Kabuki Theater is the makeup, called Kumadori, worn by the actors, especially those playing dramatic roles. In Kabuki theater, kumadori supposedly depicts the essence of the character being played. The bold lines of color highlight the eyes, cheekbones, and jaw line, which help to emphasize the emotional responsiveness of the character.
  • Kumadori also gives some support to the character portrayal of the actor who would have to maintain a particular facial expression for long periods of time. The style of make-up is standardised for each role. In many Kabuki plays, the central theme is transformation. Not only are many masks used, but the same actor will play many different roles. Often in Kabuki, the same actor would suddenly transform into another character by changing his kamadori or costume. This technique, which has always been a defining characteristic of Kabuki theater, is called quick change.
File:Ed002.jpg
Ed and Ein
  • Cowboy Bebop inverts these notions of masking and quick change by presenting two sides of the same character in two different animated characters, instead of one actor playing two different characters. For example, Spike is depicted as the alter ego of Vicious.
  • The story explains the relationship between Spike and Vicious as having started in the Red Dragon syndicate. As the top two soldiers in the syndicate, Spike and Vicious became friends. Their relationship crumbled when Spike left the syndicate after they both fell in love with a girl named Julia. Julia was then commissioned by Vicious to kill Spike, but she refused. At the end of the series, Vicious and Spike end up killing each other.
  • Both Spike and Vicious are drawn very similarly: both have the same facial features and tall, lanky stature. The dialogue between the two also suggests the characters represent two sides of the same character. Right before the dénouement, Vicious says to Spike, "I’m the only one who can kill you," to which Spike replies, "let's finish this."
  • Spike embodies the iconic male protagonist in most Kabuki plays: the iconoclastic samurai, a character who is a playboy and a rascal, but also determined and independent.
  • Faye, Spike's female counterpart, embodies the iconic female protagonist in the classic Kabuki play: she is sassy and smart and has a mysterious past.
  • Ed and Ein represent different sides of the same character. Both characters are usually seen together, both characters have trouble relating to the other members of the crew, and both characters walk off into the sunset together at the end of episode 24. Together, these characters personify the arcane futuristic intergalactic society of Cowboy Bebop. On the surface, these are characters with very limited abilities, but both of these characters possess superhuman computer hacking abilities, which in the world of Cowboy Bebop, makes them invaluable crewmembers.
  • One of the things that makes Cowboy Bebop so intriguing is the way the characters move. Each character has his or her own style of moving, talking and fighting. Fighting in Cowboy Bebop is akin to dancing in Kabuki, all the fight scenes are set to music, which sets the tempo of the fight. The facial gestures of each character are also meticulously drawn and individually designed.
  • Each of the main characters has his or her own walk, just like each character in a kabuki play. Fighting is a form of dance in Cowboy Bebop, as the main characters Spike, Vicious, Jet, and Faye all have their own unique fighting styles. The way in which Kabuki characters walk and move is one of the most conspicuous aspects of Kabuki play-acting. In a Kabuki play, each type of character has his or her own style of walking: for example the masculine walk of a samurai is called "Rumpo." Furthermore, Kabuki has always been associated with dance, in fact, the character for "bu" in Kabuki means dance. As with the fights in Cowboy Bebop, the majority of Kabuki dances are solos, which remain the prerogative of the principal characters. They are replete with symbolic gesture, and are usually accompanied by music. Thus, Cowboy Bebop does not contain thematic elements of Kabuki theater, per se, but rather the television series employs evolved species of many of the elements originally present in Kabuki theater.
  • Cowboy Bebop is heavily influenced by American culture: from cinema, including mobster movies and westerns, to the free-form jazz music out of the Harlem nightclubs of the 1940s. It is referred to as Space Jazz by its creators, as opposed to Space Opera, although it has strong similarities to the character-centered action-packed genre. It is likely that it is referred to as Space Jazz due to its lighter side, as it is more humorous than the standard Space Opera, often poking fun at the genre.
  • Spike's lanky and laid-back character was heavily influenced by the charismatic thief Lupin the 3rd, from the anime and manga Lupin III, and they share many of the same personality characteristics. Likewise, Jet was influenced by Lupin's partner Jigen.
  • Yet another major influence on Spike Spiegel is the Sergio Leone movie character known as The Man With No Name, played by Clint Eastwood in the Spaghetti Western movies A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which are in turn based heavily on the samurai movies of Akira Kurosawa. He is a bounty hunter who typifies toughness and self-reliance, who appears morally ambiguous at times yet lives by his own, iconoclastic code of honor, who wanders from place to place looking for work, and who is virtually unbeatable with his gun or his fists. Spike's frequently slack and off-center posture seems to be a major visual cue taken from Eastwood's character. Western aesthetics and influences flood the series, culminating with one of the funniest antagonists in anime, Cowboy Andy, the old-fashioned pure white cowboy with trusty steed who contrasts with Spike's grim Leone antihero version of the archetype.
  • According to mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane's notes, Spike's Swordfish II MONO racer was inspired by Britain's Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber of World War II. The Cowboy Bebop movie includes a cameo of the Fairey Swordfish along with a dialogue reference to the sinking of the Bismarck battleship. (Fairey Swordfish bombers were crucial to the sinking of the Bismarck.) There is also fan speculation that the Swordfish II is based on the Swordfish, an experimental airplane in Edgar P. Jacobs' comic series Blake and Mortimer, although the creators have not stated this.
  • The episode Pierrot Le Fou was influenced by Alan Moore's V for Vendetta. The villain of the episode is a creation of a government laboratory project that involves physical and mental torture and which ultimately goes horrifically wrong, producing an uncontrollable and unmatchable killer who slays the staff working on him and escapes. Although this character shares physical appearance (itself based on British terrorist/revolutionary Guy Fawkes) and dominating combat competence with the protagonist of V for Vendetta, he has neither his mental prowess nor his political motivation as a basis for his homicidal activities. The episode's name is also a reference to the Jean-Luc Godard crime film Pierrot le fou (1965), in which the assassin Tompu is brainwashed. Many fans thought that the episode was a tribute to Batman: The Animated Series.
  • The setting is rooted in cyberpunk, specifically the blending of science fiction and noir and a healthy flavoring of the old West.

Reactions to real life

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, CN decided not to air episode 6, "Sympathy For The Devil" (due to the depiction of a gun wielding 'minor' who also gets shot in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre), episode 8, "Waltz for Venus" (which features criminals hijacking an airplane), and episode 22, "Cowboy Funk" (which features a terrorist who blows up tall buildings with bombs). Eventually, the episodes were put back into the regular rotation. The terror attacks and subsequent anthrax scare were also credited with delaying the release of the Cowboy Bebop movie in the United States by Sony Pictures, which featured a terrorist who used biological agents.

Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, CN also decided not to air episode 19, "Wild Horses", in which the Columbia shuttle is featured as a prominent plot point in the story. The episode had been shown in previous airings of the series, and has since been put back into the rotation.

Longevity

Cowboy Bebop has still managed to resound in the hearts of anime fans in both Japan and the U.S. A recent poll in the magazine Newtype asked the notoriously fickle Japanese anime fans to rank the top 20 anime titles of all time and rated Cowboy Bebop number eight on a list that includes perennially-respected favourites like Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

In the U.S., Cartoon Network has dropped Cowboy Bebop from its Adult Swim line-up several times, only to return it later due to its popularity. The network has also rotated Cowboy Bebop out of its anime lineup periodically in order to show other anime features, such as Read or Die and Blue Gender. Cowboy Bebop is usually rotated out for a quarter of a year and then returned to the lineup due to its long-running success and high appeal among anime fans of all age groups, though critics of the series see it as blocking out other anime from being shown on the popular Adult Swim block, one of the few widely broadcast North American venues for anime.

The series has also spawned several soundtrack and manga releases. See Cowboy Bebop media information for more on these.

Adult Swim Movie Broadcast

On Saturday, September 3, 2005 at midnight and 3:00AM, Adult Swim broadcasted Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. However, there were some strange occurrences in the television broadcast:

  • Although the movie's U.S. title is Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Adult Swim showed the Japanese title card, which reads Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door. The title was changed for the U.S. release due to legal disputes.
  • The movie was broadcast in fullscreen rather than the original letterbox format. Apparently, Adult Swim broadcast the syndicated version of the film, as distributed by Sony, the producers of the film in Japan.

Also, a few edits were made to conform to broadcast standards, including the following:

  1. Spike's "You take too long to take a shit!" changed to "You take too long to take a crap!" However, rather than recording an alternate version of the line, Sony simply inserted "crap" from Spike's previous line, "Don't pull that Art of War crap on me!"
  2. Police chief's "Shit!" muted out.
  3. Shot of police chief saying "Shit!" cut.

See also

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