Cowboy Bebop is a critically acclaimed anime series created by Shinichirō Watanabe. The show is set in the year 2071 and follows a diverse group of bounty hunters, known as “Cowboys,” who travel the galaxy in their spaceship, the Bebop, in pursuit of the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals. The main protagonist is Spike Spiegel, a skilled martial artist and marksman, who is haunted by a tragic past. He is joined by a diverse group of companions, including Jet Black, a former police officer and the Bebop’s captain, Faye Valentine, a con artist and thief, and Ed, a genius hacker.
Throughout the series, the characters are presented with various stand-alone episodes and arcs that showcase different aspects of their personalities and relationships. The series is known for its blend of genres, including science fiction, film noir, and Western, and its jazz-inspired soundtrack. The series also explores themes of existentialism, loneliness, and the search for meaning in life. It is widely considered as one of the best anime of all time and has a strong cult following.
The masterpiece is a name given to a work of art or a creation that is said to be better than its peers and one that can stand the test of time. Some famous examples in our society are the works of DaVinci to the so-called most beautiful painting of a woman ever, the Mona Lisa. But bar these works of art that exist in a medium as old as man; there are few masterpieces in more recent media like games, movies, and last but certainly not the least, anime. But the few that are classified as masterpieces by the community not only have a great story and visuals but are also examples of why in many ways, the medium of anime and animation is better than the rest. One of the anime that is accepted by the vast majority as a masterpiece is the 1990 anime Cowboy Bebop.
Cowboy Bebop was created by Sunrise studio in the mid-1990s and stands as a hallmark of what artists could do with just a little tech and skills. Even now in, 2022 still stands out with its slick animation and gorgeous depictions of space and loneliness, especially when Spike Spiegel. The main protagonist of sorts is on screen. Animation is not its only plus point, as the story is something that will no doubt leave you in tears in the end. As it deals with past trauma and how people like to run away from it instead of confronting it. Each of the characters in the main cast is running away and trying to make themselves believe in a false reality. But by the end, they are forced to confront their past and accept that they made mistakes that had long-reaching ramifications. You will quickly see this in the recap portion of the article.
Cowboy Bebop Recap
The story starts very weirdly as we are shown Spike Spiegel in a colony searching for a missing man without any context. The show follows the logic of showing as little of the past as possible until the character confronts it. As Spike is investigating a man named Asimov, he thinks back to the events that led him here, trying to find a target of the syndicate just like him. But soon forgets, as, in the real world, honor and honesty don’t matter. Asimov managed to steal a rare drug from the syndicate and is now trying to sell it so that he and his girlfriend can leave. But as Spike and the syndicate follow him, he finally realizes that he and his girlfriend can survive, so he decides to make a final stand where he dies with his girlfriend. Spike sees this from afar and comments that such things are futile. This is how most of the characters are introduced.
The next one to be introduced is Jet, the partner of Spike and his bounty hunter duo. They arrive on Mars searching for Abdul Hakim, someone who stole a rare and exotic animal and underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance. After Spike and Jet pin him down, a series of events occur from where they destroy most of the city and catch the culprit, Hakim, only to find out that the animal is a dog with a data chip inside of him. Spike later takes the dog with him and calls him Ein as he shows signs of intellect.
The next one to join their rag-tag crew is the beautiful Faye Valentine, more commonly known as lady luck due to her high luck. But after she crosses paths with Spike and CO and loses a bounty because of him, she decides to stay on the Bebop as she is out of cash for fuel. She also does not like the dog Ein. Following this, the crew goes on many disconnected adventures, but as they form location to location, we see the past of Spike has slowly started to catch up to him as he starts to encounter old faces again and again. One of these is his old partner and friend, now turned enemy Vicious. In these encounters, we can also piece together some parts of Spike’s backstory, as he was once a Syndicate member but left to save his girlfriend.
We also encounter the highly optimistic hacker called Radical Edward, who helps the crew from stopping a madman from shooting lasers at the surface of the earth. He is the only one who appears happy with his life and isn’t running from anything. Because both Jet and Valentine are the same as Spike, Valentine has lost most of her memories and can’t seem to remember who she is, while Jet still suffers from messing up in his previous life as a police investigator.
As the story continues, we finally see the end of their storylines. The first one to truly leave is Valentine, as she can get some VHS tapes that hold memories of her old life from a time before the earth became a glassed planet due to a massive disaster. Richard departs to continue his journey to find his father and takes Ein with him. Jet soon loses the Bebop, their ship, and returns home to confront his past and deal with the consciences. But the one who has it the best and worst is Spike, as he is forced to come back to face the death of his girlfriend while also fighting his once friend Vicious one final time. In the end, Spike can kill Vicious, but due to the damage he took, he cannot escape the police and finally dies on the stairs of an abandoned church. With that, the curtain falls on the show as the ends of the rest of the cast are left to the imagination.
Conclusion
Cowboy Bebop is one of those anime that no doubt stands the test of time, as it has all the qualities of a timeless classic, from the banger opening to a thought-provoking narrative. All of this combines to form an anime that even the newer fans of the medium enjoy. And its protagonist, Spike, is one the better ones from this time, and according to many, even the new and current ones can’t stack up to him. This is because of how he has been written in conjecture with the villains and his own friends as we see Spike encounter them, learn from them, and grow. Also, the fact that he is one the smoothest character ever to be animated helps endear him to the fans and characters of the show. It is one anime that every fan of the medium should watch.
