Cowboy Bebop Highly recommended

Publisher
BEEZ
Director
Shinichiro Watanabe
Production
Bandai, Sunrise
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1998

Cowboy Bebop Volume 1

By otaku_kei
9th Mar 05

3, 2, 1… Lets Jam!

For many anime fans the short-lived CNX channel provided them with a first look at a show that would go onto to define many aspects of anime fandom – not Evangelion but Shinichiro Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop. This tale of 2 laid back bounty hunters living only 1 meal away from starvations edge and the people they run into and pick up along the way has cemented itself in the anime unconscious for its laid back cool and the oft commented jazz soundtrack courtesy of Yoko Kanno.

The Bebop crew have been analysed to great detail elsewhere many times over so I’m not really sue what more I can add. There is Spike Spiegel the epitome of laconic cool who regularly explodes into action with his fluid Jeet Kun Do; then his partner the ex-cop Jet Black more philosophical and world weary by all the grime and evil he has fought during his years in the police. Joining the crew are Ein the super-smart corgi, and Faye Valentine the compulsive gambler with a heart of gold…. No wait she is in fact a heartless bitch, oh well these are not supposed to be the most caring bunch out there in the galaxy anyway.

This being the first volume of this long overdue title we are treated to 4 episodes to set up the story and character relationships. Spike and Jet take on a series of jobs to track down bounties on planets that all seem to look a great deal like Earth. In these episodes they end up picking up Ein to join the crew, and Faye who starts off as a target but through some cunning manipulation of Spike and Jet ends up as just another starving cowboy. Now the relationship between Spike and Jet are clearly the focus in the first few episodes as they both have quite dissimilar ways of dealing with the hunt. Spike being the loner who just goes straight for the target no messing around, Jet investigating their prey and analysing their every move before closing in. This teamwork makes for a great combination that really keeps the centre of these stories very real even when the rest of the story is set on other planets with wacky villains. Actually that is not really true as one of the greatest strengths of this show is that every aspect of it is believable and really helps to conjure a reality for the adventures that the Bebop crew have.

Now of course no review of Cowboy Bebop would be complete without some mention of the soundtrack. Now this has been discussed to distraction on just about every anime message board on the web - about just how good Yokko Kanno's score for Bebop is. On this disc alone Kanno shows a breadth of inspiration and talent with several different styles, the blues, jazz, in later volumes that spreads into rock music and other influences. For such a prolific and talented composer whose other works have included the equally amazing Macross Plus, the soundtrack for this show still stands out as such an inventive and constantly changing animal that really captures the mood of the show. It really comes as no surprise that so many fans count the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack amongst their favourites.

All in all this is a great release, even if it is long overdue. So far most of the stories are self-contained 25 minute shows, but I hope that this converts into a show with some form of story arc to really show what these guys are capable of. A show that fires on all cylinders, not hard really to see why it is such a fan favourite.

9/10

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; English Subtitles; Beez Trailers

Release information: 17th January - Out Now

Notes: Having waited so long for this series to finally be released, it is a shame to see such a barebones disc hit shelves. The US release that is some 5 years old now has a small range of extras that we in the UK have missed out on, with only trailers for further BEEZ UK releases put on this release. Whilst the lack of extras may be frustrating for some, the rest of the disc has no rela complaints with both audio and visual quality being great. The new menus ceated for this release are some how more fitting with the tone of the show being much more jazzy, and having that pop-art feel. The cover art for this first volume unfortunately may make some overlook the title being as it is quite dark and subdued.

-- otaku_kei 9th Mar 05

Cowboy Bebop Images