Cowboy Bebop (Jp: カウボーイビバップ, but most often written in English, even in Japan) is a 26 episode Japanese anime TV 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 with U.S. viewers. 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) 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.

Cowboy Bebop is related to Japanese Manga

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Contents

1 History of Bebop 2 Plot 3 Background 4 Characters 5 Soundtrack 6 Staff 7 Influences 8 Reaction to Real Life 9 Longevity 10 Other information 11 External links

History of Bebop

Cowboy Bebop almost did not make it on Japanese television. 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.

Also in 2001, Cowboy Bebop became the first anime title to be shown as part of 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 broadcast off and on, even today, and it prompted Cartoon Network to add more anime to its Adult Swim lineup, including InuYasha, Lupin the Third and Wolf's Rain.

Plot

In the year 2071, the crew of the ship, Bebop, travel around the Solar System, trying to catch "bounty-heads." Each of the four (or five) bounty hunters (called "Cowboys") 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 unraveling each of their stories as the series progresses.

Background

In the year 2021, a series of rings were constructed across the Solar System. The rings were hyperspace gates and allowed for fast transportation throughout the Solar System and colonization of other worlds. Unfortunately, a defect was accidentally built into the gate system and was subsequently ignored by the Gate Company, which constructed the gate system. This negligence led to what was known as the "Gate Incident."

The Gate Incident occurred when one of the defective hyperspace gates that was located between the Earth and the Moon exploded, taking out a massive piece of the Moon. The debris from this now perpetually rains down on Earth, leaving massive craters in the Earth's surface and driving most of the remaining population (that choose to remain on Earth) underground. Most humans, however, left Earth after the Gate Incident and spread out across the solar system, living in places such as Venus, Mars, some habitable asteroids, and Jupiter's moons of Ganymede, Europa, Callisto, and Io. Some habitable interstellar places are far more harsh and have lower populations of humans, such Callisto (a satellite with an all-male population), Io, and Saturn's largest moon Titan (a large 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

Spike Spiegel 

A 27-year-old bounty hunter who was born on Mars, Spike was an up-and-coming player in the Red Dragon crime syndicate. Initially teamed with his ex-friend, Vicious, a series of events occurred (that are only alluded to in the series) that caused Spike to leave the syndicate, appearing to die in a blaze of glory. In fact, he regularly ruminates that he's not sure whether or not he's really alive, saying that he's "watching a dream [he] never wakes up from." A tip of hat to an old Chinese proverb that had a man dream of being a butterfly who wakes up to wonder that he could be a butterfly dreaming of being a human. Given Spike's previous association with the syndicate, he is well versed in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat skills. He specializes in Jeet Kune Do, the fighting style created by Bruce Lee (another major influence on Cowboy Bebop). Otherwise, Spike is very laid-back and lackadaisical, often a source of consternation for his crewmates. Though fans often claim him to be of Jewish descent (due to his last name and his "fuzzy" hairstyle), director Shinichiro Watanabe has publicly refuted this.

Jet Black 

Jet, a 36-year-old former cop, 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 ISSP (the Inter Solar System Police) 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, Jet quit the ISSP in disgust and became a freelance bounty hunter. Jet also considers himself something of a renaissance man, cultivating bonsai trees, cooking, and enjoying jazz music, especially Charlie Parker. As a character, Jet is a quintessential oyaji.

Faye Valentine 

Faye is vice personified. At 23 years of age (although actually 76, see below), she is corrupt and often cold-hearted. Being a bounty hunter is conducive to her independent-minded lifestyle. Addicted to gambling and a kleptomaniac, Faye uses her significant sex appeal to get whatever it is that she wants. However, her vain and merciless exterior hides a frightened girl. Stored in cryo sleep for 54 years due to a space travel accident, Faye awoke to a mysterious world that she didn't understand only to find people who were all-too-willing to take advantage of her naïveté, which hardened her personality. But she was still a woman without a past: the circumstances of her accident, her previous life, even her real name (The surname "Valentine" was a name given to her by Doctor Baucus, the man that revived her) all remain a mystery to her.

Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV 

Ed is a very strange, young girl (assumed to be about 13). Born on Earth, Ed could be considered a "free spirit." She is often silly, and does random somersaults, backflips, and silly stunts. Not much is known about her origins, only that she wasn't really raised by her parents and she spent some of her earlier childhood in an orphanage (although, she wasn't truly an orphan herself; a man named Applederry Siniz Hesap Lutfen claimed to be her father and called her Françoise). However, this has not dampened her very sunny and energetic disposition. For all her quirks, Ed is also a genius hacker, maybe the best ever. She has a self-styled computer built out of a tomato crate. 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.

Ein 

Ein is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi brought aboard the Bebop by Jet after a failed attempt to capture a bounty. Ein is what is known as a "data dog," (this means that he has data stored in his brain, while it is never explaned exectly what this is, in the manga Ed accesses it via a virtual reality-type interface, and even 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 (a result of being a data dog). Ein initially takes a shine to Jet, but when Ed joins the crew, he comes around to her as well.

Vicious 

Vicious is a man out of Spike's past. The two were partners together in the Red Dragons 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, cunning and ambitious, willing to do anything in order to secure his position of power. Vicious' weapon of choice is not a firearm, but a katana that he is quite adept at wielding. The blood feud between Spike and Vicious is an ongoing storyline throughout Cowboy Bebop.

Julia 

Julia is a beautiful and mysterious woman out of both Spike and Vicious' past. A love triangle between the three led to the falling out between Spike and Vicious, eventually causing Spike to leave the syndicate. Julia herself only appears in flashback 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 and his men.

Soundtrack

One of the most remarkable elements of Cowboy Bebop is its rich soundtrack, performed mainly by Yoko Kanno's band, The Seatbelts. The many blues/jazz tunes incorporated in the series have an incredible strength that often completely change the mood of the scene. Songs like "Rush", "Blue" and "Goodnight Julia" are great examples of that.

Staff

Cowboy Bebop was created by a top-notch 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 spectacular music of Cowboy Bebop was all composed by the incomparable Yoko Kanno, who also composed music for Earth Girl Arjuna , Macross Plus, Vision of Escaflowne 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. 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.

Cowboy Bebop is also influenced by kung fu movies of the 1960s and 1970s. Spike's innate fighting abilities (and even his martial arts style) were borrowed from skilled fighter Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee's influence is felt elsewhere throughout the series. The name of the bounty in the second episode is Abdul Hakim, borrowed from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death that co-starred Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who played a character called "Hakim." On two other separate occasions, Spike also makes mention of both Enter the Dragon and Way of the Dragon, two more Bruce Lee films.

Spike's lanky and laid-back character was also heavily influenced by the charismatic thief, Lupin, from the anime and manga, Lupin III and they share many of the same personality characteristics.

Many of the stories of Cowboy Bebop and even cinematic stylings were also lifted from other movies. These include influences from or homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Crow, John Woo, Alien, blaxploitation films, Star Trek and Dirty Harry.

Cowboy Bebop also features many musical influences, including with many of the episode titles as famous song names and/or album titles, including "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" and also the subtitle of the Cowboy Bebop movie, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."

Reaction to Real Life

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Cartoon Network decided not to air episode 22, Cowboy Funk, which featured a terrorist who blew up tall buildings with bombs. After some time, the episode was eventually put back in the regular sequence of episodes. The real-life 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 bounty-head who used chemical terrorism.

Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, Cartoon Network also decided not to air episode 19, Wild Horses, in which the Columbia shuttle was 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 Newtype magazine 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 perenially-respected favorites 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. It goes to show how unique and popular Cowboy Bebop is and how it has influenced a generation of new anime fans.

Other information

• Cowboy Bebop Media Information

External links

• Mirror of Cowboy Bebop official site http://www.cowboybebop.org/
• Official U.S. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie web site http://www.sonypictures.com/cthe/cowboybebop/
• Cowboy Bebop http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213338/ at the Internet Movie Database
• Adult Swim - Cowboy Bebop http://www.adultswim.com/shows/cowboybebop/index.html
• 3-2-1..Let's Jam! Emily's Cowboy Bebop Page http://www.futureblues.com/
• Cowboy Bebop: The Real Folk Blues http://rfblues.aaanime.net/
• Cowboy Bebop: Somewhere Down the Crazy River http://www.big-big-truck.com/bebop/
• The-Bebop, multimedia source http://the-bebop.com/
• The Jazz Messengers: episode guide for music, influences, etc http://www.jazzmess.com/