Anime Review: Cowboy Bebop

Genre:  action, sci-fi

Target age:  Teen

Content:  Lots of sci-fi action with guns and spaceships, some adult language

Episodes:  26

Story:  Cowboy Bebop is mostly episodic in nature, meaning that most of the episodes are stand alone and have little to do with each other storywise, though this changes towards the end of the series.  The setting is in the far future, where space travel is common, though there are no aliens in the entire series (except for the food).  The show is about a small group of bounty hunters and their comedic quest for the next job, and something edible.  The entire series is confined to the Terran solar system.  The show carries the atmosphere of the Wild West in space, hence the "Cowboy" in the title.  There's even a television show that caters to bounty hunters whose theme song is a banjo solo.  "Bebop" references the name of the spaceship.  The story is mostly action based, but there is also some situational comedy at the characters' expense.

The story focuses on four bounty hunters and their dog.  Yes, even the dog.  The de facto leaders of the group are Spike Spiegel and his pal Jet Black.  Jet takes his job seriously, but is a tad philosophical.  Spike is more practical.  (The most important lesson he's ever learned is "don't leave food in the fridge" and for good reason.  An entire episode is based on this point.)  He's a former mobster and a highly skilled Jeet Kune Do practitioner.  His history is a source of personal torment for him.  Along the way they pick up Faye Valentine, an amnesiac woman who takes up bounty hunting and gambling to pay off an unbelievably huge medical bill for having spent 50 years in cryostasis.  She has difficulty putting faith in others and often tries to scam her way out of bad situations, though circumstances usually force her to rely on the team quite frequently.  Then there is Edward Wong Hau Pepulu Tivruskii 4th, a tween girl who is also a computer genius.  She is goofy and somewhat dysfunctional, but her computer skills are invaluable, as she's a top notch hacker.  The dog is a Welsh Corgi named Ein, short for Einstein.  His role is mostly to hang around in the background, but he comes off as the most intelligent character on the show.  After all, he was the only one capable of stopping a train once.  He is referred to as a "data dog," but the story never explains what that means.

Voices:  Both the Japanese and English dubbing are well done.  The English voices fit most of the characters, and the dialogue follows the subtitles closely.  The series is easy to enjoy in either language.

Music: 

• Opening Theme:  "Tank" by The Seatbelts
• Closing Theme:  "The Real Folk Blues" by the Seatbelts featuring Mai Yamane

The music was composed by Yoko Kanno.  She is highly regarded in the anime community, and anything written by her is almost guaranteed to be a smash hit.  Her music is very ambient and fits the style of the series very well.  The opening theme is a fast paced jazzy tune with a saxophone solo and even some bongos, but is also contemporary.  The closing theme is also jazzy, but is slow and moody.

Recommendation:  Cowboy Bebop is one of the most popular anime ever.  Almost anyone who watches it is sure to enjoy it.