Cowboy Bebop

Crime is timeless. By the year 2071, humanity has expanded across the galaxy, filling the surface of other planets with settlements like those on Earth. These new societies are plagued by murder, drug use, and theft, and intergalactic outlaws are hunted by a growing number of tough bounty hunters.

Spike Spiegel and Jet Black pursue criminals throughout space to make a humble living. Beneath his goofy and aloof demeanor, Spike is haunted by the weight of his violent past. Meanwhile, Jet manages his own troubled memories while taking care of Spike and the Bebop, their ship. The duo is joined by the beautiful con artist Faye Valentine, odd child Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, and Ein, a bioengineered Welsh corgi.

While developing bonds and working to catch a colorful cast of criminals, the Bebop crew's lives are disrupted by a menace from Spike's past. As a rival's maniacal plot continues to unravel, Spike must choose between life with his newfound family or revenge for his old wounds.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Spiegel, Spike Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Valentine, Faye Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, Edward Main

Tada, Aoi Japanese

Black, Jet Main

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Ein Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Vicious Supporting

Wakamoto, Norio Japanese

Eckener, Grencia Mars Elijah Guo Supporting

Horiuchi, Kenyuu Japanese

Julia Supporting

Takashima, Gara Japanese

Von de Oniyate, Andy Supporting

Ebara, Masashi Japanese

Mad Pierrot Supporting

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Minami, Masahiko Producer

Ikeguchi, Kazuhiko Producer

Reviews

Feb 25, 2025

Ichiatouffy

Recommended

Episodic shows aren't really my thing except for a select few, this is one of them.
The characters are very like able and real. Even ed who at first i thought was gonna be an annoying character but was a pretty chill character.

This is a good show, but it is overrated in my opinion. I've seen people put this on the same level of evangelion, which i don't think it is. But its still really good in its own way, just not as complex, which it doesn't need to be. I do have mixed feelings about the ending and some character motivations but a ... good ending nonetheless.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 20, 2025

Adnash

Mixed Feelings

Cowboy Bebop might be one of the best anime that I can't wholeheartedly recommend, simply because of its imbalance in various structural elements. This lack of balance causes great elements to coexist simultaneously with visibly underwhelming ones, which look even worse when placed next to the former. I'm talking here about technical aspects. They'll be addressed the most in this review, so no worries. This review is spoiler-free.

Cowboy Bebop's greatest strength is definitely its audiovisual side and direction (both combined). Everything is refined to the smallest degree. Beautiful backgrounds, character designs, vehicle models, locations, attention to detail and exposure. To this day, it can easily ... be considered one of the best-looking TV anime that was ever released. Good visuals can not be enough in an animated series if they are not followed by decent direction and proper animation. Cowboy Bebop offers such elements in an impressing way. Superb direction allows viewers to immerse into various types of scenes, let them be slower or faster; and smooth animation makes each sequence, dynamic or static, feel extremely organic and natural, without losing that unique visual feeling and touch. In short, they were brilliantly harmonized. Not to forget the "show, don't tell", elements, which work extremely well and contribute to the overall experience. Their weaker usage, in my opinion, is during scenes related to the main plotline, but even then, they do their job really well.

When it comes to the soundtrack, I need to mention one thing beforehand. I'm not a fan of jazz music, so I did not like many tracks playing in the background during a decent amount of episodes. But putting my subjective music taste aside, again, it cannot be denied that the soundtrack itself is also a strong point. A diverse mix of various music genres (jazz, blues, rock), fitting the moments during which it played, at least for most of the part. Sure, some tunes could feel generic or repetitive at times, but it's not easy to make that well-done and consistent soundtrack. Be it to the anime or any other show.

Another thing worth noting that was absolutely fantastic about this show (even more than its audiovisual aspects) is the creativity in the implementation of popular culture's references, and addressing issues typical for futurology. This anime was made in the late 1990s, but managed to address a lot of things that are still contemporary, or are still debated as probable challenges in the future. Junk food, environment's devastation, gender roles, pollution, extreme consumptionism, and many more.

I could write a lot about the aforementioned elements, but it'd be too boring and without any substance to this review. "Substance" is a good word to use here. I saw some people referring to Cowboy Bebop as "anime that is style over substance", praising its value, but complaining about the show kind of ruining many opportunities to be way better than just "a beautifully animated action series on display". I agree that it is indeed "style over substance", but I don't consider it something negative. It's just the main concept for a show. One might like it, one might not, but it's still there and I don't think that the studio trying to execute said main concept as good as they can is anywhere close to a con.

No, that's not the biggest issue one can have with Cowboy Bebop. For me, its biggest problem is its episodic nature. With episodic storytelling, some episodes are great, and others are so boring it seems like they were made solely to meet the planned episode count. Such discrepancy is normal. Not all episodes need to be near perfection. Heck, many episodic anime are repetitive. I dislike that, but accept it as a pivotal element of episodic shows. That being said, Cowboy Bebop struggles with writing consistency. Messy and chaotic storytelling makes you worry whether the next episode will be as boring as the one you've just finished, or whether an extremely good one will be followed by something visibly inferior.

All of these cons could've been weakened to a certain degree if the main cast was decent enough to make viewers invested in tracking their adventures. The thing is... I found most crew members unlikable, bland, and annoying at times. "Most" is imprecise, so I'll just say: all but Jet. Getting episodes elaborating on their backgrounds in the second cour of the series was a nice touch, but didn't change my mind about them. You'd expect, if not better written, then at least characters with more dimensional personalities.

Speaking about the second cour, one more thing I'd like to note: I found it hard to get through the first part of this show. If it weren't for the high production quality, I would've dropped it for good, not just for several years until I randomly thought of giving this anime a second chance. Episodes in the second half are significantly better written, and their episodic structure isn't a problem by any means, since the writing quality is simply improved. The fact that those episodes are self-contained only makes them more intriguing to watch. Weird thing to hear from someone who complained about Cowboy Bebop's episodic nature, eh? Well, not quite. I'm aware that it could have felt different if, for example, the first cour had those episodes and the second cour had the first cour's weaker episodes. I'd have complained about the second half instead, though perhaps I wouldn't have dropped this show. Who knows?

"Episodic this, episodic that", but what about the main story? Cowboy Bebop has one. Cowboy Bebop has one. It's scattered throughout the whole series in the form of present action, flashbacks, and exposition, but it's there. It's mediocre, and I'm not just talking about it being clichéd. Not only that. It's just an average story that's more like a break from "your weekly episode", with a dull, generic villain and underwhelming writing. Mind you, I'm saying this with the understanding that this anime was released in the 1990s. Even then, its writing left much to be desired. But hey, it's extremely solid-looking, beautifully directed, and emanating a grand atmosphere. Kind of like "style over substance", no?

That's pretty much it. Did I enjoy this anime? In general, yes. It was a fun ride, despite many boring episodes that were hard to go through. Do I recommend it? It's complicated. That's why my final verdict, despite relatively good score, is "Mixed Feelings". I mean, it's worth checking out and it's great, but if you don't feel any nostalgia towards it, hate episodic anime, or dislike space stuff no matter how well it looks, then I think it'd be better to just pass on it. It's good, but not as good as some of its hardcore fans try to make it look. It is a classic and will be remembered in the future, that's for sure. But is it essential to watch? Is it a life-changing experience (if watching an anime can be one, lol)? I don't think so.

Thank you for reading. ;-)

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 1, 2023

ihatesgsami

Not Recommended

Imagine this show but with the soundtrack replaced with a compilation of Hannah Montana's B-side tracks and you'll realize this show is all style and no substance. The soundtrack carries it a bit but the plotline itself is incomprehensible. The characters are shallow and all seem to hate each other yet the show wants you to care about them and their relationships. It reminds me of those Family Guy episodes where the characters blabber a bunch of vitriol at each other and then MacFarlane has them smile as if to say 'it's all good, I still love you' and expects the audience to buy into ... it. A truly dogwater show that didn't deserve the work of Yoko Kanno.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for April. Week 1: April 4 - 10 Anime Releases Cowboy Bebop Complete Series Blu-ray Cowboy Bebop C...read more

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	Poll: Cowboy Bebop Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) FighterZ - May 2, 2008	145 replies	by TheBerserker »» 3 hours ago
	Poll: Cowboy Bebop Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Issun - Sep 1, 2008	238 replies	by Maverick_01 »» Yesterday, 11:44 PM
	Poll: Cowboy Bebop Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Metty - May 14, 2008	680 replies	by prvttua »» Yesterday, 11:15 PM
	Poll: Cowboy Bebop Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Scribbly - Jan 3, 2009	113 replies	by kxsp3r_ »» Mar 22, 1:26 PM
	Answer me this JoeChip - Mar 13	25 replies	by Adnash »» Mar 19, 5:01 AM

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