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Cowboy bebop focuses mainly on animation and soundtrack but that's what makes it special.

animation and soundtrack are just wonderful, bold, unique, evocative. Both fit perfectly despite being from 2 different worlds. Probably if you only listened to the soundtrack without seeing the anime you would have a completely different idea of the anime environment. If you read the cowboy bebop manga without seeing the anime there is little chance of guessing the background of the soundtrack. they are without a doubt its strongest point and for that in my opinion is already a good reason to give this anime a chance.

Another strong point are the ... characters, and I'm not talking about their past, their experiences, etc. I'm talking about the characters themselves, the way they are portrayed,s, the essence of their being that leads you to know what their next adventure will be even in the leastgood episodes. You know that if you were part of their group you wouldn't spend a dull moment and you'd feel like you're in a family, a family that has been consolidated episode after episode, a family shaped by Jet as a sort of father figure, Faye as the daughter in her moment of rebellion, Spike as the mysterious son who doesn't keep to himself and you don't know what he's thinking and Ed as the little sister playing with the sweet Ein.
Together they have their funny, action, cool, sad and even boring moments but you're ready to forgive them that maybe in some episodes they didn't give you your dose of coolness because you're simply won over by their substance, kind of like when you keep being in love with an attractive person even though they've hurt you.

However If we penetrate more into the anime structure and the characther’s pasts we find some flaws that I can no longer overlook.

Cowboy Bebop is an anime made up of almost all indipendent episodes that illustrate the story of our bounty hunters chasing bad guys for money and failing maybe more than half the time. These episodes are some good, some average and some just plain bad.

Only a few episodes try to make a fixed thread every now and then scattered in the rest of the independent episodes telling the past of the 4 main characters.

Obviously I preferred this kind of episodes compared to the "filler" ones even if Jet's plot doesn't ring a bell to me. I like the character but only that.

Ed's past was good and yet the anime only devotes 3 episodes to her I think they are well constructed. The first 2 moments of Ed in the spotlight are pretty funny. I especially like how the music, the vibes, the whole atmosphere of the anime change when this character becomes the main character for 20 minutes. It's as if Ed's entire personality has influenced the events happening around her. Her third to last dedicatory episode as well as the third to last of the anime is just heartbreaking....

Spike's moments have the best action scenes although these are constant throughout the anime; the animation and soundtrack are breathtaking especially in these scenes. With Spike the anime introduces us to, let's say the main villain although I dare say an average villain. He's just typical white-haired guy who used to be the main character's best friend but for some reason now they want to kill each other. Sort of like Griffiht (or if you prefer Ryou Asuka) but boring. Eventually, in the last episode, Spike's story descends into an average revenge story.

Faye's past is the most interesting and in which I showed more interest because it had more complex and more intriguing puzzles. Another point to its advantage is that the pursuit of her goal seems more human, more natural, so that in a way you feel in Faey's shoes. Certainly not on such a tragic scale, but haven't you ever felt moved when you return to a place you haven't been for years?

The problem with Spike and Faye's stories is that they tried to be deep, but the inconsistency with which both are told ruins everything. The anime doesn't give them enough time to develop into strong, deep stories.

I know it's an episode/character driven show, less about the plot and more about the cool stuff happenning, but there are anime like The Great Pretender, which has a very similar structure to Cowboy Bebop, that is more concerned about its characters, their development, and makes us understand more about the motivations for their actions and decisions.

well, despite its flaws cowboy bebop is an experience not to be missed for its creativity and the audacity to try something exclusive and uncommon audiovisually.

I agree that this is one of the best manga of the last 30 years. the plot is incredible, there are various twists and turns that make the story more interesting and the factor that impressed me the most is that sometimes I even forget that I was reading a Japanese manga. It felt like I was reading a European comic or book, maybe because the drawings tried to be realistic and not overly epic in everything the main character did as happens in some manga.
It is the kind of story that at the end of each chapter you want to keep reading because ... you want to find out more and more about what is going to happen.
However, it has a few mistakes. First of all: the villain.
I don't think he is the perfect villain as many have said. Monster describes him throughout the story as a devil, as the most cunning and evil being in the world, the next Hitler, a monster indeed. The problem is that Johan's maverick side is superficially shown and justified. There's a lot of talk that in the famous orphanage children and doctors killed each other because of Johan but I would have liked to know what really happened, what caused all this? What did Johan do?
Another moment in which Johan's manipulative skills are shown is when he convinces the child to meet his mother who was a prostitute and then kill himself. Ok, in this one Johan gives the kid an elaborate little speech but come on. It's not such a complicated thing to manipulate a child.
Even when he killed that detective with a drinking problem his manipulate skills are not that convincing. He was still a person with psychological problems.
In other contexts it is not clear how he convinced other people to work for him by killing people. And this introduces another problem for Monster.
It obviates many things that are useful but at the same time effectively useless. Let me explain.
Taking the case of Johan, it is almost never known how he convinces people to kill other people, a choice made by the author that I understand. I think he skip these moments to make the story more dynamic, since in Monster there are many dialogues.
There are many such examples, such as Dr Tenma who manages to sneak into houses or cars like this without any demonstration of how he did it. Basically this happens with all characters who are "smart".
Let's say I'm bitter about that choice but I understand. At the same time though, you can't put me 2-3 chapters where you want to instill the idea that Tenma is a good and kind person. I get that he's a brilliant doctor and a golden person but enough is enough. Instead of those chapters it would have been more interesting to show flashbacks of the orphanage, the missing explanations I mentioned before or rather tenma's past and family.
The story leaves various aspects to the reader's imagination, including above all the psychology of Johan, despite the fact that his past is almost entirely told. The ending of this manga confirms this, even if it is not an ending that displeased me. If like me you're eager for more answers I recommend reading the book even if it doesn't explain that much.

the first time I heard about this manga was seeing a video on youtube and what made me start reading it was the "manga that starts when everything is finished" factor.
In part, what the plot will tell is predictable: a slice of life in which the characters live peacefully or perhaps the arrival of a new enemy stronger than the previous one.
If it had been the second choice I would have dropped this manga.
yes, Souou no frieren is a fantasy slice of life in which tells about the life of the sorceress Frieren, comrade of the previous heroes who defeated the demon king.
The strong ... point of this manga is its simplicity of being a slice of life mixed with the memories of the past by our protagonist. The chapters illustrate interesting, funny or stupid moments of our protagonist and others new characters as the plot progresses with the addition of these nostalgic memories when Frieren visits a certain place and starts a flasback in which she remembers her dead companions and the adventures they had experienced in that place, a bit when you don't hear friends for many and by chance you find yourself in a place you used to go to often.
I'm not a fan of magic in the anime world because sometimes it doesn't really make sense like in fairy tail or black clover.
but at the moment in that aspect souou no frieren is not displeasing me. Frieren, the sorceress who defeated the final boss of the previous story along with the group of heroes, is simply one of the strongest characters in history as it should be. No magic that appears appropriately to help the protagonist in a moment of difficulty or the awakening of an absurd power that only the protagnosity had, no power of friendship, etc. Only Frieren who can easily defeat some bad guys or stand up to them.
Earlier I said that the simplicity of this manga is her strong point but at the same time it is a sort of "weak point".
yes, souou no frieren is a very pleasant and easy to read story but it's just that ...
After all, it doesn't offer more than that. It is certainly not one of those stories with extraordinary polt twists or with a very deep moral.
About the draw I don't have much to say. I think they are done well but nothing extraordinary. If I have to criticize one thing it is the fairly simple drawing of monsters and demons. They arouse neither fear nor threat to me, but I don't think their design was conceived for this purpose. Their role in the story is not really important.