Cowboy Bebop

It took me 23 years but I’ve finally made it through all 26 episodes of the 1998 series Cowboy Bebop! It actually might have been one of the first anime shows that I’d come across back in the early 2000s and I even got the first DVD. Back then, only 3 or 4 episodes were included on each disc and you had to buy each separately which resulted in me never actually watching the rest of the show (because I just couldn’t or didn’t want to afford it) 😅

Anyway, now that it’s on Netflix, I thought I should finally change that!

In this universe, 2022 was the year when an accident with an experimental warp gate damaged Luna and caused a constant asteroid rain on Earth, killing most of its inhabitants. What was left of humanity colonised the rest of the Solar system and built more warp gates connecting the planets.

Cowboy Bebop now takes place around 50 years after that incident, following the story of the bounty hunters Jet Black, Spike Spiegel, and Faye Valentine as they try (and fail) to make a living hunting people for money while fighting with their past.

What’s so special about this show is its style and depth. It mixes sci-fi, wild-west, mafia, and noir-detective story that is often very dark and brutal but also has lots of humorous moments. Every character has a deep back story with Spike and Faye probably getting the most coverage here. One with a history as mafia hitman who has “left” the organisation and the other not knowing about her past and trying to find out who she really is.

Except for all that chain-smoking going on in the show, I think Cowboy Bebop actually holds up pretty well! I was immediately hooked again and didn’t want the 26th episode to be the end; especially since it was a true ending 😭 What’s left for me now is watching the live-action adaption that has already been cancelled by Netflix and perhaps also the anime movie… 😑