Anime Soundtrack Review: “Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best!”

Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best! is a soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop that was released in 2004. An interesting thing to note about this release is the fact that the CD booklet contains a lot of “fake” information for the songs that appear on the CD; while the song information as it’s written in the booklet would be true for the Cowboy Bebop universe, it wouldn’t be true for the real world.

All of the music that appears on Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best! was composed and arranged by Yoko Kanno, and the music was composed by The Seatbelts. For the songs that have lyrics, the words were written by three different lyricists: Tim Jensen, Illaria Graziano, and Raju Ramayya.

The soundtrack opens with “Tank! [TV Stretch],” which is essentially an extended version of the Cowboy Bebop theme song. The next song on the CD is “What Planet Is This,” which is an upbeat jazz number that prominently features guitar and saxophone. When it comes to vocals, there is only one line of vocal repeated throughout the track.

This is followed by “Cosmic Dare (Pretty With a Pistol),” a synth-heavy track that features vocals by Reynada Hill. This song appeared in Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, and it’s one of my favorite songs on this CD.

“Diamonds,” the fourth song on the CD, returns to the jazz sound. It’s a slow and soft piano piece that features vocals by Illaria Graziano. Rounding out the first half of the disc are “Don’t Bother None [TV Edit]” and “Piano Black.” “Don’t Bother None” features Mai Yamane on vocals, while “Piano Black” is a jazz instrumental.

The second half of the CD opens with “Mushroom Hunting,” a song that appeared in the episode, “Mushroom Samba.” Taliva-Donna Cumberbatch’s vocals complement this jazz track that features brass and drums. A sudden sonic shift takes place when the next song, “No Reply,” begins. This is a rock track that features vocals by Steve Conte, and he sounds like he’s trying too hard to mimic the vocal style of Bono from U2.

The disc shifts in sound again with “Blue,” a slow song that features synthesizers and guitar; the vocals on the song are provided by Mai Yamane, Soichiro Otsuka, and Gabriela Robin. This is followed by “Einstein Groovin’,” a mid-tempo song that sounds like it was inspired by the disco era. Illaria Graziano provides the vocals of “Einstein Groovin’,” and the vocals sound like they’re being sung in Spanish. Graziano’s voice can also be heard on “Pearls,” the very next song on the CD; her vocals accompany s slow piano ballad that has a jazz influence.

The final song on Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best! is “Gotta Knock a Little Harder,” the closing theme for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. This midtempo rock song, which features Mai Yamane on vocals, is the perfect closing song for this CD.

While most of the songs on Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best! are an enjoyable listen, the disc was sequenced in such a way that most of the uptempo numbers appeared on the first half of the CD, and most of the mid-tempos and ballads appeared on the second half of the disc. Unfortunately, this choice for sequencing weakens the overall listening experience of the soundtrack. When I first started listening to the soundtrack, I was very interested in what I was listening to; however, by the time I reached the last three songs on the soundtrack, I was starting to fall asleep. Perhaps of the uptempo numbers had been a little more spread out across the disc, the soundtrack might have been stronger.

Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best! isn’t a bad CD at all. However, when you’re listening to it, you might either want to program the songs in a different order, or have your CD player randomly choose the order in which the songs are played.

I wrote this review after listening to a copy of Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The Best! that I checked out through the King County Library System.

Anime Film Review: Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door is a film for the Cowboy Bebop anime franchise, and it takes place between the episodes “Cowboy Funk” and “Brain Scratch.” The film was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, and was released to Japanese theaters on September 1, 2001. In 2004, the film was nominated for the Online Film Critics Society Awards in the Best Animated Feature category. In North America, the film’s title was shorted to Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.

The film is set around Halloween of 2071, and begins with Faye Valentine trying to capture a bounty. During the capture attempt, she witnesses a mysterious man in a trenchcoat walking away from a stolen tanker truck; moments later, the tanker explodes and releases a deadly virus that kills hundreds. The government places a huge reward of 300 million woolongs for the arrest and capture of the person responsible, out of fear that an even bigger attack could take place.

Spike, Jet, Faye, and the rest of the crew of the Bebop decide to try to find and capture this bounty. During their hunt, they meet new allies and foes, and must also try to find a way to keep an even bigger attack from taking place.

When I finished watching Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, it felt like I had watched an extended version of a Cowboy Bebop episode. Not that this was a bad thing at all, but that’s what it felt like. The advantages of the longer runtime for the story is that it allowed for more time to be spent on character development, and some of the action sequences could also be longer. I thought the film had a really good story to tell, and that a full-length film works much better to tell it than to try to break it up into multiple episodes for the anime series.

Overall, I thought that the character of Ed was actually rather useful in the film; in a lot of respects, it felt as if Ed was in the anime series more for providing comic relief than for actually helping to move the story along.

When it comes to the DVD release for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, a lot more effort was put into the special features included on this release in comparison to the six Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs.

The first special feature is “Storyboard Comparisons.” There are four scenes included in this feature; for each scene, the storyboard is on the left side of the screen, while the animation that appears in the movie for the scene is on the right side of the screen. Personally, I think this is one of the better storyboard comparison bonus features that I have seen on an anime DVD.

“Character Biographies” have a biography for each character. The biographies include basic facts for each character alongside their picture. “Conceptual Art Galleries” include the conceptual art for the characters, aircraft, automobiles, monorail, and accessories.

There are also six featurettes included on the disc: “From the Small Screen to the Big Screen,” “International Appeal,” “Spike: A Complex Soul,” “Faye: Intellectual Vixen,” “Ed: Resident Eccentric,” and “Jet: No Ordinary Dad.” These featurettes include interviews with the director, the Japanese and English voice actors for Spike, the Japanese and English voice actors for Jet, the Japanese and English voice actors for Faye, the ADR Director, the Character Designer, the Composer, and the Japanese and English voice actors for Ed. There are English subtitles provided when anyone who is interviewed is speaking in Japanese. The documentaries aren’t too short, yet they also aren’t so long that they bore the viewer. Personally, I enjoyed watching these featurettes.

There are also music videos included in the special features for “Ask DNA” (the opening song of the film) and “Gotta Knock a Little Harder,” which appears at the end of the film. In both cases, the “music videos” are just textless versions of the opening and ending sequences of the film.

Overall, Cowboy Bebop The Movie: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door is an enjoyable film for fans of Cowboy Bebop. However, a viewer has to already have some familiarity with the property in order to enjoy the film; if they don’t, then they won’t understand a lot of what’s going on.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie that my husband and I purchased.

Anime DVD Review: “Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 6″

The Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 6 DVD includes the final four episodes of Cowboy Bebop: “Brain Scratch,” “Hard Luck Woman,” “The Real Folk Blues (Part I),” and “The Real Folk Blues (Part II).” This “remix” version of the Volume 6 DVD includes new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes of the episodes and it also includes bonus features that were not included on the original release of Volume 6. The audio options on this disc are English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Dolby 5.1, and Japanese Dolby 5.1. You can also choose to watch the disc with or without subtitles.

During the episodes on this disc, we see the crew of the Bebop trying to track down the mastermind of a new religious cult, two characters find links to their pasts that cause them to leave the Bebop, and Spike and Julia are finally reunited.

I definitely have to give the Japanese writers credit for writing out one of the characters that they did; considering the tone of the final two episodes, this particular character wouldn’t have fit into the story. I also appreciated how the Cowboy Bebop series ended; with how the story of the series evolved, it wasn’t surprising that there wasn’t a “happily ever after” ending.

And it’s no surprise that more music references appear in the episode titles on this disc. “Hard Luck Woman” is a reference to a song by Kiss, while “The Real Folk Blues” is a reference to a series of blues compilations released between 1965 and 1967.

Just like the previous five Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, the menus on this DVD are animated. By the time I reached this disc, I was used to the navigation of the menu, so this really wasn’t much of an issue at this point. The look and feel of these animated menus far surpass the menus on the original pressing of the Cowboy Bebop DVDs.

The main bonus feature on this disc is an audio commentary on “Hard Luck Woman,” which is provided by Megumi Hayashibara and Aoi Tada, the Japanese voice actors for Faye and Ed. The commentary is in Japanese, with English subtitles that provide a translation of what’s being said. Unlike the audio commentary that appeared on Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 4, this commentary includes a combination of seriousness and humor; personally, this is a lot more like what I would expect from an audio commentary than what we got on Volume Four.

The extras menu also includes the DVD credits, as well as trailers for other DVD releases that Bandai was promoting at the time this DVD was released. In other words, extras that have become rather standard on anime DVD releases.

If you don’t already have Cowboy Bebop in your home video collection and want to add it, you can either buy the six individually released Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, or you can purchase the Cowboy Bebop Remix DVD Collection that takes the six individual discs and collects them into one box set.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 6 that my husband and I purchased.

Anime DVD Review: “Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 5″

The Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 5 DVD includes four episodes of Cowboy Bebop: “Wild Horses,” “Pierrot Le Fou,” “Boogie-Woogie Feng-Shui,” and “Cowboy Funk.” This “remix” version of the Volume 5 DVD includes new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes of the episodes and it also includes bonus features that were not included on the original release of Volume 5. The audio options on this disc are English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Dolby 5.1, and Japanese Dolby 5.1. You can also choose to watch the disc with or without subtitles.

During the episodes on this disc, we learn how Spike acquired his fighter, the Swordfish; we meet the daughter of one of Jet’s old acquaintances, and the young woman is gifted in the art of Feng-Shui; and we also meet a literal-looking “space cowboy” who makes a hobby out of bounty hunting, and he ends up becoming a thorn in Spike’s side.

The bounties in these episodes include: three individuals who are trying to infect ships with a virus, a seemingly invincible psychotic killer, and a man known as the “Teddy Bear Bomber” who dresses in a teddy bear costume and blows up teddy bears to try to get attention for the causes he believes in.

A couple of music references appear in the titles of the episodes on this disc. “Wild Horses” is named after a song by the Rolling Stones, while “Boogie-Woogie Feng-Shui” is an homage to the song “Boogie Woogie Woman” by B.B. King.

Just like the previous four Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, the menus on this DVD are animated. While I do have some issues in regards to navigating these DVD menus, I believe that the overall look and feel of these menus is a major improvement over the menus on the original pressing of the Cowboy Bebop DVDs.

This disc includes several bonus features. The first is Cowboy Bebop Session #0, which is a roughly half-hour long Cowboy Bebop documentary. Over the course of the half-hour, a lot of information is crammed in. Included in this documentary is stats and information on the main characters; interviews with the animation front liners, the director, the series composer, the producer, and some of the voice actors; an “unaired TV episode digest”; and “music” video for the Cowboy Bebop theme song; and a textless version of the ending credits. Tacked on after the end of the documentary was a video for a remix of the Cowboy Bebop theme song that was done by DJ FOOD, as well as an “information” section that lists the various Cowboy Bebop DVDs, CDs, and videogames that are available to purchase.

When I watched this documentary, I realized that portions of it had been previously released as extras on the original pressings of the Cowboy Bebop DVDs. However, it was nice to see them as part of a cohesive unit. At the end of Session #0, I found myself wondering why the remix video and the information page were tacked on at the end. Personally, I wasn’t terribly impressed with DJ FOOD’s remix of the Cowboy Bebop theme song. Also, I thought the remix video and the information page could have been included as additional extras to select from the extras menu instead of being tacked on to the end of Session #0.

The extras menu also includes the DVD credits, as well as trailers for other DVD releases that Bandai was promoting at the time this DVD was released. In other words, extras that have become rather standard on anime DVD releases.

If you don’t already have Cowboy Bebop in your home video collection and want to add it, you can either buy the six individually released Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, or you can purchase the Cowboy Bebop Remix DVD Collection that takes the six individual discs and collects them into one box set.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 5 that my husband and I purchased.

Anime DVD Review: “Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 4″

The Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 4 DVD includes four episodes of Cowboy Bebop: “My Funny Valentine,” “Black Dog Serenade,” “Mushroom Samba,” and “Speak Like a Child.” This “remix” version of the Volume 4 DVD includes new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes of the episodes and it also includes bonus features that were not included on the original release of Volume 4. The audio options on this disc are English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Dolby 5.1, and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1. You can also choose to watch the disc with or without subtitles.

During the episodes on this disc, there’s some character development for Faye Valentine and Jet Black. In “My Funny Valentine,” Faye learns she was cryogenically frozen for 54 years after being in an accident. Faye is also the focus of “Speak Like a Child”; in this episode, she receives a mysterious package that contains an “old-fashioned” videocassette. Jet and Spike go to great lengths to find a way to play the videocassette in order to see what’s on it. In “Black Dog Serenade,” the viewer learns why Jet ended up getting cybernetic implants.

And then there’s “Mushroom Samba.” It’s an episode that focuses on Ed and Ein, and it shows the mishaps they have trying to find food for the crew of the Bebop. This is probably one of the strangest episodes in the Cowboy Bebop series; also, I get the feeling that it was a “filler” episode, because it doesn’t truly advance the overall plot of the series.

Once again, music references rear their head in some of the episode titles. “My Funny Valentine” is a reference to a jazz standard, “Black Dog” serenade is a reference to “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin, and “Speak Like a Child” is the name of a song by Herbie Hancock.

Just like the previous three Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, the menus on this DVD are animated. While I do have some issues in regards to navigating these DVD menus, I believe that the overall look and feel of these menus is an improvement over the menus on the original pressing of the Cowboy Bebop DVDs.

The major bonus feature on Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 4 is audio commentary on the episode “Mushroom Samba,” which is provided by director Shinichiro Watanabe and music composer Yoko Kanno. The commentary is in Japanese with English subtitles. The commentary spends more time on humor than it does on truly providing commentary on the episode. The commentary is entertaining, but you may not enjoy it if you’re looking for any real behind-the-scenes information on the making of the episode.

In addition to the commentary, there were two other bonus features included: trailers for other properties that Bandai was promoting at the time Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 4 was released and the English credits.

If you don’t already have Cowboy Bebop in your home video collection and want to add it, you can either buy the six individually released Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, or you can purchase the Cowboy Bebop Remix DVD Collection that takes the six individual discs and collects them into one box set.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 4 that my husband and I purchased.

Anime DVD Review: “Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 3″

The Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 3 DVD includes four episodes of Cowboy Bebop: “Toys in the Attic,” “Jupiter Jazz (Part I),” “Jupiter Jazz (Part II),” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” This “remix” version of the Volume 3 DVD includes new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes of the episodes and it also includes bonus features that were not included on the original release of Volume 3. The audio options on this disc are English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Dolby 5.1, and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1. You can also choose to watch the disc with or without subtitles.

Three of the characters are focused on in the episodes that appear on this disc. Spike encounters a former comrade and has to deal with the memory of a woman from his past. Faye tries to run away and she encounters a “different” kind of man. Ed plays a virtual game of chess against an old chess champion named Chessmaster Hex. In addition, a strange mutation attacks the crew of the Bebop. While most of the stories on this disc may not have provided a lot in the way of character development, they were still interesting to watch and made you want to continue watching the series to see what would happen next for these characters.

As expected, music references appear in the titles of two of the episodes on this disc. “Toys in the Attic” is the name of a song by Aerosmith, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” is the name of a song by Queen.

Just like the previous two Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, the menus on this DVD are animated. While I do have some issues in regards to navigating these DVD menus, I believe that the overall look and feel of the menus surpasses the DVD menus on the original pressing of the Cowboy Bebop DVDs.

The major bonus feature on Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 3 is an interview with Cartoon Network producer Sean Akins; unfortunately, the interview only lasts for about four minutes. During those four minutes, Akins talks about Cowboy Bebop’s impact on Japanese animation, how the show reached a new adult audience, and who is favorite character is.

The interview isn’t necessarily a bad bonus feature, but it’s definitely on the short side. I wish that Akins could have been asked some more questions, or that a second interview with someone else involved with Cowboy Bebop had been included. The interview that appeared on the disc didn’t satisfy me enough, and it left me wanting more.

In addition to the interview, there were two other bonus features included: trailers for three other properties that Bandai was promoting at the time Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 3 was released and the English credits.

If you don’t already have Cowboy Bebop in your home video collection and want to add it, you can either buy the six individually released Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, or you can purchase the Cowboy Bebop Remix DVD Collection that takes the six individual discs and collects them into one box set.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 3 that my husband and I purchased.

Anime DVD Review: “Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 2″

The Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 2 DVD includes five episodes of Cowboy Bebop: “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Heavy Metal Queen,” “Waltz for Venus,” “Jamming With Edward,” and “Ganymede Elegy.” This “remix” version of the Volume 2 DVD includes new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes of the episodes and it also includes bonus features that were not included on the original release of Volume 2. The audio options on this disc are English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Dolby Digital 5.1, and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1. You can also choose to watch the disc with or without subtitles.

The final member of the Bebop’s motley crew is introduced in the episode, “Jamming With Edward”; this would be Edward, a genius tomboy computer hacker that they originally hire to help track down a bounty. The title of this episode is actually based on an album recorded with three members of The Rolling Stones. Another music reference is used as an episode title; “Sympathy for the Devil” is the name of a song recorded by The Rolling Stones.

Other interesting characters are also introduced during the episodes included on this disc: a young harmonica prodigy who is actually 80 years old, a woman named VT whose late husband was a bounty hunter, Roco Bonnaro and his blind sister Stella, and Jet’s ex-girlfriend Alisa. In addition to meeting these characters, the viewer is also given more information on some of the characters’ back stories. As viewers start learning more about these characters, it provides enough to make viewers want to come back and watch more of the series to find out what will happen next.

Just like with Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1, the DVD menus are animated. Even though I do have some issues with the navigation on these DVD menus, the overall look and layout of the menus look better than the menus on the original pressing of the Volume 2 DVD.

There aren’t nearly as many bonus features on this disc as there were on the Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1 DVD. There’s commentary included for “Ganymede Elegy,” which is provided by anime voice actor Wendee Lee and ADR producer Yutaka Maseba. There are also trailers for three other properties that Bandai was promoting at the time this DVD was released and DVD credits. After having more bonus features on the previous disc, this release feels a little more “bare bones.” I wish Bandai had gone to the effort to interview other members of the Cowboy Bebop English dub cast to include on the other Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs.

If you don’t already have Cowboy Bebop in your home video collection and want to add it, you can either buy the six individually released Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, or you can purchase the Cowboy Bebop Remix DVD Collection that takes the six individual discs and collects them into one box set.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 2 that my husband and I purchased.

Anime DVD Review: “Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1″

The Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1 DVD includes the first five episodes of the Cowboy Bebop anime series: “Asteroid Blues,” “Stray Dog Strut,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Gateway Shuffle,” and “Ballad of Fallen Angels” This “remix” version of the Volume 1 DVD includes new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes the episodes and it also includes bonus features that were not included on the original release of Volume 1. The audio options on this disc are English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, English Dolby Digital 5.1, and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1. You can also choose to watch the disc with or without subtitles.

Cowboy Bebop is set in the year 2071, and the protagonists of the series are the members of a crew of bounty hunters that travel in a spaceship called the Bebop. Spike Spiegel and Jet Black are the first two characters who are introduced in the series; Spike is a former member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, while Jet is a former Inter-Solar System Police detective.

During the episode “Stray Dog Strut,” Spike and Jet pick up a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Ein. This dog is a former lab animal, it’s suggested throughout the series that Ein has an enhanced intelligence.

Faye Valentine is introduced in the episode, “Honky Tonk Women.” She is an amnesiac who was awakened after being in a cryogenic chamber for 54 years. She’s become a novice bounty hunter who has a gambling addiction, and she ends up joining the crew of the Bebop.

In the remaining two episodes, the Bebop crew goes after bounties. In “Ballad of Fallen Angels,” Spike ends up confronting an enemy from his past. This run-in serves as a way to provide the viewer with some character development for Spike Spiegel.

When it comes to the actual disc itself, there are animated interactive menus on the DVD. Unfortunately, the navigation on the main menu can be a little cumbersome to navigate with a DVD or Blu-ray player remote; fortunately, the sub-menus don’t suffer from this same issue. Even with this navigation issue on the main menu, the menus on this disc look better than the menus on the original pressings of the Cowboy Bebop DVDs.

There are several bonus features included on this disc. First, there are episode commentaries. Commentary on “Asteroid Blues” is provided by Koichi Yamadera (Spike’s Japanese voice actor) and Unsho Ishizuka (Jet’s Japanese voice actor), and commentary on “Ballad of Fallen Angels” is provided by ADR English Director Yutaka Maseba, and Wendee Lee (Faye’s English voice actor).

Next is an interview with Wendee Lee. The interview is done in a style where a question is shown on the screen, and then Wendee is shown answering the question. One amusing thing in this interview is the fact that early on in the interview, the footage from Cowboy Bebop that plays in the background behind Wendee doesn’t feature Faye Valentine. However, once the topic turns to Faye, footage featuring this character is featured prominently in the background. Once the discussion turns away from Faye, she only shows up occasionally in the background footage. Overall, though, the interview is rather well done. This interview runs for roughly eight-and-a-half minutes.

The “Cowboy Bebop Trailer Collection” includes a Cartoon Network promo collection and a trailer collection. The Cartoon Network promo collection was decent, although I thought that one or two of the promos were a little “over the top.” The trailer collection was decent, but some of the trailers did feel rather similar to each other, since I couldn’t readily notice any differences. There is also a trailer for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie included as a bonus feature on this disc.

There is a “textless ending,” which takes the footage from the ending credits are removes the credit text. There is also a collection of three trailers for properties that Bandai Entertainment was promoting at the time this DVD was released.

Overall, Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1 is a decent release. If you don’t already have Cowboy Bebop in your home video collection and want to add it, you can either buy the six individually released Cowboy Bebop Remix DVDs, or you can purchase the Cowboy Bebop Remix DVD Collection that takes the six individual discs and collects them into one box set.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of Cowboy Bebop Remix Volume 1 that my husband and I purchased.

Anime Spotlight: Cowboy Bebop

Introduction
Cowboy Bebop is an anime series developed by Sunrise that was aimed at a seinen demographic. The production staff includes a number of people who are known in anime circles: director Shinichiro Watanabe, screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, and composer Yoko Kanno.

When Cowboy Bebop was first released in Japan, it premiered on TV Tokyo; unfortunately, only episodes 2, 3, 7 to 15, and 18 were aired, due to controversial content in the series. However, the entire series later aired on WOWOW from October 23, 1998 to April 23, 1999. In 2001, a Cowboy Bebop anime film was released to Japanese theaters.

Bandai Entertainment licensed the series for release in North America and produced an English dub of the series. When Cowboy Bebop was released in the United States in 2001, it became the first anime title to be broadcast on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block of programming.

About Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop is set in the year 2071, and the series features a crew of bounty hunters traveling around in a spaceship called the Bebop. The crew of the ship includes Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Edward, and Ein.

Spike Spiegel is a former member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate. He’s a pickpocket, a skilled pilot, and is also a master of firearms and hand-to-hand combat. He also has a cybernetic eye.

Jet Black is a former Inter-Solar System Police (ISSP) detective, and he’s the character who owns the Bebop. He ended up leaving the ISSP due to his disgust of the corruption he saw in the force. After leaving the force, he became a bounty hunter. Jet also has a cybernetic prosthetic for one of his arms.

Faye Valentine is an amnesiac who was awakened after being in a cryogenic chamber for 54 years. She’s also a novice bounty hunter who has a gambling addiction. She ends up joining the crew of the Bebop uninvited.

Edward (who is actually a girl) is a young computer genius and master hacker. She agrees to help the crew of the Bebop track down a bounty if they allow her to become a member of the crew.

Ein is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and a former lab animal that ends up joining the crew of the Bebop. Ein is referred to as a “data dog,” and it is suggested in the series that he has an enhanced intelligence.

The episodes of Cowboy Bebop usually focus on a particular bounty that the crew is trying to apprehend; however, this is also some emphasis on the past of one of the main characters. The characters’ pasts are gradually revealed over the course of the 26 episodes of the series. Many of Cowboy Bebop’s episode titles are references to song titles: “Stray Cat Strut,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Toys in the Attic,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Wild Horses,” and “Hard Luck Woman.” In addition, the Cowboy Bebop film also has the title, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

Another notable thing about Cowboy Bebop is how the series is able to combine several influences and make it work. During the series, you can see influences from kung fu films, westerns, science fiction, and film noir.

My Impressions of Cowboy Bebop
I first saw Cowboy Bebop back in 2007, and I was impressed with what I saw. Five years later, I still think Cowboy Bebop is a great series.

The animation in the series was impressive for its time, and it still holds up well today. In a lot of respects, you can see how the animation style looks like it was inspired by the Akira anime film; however, Cowboy Bebop is able to differentiate its look from Akira through enhancing its looks through computer graphics that weren’t available when Akira was produced in the late 1980s.

Another thing that really makes Cowboy Bebop stand out is the musical score composed by Yoko Kanno. Not only did Kanno compose the music, but she also performed it with The Seatlbelts. The music for the series is jazz and blues based, which really isn’t what a viewer would expect to hear from this kind of a series. However, the jazz and blues score is very effective in Cowboy Bebop, and it really adds to the overall mood and feel of the show.

Conclusion
While it’s been over a decade since Cowboy Bebop first aired in Japan and in the United States, the series is considered an anime masterpiece and a classic. Time and time again, Cowboy Bebop ranks rather high in various “Best Anime of All Time” polls. When I watch Cowboy Bebop, I understand how it has gained this distinction.

References
Sunrise Broadcast 1 – Sunrise. http://www.sunrise-anime.jp/sunrise-inc/works/detail.php?cid=240
Baigent, Robert. “Cowboy Bebop: Complete Sessions Collection Review.” Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies. 2004.
Jeffries, L.B. “The Film Noir Roots of Cowboy Bebop.” PopMatters. January 19, 2010.

Manga Review: “Cowboy Bebop” Volume One

Article first published as Manga Review: Cowboy Bebop Volume One by Yutaka Nanten and Hajime Yatate on Blogcritics.

Cowboy Bebop Volume One is a manga by Yutaka Nanten and Hajime Yatate, with cooperation from Shinichiro Watanabe and Sunrise. This volume was released in North America by Tokyopop in 2002. Cowboy Bebop is rated “T” for teens 13 years of age and up; after reading this volume, I would personally say it’s more appropriate for older teens than younger teens.

Cowboy Bebop tells the story of four bounty hunters and their data dog, and the adventures they have aboard their ship, the Bebop. Spike Spiegel is a former member of the Red Dragon Syndicate, Jet Black is a former cop, Faye Valentine is a beautiful bounty hunter who spent 54 years in suspended animation, and Ed is a female computer hacker. This motley crew sometimes works together, while other times battling each other for their bounties.

The Cowboy Bebop manga is not a manga re-telling of the anime series; instead, the manga is simply based on the series. Considering that the anime series had a very definite ending, I’m having a hard time figuring out where exactly in the timeline these new stories could go. I ultimately have to view the Cowboy Bebop manga in one of two ways. The first way is to look at it as stories that somehow fit into the timeline before the end of the anime series, while the other is to look at these stories as a kind of “alternate timeline” in comparison to the anime. However, one thing that is the same between the two mediums is the fact that both the episode titles in the anime and the chapter titles in the manga utilize music references.

There are four new stories presented in the first volume of the Cowboy Bebop manga. The first sees Spike, Jet and Faye ending up in the same place while following their respective bounties without knowing that they weren’t the only ones trying to get a bounty. However, misadventures ensue when an even bigger bounty just happens to arrive, and the three battle against each other to try to get the new bounty.

The next story in this volume is also the longest one. The crew of the Bebop tracks down a bounty they’ve been looking for; unfortunately, he’s already in prison for a shoplifting charge. They get the idea to have Spike get himself arrested and to end up in the same prison as the bounty, in an effort to break him out and get the money. But Spike ends up getting more than he bargained for.

The third story sees a man placing a bounty on himself, and sets up a game for bounty hunters to catch him. However, there’s a catch; the bounty hunter must be a female. If a male catches him, they won’t get the money. This particular story has a strong focus on Faye Valentine, since she’s the main female bounty hunter in the series. This story also makes a major reference to the song “Nowhere Man” by the Beatles.

The final story in this volume sees bounties being placed on Faye, Spike and Jet. It turns out to be a storyline that has an emphasis on Jet, because one of the major characters in the storyline is a former partner of Jet’s when he was a cop.

While I’m not sure where these stories would actually fit into the Cowboy Bebop timeline, I still found them to be an enjoyable read. I also thought that the feel and tone of these stories are rather similar in nature to the stories presented in the anime series.

The only real drawback for me is the art, simply because I was familiar with the anime series before reading this manga. While the characters look similar enough between the two different mediums, there was something about how they look in the manga that just doesn’t quite work for me; the worst offender is this regard is Spike Spiegel. While Jet and Ed are a little “off,” it’s not quite as noticeable as it is with Spike. Faye was definitely the closest in resemblance between the anime and the manga.

Overall, though, I think readers who are already familiar with the Cowboy Bebop anime series would get the most enjoyment out of this manga series. This is mainly due to the fact that there’s really no background information given; I assume that the creators of the manga assumed that readers would already be familiar with the anime series.

I wrote this review after reading a copy of Cowboy Bebop Volume One that my husband and I purchased.