Cowboy Bebop

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(1998) is a Japanese anime, motion picture, and manga. It follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters travelling on a spaceship, the Bebop, in the year 2071.

Cowboy Bebop was a commercial success in the United States and featured on Cartoon Network's late-night Adult Swim programming block. Sony Pictures released the Cowboy Bebop movie, [[Cowboy Bebop: The Movie|Knockin' on Heaven's Door]] to movie theaters in the United States and followed that up with a DVD release. Two Cowboy Bebop manga series were created based on the TV show; a Playstation 2 video game was released as well, which as of 2006 has no United States release date.

Cowboy Bebop is strongly influenced by American culture, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s (hence "bebop") with nearly all of its action sequences, from space battles to hand-to-hand martial arts combat, are set and timed to music. Music is, in fact, a driving force within the series. Episodes are called Sessions (in reference to musicians playing a "jam session"), and frequently use titles taken directly or adapted from jazz and rock albums, or song titles within those, and other, genres.

Plot

In the year 2071, the crew of the spaceship Bebop travel the solar system trying to apprehend bounties. In the slang of the era, "Cowboys" are bounty hunters, hence the name of the series. Most episodes revolve around a bounty; however the overall focus of the show concerns the deep pasts of each character, which unravel and connect as the series progresses.

One of the plotlines focuses on Spike Spiegel, a former member of the Red Dragon crime syndicate who is haunted by a past love triangle between his former syndicate partner, Vicious, and a mysterious woman named Julia.

Other plotlines of the Bebop crew members include those of Jet Black, a former ISSP officer on the Jovian moon Ganymede; Faye Valentine, an indebted gambler awakened from cryogenic slumber; Edward, a genius girl computer hacker who can hack at 10 times the speed of an expert hacker, and Ein, a revolutionary "Data Dog;" a dog with data encoded within its DNA.

Background

In the year 2021, a series of ring-shaped hyperspace gateways were constructed across the solar system, allowing for easy interplanetary travel. Unfortunately, the gate network contained a fatal instability that was ignored by the contractors who built the system. The instability grew until a gateway near Earth exploded, releasing a powerful burst of energy that cracked the Moon. In a disaster referred to as "The Gate Incident", meteoric debris from the Moon destroyed much of Earth's surface, killing billions. People mostly live underground, as debris continues to rain down on the planet daily, although a sizeable number of people refuse to leave or simply can't afford to. Some of those that stayed behind are also hackers who sharpen their skills by training on abandoned communication satellites that still orbit the planet. Most, however, left Earth after the Gate Incident and spread out across the solar system, living in colonies on Venus, Mars, some habitable asteroids, the moons of Saturn and the Galilean moons of Jupiter as well as many space stations.

It is notable that the total population for the Solar System of 2071 is only about 1.3 billion. Assuming that the population of Earth in 2021 was greater than 6 billion (as on present-day Earth), the explosion of the gate was the worst disaster to ever befall humankind — at least 4.7 billion lives were lost.

Some of the colonies are more hospitable than others, but all planets and moons seen in the series except for Mars are terraformed. This situation points to the soft sci-fi nature of the series, since Mars is often considered the most easily terraformable planet, while terraforming the others, particularly within the next century is considered an impossible undertaking.

Mars is one example of bustling activity in the Solar System as its many domed impact craters were transformed into thriving metropolitan areas for those who can afford it. With the planet of Venus being terraformed, its aftereffects left many oxygen-providing plants floating around in the atmosphere. The spores of these plants ultimately cause “Venus Sickness” for some people. Not only do poor people live on Venus, but the unlucky that catch this sickness may eventually go blind or even die as a result. Many moons of Jupiter like Callisto, Io, and Ganymede have been terraformed and colonized, though some to more of an extent than others. Rough Callisto is a dreary, hostile, and poverty-ridden cold moon (with the city of Blue Crow having an all male population); Io is a toxic, volcanic, arid ball of sand, while Ganymede is almost completely surrounded by water and known for its fishing industry. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a barren desert world which has been at war since the 2060s (Titan War II in 2068 which was survived by veterans such as Vincent Volaju, Gren, and Vicious). There is even a Solar System Penitentiary on Pluto. Lastly, some asteroids have been colonized for their minerals and other natural resources.

Most importantly to the general plot of the series, sometime after the advent of space travel, the bounty system of the Old West was reinstated by the government to help curb growing crime levels. Bounty hunters are encouraged to capture criminals and return them (alive and relatively unharmed) to the authorities for a large reward. In addition, ruthless crime syndicates still have much influence in the Solar System, including bribery, murder, extortion, drug dealing, money laundering and other criminal offences. At some point between the present day and the events of Cowboy Bebop, the Woolong was established as a universal currency. Paper money is becoming less frequent as most people carry convenient money cards and rely on digital transfers.

The technology in the world of Cowboy Bebop has undergone advancements to accommodate 21st century life in the Solar System. In order to make travel between hyperspace gates faster and more efficient, a variety of spaceships are used. Most are designed to simply accommodate a single-pod cockpit that can be ejected and navigated independently of the ship itself. The system of operation for a majority of these spaceships is known as the “Machine Operation Navigation of Outer Space,” or simply, “MONO.” Medical advancements such as artificial organs and cryogenic freezing have been mastered and are in full use. Devices called “Alpha Catch” capture images and movies onto a monitor from the brain of a person that it is hooked up to. Virtual reality gaming is the standard and analog hardware such as videocassettes (VHS or beta) is obsolete. Finally, the Internet, once known as the World Wide Web, has evolved into a massive Solar System Web (SSW).

Longevity

A poll in the Japanese magazine Newtype asked its readers to rank the "Top 25 Anime Titles of All Time"; Cowboy Bebop placed at number two on a list that included Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion.[Newtype Press Release] - Anime News Network

In the U.S., Cartoon Network has dropped Cowboy Bebop from its Adult Swim line-up several times, only to return it later. The network has also rotated Cowboy Bebop out of its anime lineup periodically in order to show other anime features such as Read or Die and Blue Gender. Cowboy Bebop is usually rotated out for a quarter of a year and then returned to the lineup. As of June 2006 the show is still on Adult Swim, on Saturday (1:30 am EST)

History

Cowboy Bebop almost did not make it on Japanese broadcast television due to its depictions of violence. It was first sent to TV Tokyo, one of the main broadcasters of anime in Japan. However, at the time it was cracking down on violence and sexuality in animes after the notoriously controversial broadcast of Neon Genesis Evangelion three years prior. The show had an aborted first run beginning on April 3, 1998 and running until June 19, 1998 on TV Tokyo, broadcasting only episodes 2, 3, 7-15 and 18. Some blame this on TV Tokyo, however, there is evidence to suggest the time slot after April 23rd was already booked. In fact, the episode XX is said to be protest by staff for the treatment of the show. Later that year, the series was shown in its entirety beginning on October 23 and running until April 23, 1999 on the satellite network WOWOW. With this broadcast slot fiasco, the whole production schedule was completely shot enough that the last episode was in fact turned over to WOWOW on the day of broadcast. Cowboy Bebop was popular enough that a movie, [[Cowboy Bebop: The Movie|Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira]] (Knockin' on Heaven's Door), was commissioned and released in Japan in 2001 and later released in the United States as Cowboy Bebop: The Movie in 2003.

In 2001, Cowboy Bebop became the first anime title to be shown as part of the U.S. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. At the time, it was quite a risk for the fledgling network as a more "adult" anime had never been broadcast in such a mainstream venue before. However, it turned out to be a rousing success, continuing to be broadcast regularly until present. The success of Cowboy Bebop paved the way for Adult Swim's embrace of mature anime, including InuYasha, Lupin the Third, Trigun, Blue Gender, Fullmetal Alchemist, FLCL, Witch Hunter Robin, Samurai Champloo, and Wolf's Rain.

• In the United Kingdom, Cowboy Bebop was first broadcast in 2003 as one of the highlights of the ill-fated 'cartoon network for adults', CNX.
• In Catalonia Cowboy Bebop was broadcast several times on Canal 33
• In France Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during summer 2000 on Canal+.
• In Germany Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2003-2004 on MTV.
• In Poland, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast several times by Hyper.
• In Israel, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2001-2002 on Bip's late-night anime block.
• Animax regularly has Cowboy Bebop on rotation.

Bandai released a Cowboy Bebop shooter in Japan for the PlayStation in 1998 . A PlayStation 2 Cowboy Bebop video game has been released in Japan, and the English version had been set for release in North America during the first quarter of 2006. However, as of June 2006 there has been no release date set for the American release [link]

In 2005, seven years after its original Japanese broadcast, Bebop was finally licensed and released in the European market by Beez, an extension of Bandai Entertainment.

Soundtrack

One of the most notable elements of Cowboy Bebop is its music, mostly performed by Yoko Kanno and her band, The Seatbelts. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the jazz-and-blues-themed soundtrack defines the series as much as the characters, writing, or animation; many fans find the soundtracks enjoyable to listen to as albums on their own merits.

Besides the three original soundtracks, Cowboy Bebop, No Disc and [[Cowboy Bebop: Blue|Blue]], there is a mini-album, Vitaminless, and a greatest-hits collection, TANK! The! Best!. The remix compilation, [[Remixes: Music for Freelance|Music for Freelance]], purports to be a broadcast from the pirate radio station Radio Free Mars. Finally, there is a CD box set, which includes a variety of tracks from the first original soundtracks, as well as rare/new versions of certain songs and dialogue tracks from the Japanese version of the show.

Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts team with Tim Jensen for lyrics on songs:

• "Ask DNA" sung by Raj Ramayya
• "Gotta knock a little harder" sung by Mai Yamane
• "Call me, call me" sung by Steve Conte

Cowboy Bebop was voted by IGN.com in 2006 as having the greatest anime soundtrack ever.[link]

Staff

The series was created by "Hajime Yatate," a collective pseudonym for members of the staff at Sunrise, the animation studio that also developed Mobile Suit Gundam, Big O, Outlaw Star and Vision of Escaflowne. Cowboy Bebop was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who also directed Macross Plus, Samurai Champloo and the two short films A Detective Story and Kid's Story from the Animatrix. The music of Cowboy Bebop was all composed by Yoko Kanno, who also composed music for Earth Girl Arjuna, Macross Plus, Vision of Escaflowne, [[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]] and Wolf's Rain.

The Cowboy Bebop movie was animated by Studio BONES, a new studio created by many former employees of Sunrise, and was one of their first projects. They have since developed other popular series like RahXephon, Wolf's Rain, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Influences

Cowboy Bebop's influences are many and varied.

• Cowboy Bebop is strongly influenced by Chinese culture: from the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate (Chinese dragon), Spike's Jeet Kune Do martial arts techniques and philosophy, and the numerous Chinatowns present on Mars and other planets.
• Cowboy Bebop is also heavily influenced by American culture: from cinema, including mobster movies, film noir, and westerns, to the jazz music out of the Harlem nightclubs of the 1940s. It is referred to as Space Jazz by its creators - as opposed to Space Opera, although it has strong similarities to the character-centered action-packed genre - probably for its lighter side, as it is more humorous than the standard Space Opera, often poking fun at the genre.
• Cowboy Bebop has marks of Bruce Lee and his martial arts, fighting philosophy, and his martial arts movies. Spike's fighting style (Jeet Kune Do) is borrowed directly from Bruce Lee. Also, the name of the bounty in the second episode is Abdul Hakim, borrowed from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death that co-starred Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who played a character called "Hakim." On two other separate occasions, Spike also mentions Enter the Dragon and Way of the Dragon, two more Bruce Lee movies. Also, when he teaches Roco Bonnaro to fight in "Waltz for Venus", he recites philosophy which is directly from quotes of Bruce Lee. The creator of Cowboy Bebop stated that Cowboy Bebop was a tribute to Bruce Lee.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
• Spike's lanky and laid-back character was heavily influenced by the charismatic thief Lupin the 3rd, from the anime and manga Lupin III, and they have similar characteristics. Likewise, Jet was influenced by Lupin's partner Jigen. Tributes to Lupin are peppered throughout the show, including characters wearing clothing worn by the cast in the Lupin series, and some of Lupin's cars, especially the famous yellow Fiat 500 from the movie The Castle of Cagliostro, appearing in scenes or in the background. Ironically enough, Monkey Punch later created a series called Cinderella Boy, with a main character based heavilly on Spike (though with a more positive outlook on life) bringing the process full circle.
• Spike's character had mainly been attributed by creators to the Japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda from the Japanese TV series and movie entitled Tantei Monogatari. It is from Matsuda that Spike is credited for receiving his unique hair style and other physical features.
• As suggested by the series' title, westerns play a major influence on Cowboy Bebop. Like most westerns, the main characters are nomadic, self reliant individuals with personal moral codes, the weapon of choice for most dramatic scenes is a handgun, and episodes often revolve around codes of honor and themes of morality. There are also more explicit western influences such as Spike Spiegel's character's influence from the "Man With No Name," a cowboy bounty hunter played by Clint Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy by Sergio Leone, a television program within the series called Big Shot that showcases noteworthy bounties and features a cowboy motif, and one of the funniest antagonists in anime, Cowboy Andy, the naive poseur cowboy/bounty hunter with steed who contrasts with Spike's darker antihero cowboy.
• According to mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane's notes, Spike's Sword Fish II MONO racer was inspired by Britain's Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber of World War II. The Cowboy Bebop movie includes a cameo of the Fairey SwordFish along with a dialogue reference to the sinking of the Bismarck battleship (Fairey Swordfish bombers were crucial to the sinking of the Bismarck). There is also fan speculation that the Sword Fish II is based on the Swordfish, an experimental airplane in Edgar P. Jacobs' comic series Blake and Mortimer, although the creators have not stated this.
• Many of the stories of Cowboy Bebop and even cinematic stylings were lifted from other movies. These include influences from or homages to [[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]], The Crow, Wong Kar-wai and John Woo, Alien, blaxploitation movies, Star Trek, Moonraker, Desperado, and Dirty Harry.
• In the episode "Ganymede Elegy", Jet's past relationship with Alisa is similar to that of the husband's and wife's from Henrik Ibsen's play The Doll House. Alisa even borrows money from a loan shark just like the wife from "The Doll's House".
• Allusions to external works are often made to hint at some of the darker themes. In episode 25, Jet makes reference to the Ernest Hemingway classic The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Spike also recites the Japanese tale Hyakuman-kai Ikita Neko ("The cat that lived a million times") in the final episode as an explanation of his life, although he claims to hate the story because he hates cats.
• Many sessions take their titles from classic rock & roll songs, i.e. "Bohemian Rhapsody" , "Toys in the Attic" , "Sympathy for the Devil" , "Wild Horses"

• As an interesting foot note, director Spike Jonze's (Adaptation, the Jackass movie, and various Beastie Boys music videos) actual name is Adam Spiegel, which if recombined, would make the same name as Cowboy Bebop's lovable, scruffy haired bounty hunter. However, the director, Shinichiro Wantanabe, has stated that this is just a coincidence.

Controversial episodes

• Shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Cartoon Network decided not to air episode 6, "Sympathy for the Devil" (due to the depiction of a gun wielding 'minor' who also gets shot in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre), episode 8, "Waltz for Venus" (which features criminals hijacking an airplane), and episode 22, "Cowboy Funk" (which features a terrorist who blows up tall buildings, including a pair similar in design to the Petronas Towers but that was apparently too reminiscent of the World Trade Center). Eventually, the episodes were put back into the regular rotation. The terrorist attacks and subsequent anthrax scare were also credited with delaying the release of the Cowboy Bebop movie in the United States by Sony Pictures, which featured a terrorist using nanomachines as biological warfare agents.
• Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, Cartoon Network decided not to air episode 19, "Wild Horses", in which the Columbia shuttle is featured as a prominent plot point in the story. The episode had been shown in previous airings of the series, and has since been put back into the rotation.

Content ratings

The certifications for Cowboy Bebop are TV-14 in the USA, M and MA in Australia, PG in Singapore, G and 13+ in Quebec, Canada (different episodes on video received different ratings), and PG, 12, and 15 in Britain (different episodes received different ratings and were not rated for TV when it aired before the conventional watershead of 9pm at 8.30pm), and 16 in Poland.

Cowboy Bebop contains adult language, violence, and brief nudity. Some of the language and nudity has been edited out of the English translation aired on Cartoon Network, but not on CNX. It is retained in the DVD releases.

Licensing, authors, and publishers

• Cowboy Bebop is licensed by Bandai in the United States.
• The following manga series were published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japanese and TOKYOPOP in English:
• *Cowboy Bebop by Hajime Yatate and Yutaka Nanten
• *[[Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star]] by Cain Kuga
• A Cowboy Bebop game for PlayStation 2 was released in Japan, but as of now it is unknown if Bandai will do so as well in the United States since the official US website and info at Bandai Games have been removed.

Theme songs

• Opening

1. "Tank!" by The Seatbelts

Ending

"The Real Folk Blues" by Mai Yamane (eps. 1-12, 14-25)

"Space Lion" by The Seatbelts (ep. 13)

"Blue" by Mai Yamane (ep. 26)

See also

• [[Cowboy Bebop: The Movie]]
• List of Cowboy Bebop characters
• List of Bountyheads in Cowboy Bebop
• List of Cowboy Bebop episodes
• List of Cowboy Bebop manga
• Cowboy Bebop (PlayStation game)
• Cowboy Bebop (PlayStation 2 game)
• Red Eye (drug)
• Space Western

References

External links

• [Mirror of Cowboy Bebop official site]
• [Official U.S. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie web site]
• [] at TV.com
• [Cowboy Bebop] at the Anime News Network Encyclopedia
• [Adult Swim - Cowboy Bebop]
• [Cowboy Bebop Screenshots Gallery]
• [Cowboy Bebop - Somewhere Down The Crazy River]
• [Cowboy Bebop: Space Cowboy]- Bebop Wiki and Open Source MUD
• [Cowboy Bebop: The Real Folk Blues] A fan site.
• [The Jazz Messengers] A fan site including video and audio from the series.
• [Shinichiro Watanabe at Detroit Film Theatre, Feb. 8th, 2006]
• [Yoko Kanno Project Music Sample]

The Works of Shinichiro Watanabe

TV series: Cowboy Bebop | Macross Plus | Samurai Champloo

Films: [[Cowboy Bebop: The Movie|Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door]]

Short Films: A Detective Story | Kid's Story

Cowboy Bebop

Main	List of Cowboy Bebop episodes > List of Cowboy Bebop manga | [[Cowboy Bebop: The Movie]] | List of Cowboy Bebop characters | List of Bountyheads in Cowboy Bebop
Music	The Seatbelts > Yoko Kanno | Cowboy Bebop (album) | Vitaminless
Other	Red Eye (drug) > Woolong | Cowboy Bebop (PlayStation game) | Cowboy Bebop (PlayStation 2 game)

 

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