If Cowboy Bebop could be distilled to any one description that would probably be space western, and it features a universe where old-fashioned technology and morality meets spaceships and astral gates. Related: What To Expect From Netflix's Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Show Over 20 years after it finished there's still demand for more from the Bebop crew, but it appears Watanabe would prefer to leave the show in the past.
Director Shinichirō Watanabe returned for 2001 movie spinoff Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door, which was set before the ending of the series.
The series very much left fans wanting more too, as it only lasted 26 episodes. They're a ragtag crew of bounty hunters and are made up of Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed and a hyperintelligent dog named Ein.Ĭowboy Bebop episodes could veer from melancholy romance to a parody of Alien, but it was always grounded with great characters and an incredible soundtrack.
It's hard to pinpoint its exact genre, since its a fusion of noir, comedy, western, sci-fi and about half a dozen others, but the core of the series focuses on the crew of the titular Bebop ship. Director Shinichiro Watanabe, writer Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto and composer Yoko Kanno had previously collaborated on beloved series such as Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and Macross Plus, the latter of which was a cult hit abroad.What year is beloved anime series C owboy Bebop set in? Alongside the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop is one of the defining anime shows of the 1990s. Many of the creative staff were studio veterans. It was originally intended as a vehicle to sell spaceship toys by parent company Bandai before that idea was abandoned. The show was a production by Sunrise, the anime studio best-known for the Gundam franchise. The origins of Bebop itself seem almost too impossible to be true. The two find themselves emotionally held at a distance from each other in consequence of a Shakespearean divide: a woman who can’t reconnect to her past and a man who can’t envision a future.
At the core of the bounty hunting adventure serial was a poignant relationship between a pair of now-iconic lead characters, Faye Valentine and Spike Spiegel. Though awash in style and verve, Cowboy Bebop wasn’t lacking in substance. (Still from Netflix trailer for 'Cowboy Bebop' anime) Tension between Faye and Spike was often sizzling. Communications scholar Fabienne Darling-Wolf explores how media producers in Japan were among others who found international reach, inviting viewers to negotiate their own sense of place with “cultural products, images and information increasingly disconnected from their place of origin.” Style and substance Its critical acclaim and financial success speaks to a seismic shift in existing media landscapes in the 1980s leading into the 21st century. Thanks to the groundwork laid by shows like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing, Bebop not only found a sizable audience on DVD, but practically became an overnight success when it was selected as the first anime to be broadcast on Cartoon Network’s burgeoning late-night programming block Adult Swim in 2001.Īs noted by media scholar Sandra Annett, Cowboy Bebop represented a work of art that existed outside national boundaries - what she calls a “ shift towards post-nationalism.” The series, set in the year 2071, and anchored in the civilization hub of the planet Mars, presented a dynamic, compelling and surprisingly cohesive melting pot of disparate cultural influences, all of which combine to articulate a story that is - at its core - globally inclusive.
Anime hits western pop cultureįirst released on home video in the West in 2000, Cowboy Bebop rode one of anime’s earliest major waves into western popular culture. Netflix’s ‘Cowboy Bebop’ opening credits.