One of the best animé series to come out of the ’90s, Cowboy Bebop – more than 20 years since it was first released – is still regarded as a groundbreaking anime television series. The series, especially the English dubbed version, is still regarded as an iconic series, and a great introduction to animé, in general.

The series follows the exploits of a crew of bounty hunters aboard a spacecraft, called the Bebop. The protagonists of this tale, Spike, Jet Black, and Faye each have a past they wish they could shake, in a series that explores loneliness and other existential issues.

The series, which saw great commercial – as well as, critical – success when it was first released in ’98 has captured the imagination for more than two decades. The cult classic recently had a live-action adaptation created by the streaming giant, Netflix. It has met with mixed responses but does speak to the anime series’ enduring appeal.

So What’s Cowboy Bebop?

Not everybody reading this post will be aware of what Cowboy Bebop is all about, so we ought to backtrack a tad and offer more information. Cowboy Bebop science fiction, western, film noir-inspired mash-up of an animé series that kind of cut its path in terms of genre.

The series first saw the light of day in 1998 and was created by an anime production studio, Sunrise. Shinichirō Watanabe was the director behind the series, while the series’ soundtrack was the creative contribution of composer Yoko Kanno.

Cowboy Bebop is set in the year 2071, in a world where humanity no longer lives on Earth, but is dispersed across the Solar System. One can imagine what a logistical nightmare law enforcement would be in that sort of reality, so the powers that reinstated the Bounty Hunter system.

Characters

The series follows the crew of a small rickety spacecraft known as the Bebop. Spike, Jet, Faye Valentine, Ed, and data dog, Ein. The team of bounty hunters each have a unique past, Spike Spiegel is a former hitman for the Red Dragon criminal organization. He has a rough history with a character named Julia.

Jet Black is a former police officer, while Faye – who joins the crew – is a con artist with amnesia. Ed is an eccentric girl with a talent for hacking, while Ein is a genetically-engineered Pembroke Welsh Corgi with human-level intelligence.

Story of Cowboy Bebop

The main story arc follows Spike’s bitter love triangle, between himself, the bombshell Julia, and ambitious gangster Vicious. However, the show allows one a glimpse into the pasts of the other characters. The circumstances behind Jet’s departure from law enforcement, Faye’s history as a young lady from the earth, cryogenically frozen to save her life. Even Ed’s weird meanderings.

The show explores several existential issues, with hunger being one of them. The series often sees the crew getting into a mishap that drains their funds, and they find themselves – quite often – having to go without essentials; food, vital ship parts, fuel.

Most of the tale’,s focus, however, is given to Spike’s former gang life. He and Julia fell in love while he was a hitman for the Red Dragon crime syndicate. Except she was the girlfriend of a former friend, Vicious. They had planned to escape the gang life to be together but Vicious found out about the affair and blackmailed Julia into killing Spike.

To get out of going through with it, she goes into hiding, while Spike fakes his death and goes into exile. Things between him and his past come to a head when he reunites with his sweetheart, and our broody protagonist finds himself making very personal decisions.

Cowboy Bebop has been successful in Japanese and Western markets, particularly the United States. It explores the concepts of existentialism, loneliness, and a past that just won’t let you go through its characters. The series has been one of the past 2 decade’s gateway series into the world of anime.

Live-Action TV Series

Announced as far back as 2017, the live-action adaptation by Netflix – released in 2021 – was criticized for not carrying the general mood of the animé effectively. Though the Netflix version of Cowboy Bebop, starring John Cho, and Mustafar Shakir kept true to the original anime, in terms of Music. The stretched episodes – for some reason – made for a more playful series.

In Closing

Cowboy Bebop is a classic, no doubt about that. Most animé fans will have a story of the first encounter with the series. Whether one familiarizes themselves with the live-action version or not, they would probably be doing themselves a great disservice by not checking out the original anime.

The post Cowboy Bebop: A Classic Anime Series appeared first on Bizznerd.

For most people, the process of getting into anime is the same. You get a taste of it from a friend, or you get lucky while switching channels or looking for something nice to watch. You get interested, so you start searching for more. Because of the concept of birds of a feather, you find more people who like anime. Those people, in most instances, might be a little more involved than you are, and so they might recommend a few classics for you to see.

These suggested classics are usually some of the movies and series that introduced the rest of the world to anime. They offer us a viewing window through which we can see what the industry used to be and how it has evolved. Here is a list (not in any order of importance/quality e.t.c) of some of those game changing creations.

Grave of the Fireflies

This celebrated 1988 flick takes the viewer into the lives of two siblings battling for day to day survival in the aftermath of a US firebombing raid that kills their mother, while their father is away for service in the Japanese military. The setting is Japan during the dying days of World War 2.

This is a nitty gritty war drama produced by writer and director, Isao Takahata, and animated by  Studio Ghibli animation . There is nothing in the story that is fantastical or whimsical.

Champion Joe 2

This is an adaptation of the very successful first franchise and is equally as entertaining as the first. Another bonus is that watching the series is a must in order to keep up with what’s going on.

The story revolves around a young boxer named Joe Yubuki, who accidentally kills his opponent in the ring, sending into a downward spiral that threatens to ruin his career. It’s a 47episode journey with Joe working to regain his status.

Detective Conan

Essentially, this is a violent and dark (too dark & violent for most countries child television policies) series that, sans the violence, could easily be passed off as a children’s show.

That said, the sometimes impossible crimes in the episode long mysteries can be quite entertaining.

Perfect Blue

This 1997 classic inspired movies like Black Swan and Requiem For A Dream. It tells the story of a Japanese pop singer who falls victim to stalking, while trying to branch out into acting.

What follows is that she dives dangerously deep into a role that could overwhelm and burn her out.

Cowboy Bebop

This is a sci-fi classic that shows up on many classic must watch lists, and with good reason. Series features a great story, setting, animation and memorable characters, where a set of galactic bounty hunters are trying to eke out a living.

If you aren’t sure about watching the entire series, that’s fine. You could watch the 2001 movie to get a feel of what it’s like.

The post A Short List of Must Watch Anime Classics appeared first on Bizznerd.

For the purpose of putting together this list, the main questions asked regarding each candidate show or movie is, how important is the role of technology in advancing the telling of the story? Does the storyline offer enough depth and maturity for an adult to watch? Does it have enough entertainment value to have the viewer hooked by the first episode?

Because one’s enjoyment of an anime can be subject to personal taste and their mood at the given time of watching, the following sci-fi flicks are listed in no particular order. It is nothing more than a friendly recommendation of something you might like. Without further adieu, here they are.

Cowboy Bebop

An anime cult classic, space western that debuted back in 2000 is credited with being the show that introduced the western world to the wonders of Japanese animation shows.

It’s a story about a group of bounty hunters trying to make ends meet. It’s a pretty simple idea that is wonderfully layered with great animation, memorable characters, drama, action, comedy and a little romance, all under one wildly entertaining umbrella.

Ghost In The Shell (Stand Alone Complex)

Not the live action Scarlett Johansson flick, but the anime sci-fi classic that inspired the Hollywood remake. The storyline explores the possible complexities that would come with living in a world where humanity and machines are increasingly hybridised.

The story revolves around the day to day happenings of the main character, Mokoto Kunsanagi, as she fights hackers, villainous cyborgs and other robotic threats.

Ergo Proxy

The setting is a severely messed up future and follows a young girl’s journey as she tries to make sense of past events that just don’t seem to add up. The storyline plays out in a world where the government is able to change people’s memories in order to control public opinion.

Though it can be a little slow at some points, it is laden with some interesting mysteries and concepts, in an equally interesting world.

Gunslinger Girl

The story plays out in a near-future Italy, where an organisation known officially as the Social Welfare Agency recruits orphan girls to counter a growing terrorist threat. The girls are equipped with guns, special forces level training and cyborg parts to complete their grisly assignments.

Though slow at times, it does a good job of pointing out the horrors faced by children who are recruited into combatant roles.

Terra Formars

An attempt to colonise planet Mars using modified elgae and cockroaches doesn’t go as planned. As 500 years after sending the insects and elgea, a manned mission to the red planet is wiped out by hyper-evolved humanoid cockroaches (called the terraformers). Meanwhile, humanity is also battling a mystery virus known as the A E virus (Alien Engine Virus).

Questions about the origin of the virus and the terraformers start to surface. The show has a good mixture of emotions, intrigue and action.

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