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I did not start watching anime seriously until about February 2001, the time that I joined DVDTown. Once I joined the site, I undertook the task of reviewing anime releases so that the site could broaden its coverage of the DVD market. I have enjoyed anime as much as any other motion-picture style. Pretty soon, people were telling me that I should "definitely check out ´Cowboy Bebop.´" Sources from all over the place--in real life, in e-mails, at websites--recommended the series to me. Thus, I began watching "Cowboy Bebop" thinking that I was about to experience the greatest piece of anime ever created.
Alas, it disappointed me.
In Japan, a lot of shows run for twenty-six half-hour episodes--the equivalent of one season. Most of these shows follow one big story arc, so each episode deals with leading up to a big, meaningful moment. Along the way, subplots are explored in order to create a fuller, richer world to tickle the viewer´s imagination.
Not so with "Bebop." A couple of episodes here and there lead up to the show´s finale, but every episode seems to be comprised of throwaway moments. A few hints develop in passing, taking place during a moment´s glance, but one could never really tell in what direction the series was heading. The series seems intent on not following up on any of the story leads that it develops. Indeed, the makers of "Bebop" take the task of creating an "anti-genre" project so seriously that the scripts prolong not-quite essential scenes while rushing through plot developments that appear to be important to a third-party observer.
In "Cowboy Bebop," bounty hunters Jet and Spike fly around the universe in order to catch criminals. Jet´s mother ship, the Cowboy Bebop, is an old space carrier, but it gets the job done. Jet and Spike each have smaller ships for greater maneuverability on planet surfaces. Although Jet has many contacts within the police force (he used to be a cop), the duo are never as successful as they hope to be, so they often go hungry. Jet and Spike pick up Faye Valentine, a lady bounty hunter. Faye was put in cryo-sleep following a disastrous accident, so she´s still in her early-twenties even though she had been asleep for more than fifty years. Faye also has no memories of her past.
It would seem that three bounty hunters working together would lead to more bounty captures, but Jet, Spike, and Faye always get in each other´s way, so not much is ever accomplished. Of course, each bounty hunter has his/her own agenda as well. Jet can´t seem to resist going back to the planet Ganymede. He´s got old friends, old girlfriends, and old scores to settle on Ganymede. Meanwhile, Faye has a mysterious monetary debt as well as a ferocious appetite for gambling, so she´s always in big trouble with creditors and gangsters.
Spike has the most issues. Apparently, he used to be a member of the crime syndicate known as the Red Dragon group. As is the case with so many other crime organizations, the Red Dragon does not like seeing its members leave its fold to become "good citizens," and Spike has to fight off his share of old foes. Also, his old comrade-in-arms, Vicious, dogs Spike every step of his intergalactic way, and he´s always mumbling something about a certain Julia...
All this sounds fairly exciting, and it could´ve made for a great space opera/epic. Instead, I felt that the execution of the story failed its strong premise. Indeed, I couldn´t believe that someone would go through the trouble of creating such a sexy-looking character as Faye Valentine and give her little to do but act bitchy, smoke tons of cigarettes, and gamble away all of her bounty money.
Characters come and go without much context. Even a principal figure seems to be an afterthought. The crew of the Cowboy Bebop picks up Ed, an impish girl in her teens who happens to be a hacker genius. Sure, Ed performs a few computer tasks with great zeal and relish, but mostly, she´s just hungry and complains about her growling stomach. Also, the show initially makes a big deal out of the fact that Ein the dog is a rare "data hound," inputted with the ability to do something special with digital information, but Ein doesn´t appear to be all that important. All Ein seems to do with his special ability is to bark at a few computer screens and (in one episode) to download information via a visor. There´s Annie, someone about whom Spike seems to care, but she shows up briefly before dying in a later episode. The same goes for many of Spike´s, Jet´s, and Faye´s other acquaintances.
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[release]10135[/release]