Cowboy Bebop Fun

Last Year, My Mom’s Dad (who’s had a history of stumbling into my Netflix Account) randomly began watching the Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Series (Picture: Bottom Center), without a care about what the heck it was about (for he’s old and fell asleep while watching). After he left, I decided to give it a shot, but I found it very slow and boring, even I myself fell asleep, but it wasn’t til I began watching the original anime Cowboy Bebop Series on Netflix (Picture: Top Center) and since then, I just couldn’t get enough of it, for I really enjoyed the story that was being told about an unlikely crew, made up of “the Hitman (Spike Spiegel), a former Cop (Jet Black), the amnesiac con artist (Faye Valentine), elite hacker prodigy (Radical Ed) and the human intelligence Dog (Ein)”, that’s quite the team, whom in my opinion, is also an unusual looking-family (not sure if the crew themselves ever consider themselves a family).

So without further ado, allow me (Ethan Stranger) to further explain my enjoyment of Cowboy Bebop.  

(Click here to listen to the Anime Cowboy bebop Theme) 

I think what attracted me to watching Cowboy Bebop in the 1st place (despite my Mom’s Dad accidentally watching the live-action) was 1st, the setting of the series as it took place around

  In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway that made Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky planets and moons of the Solar System (even mentioned the possibility of an alternate universe resembling Cowboy Bebop in my “What if…FOR REAL! post”) because I wonder, had humans colonized various planets, then what became of the aliens (kinda remains me of Netflix’s Lost in Space, where we hardly see any humanoid aliens and it’s mostly robots and alien creatures that the Robinson family have encountered), so my guess is that either humanoid aliens don’t exist within the world of Cowboy Bebop or when humans began colonizing other planets, they hunted all humanoid alien races to extinction. 

Plus what also attached me to the series was the sorta family dynamic theme that was being played out, a band of outcasts, each with different personas, remained of how that rebel crew from Star Wars: Rebels (Picture: Bottom Right Corner) 1st started out once Erza joined.   

Or better yet, the Cowboy Bebop crew kinda remains of that small band of Bounty Hunters (Picture: Bottom Center) that was assembled by Boba Fett and Aurra Sing to Kill Mace Windu (but failed, read more about that in my “The Book of Boba Fett and Aurra Sing”).       But since this team of Bounty Hunters only formed for a short time, there wasn’t enough time to truly explore these characters than compare them to the Crew of Bebop (though now that I brought up this particular group of Bounty Hunters, wonder how they would react had they encounter the Crew of Bebop), could they help this ragtag team of Bounty Hunters kill Mace Windu or help Spike and his Bebop Crew bring down the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate for good… 

Plus I find the leader of the Bebop crew, Spike Spiegel, quite a retable, especially since he’s a man with a troubled past who just can’t seem to move past it all until he finally faces head, similar things have happened to me, as well as to others, for they try to walk away from the past, only to eventually find themselves still struggling to move on and the way to do so is to face the past head-on, like Spike says “I’m going there to find out if I’m really alive”, that should be a line I should keep in mind, for I need to learn in moving on and not get too stuck in the past.      

(Click here to rewatch the scene) 

“You told me once to forget the past, 'cause it doesn't matter, but you're the one still tied to the past, Spike”

Plus, Faye Valentine (Picture: Bottom Left Corner) very relatable as well, I think of her as an amalgam of Aurra Sing (Picture: Bottom Center) and Fujiko Mine (Picture: Bottom Right Corner), but her past remains to be a bit like Captain America’s, as she’s a woman out of time, having been put in cryogenic sleep and now has woken up in a new time with little about her past life, only for her past to slowly come back to her while still tagging along with Spike and Jet, despite those 2 finding her annoying and Faye considering “Men are such idiots”, but slowly begins to up warm to the Bebop crew, especially since she no else to turn too, even as I watch the series, I always wonder why she doesn’t leave for good, even when I feel like she does it, she always finds herself coming back (even later admitting having to feel for Spike).      

https://www.cbr.com/cowboy-bebop-faye-changed-stayed-the-same/

(Click here to read more on Faye Valentine's change upon joining the Bebop Crew)

And finally, I have a soft spot for Ed and Ein (Picture: Bottom Center), an adorable transgender hacker and an intelligent corgi do make an unusual couple surrounded by a trio of adults, this adorable pair makes me wanna see a similar pair within Entrapta (Picture: Bottom Left Corner) and that Spy x Family dog, Bond (Picture: Bottom Right Corner), as he too is an experiment dog that now high levels of intelligence and even has the ability to see into different futures (bet Ein would be jealous). It’s a shame towards the end of the anime series, both Ein and Ed left the crew to reunite with Ed’s father, though I wonder if those two will even reunite with the Bebop crew, especially after what happened to Spike in the finale, when he goes off to face the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate by himself…   

(The song playing when Ein and Ed left the Bebop Crew)

(Click here to rewatch Ed and Ein’s Mushroom Hunting Chase)

Finally (despite her 1-shot appearance in the original anime, though had somewhat of a more extended role in the Live-Action series), is Katerina Solensan (Picture: Bottom Center), she’s an amalgam of Actress Salma Hayek and Singer Selena and I felt very sorry for her, for she was caught up in a lot of bad things with various bad people and all she wanted to do was to escape this troubled life she was stuck, in the hopes for a better life, but sadly meant her end, which happens to a lot of people within today’s society, they end up getting on the wrong side, and forces them to make an escape for a better tomorrow, but only find themselves in hot water.      

 (Click to watch the best short-lived moments of Katerina Solensan)

(The perfect song had she and Spike hooked up throughout the rest of the series, wonder how she react to Faye Valentine, could those have bonded well or not?), I (Ethan Stranger) like her, she wears purple, my favorite color of all time, wish I could’ve helped her out…

And finally, I remember watching the Cowboy Bebop Movie (Picture: Bottom Left Corner), the film took place around episodes 22 and 23 of the original series, though I kinda wish the movie happened after the events within the series finale, following Spike’s battle with Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, for you know, everybody’s wondering, “does Faye revealed her feeling about Spike to Jet, will Ed and Ein ever here about the news and return to the Bebop and is Spike really dead, if not, will he or will he not return to the bebop, to keep his friends safe”? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_MsszLruro

(Click here to watch Spike vs Elektra)

For the record, I really enjoyed Cowboy Bebop (the anime version) and not so much the live-action series, for everything within the Live-action Cowboy Bebop was nothing more but various elements from the anime version cramped into each episode, ending on a cliffhanger that introduces us to Live-Action Ed and Ein. Following this live-action Cowboy Bebop series, has me worried about Netflix/Nickelodeon’s Live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, which isn’t connected in any way to            M. Night-Shangri Llama’s 2010 Live-Action Last Airbender Film      

(Radical Edward, more like “simple plain Cosplay Edward”)

Plus, I also the jazzy music from the anime series (I find it relaxing):

Finally, Cowboy Bebop introduces2 different women that Spike has encountered (plus both sport purple, my favorite color), Katerina Solensan (Picture: Bottom left Corner) had a troubled life and yearned for a new one, only to meet a sad end, while Faye Valentine (Picture: Bottom Right Corner) had trouble remembering her past and wanted to belong, at times she wanted to leave Bebop for good, but always came back (cause deep down, she cared for the crew, they were like family to her), imagine Katerina Solensan having a piece of that lifestyle… 

This is Ethan Stranger Signing Off…and now to say goodbye is Emily Bindiger’s Adieu: