Cowboy Bebop Genre: Action KalaxDG's Overall Score: 8.0

Reviewer: KalaxDG
Type of Review: General

Hailed by anime fans everywhere and one of the most sought after titles, Cowboy Bebop stands as one of the most popular animes ever to hit North America. Although not on the top of my list, I can't deny that Bebop is an extremely well-crafted story, complete with deep characters, flowing animation, and a range of emotions. On the other hand, two things that turn me away are first, the slow beginning, and second, the multitude of "filler" episodes.

CB is set in the future as the solar system (NOT the galaxy) is traveled widely by the human race, but after a large space accident wiped out the surface of the earth. Uninhabitable, and almost uninhabited, the planet has become a mysterious wasteland. Spike Spiegel and Jet Black are two bounty hunters who base their operations out of their large ship, rightly named "Cowboy Bebop." Of course, the cost of living, repais, and feeding the mouths of newfound friends such as Faye Valentine, Ein, and Ed catch up to them, as they are constantly broke and money-grubbing. The show leads us on a journey for money and history, the one inescapable thing, with a great deal of comedy, tragedy, and the never-ending "fillers."

As I have said, the characters in Bebop are incredibly well-designed, each with their own unique history (well, except for Ein, the cyborg-puppy-sidekick, but come on.). As the crew of the ship continue their journey throughout the solar system, they are slowly captured by their past, running into old friends, enemies, and lovers. Spike still has to deal with the underground crime syndicate he left, and never stops his search for his lost love Julia. Faye seems to me the character with the saddest and most touching scenes ever done, but to find out what I'm talking about you'll have to see the series.

Cowboy Bebop sports some of the best animated fight scenes, ranging from the space battle(s), to the sea battle, to the sunset fight on top of the skyscraper. Cleanly drawn in the new artistic age of Trigun and Outlaw Star, there really is nothing bad to say about Bebop's art.

This series really does start off on the slow and boring side, and I really didn't expect much out of it at the start. Luckily, it picks itself up as the progresses, producing an absolutely brilliant ending that has left almost every viewer I know of happy. One thing I do enjoy about this anime is the unique jazzy feel to it, the epitome of this effect being right at the start with the theme song "Tank." If you're looking for a top-notch anime that most have loved in the past, pick up Cowboy Bebop; perhaps the subtle themes and brilliant story-writing techniques will reach your heart as they did mine.