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A mix between space opera and hard-boiled detective film noir, Cowboy Bebop is one of the "show-off" series of recent years, a 26-episode TV and OVA series (not all episodes were on Japanese TV, such as the first episode, dealing with drug use). The movie, Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (set in the middle of the series) is on my list of must-owns, as well.

"I think it's time to blow this scene.
Let's get everybody and the stuff together.
Okay, 3, 2, 1, let's go!"
-- "Tank!" theme song

The series follows the bounty hunter Spike, a man with a dark past that keeps returning to haunt him, and his partner, Jet Black, owner of the Bebop, a starship they use to go after various criminals. Along the way they meet fellow bounty huntress Faye Valentine and super-hacker "Ed". Also along for the ride, and a big help on a couple cases, is the Welsh Corgie "data-dog", Ein.

Every space opera needs a villain, and this series has a great one in Vicious, a member of a crime syndicate from Spike's past. Most episodes have a different villain each week, however, as Vicious only appears in five episodes, but they're a powerful set (and my favorite mini-marathon).

You can't have a true hard-boiled detective film noir without a dangerous woman, and while Faye may fit that bill in most episodes with some Bogart/Bacall similarities now and then, no-one can come away from the series without acknowledging the mysterious "Julia", a woman from Spike's past in the crime syndicate. And for the detective portion, Jet retired from the police force after losing an arm on a case (and replacing it with a cybernetic one of course), and has quite a past of his own.

"Oops, sirens. You know what that means.
Time for me to get eccentric."
-- Mr. Martian, Radio Free Mars

The animation does merge digital effects at times, but it's not as jarring as a lot of others. Backgrounds in space, a few planetary landscapes, and the ever-present space gates are the extent of the digital shots; ships themselves are still hand-drawn and merge surprisingly well.

Music by Kanno Yoko. Need I say more? One of my personal favorites, who also wrote the music for Macross Plus, The Vision of Escaflowne, Please Save My Earth, and Earth Girl Arjuna. A nice fan site for more information about her is The Yoko Kanno Project.

"Bang."

Cowboy Bebop
Distributed by Bandai Entertainment

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