Cowboy Bebop

A timeless show, even decades later holds up; new meanings discovered each time.

This show is just so unique and so much though is given to how the world progresses without the the title characters. Similar to Ghost in the Shell, setting the scene to show the character's place in this other world is essential to making the characters feel real. Even tow trucks, set up in "Heavy Metal Queen" are shaped as hexagonal cross sections as opposed to today's rectangular because they don't exist on the ground but in space.

They must create new dreams and films by breaking traditional styles. They are sick and tired of conventional fixed style jazz. …the work, which becomes a new genre itself, will be called COWBOY BEBOP, will play without fear of risky things. - Cowboy Bebop Title Card

My favorite one off "Wild Horses" (S01E19) which funnily enough shows off the Space Shuttle Columbia. More importantly to the show, it illustrates the history of both Spike and his craft, the Swordfish II. It adds even more depth to his character and what he was like well before his time in the syndicate, meeting Julia or Vicious. Under the tutelage of a grumpy old man, Doohan, Spike learned how to work as a mechanic and would inherit the space craft at the end of his tenure.

It also is the episode that has Spike's most memorable quote while facing death by burning up in the atmosphere: "Whatever happens... happens".

On the ambiguity of the ending and the context of Spike's final fight with Vicious.

Musical Sessions

Just as how the impetus of this brainless endeavor was the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic and the social isolation which followed, my renewed focus on Cowboy Bebop is similarly driven by how the original musical cast of the show, the Seatbelts, recently got back together for a special rendition of The Real Folk Blues, as well as a more mellow Lo-Fi version which I quite enjoy.

See You Space Cowboy ~