For anime fans of a certain age (read: old), it’s hard to believe this month marks the 20th anniversary of Cowboy Bebop. It now joins the list of series that have truly stood the test of time and remain eminently watchable today. The story of outer space bounty hunters, Spike, Jet, Faye, and Edward who occasionally manage to capture their targets, displays an impressively wide array of tones, jumping from action to romance to comedy.
Some shows have tried to ape Cowboy Bebop by focusing on the anime’s style over substance, but that’s where they get it wrong. Cowboy Bebop had both style and substance to spare. It set an impossibly high standard for other shows to live up to. In light of its 20th birthday, here are five of Cowboy Bebop’s most memorable sessions (the show’s name for episodes).
“Ballad of Fallen Angels”
It’s easy to forget, but amid all the awesome standalone episodes, Cowboy Bebop has a killer plot running in the background. We see hints of it earlier in the series, but “Ballad of Fallen Angels” is the first time it really gets to shine.
Spike’s background as part of a crime family takes center stage, as he seeks the bounty on an executive of his former employer. This forces him to go toe-to-toe with his once-friend and now bitter enemy, Vicious. The action and drama on display are top notch, and we see a completely new side of Spike. He is a damaged man, one with a singular focus when it comes to matters of his past.
The brilliance of Yoko Kanno’s soundtrack gets top billing here, with “Rain” setting the perfect mood for the impending battle between Spike and Vicious. The moment that stained-glass window shatters, accompanied by the beautiful piano lullaby “Green Bird” will live in your memory forever.
“Jupiter Jazz” (Parts 1 & 2)
I’m cheating and counting both parts of “Jupiter Jazz” as a single episode. Carrying on the main plot from “Ballad of Fallen Angels,” these episodes see Spike lured to Jupiter’s moon, Callisto, by a shady drug deal with the codename “Julia.”
As attentive viewers will have figured out, Julia is a Very Important Person from Spike’s past, and he seems none too pleased that Vicious is using her name for his drug deals. Meanwhile, Faye gets wrapped up with a saxophone player named Gren, who, naturally, is tied up in all this drug dealing business, too.
The connection between Gren and Vicious is beautifully detailed, flashing back to the war on Titan in which they were comrades. The episode also serves to drive home the idea that Vicious is irredeemably awful. Few stories could pull off a villain so perversely evil, but Cowboy Bebop handles it brilliantly.
“Hard Luck Woman”
Faye Valentine comes across as goofy and vapid at times, but it’s all a mask. She’s a deeply troubled and intelligent woman, doing her best to get by. At a young age, she suffered a terrible accident and wound up being cryogenically frozen until she could be cured. That cold nap sent her well into the future, into a world she no longer understands. “Hard Luck Woman” is the culmination of her story.
Following clues about her previous life, she remembers where she came from and sets out to see what’s left of the life she once lived. What she finds isn’t life-changing; it doesn’t make anything in this world make sense. The image of Faye lying down on the patch of bare land that was once the bed in her childhood room is heartbreaking. Sometimes, the universe won’t give us our happy ending; we have to fight for it ourselves. Faye learns that here, and it’s a lesson that will come in handy as the series comes to a close.
“Toys in the Attic”
When Cowboy Bebop takes itself seriously, it takes itself very seriously, though it never falls into the trap of melodrama for its own sake. On the other hand, when it decides to get goofy, it goes all out. The name of the game this time is a parody of space horror movies like Ridley Scott’s Alien. Some… thing is on board the Bebop, and it’s picking off the crew one by one.
As each main character winds up comatose, we realize pretty quickly this is just for laughs. Considering how dark the show can be at times, this episode is refreshing in how much fun it has with the characters. When the monster turns out to be a rock lobster left in the fridge too long, it’s the perfect ending to a wacky episode.
“Ganymede Elegy”
While all episodes of Cowboy Bebop are gems, I couldn’t end without mentioning Session 10, “Ganymede Elegy.” This episode is when we get our first in-depth look at Jet Black’s complicated past. When Jet learns his old girlfriend Alisa’s new boyfriend has a bounty on his head, he has a difficult decision to make. It also gives him the opportunity to put his pain behind him and move on.
The highlight of this episode has to be the high-speed chase set to the song “ELM.” It’s a haunting, folksy melody that conveys both sadness and hope. It truly shows what an artist of Kanno’s caliber can do with the right project.
No anime has managed to successfully combine all the ingredients that made Cowboy Bebop so special. Was Cowboy Bebop a once-in-a-lifetime show? Can anything ever live up to it? That remains to be seen. But 20 years later, there’s never been a better time to revisit this seminal work of anime art. See you, Space Cowboys.
