Okay, 3, 2, 1, Let's Jam!

Cowboy Bebop has been my favorite anime since I saw it for the first time in 2021 (late to the party, I know!) I've watched it all the way through at least five times, and gotten something new and valuable out of it each time. I feel a close connection to each of the main characters and their storylines, and I absolutely love digging deeply into the meaning behind them. I created this page to share my love of the show, and have a place to put all of my favorite things from/about it.

One of the biggest pieces has to be the world building. Everything from the ships to the planets feels so fleshed out and real, and yet they never have to go into explicit detail about it. It's a prime example of showing instead of telling, and I really enjoy that the exposition happens over multiple episodes. You pretty much spend the entire show learning more about the world instead of having it described to you all in one go. This also gives the impression that things happen when we aren't watching. It makes the story feel a lot more real, as if the Bebop's crew still goes about their life between episodes. Which in turn, makes the ending all the more fascinating and tragic.

The characters are obviously another one of the best aspects of the show. I love that none of them are quite likable in a traditional sense. They all have at least one major flaw that holds them back from being the hero one might expect. They're all selfish, broken, and often mean people. But the show makes them come off just cool enough to enjoy until you learn their backstories and begin to understand why they act the way they do. In fact, one of the greatest things about the show is not knowing why a character is doing something, then finally understanding when you learn more about them. It makes re-watching even better because you can pick up on the little details and nuances of who they are.

Finally, I have to mention the music. Fun fact: most of the soundtrack was actually developed before the show was animated and voiced, which supposedly influenced production a lot. Even without that fact, the music is really really good, and absolutely makes the show.

Another added bonus is how good the dub is. A lot of folks swear by only watching subbed anime, and while I can understand why as older anime especially has a bad track record with dubbing, the Cowboy Bebop dub rocks. I also think it's fair to note that as a native English speaker, I'm not going to understand the inflection and phrasing used in japanese and therefore I'll miss important pieces of the story, which is why a good dub is important to me.