12/29/2005

Cowboy Bebop (カウボーイビバップ, but most often written in English, even in Japan) is an anime series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe that initially ran starting in 1998. The show was quite popular there and has also been widely popular in the United States, often credited with significantly broadening the popularity of anime in North America. Bandai licensed Cowboy Bebop in the United States. Two manga series were created based on the TV show, one titled Cowboy Bebop by Hajime Yatate and Yutaka Nanten and a second entitled Cowboy Bebop Shooting Star by Cain Kuga; TOKYOPOP publishes both the first and second series in English. Both were published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten.

In the year 2071, the crew of the ship, Bebop, travel around the solar system, trying to catch “bounty-heads.” In the slang of the era, “cowboys” are bounty hunters, hence the name of the series. Each member of the Bebop crew contribute their own unique abilities to help catch bounty heads. Most episodes revolve around a bounty; however the real focus of the show concerns the pasts of each character, which unravel and connect as the series progresses.

The main plot line focuses on Spike Spiegel, whose syndicate past begins to catch up with him three years after he left. The secondary plot deals with Faye Valentine, a woman whose past is a mystery to even herself. She too, must deal with her past, as well as her debt-ridden present.

The show was widely respected for its multiple layers and deep characters, combined with a very free-flowing feel to the story itself (heavily influenced by American culture, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, hence “bebop”) and a large number of well-choreographed action sequences (from space battles to hand-to-hand combat).

Links:

CowboyBebop.org
The-Bebop
The Jazz Messengers
Somewhere Down the Crazy River

Source: Wikipedia