Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop <tr><td colspan="2" style="background: #fff; text-align: center;"></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="background: #ccf; text-align: center;">カウボーイビバップ (Cowboy Bebop)</td></tr>
Genre	Adventure, Drama, Comedy, Science Fiction, Seinen
TV anime
Directed by	Shinichiro Watanabe
Studio	Sunrise
Network	TV Tokyo (1998-04-03 to 1998-06-19, 12 episodes only) WOWOW (1998-10-23 to 1999-04-23, Full Series) Animax Cartoon Network (Adult Swim) Cuatro, Canal 33 GMA Network CNX TMF MTV A+ Hyper, TVP Kultura CCTV-6
Original run	April 3 1998 – April 23 1999
No. of episodes	26
Movie: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (天国の扉)
Directed by	Shinichiro Watanabe
Studio	Sunrise, BONES
Released	September 1 2001 August 30 2002 March 6 2003 May 5 2003 June 26 2003 July 1 2003 September 12 2003 October 1 2003 April 6 2004
Runtime	120 min.
Manga: Cowboy Bebop
Authored by	Hajime Yatate
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten Tokyopop Editora JBC EMA
Serialized in	Monthly Asuka
Original run	–
No. of volumes	3
Manga: Cowboy Bebop:Shooting Star
Authored by	Hajime Yatate
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten Tokyopop Editora JBC EMA
Serialized in	Monthly Asuka
Original run	–
No. of volumes	2

Cowboy Bebop (カウボーイビバップ, Kaubōi Bibappu^?) is a Japanese anime series created by Sunrise and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, later continued onto a motion picture and manga series. It follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters travelling on a spaceship, the Bebop, in the year 2071.

Cowboy Bebop was a commercial success in Japan and worldwide, including the United States, being featured on Cartoon Network's late-night Adult Swim programming block, and other regions, including Europe, Latin America, and other parts of Asia. Sony Pictures released the Cowboy Bebop movie, Knockin' on Heaven's Door to movie theaters worldwide, and followed that up with a DVD release. The series has also been broadcast by the anime television network, Animax, across Japan, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and other regions, Two Cowboy Bebop manga series were created based on the TV series; as well as video games for both the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles.

Cowboy Bebop is strongly influenced by American culture, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Nearly all of its action sequences, from space battles to hand-to-hand martial arts combat, are set and timed to music. Music is a driving force within the series. Episodes are called Sessions (in reference to musicians playing a "jam session"), and titles are either borrowed from an album's or a song's name (Sympathy for the Devil), or make use of a genre name (Mushroom Samba), that will influence the whole episode's action and musical theme.

Plot

In the year 2071, the crew of the spaceship Bebop travel the solar system trying to apprehend bounties. In the slang of the era, "Cowboys" are bounty hunters. Most episodes revolve around a bounty; however the overall focus of the show concerns the deep pasts of each character and of more general past events, which unravel and connect as the series progresses.

The primary storyline focuses on Spike Spiegel, a former member of the Red Dragon crime syndicate who is haunted by a past love triangle between his former syndicate partner, Vicious, and a mysterious woman named Julia.

A secondary storyline revolves around Faye Valentine, an amnesiac indebted gambler awakened from cryogenic slumber, whose past is a mystery even to herself.

Characters

Please see List of Cowboy Bebop characters

Background

Main article: List of Cowboy Bebop episodes

The Bebop emerges from a hyperspace gate.

In the year 2021, a series of ring-shaped hyperspace gateways were constructed across the solar system, allowing for easy interplanetary travel. Unfortunately, the gate network contained a fatal instability that was ignored by the contractors who built the system. The instability grew until a gateway near Earth exploded, releasing a powerful burst of energy that cracked the Moon. In a cataclysmic disaster referred to as "The Gate Incident", meteoric debris from the devastated Moon rained down on the planet, destroying much of Earth's surface. The death toll was cataclysmic; around 4.7 billion lives were lost. People mostly live underground, as debris continues to rain down on the planet daily, although a sizable number of people refuse to leave or simply can't afford to. Most, however, left Earth after the Gate Incident and spread out across the solar system, living in colonies on Venus, Mars, some habitable asteroids, the moons of Saturn and the Galilean moons of Jupiter as well as many space stations. The total population of the solar system in 2071, when the series takes place, is only 1.5 billion.^[1]

Many of Mars' impact craters were domed and transformed into thriving metropolitan areas for those who could afford it. Venus was terraformed, with oxygen provided by a species of oxygen-producing plants floating in the atmosphere. This is not a perfect process, however, as the spores of these plants ultimately cause “Venus Sickness” for some people. This condition, left untreated, may lead to blindness or death, and the proper treatment is extremely expensive. Many moons of Jupiter, such as Callisto, Io, and Ganymede, have been terraformed and colonized with varying degrees of success. Callisto is a dreary, cold and inhospitable moon (with the city of Blue Crow having an all-male population), while Io is a volcanic ball of sand with a toxic atmosphere. Meanwhile, Ganymede is almost completely surrounded by water and is known for its fishing industry. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a barren desert world which has been at war since the 2060s (Titan War II in 2068 which was survived by veterans such as Vincent Volaju, Gren, and Vicious). There is even a Solar System Penitentiary on Pluto, and certain asteroids have been colonized for their minerals and other natural resources.

Sometime after the advent of space travel, the bounty system of the Old West was reinstated by the government to help curb growing crime levels. Bounty hunters are encouraged to capture criminals and return them (alive and relatively unharmed) to the authorities for a large reward. In addition, ruthless crime syndicates have much influence in the Solar System, indulging in such fields as bribery, murder, extortion, drug dealing, money laundering and other criminal offences. At some point between the present day and the events of Cowboy Bebop, the Woolong was established as a universal currency. Paper money became less common as more people carry convenient money cards and rely on digital transfers.

The technology in the world of Cowboy Bebop has undergone advancements to accommodate 21st century life in the Solar System. In order to make travel between hyperspace gates faster and more efficient, a variety of spaceships are used. Most are designed to simply accommodate a single-pod cockpit that can be ejected and navigated independently of the ship itself. The system of operation for a majority of these spaceships is known as the “Machine Operation Navigation of Outer Space,” or simply, “MONO.” Medical advancements such as artificial organs and cryogenic freezing have been mastered and are in full use. Home entertainment hardware called “Alpha Catch” provide a mind-machine interface for capturing or projecting images, games and movies. Virtual reality gaming is the standard and analog hardware such as videocassettes (VHS or beta) can only be found as antiques. Finally, the Internet, once known as the World Wide Web, has evolved into a massive Solar System Web (SSW).

Longevity

A poll in the Japanese originated magazine Newtype USA asked its readers to rank the "Top 25 Anime Titles of All Time"; Cowboy Bebop placed at number two on a list that included Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion.^[2]

In the U.S., Cartoon Network has dropped Cowboy Bebop from its Adult Swim line-up several times, only to return it later. The network has also rotated Cowboy Bebop out of its anime lineup periodically in order to show other anime features such as Read or Die and Blue Gender. Cowboy Bebop is usually rotated out for a quarter of a year and then returned to the lineup.

History

The crew of the Bebop. From left to right: Faye Valentine, Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ein (the dog) and Ed.

Cowboy Bebop almost did not make it on Japanese broadcast television due to its depictions of violence. It was first sent to TV Tokyo, one of the main broadcasters of anime in Japan. However, at the time it was cracking down on violence and sexuality in animes after the notoriously controversial broadcast of Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1995. The show had an aborted first run beginning on April 3, 1998 and running until June 19, 1998 on TV Tokyo, broadcasting only episodes 2, 3, 7-15 and 18. Some blame this on TV Tokyo, however, there is evidence to suggest the time slot after April 23rd was already booked. In fact, the episode XX is said to be protest by staff for the treatment of the show. Later that year, the series was shown in its entirety beginning on October 23 and running until April 23, 1999 on the satellite network WOWOW. With this broadcast slot fiasco, the whole production schedule was completely shot enough that the last episode was in fact turned over to WOWOW on the day of broadcast. The full series has also been broadcast across Japan by the anime television network, Animax, who have also aired the series via its respective networks across Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Latin America and other regions. Cowboy Bebop was popular enough that a movie, Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira (Knockin' on Heaven's Door), was commissioned and released in Japan in 2001 and later released in the United States as Cowboy Bebop: The Movie in 2003.

In 2001, Cowboy Bebop became the first anime title to be shown as part of the U.S. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. It has been successful enough that it continues to be broadcast regularly until present. The success of Cowboy Bebop paved the way for Adult Swim's showing of mature anime, including InuYasha, Lupin the Third, Trigun, Blue Gender, Fullmetal Alchemist, FLCL, Witch Hunter Robin, Samurai Champloo, Wolf's Rain, even Evangelion itself, which had made the original Japanese TV-run so infamous in the first place.

• In the United Kingdom, Cowboy Bebop was first broadcast in 2003 as one of the highlights of the ill-fated 'cartoon network for adults', CNX.
• In France Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during summer 2000 on Canal+.
• In Germany Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2003-2004 on MTV.
• In Poland, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast several times by Hyper and TVP Kultura.
• In Israel, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2001-2002 on Bip's late-night anime block.
• In Spain, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during the summer of 2006 on Cuatro's late-night show Cuatroesfera.

Bandai released a Cowboy Bebop shoot 'em up video game in Japan for the PlayStation in 1998. A PlayStation 2 Cowboy Bebop video game has been released in Japan, and the English version had been set for release in North America during the first quarter of 2006; however, as of June 2006, there has been no release date set for the American release. [1]

In 2005, seven years after its original Japanese broadcast, Bebop was finally licensed and released in the European market by Beez, an extension of Bandai Entertainment.

Soundtrack

Cowboy Bebop's 2nd Original Soundtrack CD, entitled No Disc.

Main article: The Seatbelts

One of the most notable elements of Cowboy Bebop is its music, mostly performed by Yoko Kanno and her band, The Seatbelts. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the jazz-and-blues-themed soundtrack defines the series as much as the characters, writing, or animation; many fans find the soundtracks enjoyable to listen to as albums on their own merits.

Besides the three original soundtracks, Cowboy Bebop, No Disc and Blue, there is a mini-album, Vitaminless, and a greatest-hits collection, TANK! The! Best!. The remix compilation, Music for Freelance, purports to be a broadcast from the pirate radio station Radio Free Mars. Finally, there is a 4 CD box set, which includes a variety of tracks from the first original soundtracks, as well as rare/new/live in concert versions of certain songs and dialogue tracks from the Japanese version of the show.

The two albums featuring the soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Future Blues and Ask DNA (album), were also produced by Kanno and performed by The Seatbelts.

Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts team with Tim Jensen for lyrics on songs:

• "Ask DNA" sung by Raj Ramayya
• "Gotta knock a little harder" sung by Mai Yamane
• "Call me, call me" sung by Steve Conte

Cowboy Bebop was voted by IGN in 2006 as having the greatest anime soundtrack ever.^[3]

Staff

The series was created by "Hajime Yatate," a collective pseudonym for members of the staff at Sunrise, the animation studio that also developed Mobile Suit Gundam, Big O, Outlaw Star and Vision of Escaflowne. Cowboy Bebop was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who also directed Macross Plus, Samurai Champloo and the two short films A Detective Story and Kid's Story from the Animatrix. The music of Cowboy Bebop was all composed by Yoko Kanno, who also composed music for Earth Girl Arjuna, Macross Plus, Vision of Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Wolf's Rain.

Influences

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Promotional poster of Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop's influences are many and varied.

• Cowboy Bebop is strongly influenced by Chinese culture: from the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate (Chinese dragon), Spike's Jeet Kune Do martial arts techniques and philosophy, and the numerous Chinatowns present on Mars and other planets.
• Cowboy Bebop is also heavily influenced by American culture: from cinema, including mobster movies, film noir, and westerns, to the jazz music out from Harlem nightclubs of the 1940s. It is referred to as Space Jazz by its creators - as opposed to Space Opera, although it has strong similarities to the character-centered action-packed genre - probably for its lighter side, as it is more humorous than the standard Space Opera, often poking fun at the genre.
• Cowboy Bebop has marks of Bruce Lee and his martial arts, fighting philosophy, and his martial arts movies. Spike's fighting style (Jeet Kune Do) is borrowed directly from Bruce Lee. Also, the name of the bounty in the second episode is Abdul Hakim, borrowed from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death that co-starred Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who played a character called "Hakim." On two other separate occasions, Spike also mentions Enter the Dragon and Way of the Dragon, two more Bruce Lee movies. Also, when he teaches Roco Bonnaro to fight in "Waltz for Venus", he recites philosophy which is directly from quotes of Bruce Lee. In the penultimate episode (The Real Folk Blues Part. 1) outside the hospital where Jet is being treated there is a poster with Bruce Lee on it.
• Spike's character had mainly been attributed by creators to the Japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda from the Japanese TV series and movie entitled Tantei Monogatari. It is from Matsuda that Spike is credited for receiving his unique hair style and other physical features.
• As suggested by the series' title, westerns play a major influence on Cowboy Bebop. Like most westerns, the main characters are nomadic, self reliant individuals with personal moral codes, the weapon of choice for most dramatic scenes is a handgun, and episodes often revolve around codes of honor and themes of morality. There are also more explicit western influences such as Spike Spiegel's character's influence from the "Man With No Name," a cowboy bounty hunter played by Clint Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy by Sergio Leone, a television program within the series called Big Shot that showcases noteworthy bounties and features a cowboy motif, and one of the funniest antagonists in anime, Cowboy Andy, the naive poseur cowboy/bounty hunter with steed who contrasts with Spike's darker antihero cowboy.
• According to mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane's notes, Spike's Sword Fish II MONO racer was inspired by Britain's Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber of World War II. The Cowboy Bebop movie includes a cameo of the Fairey SwordFish along with a dialogue reference to the sinking of the Bismarck battleship (Fairey Swordfish bombers were crucial to the sinking of the Bismarck). There is also fan speculation that the Sword Fish II is based on the Swordfish, an experimental airplane in Edgar P. Jacobs' comic series Blake and Mortimer, although the creators have not stated this.
• Many of the stories of Cowboy Bebop and even cinematic stylings were lifted from other movies. These include influences from or homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Crow, Wong Kar-wai and John Woo, Alien, blaxploitation movies, Star Trek, Moonraker, Desperado, and Dirty Harry.
• In the episode "Ganymede Elegy", Jet's past relationship with Alisa is similar to that of the husband's and wife's from Henrik Ibsen's play The Doll House. Alisa even borrows money from a loan shark just like the wife from "The Doll's House".
• Allusions to external works are often made to hint at some of the darker themes. In episode 25, Jet makes reference to the Ernest Hemingway classic The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Spike also recites the Japanese tale Hyakuman-kai Ikita Neko ("The cat that lived a million times") in the final episode as an explanation of his life, although he claims to hate the story because he hates cats.
• Many sessions take their titles from classic rock & roll songs, i.e. "Hard Luck Woman", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Toys in the Attic", "Sympathy for the Devil", and "Wild Horses".

Content ratings

The certifications for Cowboy Bebop are TV-14 in the USA, M and MA in Australia, PG in Singapore, G and 13+ in Quebec, Canada (different episodes on video received different ratings), and PG, 12, and 15 in Britain (different episodes received different ratings and were not rated for TV when it aired before the conventional watershed of 9pm at 8.30pm), and 16 in Poland and Germany.

Cowboy Bebop contains strong violence, language, and brief nudity. Some of the language and nudity has been edited out of the English translation aired on Cartoon Network, but not on CNX. It is retained in the DVD releases.

Theme songs

• Opening theme:

1. "Tank!" by The Seatbelts (eps. 1-25)

• Ending theme:

1. "The Real Folk Blues" by The Seatbelts feat. Mai Yamane (eps. 1-12, 14-25)
2. "Space Lion" by The Seatbelts (ep. 13)
3. "BLUE" by The Seatbelts feat. Mai Yamane (ep. 26)

See also

• Space western

References

1. ^ http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsanime/bebop/cbseeyou.html
2. ^ Newtype Press Release - Anime News Network
3. ^ IGN: Top Ten Anime Themes and Soundtracks of All-Time, IGN.

This article is missing citations and/or footnotes. To meet Wikipedia's style guidelines and conform to our policies regarding neutral point of view, original research, and verifiability, please provide appropriate inline citations and/or footnotes. For guidance in this area, see . This article has been tagged since December 2006.

External links

• Mirror of Cowboy Bebop official site
• Animax Japan's official website for Cowboy Bebop
• Animax East Asia's official website for Cowboy Bebop
• Animax South Asia's official website for Cowboy Bebop
• Adult Swim - Cowboy Bebop
• Cowboy Bebop at the Internet Movie Database
• Cowboy Bebop at TV.com
• Cowboy Bebop (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

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