LXIX: "Cowboy Bebop"

Another anime that hit legend status, Cowboy Bebop is a mix of westerns and space adventures, as it follows the adventures and misadventures, even tragedies, of a group of bounty hunters, known as cowboys, on board the titular ship, the Bebop. Ever since catching this on Adult Swim years before, I never thought I would speak of this title so soon. Even the music it has gives familiar vibes, some with rock, and some with jazz.

Years prior to the story's events, people were working on a hyperspace gateway to the moon. However, the experiment was a bust, and the explosion of this gateway damaged the moon. The falling debris of the moon endangered the lives of many on Earth, with bombardments totaling large portions of the planet. To escape this catastrophe, people migrated to either the inner planets surrounding it, the asteroid belt, or on the moons of Jupiter. In the year 2071, these hyperspace gates were more stable, used as a means to navigate throughout the Solar System, and Mars became a hotspot for human civilization. However, it seems that inner planet crime syndicates reign in power over the governments and the Inter-Solar System Police. With crimes escalating, a bounty system was put into place (resembling that of the Old West), leaving the bounty hunters to nab these troublemakers for a certain paycheck.

Among these space cowboys are the members of Bebop: Spike Seigel, an ex-Syndicate member with diverse combat abilities; Jet Black, owner of Bebop and former ISSP officer who was the original member alongside Spike; Faye Valentine, a femme fatale and gambler whose past is shrouded in mystery; Edward, a female hacker who tails the ship even before spotting it (DON'T ask why she is a female in spite of the name, save that it isn't her real name); and Ein, upon being picked up, he is the ship's pet, though his abilities as a data dog makes him more worthy to keep than they realize.

Created in the Sunrise studio, the anime lasts 26 episodes, or sessions, and was pretty big overall, the US receiving the anime EXTREMELY well. As mentioned before, it was part of Adult Swim's action block, alongside titles like Trigun and such. Licensing was done by Bandai Entertainment for both US and Canada. An animated movie, called originally Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door and addressed overseas as Cowboy Bebop: the Movie, was released some time after the show's initial success. Along with this came rumors, and there was talk of a live-action film of the series, with Keanu Reeves portraying Spike, though no talk has surfaced for a while in regards to that. Another rumor is the continuation of the series, with the answer from creator Shinichiro Watanabe saying: "Someday... maybe, someday..."

A great series in name, it's visuals were excellent, and the story was worth watching. Cowboy Bebop, scores a 9.3 of 10. Not perfect, but it is up there as far as anime goes.