The year is 2071. The Moon exploded and created a mysterious substance that enables people faster traveling through the Solar system. Spike, an ex-convict, and Jet, an ex-cop, are bounty hunters who capture renegades from Mercury to Pluto with their spaceship 'Bebop'. They soon get joined by wild lady Faye and later on by Ed, a little girl. There are many bad guys to capture: ecological terrorist who protect the creatures on Jupiter's moon, the killer of a company owner, drug dealers, crooks...When Spike finds his long lost love, Julia, he leaves 'Bebop'. She gets killed by Vicious' gang, so Spike kills him and dies in the combat.
Extremely stylish "Cowboy Bebop", an elite example of its genre, is one of the best animes of all times, since the director Shinichiro Watanabe manifested a blend of film noir and a genius ode to sci-fi rush that ended as an extremely rich, ambitious contribution to both. It is a pastiche of various pop culture stories and genres, from "Lupin III", through "Desperado", "Shaft", kung fu films, up to 'Spaghetti-Westerns', yet it emulates them a level higher, to create a copy better than the original. The incredible imagination of the authors is astounding in some episodes, from a laser that drew a "smiley face" over the whole surface of South America (!); through a church on Venus; the explosion of the Moon whose sparks arrive to the meadow on the Earth; up to a harbor on the satellite Ganymede from which the "sunrise" of the gigantic Jupiter can be seen. The animation is also top notch and gives the series a special plus in virtues, while besides the unionism of action (the shootout in the church) the characters are also special—the star is probably the cold-blooded lady Faye, voiced by Megumi Hayashibara, who was drawn mischievously by the animators in a smooth yellow bikini-like suit.
The main flaw of this anime is a sometimes too cold, "clinical" approach towards the characters, yet there are many "flashback" episodes that give them a little spark of light, showing how they were "soft" in the past before becoming cynical by living in the cruel world of the present—especially touching and masterful are episodes #18, where the tough Faye sees a recording of herself as a little teenage girl on a found video tape, back then when she was a cheerful teenager; and #24, where she suddenly has a "flash" of memory and remembers everything while in the shower. Indeed, one could complain about such darkness and pessimistic approach, but one could also say that it is somber and realistic, since it shows that even in the future life is tough and offers no easy choices—however, precisely because the relationship between Spike and Faye is so understated, even the smallest touch between them is so intense and precious that it is more exciting than some love stories. Remarkably, Spike is always, to the core, loyal to his true love, Julia, and defies the expectation that he "must" seduce Faye as a "hot shot" protagonist. Some also complained that the story is too episodic, with too many filler episodes—some of those complains stand, yet director Watanabe's inspiration here is really too powerful to be that easily dismissed. A shining anime, almost too rich with style, while the finale contains such tragedy, heartbreaking intensity and incomprehensible contemplation about life and death, idealism and disenchantment (summed up in the epic, unforgetable quote by Spike: "I'm not going there to die. I'm going to find out if I'm really alive.") that it is easily one of the top 10 best anime endings ever, a masterpiece of such strong stuff that can cause the viewers to feel a lump in their throats.
Grade:++++
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