Since I only bought the EPL pack for my cable, I don't have much actual TV to watch, so I decided to get to a couple of classics, that I haven't watched yet. I decided to start with anime, mostly because of my recent visit to the anime fest here in Singapore. The only rule I imposed on myself is that I would watch an anime series that was ended, that way there would be no waiting period for any new episodes which can get frustrating.
Rule in hand I went to good ol' google to find a number of "best anime" lists, and after reading a couple it became clear that "Cowboy Bebop" was high on a lot of those lists. The entire series is made up of 26 different sessions, each a half hour long. Having completed the series I have to agree with the many people who think that Cowboy Bebop is the best anime series of all time.
Cowboy Bebop is the story of a bounty hunter, called a cowboy, and his ship, the bebop. Each episode deals with either a job or goes into the backstory of the characters. The story moves at a good pace and unlike many other animes there isn't a single episode that feels like it is filler. The story is well written, and deals with concepts like: existentialism, belonging, and they gray of life.
Also, unlike other animes Cowboy Bebop is loved by general viewers. Within the series Cowboy Bebop refers to itself as "the work that will considered a genre" and although it's an extremely gassed opinion to have they might have a point. The series doesn't contain a lot of the things that puts people off from other animes, there's no magic, no teenagers, no big sweat drops or power levels, Cowboy Bebop could have easily been a Hollywood movie [and it might be]. Even the opening sequence feels more like it belongs more to a Bond movie than an anime.
Besides the iconic opening song, music plays a big part in Cowboy Bebop. The series takes influences from Jazz and Blues as well as Heavy Metal. There is an episode in particular with some mean blues harmonica, and another entitled "Mushroom Samba".
But what make this series so great has to be the writing and character development. The characters feel real and are given depth tot he point where you feel invested in their storylines. I could go more into the story but I feel like saying anything about it would be robbing the viewers from the full experience.
With the holiday season coming up, I think it's about time to start dropping hints that you want the Cowboy Bebop box set or just buy it for yourself, saying it's really good is being unfair and you are likely be lending it out to all your friends.
