Japanese Anime – 1998 – 26 Episodes.
What is it about?
The plot for this action series is pretty basic. Earth is almost uninhabitable, and human are established on most of the habitable places in the solar system. The crew of the spaceship Bebop are bounty hunters that, well, try to capture criminals. Spike is an ex-mafioso that stole his boss’s girlfriend. Jet is a jaded ex-detective built like a pro wrestler. Faye, tough and not so ethical has amnesia. Ed – is different. She’s a computer super-genius. She plays in her own world, singing, and hacking world-wide security systems. She hangs mostly with Ein, their genetically engineered dog. They have a nemesis, Vicious, who is Spike’s ex-boss (remember the stolen girlfriend?).
Sound spacey and shooty? In a Batman comic kind of way? It is…but that’s not quite it. It’s kind of a Space Western done to jazz and Bruce Lee fighting…but that’s not quite it either. It’s hard to pin down.
For example, they have a Twilight Zone-ish episode. There’s one with a Roy Rogers that has an IQ of about 30. It has one that has a 40’s type detective flavor. The last episode could be straight out of a John Woo movie; a vicious (pun intended) shoot out with doves and tragedy.
There’s lots of cool dialogue.
Usually it matches the genre the episode is celebrating. It’s over 20 years old. But, in this writer’s opinion, it could have been made this year. And it’s still amazingly popular. So, it’s kind of timeless too. See, hard to pin down.
There are so many more elements that it would take a novel to fit them all in. All in all, it’s like going to a modern zoo. Lots of very different things in very different settings, but somehow it all fits together.
So, is it worth watching? Yep.
Get some friends together, some snacks, and throw a watch party. Expect the episodes to flow together, but each will have its own flavor and punch. The characters are the type to go hang with at the local bar. (Except Ed. She’s just Ed). So watching feels a lot like hanging out at bar. But with spacey shooty stuff.
Final Words
Good. Lots of action and angst.
Where to find it
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