Cowboy Bebop

[Bthug]

Just out of curiosity why is this like the one of the most reknowed anime in america.

I liked it and I even bought it, but its not like I loved it, but lately I have been "loving" it more just cause ppl seem to hype it.

Maybe becasue this was the "first anime" aired like this or aired on [as] is why ppl love it so much.

Again dont get me wrong I really really like it, I just wanna know why other ppl like it.

[film_nut]

I was about to be like, "uh, have you seen it?"

For realsies though it is the anime that gets a lot of fans into the genre in the first place. Many fans that are just now getting into the 18-34 age bracket saw it for the first time on the [as] airing when they were younger and it blew their tiny little minds. That sticks with you.

For me personally, I got into Inuyasha on [as] first, and then upgraded into Cowboy Bebop. It was a realization of all that was possible in the medium of anime and the genre of sci-fi (and the music of jazz ^^). It opened my tastes up to so many things that I now really love.

It's an anime that people who don't like anime can enjoy. Five people can watch it and get five very different things out of it. It's simple, yet opens itself up to so many perspectives and lessons.

I'm realizing that I'm a little drunk right now and I'm kind of rambling. Cowboy Bebop will probably always be my all time favorite and I could literally talk about it for hours.

[ALchemist81]

What he said.

[madpierrot]

Probably the biggest thing is getting on TV and especially it being Adult Swim.  That was the perfect show for the perfect block.  Adult Swim was targeting an older demographic and had the comedy shows to bring a lot of people in and then you had Cowboy Bebop there at the end, a more mature show with a cool feel and probably a lot of people just stayed around and checked it out.  In the late 90's you had DBZ bringing people into anime in the early 00's it was Bebop.

Besides just the high quality of the show there are two aspects I'd suggest lead to it becoming as big as it has.  First being the episodic nature.  You could casually watch it as you pleased and it didn't really matter if you missed an episode so fans could watch it at their own pace and not be frustrated or totally lost if they turned back in a few weeks between episodes.  The other big factor is that it's about as much of a "western" style anime as you're going to get.  It doesn't really fall into any of the traps that you typically think of when you think of anime.  This might sound odd, but since it's so western in feel it doesn't come across so strongly as "anime" and perhaps that let more people who might of not given it a chance actually stick around for it.

[renjifan22]

I think the others did a great job explaining the popularity of the show. And i completely agree. Not only is the animation really well done, but i think the voice actors did an amazing job capturing the feelings and emotions of their characters; both the Japanese and English VA's.

Also, the music is amazing! I never thought i liked jazz, but i have downloaded so many songs from Cowboy Bebop since i watched this show. I think the music choices are perfect for, not just the show or episodes, but specific scenes that they are played during. For example, i love how they use "Rain" when Spike is entering the church to confront Vicious in Ballad of Fallen Angels.

Finally, i think this show can appeal to anyone. I feel like each episode has a different feeling or theme to it; sort of a different genre to each. But at the same time, it does follow a plot; it's not just a bunch of random episodes with absolutely no connection to one another thrown together. It has the perfect balance between comedy, action, and drama. Even some romance is thrown in there. And it doesn't just focus on Spike. Each of the characters are introduced and have their own backstories.

Plus, the ending is always a hot topic to debate on here

Those are the reasons that i like it, anyway

[Bthug]

Yea i think we agree it was just the perfect timing. and ur right about it being so different from most anime. For me I never watched it when i was first getting into anime, I was a kid and more into dbz,yu yu hakusho, and kenish. And I think bebop was on too late or something along those lines.

[film_nut]

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ALchemist81 wrote:
What she said.

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Had to fix it...

[Shounen_Legend]

I'm echoing what a lot of others have said, but I agree; nostalgia and gateway anime aside, the production of the show was immaculate, attributing much of its success to the directorial helm of Shinichiro Watanabe and musical composition of Yoko Kanno, both of whom are seasoned professionals in the industry, and at the time, were giving their absolute A-game. Perhaps the biggest reason it achieved such success here in the U.S. is its episodic nature and wide range of western influences, including jazz, noir, "cowboys", and hard sci-fi in general. Also, as others have said, it showed that animation can be an equally legitimate form of storytelling and entertainment when compared side-by-side with live-action works; occasionally achieving a level of drama and realism that can make us forget it's animation. For me, the show's greatest asset is just the sheer quality in which it was written, directed, and composed; it's just very technically marvelous and manages to hit all the right strings exactly when it wants to, which I find is incredibly rare in anime, nigh, entertainment in general, anymore.

[RPD]

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Bthug wrote:

Just out of curiosity why is this like the one of the most reknowed anime in america.

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it appeals to people who don't even like anime, for one thing. it doesn't have all that cutsey crap...

[workernparasite26]

A few other people have talked about it, and I agree that Bebop is helped by the fact that it's an anime that has a very western feel.  It borrows elements from spaghetti westerns, blacksploitation, kung fu films, film noir and many others. One can know nothing about Japan or Japanese culture and still completely enjoy the show.  I missed many of the Japanese references the show makes the first time I watched it and it didn't effect my enjoyment of Bebop in the slightest.

[SudachiChu]

Because it didn't take 944 episodes to tell a good story.

[shox]

Cause man it was just such a good show... had great characters, perfect storyline, and had a mixture of action, mystery, and romance... Need I say more?

[SudachiChu]

What romance?

[shox]

an episode that involved spike and this one blonde lookin l3itch lol it was a long time ago, i prob kuda been high and thought of it as a romance type of ting, oh well

[SudachiChu]

That wasn't romance as it was long lost love getting shot in the back before they could get the sexing on.

[shox]

ohhhh this makes so muchmore sense wen bein sober lmao, but the shows still better wen not sober lmfao

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

Well, for a lot of us, it's the first anime that we really watched or got interested in - which showed us the way to some fantastic stories in the genre.

It introduced some well-rounded, complex characters - all were more than they seemed.  Over the course of the show they peeled back the veil of the past and showed what makes these people tick (to some extent) - what makes them the way they are.

It runs the gamut from the screamingly funny to the creepy to the touching to the incredibly sad.

There is enough mystery surrounding the main character, Spike, that leaves people wanting to know MORE.  We have been given tantalizing clues as to his past, but we still don't know how he got to where he is now.  Not really.  The thread titled "The Official Spike Spiegel Fan Club" on this board has been taken over by discussions and speculations about what exactly happened with him and Vicious and Julia and why.  How did he get his cybernetic eye?  Was it REALLY an accident like he said?  Why did Doohan give him the Swordfish?  What were the circumstances of his even MEETING Doohan?

We LOVE the character, but there is so much about his life we Just Don't Know.  He's cool, but what's running under the surface?

Faye is another one.  We eventually DO find out why she is the way she is, but it ends before we find out how she processes what she learned about herself.  

SO much is left open to interpretation.  12 years later and it's still being discussed and argued about.  It's a classic and it's one that sticks with you - at least some of us it does.

Also can't forget the music.  This has the most amazing soundtrack of the most diverse collection of songs that are so worth listening to over and over again.

Obviously, not everyone has the same taste, or gets the same thing out of the show as others would.  That's ok.  For those who LOVE Cowboy Bebop, we know why we love it and we love to share it with others who may love it as much as we do.  Or not.

[aquaunitpatrolsquad1]

The music in this anime is definitely awsome and a lot different from many animes in that respect.  The animation is fantastic and can be extremely fast paced and detailed at the same time.  The story line is great, not just in the movie or series but the characters, concepts and setting.  Space bounty hunters took a whole new image away from what had been seen as Boba Fett, and in CB, some of the most on point dubs ive ever heard have been on this show.

[XenopusTex]

Bebop, GitS, and Big-O ... the best three animes that AS has aired, IMO.  Moribito and FMA/BH also deserve mention as well.  I like them because they are more thought based and some of the other garbage that's been spewed on AS.

[aquaunitpatrolsquad1]

I really didn't like Big O, I guess I just wasn't likin the whole feel of it.

I really think [as] should pick up an anime with a shorter amount of episodes.

If they got deadman wonderland i would crap my pants

[TheFlawGuy]

I personally liked it because the style was cool, the animation was great, the characters were awesome, it's not dipped in Japanese culture, I have a weakness for episodic anime, and it does the principle "show, don't tell" greatly. Maybe it used it a bit too much, but not enough for me to not piece together what was going on. Also, the ending was great. I love when you get attached to characters to the point that no matter how he turns out in the end, it will be awesome.

[waterlighter]

I love this anime because its real. No bs, most animes now a days have some bogus ass catch or are too soft. Bebop is for hardcore anime fans if yu don't like it then yo are no tru fan. Spike is also one of the best anime characters ever

[LuisReallyHatesYou]

Simply put; Fayes tets.

[westpark]

Don't know your age but this was really the first adult anime on Cartoon Network. It was the anime that really got me into manga/anime back in 2003ish.

[westpark]

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RPD wrote:

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Bthug wrote:

Just out of curiosity why is this like the one of the most reknowed anime in america.

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it appeals to people who don't even like anime, for one thing. it doesn't have all that cutsey crap...

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That's another thing.

Too much of the newer stuff, whether it be Hetalia, even FMA, has too much moe kinda cutesy stuff. Too many girly series have been made recently. Haruhi was really the only one I saw that really appealed to me.