Cowboy Bebop

About

Cowboy Bebop is an anime series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and produced by Sunrise. Since the series first aired in 1998, the show garnered widespread critical acclaim and is often heralded as one of the best anime of all time. It is due to this that the show has garnered a significant online following.

Plot

The year is 2071, the earth has become uninhabitable due to an accident 60 years earlier. As a result, humanity has colonized most of the rocky planets and satellites across the solar system. In midst of the tensions and rising crime rate, the Police force sets up a contract system in which registered bounty hunters or "cowboys" chase after criminals and bring them in alive in exchange for rewards. The story follows a group of bounty hunters working from the spaceship Bebop. They are former hitman Spike Spiegel, former ISSP officer Jet Black, the amnesiac Faye Valentine, the eccentric hacker Edward Wong, and the genetically engineered dog Ein.

History

Cowboy Bebop first originated as a 26-episode tv anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and produced by Sunrise, which aired from October 24, 1998, to April 24, 1999, after an aborted first run from April 3 to June 26 of the same year. The show chronicled the adventures of the crew of the spaceship Bebop, consisting of ex-hitman Spike Spiegel, former ISSP officer Jet Black, amnesiac con artist Faye Valentine, preteen computer hacker Edward and Welsh Corgi Ein. Throughout the series, each of the crew members is forced to deal with unresolved issues from their pasts, with the show regularly showing flashbacks to illustrate the history of the said characters. After the success of the show, two manga series based on it started circulation, airing from May to October 1998 and April 1999 to April 2000. Two video games based on the series were also created, being released in Japan on the Playstation and Playstation. An animated film based on the series was also created in conjunction with Studio BONES, which aired in Japan in 2001 and in America in 2003.

Live-Action Movie

On July 22, 2008, the Sci-Fi website If posted a rumor that a live-action adaptation of the Cowboy Bebop series was being developed by 20th Century Fox. This rumor was later confirmed, along with the announcement that Spike Spiegel would be played by Keanu Reeves. ^[1] After the announcement, many fans of the series were quick to show their displacement at the announcement, criticizing the decision. On October 20, 2013, Reeves later went on to state in a Reddit AMA that it would be unlikely for him to star in the movie by that point.^[2]

Netflix Adaptation

On November 27th, 2018, Netflix announced that they would be releasing a 10-episode, live-action adaptation of the series.^[16] According to the report, Thor: Ragnarok-writer Christopher Yost would write the first episode of the series.

About six months later, on April 4th, 2019, Netflix began announcing the cast for the series, particularly the casting of John Cho as Spike Spiegel. Additionally, Mustafa Shakri was cast as Spiegel's partner Jet Black.^[17]

Fans of the series and of Cho praised the casting. TV Guide editor Krutika Mallikarjuna tweeted ^[18] user @krutika tweeted, "john! cho! as! spike! spiegel! an ATTACK." The tweet received more than 1,200 retweets and 5,200 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left). Critic Priscilla Page tweeted,^[19] "this is perfect casting." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 140 retweets and 1,000 likes (shown below, center). Nerdist editor tweeted,^[20] "John Cho starring as Spike Spiegel in Netflix's live-action #CowboyBebop series has cured my depression, cleared my skin, watered my crops, etc." The tweet received more than 1,100 retweets and 3,500 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

That day, Redditor^[21] urgasmic posted about the casting on the /r/television subreddit. Within 24 hours, the post received more than 8,100 points (93% upvoted) and 1,600 comments.

Reception

Cowboy Bebop has become one of the most critically acclaimed and most popular anime of all time, winning a number of awards both in Japan and in America. The series has been praised for its soundtrack and voice acting and is one of the few anime considered to be superior in English rather than in the original Japanese. The series is also heralded as one of the main reasons for the surge in popularity of anime in the west, after it became the first anime title to be shown as part of the launch of Adult Swim on September 2, 2001.

Online Presence

The Cowboy Bebop series has garnered a significant online following since it first aired, with a significant presence on sites such as Tumblr^[3], Reddit^[4], 4chan's /a/ (Anime and Manga) board^[5], Fanpop^[6], My Anime List^[7], FanFiction.net^[8] and DeviantART^[9][10]. There are numerous sites holding information of the series, such as the Cowboy Bebop wiki^[11], TV Tropes^[12] and Anime News Network^[13]. The Cowboy Bebop Facebook page also has over 100,000 likes^[14]. On YouTube there are around 100,000 results for "Cowboy Bebop".^[15] The full versions of both the opening and ending themes for the series had more than 5 million views each before deletion (mirror shown below).

Related Sub-memes

Cowboy Bebop Opening Parodies/Tank!

Cowboy Bebop Opening Parodies referes to a series of Anime OP/ED Parody MADs based around the opening of the Cowboy Bebop anime. The parodies, usually featuring visuals from other popular series, grew in popularity after parodies were posted to video-sharing websites such as YouTube and Nico Nico Douga.

Cowboy Bebop Ending Title Card Parodies

Cowboy Bebop Ending Title Card Parodies refers to a series of parodies revolving around the phrases featured at the end of each episode on the ending title card (Most notably 'You're Gonna Carry That Weight' and 'See You, Space Cowboy'). The phrases have spawned many parodies and mentions among fans, causing them to become popular.

Search Interest

External References