First thoughts on Cowboy Bebop

S

sanji no 1

Vampire Ninja
I just started watching cowboy bebop for the first time. (Yeah i know, im late) I watched all of volume 1 and thought it was.....well.....ok. They havnt explained Spikes past yet so do they eventually explain his past? Because when he went to get Faye from Vicious, I was like "Whos this and how does Spike know him?"

So does it get better from volume 1? just wondering.
 
You seem to be troubled by the episodic nature of the series. To be honest, watching Cowboy Bebop from the angle of a consistent singular story is probably not the best thing to do. It's very episodic, and while most of the central characters do have very interesting backstories, they are slowly divulged for the most part and, as I said, Cowboy Bebop isn't about overarching storylines.

I prefer anime with consistent plots in general, but I still found Cowboy Bebop was amazing, so I think you should definitely stick with it :]
 
sanji no 1 said:
I just started watching cowboy bebop for the first time. (Yeah i know, im late) I watched all of volume 1 and thought it was.....well.....ok. They havnt explained Spikes past yet so do they eventually explain his past? Because when he went to get Faye from Vicious, I was like "Whos this and how does Spike know him?"

So does it get better from volume 1? just wondering.
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The majority reaction to cowboy bebop is very highly positive. But it comes down to your own personal opinion and you can't ask if it gets better as you are the only real judge of it.

Even though its widely regarding as one of the best anime series ever, In my opinion I consider it not worst anime I have seen but no question the most overrated.

If you enjoyed it so far it worth watching until the end.

If you want to know my full opinion, it will contain a lot of spoliers, best watch the series in full first:

You got 21 episodes left, only 4 really deal with spikes past, so you end up with a back story so thin its incredibly disappointing and frustrating as they seem to waste half the series with pretty but unessential pointless filler.

Vicious is so undeveloped that you are left with little impression if he was much different before, if he and spike were friends and what truly caused there falling out. Also why is he so desperate to kill spike one moment then the next as you see later when he had the chance to kill him he tranquillize spike instead.

Julia who gets mentioned briefly by spike, is barely present even when she appears in the final episodes. She so aloof you have no idea why she so special that spike wants to run away with her. The ending which meant to be really sad moment just end ups cop out as it just two gangster killing each other. With so little development in the back story why should I care about them, it so frustrating as they would only need a couple of flashback episodes to give better understand and more emotional involved in the outcome.
 
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There are episodes related to the main plot but don't expect them to be the focus. Bebop is more about sitting back and enjoying what they throw at you - which is always pretty varied.

I don't usually like this kind of show and I did get a kick out of Bebop (there's probably something for everyone in there with all those different episode themes). If you're really not interested after a whole volume you might do better trying another show, but if anything stood out at all I'd suggest to stick with it. It's worth seeing once.

R
 
Cowboy Bebop is a predominantly episodic series. There is a plot thread which deals with Spike's past, but it's no more than five or six episodes.

While I can see why you might be disappointed at the lack of an overarching plot, as I was myself initially, I recommend that you stick with it for a while longer. It's an exceptionally well written and designed show with, as Rui points out, a lot of variety in theme and mood between episodes. Yet somehow Shinichiro Watanabe, with both Bebop and his later Samurai Champloo, manages to pull it all together and make it work.
 
I enjoyed CB the first time around, but I did finish it feeling like it was overrated. I think the combination of hype and marathoning (rather than watching it once in a while) caused this.

After rewatching it a few times at a slower pace though I appreciated it a great deal more. I found it to be something of a slow burner, but it's definitely in my top ten now.
 
I liked the show, but I wasn't above selling the boxed-sets on when Beez's inventory dried up at the beginning of the year. If they're ever heavily discounted, I'd consider buying them again.
 
Cowboy Bebop is a series that's great because of it having the best, most cool main character ever and one of the best endings ever. Up until the last two episodes, I was thinking of it as a 7-8 series that, although enjoyable, was too shallow to be rated as one of the best. I then got to the end, gave it a rating of 9/10 and paid £60 to buy the series on DVD.

I remember having a MSN conversation with the guy who recommended it to me originally after the episode where Spike and Vicious faced off for the first time. At that point, like when I was halfway through Gankutsuou, I wasn't thinking of it as one of the most amazing series in existence, in the case of Cowboy Bebop because of its episodic nature. It's one of those series you really need to watch to the end in order to judge it.

Samurai Champloo, which was made by the same people as Cowboy Bebop, is the same sort of thing. Until the last three episodes, I was going to give it around 7/10 - I ended up giving it a solid 8/10. Samurai Champloo was weaker than Cowboy Bebop because of its characters, yet the final three episodes made up for most of its failings.
 
Well im up to volume 5 now, and i have to say this series is very VERY boring. Nothing exciteing EVER happens. The characters are so flat and it is EXTREAMILY over-hyped to the point that its rediculous! and i thought Evangelion was over hyped. And if im correct the people that made cowboy bebop made Samurai Champloo? Christ!
 
sanji no 1 said:
Well im up to volume 5 now, and i have to say this series is very VERY boring. Nothing exciteing EVER happens. The characters are so flat and it is EXTREAMILY over-hyped to the point that its rediculous! and i thought Evangelion was over hyped. And if im correct the people that made cowboy bebop made Samurai Champloo? Christ!
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Perhaps it isn't for you Sanji, but I'd still recommend seeing it through to the end and rewatching it before totally condemning it. The hype surrounding the series can be misleading, but if you set that aside and consider the show as a whole you may see it in a different light.

You might always hate it, who knows - but take it from someone who didn't buy into the hype initially, it's worth giving a second viewing.
 
sanji no 1 said:
Well im up to volume 5 now, and i have to say this series is very VERY boring. Nothing exciteing EVER happens. The characters are so flat and it is EXTREAMILY over-hyped to the point that its rediculous! and i thought Evangelion was over hyped. And if im correct the people that made cowboy bebop made Samurai Champloo? Christ!
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I've come across the conclusion that your idea of an anime when hearing about all the hype is "EXPLOSIONS! SAMURAI! SWORDS! FLYING NINJAS! BLOOD! VIOLENCE! TENTACLE RAPE! GIANT ROBOTS THAT FIRE LASERS FROM THEIR EYES!".

Everyone loves it simply because it's down to earth (the irony), funny and it has one of the best anime endings I have seen. I'm not saying it's realistic or anything nor am I going to wish anyone who has something bad to say about it a painful death. Just forget what's been said about it and have fun ^^ (with your tentacle rape).
 
Hype tends to make shows seem really bad when you're probably enjoy it if you found it of your own accord, the only thing I can say is, don't expect the best thing ever and just watch it until the end before giving your verdict.
If you don't like it you don't like it, simple as. :)
 
Will-O'-The-Wisp said:
Everyone loves it simply because it's down to earth (the irony), funny and it has one of the best anime endings I have seen. I'm not saying it's realistic or anything nor am I going to wish anyone who has something bad to say about it a painful death. Just forget what's been said about it and have fun ^^ (with your tentacle rape).
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You could argue its popular because of the quality of the animation and soundtrack. The ending could have been great if more time and back story was spent instead of measly 2 episodes on it.
 
In terms of animation it looks outdated now - it was made in 98 (iirc) and it shows. And the DVDs have serious shimmering issues which take away from the enjoyment, the shimmering being the main reason I haven't rewatched the series more.

As for the ending, the Spike/Vicious relationship was much more interesting because of how little information was provided about what exactly happened. Some clues were given in brief glimpses but a lot was left up to the imagination. If time had been spent detailing every event that occurred and it wasn't executed perfectly then it just would've been standard gangster rubbish. As they say, dreams are often better than the reality.
 
It might have a slightly dated look, but the quality of Bebop's animation is very high for a TV show. The visual design is fantastic as well.

I always think of Bebop as the greatest show America never made. Somehow it doesn't feel much like anime.
 
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