46 replies to this topic

[Keemt]

So I finally watched this show after a good friend recommended it. Spike's main plot just kills me, I couldn't get over it for a week or so. All the other reviews I've read discuss the characters/music/artwork, so I thought I'd create a place to get some discussion on the plot. Since characters are so closely connected, let's make that fair game as well, despite how much has been said already about it.



What about the plot/characters did you like so much about it?

[Lucavi00]

So I finally watched this show after a good friend recommended it. Spike's main plot just kills me, I couldn't get over it for a week or so. All the other reviews I've read discuss the characters/music/artwork, so I thought I'd create a place to get some discussion on the plot. Since characters are so closely connected, let's make that fair game as well, despite how much has been said already about it.



What about the plot/characters did you like so much about it?

I've been aware of Cowboy Bebops awesome ever since it came out in the US way back in the day on Toonami (I think it was on Toonami, at least the night time toonami.)

It's a fantastic anime.

It's just a really gritty story about love, betrayal and loyalty. Fantastic.

[armor]

The music is definitely the greatest point for me, I still listen to it now and then. There are only 1 or 2 tracks you could get away with calling bebop I think.

Check out JG Thirwells soundtrack to the Venture Bros, you'll likely dig it also.

[ShawnPhase]

cowboy bebop killed anime and brought computer animated cartoons into it for me, which it never was about. i can also say the same thing for trigun and that-other-headband-thing-that-i-dont-even-need-to-mention.

as far as im concerned, this is where anime began and ended.




i say this not to challenge opinions, but i say this as a historian of the art and artists of the genre as well as having stuck by it through the years despite what kind of impact these anime had on the artform as a whole. the daicon trailers tell a story without words or computers.. they take me back to a simpler time before fandom, before anime even, when animation was simply animation, no continental divides or terms or monikers for something as simple as expression.

i simply do not see that in productions such as trigun or cowboy bebop..it was even hard for me to appreciate middle-of-the-road, early computer animated features such as spriggan and give it a fair shot. but the big difference is that with flicks that were made into ovas like spriggan and even stuff thats a little older like video girl ai that was based on manga, they were stories that had characters with a lot of dimension to them. you would watch something and ruminate over the character's personality or philosophy..the newer stuff i just cant get that same enjoyment..

[mancopter]

The best part of the series was the character interaction, in my opinion. We got to see the crew of the Bebop in both solo adventures, and (attempting) to work with one another when thrust into unlikely partnerships. Hell, we even got to watch them trip on mushrooms together.

Yoko Kanno's (and Seatbelts') soundtrack is also unparallelled. When I first saw the show on Adult Swim, I went out looking for the soundtrack the next day. It added a real sense of both style and originality to the series. I had heard her work from Macross Plus, but this music was a polar opposite. It was really cool to realize that, too.

The resolution of the whole series (like the last three or four episodes) just felt sort of "aw, fuck " when I watched it all unravel, but I don't regret having experienced it one bit, and I think that all of the characters were true to their actions and themselves.

Finally, the Thirlwell recommendation is a good one. The Venture Bros soundtrack is incredible. Hell, give the show a chance, too. I love it.

[Kirk]

Cowboy bebop was my favorite anime until I watched evangelion recently.

[GENTLYPORKING]

This is the show that anime haters also love. Its still one of my favorite series

[Lucavi00]

I feel there are a lot of animes that are better than Cowboy Bebop but that doesn't mean that it isn't awesome in its own right.

[BornInCrimson]

It got a lot of things right. It was well written and had good characters as well as great animation. It had a nice overarching story and a number of episodes that were one-offs and easy to digest. Yoko Kanno's music is generally fantastic. It really is a show that anyone can watch and enjoy.

[Keemt]

It's just a really gritty story about love, betrayal and loyalty. Fantastic.

Does anyone think the story about love, betrayal, and loyalty has been done better? When people watch this video (below), half of them mention how much they cried at the end of this show. When I got to the end, it definitely hit me hard for a long time, but I couldn't figure out why. Hasn't this been done before, and better? What's so good and different about this?

[Lucavi00]

I think the only anime that has stirred me emotionally more than Cowboy Bebop was Clannad.

[ShawnPhase]

from the anime i've seen, the story of love was told in the best way in 'video girl ai'. watch the series, but be warned, you wont be right for a few days after and will probably open you up to a lot of existential feelings that are difficult to internalize...but its absolutely essential viewing, not just for fans of anime, but for fans of beauty and learning about themselves. the movie 'megazone 23 pt 2' also shows it in an incredible way that is a bit more cerebral and a lot more based around humanity in a similar way to the gunbuster series, but i consider both of these to be essential viewing.

urusei yatsura also did it very beautifully over 9 years and nearly 200 tv episodes, but sort of blew its load in the 5th movie, 'the final chapter' and the 6th movie 'forever my darling'..both follow a similar progression and growth of characters that is all but missing from later anime. lum is a character that has so much dimension to me that i take away something from those characters and that story that i consider essential to my being now. a lot of who i am now is due to being exposed to these stories that i think if i wouldnt have seen them when i did, that i probably would have not taken away as much from life as i have so far.

i dont want to talk about anime anymore it makes me want to die

[mancopter]

It's just a really gritty story about love, betrayal and loyalty. Fantastic.

Does anyone think the story about love, betrayal, and loyalty has been done better? When people watch this video (below), half of them mention how much they cried at the end of this show. When I got to the end, it definitely hit me hard for a long time, but I couldn't figure out why. Hasn't this been done before, and better? What's so good and different about this?

They fleshed everyone out. You knew them all as people, not roles.


EDIT: It shouldn't have gone this long without saying, but EIN IS THE COOLEST FUCKING DOG EVER. Wait no, maybe Mad Max's dog was... WHATEVER.

[Xplo]

from the anime i've seen, the story of love was told in the best way in 'video girl ai'. watch the series, but be warned, you wont be right for a few days after and will probably open you up to a lot of existential feelings that are difficult to internalize...but its absolutely essential viewing, not just for fans of anime, but for fans of beauty and learning about themselves.

I've seen VGAi, so I'm confident this only happens if you're tripping balls.

[Shoe]

Bebop is probably my favorite overall anime, especially out of the 'serious' ones. It managed to keep a good sense of humor, had great world building, and didn't go overboard with cliches and archetypes like so many animes (anime?) seem to today. And of course the damn music. Made an already great series amazing.

I think the only other ones I like as much are FLCL and Gurren Lagann, but that's kind of apples and oranges.