Cowboy Bebop

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: カウボーイビバップ
English: Cowboy Bebop
More titles

Information

Type: TV
Episodes: 26
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Apr 3, 1998 to Apr 24, 1999
Premiered: Spring 1998
Broadcast: Saturdays at 01:00 (JST)
Producers: Bandai Visual
Licensors: Funimation
Studios: Sunrise
Source: Original
Genres: ActionAction, Award WinningAward Winning, Sci-FiSci-Fi
Themes: Adult CastAdult Cast, SpaceSpace
Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 8.751 (scored by 979977979,977 users)
1 indicates a weighted score.
Ranked: #452
2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity: #43
Members: 1,893,952
Favorites: 83,498

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8.75
Ranked #45Popularity #43Members 1,893,952
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Episodes: /26

Synopsis

Crime is timeless. By the year 2071, humanity has expanded across the galaxy, filling the surface of other planets with settlements like those on Earth. These new societies are plagued by murder, drug use, and theft, and intergalactic outlaws are hunted by a growing number of tough bounty hunters.

Spike Spiegel and Jet Black pursue criminals throughout space to make a humble living. Beneath his goofy and aloof demeanor, Spike is haunted by the weight of his violent past. Meanwhile, Jet manages his own troubled memories while taking care of Spike and the Bebop, their ship. The duo is joined by the beautiful con artist Faye Valentine, odd child Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, and Ein, a bioengineered Welsh Corgi.

While developing bonds and working to catch a colorful cast of criminals, the Bebop crew's lives are disrupted by a menace from Spike's past. As a rival's maniacal plot continues to unravel, Spike must choose between life with his newfound family or revenge for his old wounds.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Background

When Cowboy Bebop first aired in spring of 1998 on TV Tokyo, only episodes 2, 3, 7-15, and 18 were broadcast, it was concluded with a recap special known as Yose Atsume Blues. This was due to anime censorship having increased following the big controversies over Evangelion, as a result most of the series was pulled from the air due to violent content. Satellite channel WOWOW picked up the series in the fall of that year and aired it in its entirety uncensored. Cowboy Bebop was not a ratings hit in Japan, but sold over 19,000 DVD units in the initial release run, and 81,000 overall. Protagonist Spike Spiegel won Best Male Character, and Megumi Hayashibara won Best Voice Actor for her role as Faye Valentine in the 1999 and 2000 Anime Grand Prix, respectively.

Cowboy Bebop's biggest influence has been in the United States, where it premiered on Adult Swim in 2001 with many reruns since. The show's heavy Western influence struck a chord with American viewers, where it became a "gateway drug" to anime aimed at adult audiences.

Characters & Voice Actors


Staff

Cook, Justin
Producer, Director
Maseba, Yutaka
Producer
Minami, Masahiko
Producer
Watanabe, Shinichirou
Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard


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Opening Theme

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"Tank!" by The Seatbelts (eps 1-25)
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Ending Theme

1: "The Real Folk Blues" by The Seatbelts feat. Mai Yamane (eps 1-12, 14-25)
2: "Space Lion" by The Seatbelts (eps 13)
3: "Blue" by The Seatbelts feat. Mai Yamane (eps 26)




Reviews

Aug 6, 2024
MUST WATCH: Cowboy Bebop is one of those shows that you can't help but have a blast with all the way through. The comedy, characters, story, and everything in between stays consistently amazing all the way through. Music is phenomenal, and as you can assume its Bebop. It adds to the vibe and emotions of the show and respective scenes. Some songs still have a presence in the internet today, and are extremely well recognized as iconic songs. While a bit different with its approach to an overarching story, by having character focused episodes be the most frequent, the show is more about learning and ...
Feb 9, 2024
Mixed Feelings
Cowboy Bebop was an interesting watch. It's definitely one of the anime that requires you to read in between the lines as not everything is presented to you at face value like most anime nowadays. However because of that it may be hard to grasp some of the overarching themes in this show without having to watch an explanation video of the entire series. For this reason I gave it a 7, as personally I believe that a piece should portray it's themes clearly, otherwise it'd probably be an 8 or 9.

But the more I think about the show I can see why people enjoy ...
Feb 17, 2024
FunnyFunny
Don't understand the hype. Except the music and style it was super boring.
The ''deep meanings' and ''symbolism'' don't hit if that is ALL there is. Each episode felt like filler with maybe 1 good scene.
Julia is insufferable. Her final scene has zero impact. You can't honestly tell me you care this much about such an empty character that you get no exposure to. Even if it impacts Spike, as a viewer, it doesn't hit. Her presence was more annoying than anything else.
Spike was a an amazing character until they decided to strip all the good stuff off of him and literally make ...

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