# Any Cowboy Bebop fans out there?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 19, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297 "2004-03-19T22:18:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/1 "2004-03-19T22:18:20Z")

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Fooled you, this thread is realy about the new payment scheme 😉

This has got to be the best Anime series I have seen, very cool, very anarchistic, yet it holds together well. I finally got hold of all the DVD’s and some of the extras are most interesting. I hadn’t realised that Spike’s appearence (with those huge feet, and strange body to leg length ratio) was actualy based on a famous Japanese comedian. The film version was good, but the series works better in its short TV episode format. Even the required ‘annoying kid’ character has some redeeming value in this anime.

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**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/2 "2004-03-19T22:26:02Z")

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Love Cowboy Bepop. The retro-ness of it makes it unique. Although, I still think personally that Evangelion is still the best series out there.

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**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/3 "2004-03-19T22:30:17Z")

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I enjoy watching Bepob from time to time on Adult Swim, but haven’t seen the movie yet. I like Ed. She’s one of my favorite characters.

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**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/4 "2004-03-19T22:47:43Z")

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Yes the retroness with a lot of political liberalness added in. One scene I remember has the heros chasing a bounty, they run through a couples bedroom whilst the couple are making love. The couple just happen to be both male, no issue or comment or campness or anything, just plain normal acceptance of that possibility. Does the large amount of smoking the characters do get edited out for airing on TV? Smoking being one of the ultimate evils these days.

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/5 "2004-03-19T22:49:47Z")

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I saw the movie the way it was meant to be seen: in a _theatre!_

With great sound & wide screen, it was a blast!

I got it at home, too!

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**Author:** ![Sonyadora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sonyadora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonyadora)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/6 "2004-03-19T22:54:01Z")

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Is anyone who’s seen Bebop NOT a fan?

Didn’t think so. 😉

The movie is basically an hour and a half long episode of the show, but it’s still cool. If only for the opening song and the train fight.

Does anyone know if the martial arts moves practiced by Spike belong to a paticular school, or are they just general martial arts coolness?

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**Author:** ![Tallayan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Tallayan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tallayan)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/7 "2004-03-19T23:01:49Z")

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> [@Sonyadora](#):
>
> Does anyone know if the martial arts moves practiced by Spike belong to a paticular school, or are they just general martial arts coolness?

I belive (not entierly sure) that Spike’s style is based on Bruce Lee. Oh and about smoking, nope, while they edit quite abit they let the charachters smoke as much as they want.  
Oh before I posted I decided to check it out [This](http://www.absoluteanime.com/cowboy_bebop/spike.htm) site along with some others back up that spike has a Bruce Lee thing going, and the name of the style is Jeet Kune Do

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**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/8 "2004-03-19T23:43:35Z")

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And Jeet Kune Do or Jeet Kung Do, is the Kug Fu created by Bruce Lee himself, taking from his own Wing Chun knowledge and ading elements and strategies from many other sources including boxing. Oh and I do have a friend who has seen this series and doesn’t like it, but then again he likes the Beegees so I don’t hold him as a guru of good taste 😉

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**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/9 "2004-03-19T23:58:13Z")

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Bebop has good music, and it manages to have the token cute animal and little kid characters without their being too damned annoying. It’s just got a kind of class to it.

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**Author:** ![DevilDan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@DevilDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DevilDan)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/10 "2004-03-20T06:33:45Z")

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The characters make a great ensemble, including their constant disagreements and bickering. Their loyalty is actually a bit too ideal, too sitcom-ish, but I can forgive it. I really don’t mind Edward, in fact, I just saw an episode (the one with the hallucinogenic mushrooms) that showed a lot more of Edward, which I thought was a great change of pace. I think they had a lot of fun putting that episode together.

Great style, love the character design, the tech (both ideas and visuals). A lot of fun, adult, or odd ideas all over the place. Plus, they really exploit the character development aspects, as we really know little or nothing about each character’s past at the beginning. One characteristic that makes me a fan is that they balance more comical plots and situations with other episodes that are far more serius and much darker. Their willingness to have some more adult ideas and plots (transvestites, drugs, etc) makes the CB world richer and far more interesting.

Plus, dogfights with beautiful jazz music? Uber-stylish.

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**Author:** ![audreyayn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@audreyayn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audreyayn)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/11 "2004-03-20T06:39:21Z")

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The real lesson? Don’t leave things lying in the fridge.

Seriously, I love Cowboy Bebop if only because sitting through a single episode changed people from “All anime sucks” to “That guy is hot.” 😃

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**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/12 "2004-03-20T06:53:33Z")

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Yes, there are definitely some Bebop fans out there.

Bebop was the first anime series I really got into – it’s largely responsible for convincing me that anime was not just cool cartoons, it was an actual art form.

One of the things I find remarkable about Bebop (and part of the reason so many people find it accessible, I think) is that it does not use many of the typical anime style conventions – dramatic changes in character art to reflect mood, for example. You get some of that with Ed, but for the most part, the art stays very consistent.

And the music is as important as the story and the art, which is impressive.

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/13 "2004-03-20T06:54:28Z")

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Funny, I’m just working my way through the series on [DVD](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005QCW4/qid=1079765384/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl74/104-7660684-5076704?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846) right now. Last night, I viewed Ep. 20 & 21. Brrrrrrr. _Pierrot La Fou_ was chilling.

## I saw the movie when it came out and thought it was terrific.

One puzzle:  
A total of 12 episodes originally ran from 4/98 - 6/98 in Japan, before it was taken off the air. According to [this site](http://www.futureblues.com/guide.html), “Cowboy Bebop is an unusual series in that only about half of the episodes made were aired on TV during the show’s first run that began back in April, 1998. The other half were made available only on the commercial video release. However, starting in October of '98, the Japanese satellite channel WOWOW began to air Cowboy Bebop in its entirety, so all of Bebop was not shown on TV until the series was rerun.”

Why did they do that? Was the commercial video release that popular? Or was this like _The Paper Chase_ in the US - critically acclaimed, but a commercial failure on network TV (and later, a success on cable).

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**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/14 "2004-03-20T17:16:40Z")

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Does anyone know where i can get the series in England? I know i could get DVDs from japan because they are region 4 but i’d much rather have an english dub or english subtitles. I love the movie, its brilliant, i have it on DVD but you can view it (along with some others) at [this site](http://www.animecrave.com/) but you have to sign up for it.

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**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/15 "2004-03-20T17:47:31Z")

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I was disappointed in the movie for two–no three reasons.

1. No “Tank!”
2. No “Real Folk Blues”
3. No “See You, Space Cowboy”

But other than that, it delivered.

DVD owners, which version should I buy for the full on experience? I don’t necessarily want to drop $300 for the Perfect Sessions version. Do the versions with 5 Sessions per disc include enough commentary and extras to give me my fix?

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**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/16 "2004-03-20T22:56:04Z")

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I love Bebop. Heh, last night I was watching **Out of Gas** on my Firefly DVDs and the first thought I had at the beginning was “Ooops, somebody forgot to take the lobster out of the fridge…”

It was funny in my head.

Also, is it wrong to be attracted to cartoon characters? Because Spike is really hot and so is Gren.

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/17 "2004-03-20T23:39:58Z")

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> [@vibrotronica](#):
>
> DVD owners, which version should I buy for the full on experience? I don’t necessarily want to drop $300 for the Perfect Sessions version. Do the versions with 5 Sessions per disc include enough commentary and extras to give me my fix?

The Perfect Sessions is available for about $35 used at Amazon. Here’s a broader [link](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/ref=dp_sr_00/104-7660684-5076704).

Mine consisted of 3 (universal) DVDs with all 26 TV episodes (minus the 27th medley). There are extras on the disk, but I haven’t looked at them yet (and won’t until I finish the series and see Episode 22 1/2(?) again).

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**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/18 "2004-03-22T19:51:31Z")

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Is there a comic-book anime version of Cowboy Bebop? Or any source for information not covered in the series?  
Does anyone have the full story of what happened to the Earth’s Moon, and was it Fay’s fault?

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/19 "2004-03-22T20:08:04Z")

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> [@Bippy the Beardless](#):
>
> Is there a comic-book anime version of Cowboy Bebop? Or any source for information not covered in the series?

First, there are Graphic Novel versions. Check Amazon.

> [@](#):
>
> Does anyone have the full story of what happened to the Earth’s Moon, and was it Fay’s fault?

_Fay’s fault?!?_ You think the Moon breaking up was _Fay’s_ fault?!?

\<Otaku Joke\> Sheesh! Her name is Fay, not Kei or Yuri!\> 😃

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**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cowboy-bebop-fans-out-there/235297/20 "2004-03-22T22:34:21Z")

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> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> First, there are Graphic Novel versions. Check Amazon.

Thanks, 995 items matching Cowboy Bebop, sometimes the fact that you search the actual book contents is not a blessing. The boxed set sounds good, and the reviews say three of them aren’t just rewrites of the TV Anime series.

> [@](#):
>
> _Fay’s fault?!?_ You think the Moon breaking up was _Fay’s_ fault?!?

Well it looks suspiciously like she was out in space in a space shuttle at about the time it happened, and she is a bit of a klutz at times.

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