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--- lb:cowbe [2025-04-30 17:31:50] – removed - external edit (Unknown date) 127.0.0.1
+++ lb:cowbe [2026-03-14 14:52:52] (current) – [Knockin on Heaven's Door] ninjasr
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+====== Cowboy Bebop ======
+<div subtitle>
+{{tag>anime manga otaku speculah}}
+</div>
+{{ img:b:r:cowboy-bebop.png?460 }}
+**カウボーイビバップ**(Cowboy Bebop) is an [[lb:anime|anime]], supposedly, about a group of bounty hunters in the future. Yeah, that's it. They go on cool adventures and the anime is far better than it has any right to be. Though, if you're expecting an over-arching story...yeah, no. There is something there, though the series is mostly episodic.
+<cite>Cowboy Bebop</cite> belongs to a small group of anime that is good despite being recommended by the Western anime community. <em underline highlight>That's a pretty big deal</em>.
+It's actually a shame that the franchise just kinda...didn't happen, because the world-building and characters are pretty damn good.((:fn:>For those who will argue that <mark spoiler><dfn>Spike</dfn> is dead, so they can’t continue</mark>. Well, first, <mark spoiler>Spike isn't dead, he's just sleeping</mark> and second, they could have done a <cite>Knockin' on Heaven's Door</cite> and made extra content set between episodes.))
+===== Reviews =====
+==== Anime ====
+<div rating>
+<div heart>♥</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+</div>
+<cite>Cowboy Bebop</cite> has a strong start...then it trips a bit and goes into straight-up ‘weird’ territory for a few episodes before eventually picking up again and ending on a banger. The animation is top-notch for the whole thing though.
+The series is mostly episodic, where each episode follows a story that's largely disconnected from any over-arching plot...though an over-arching plot does exist, it's mostly in the background until we reach the end.
+<cite>Cowboy Bebop</cite>’s whole thing is that it tries to blend genres...not just film/TV, but also music...and I find the music to be hit or miss. But that's probably just me. I can't think of an episode that's ‘bad’ in this series, though some of them do get //really// weird...like the time <mark spoiler>Spike left a lobster in a fridge, which went bad, and then turned into some alien creature</mark>.
+The world-building of the series makes it feel very real, very captivating. Unfortunately...if you want to //learn// about that world-building, there is very //very// little information. Take the <dfn notion>Titan War</dfn>, which is relevant to the backstory of a few characters. There is extremely little information on it and, arguably, the people who tell us the most are unreliable.
+==== Knockin on Heaven's Door ====
+<div rating>
+<div heart>♥</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+</div>
+<div frame sheet>{{img:cowbe:movie.png?160 |Movie Scene}}</div>
+The movie takes place between episodes 22 and 23 of the show. The animation here is just a straight-up upgrade from the series.
+This is the main source of information for the aforementioned <span notion>Titan War</span> which shows just how little we know about it. The film also takes place entirely on <dfn>Mars</dfn> which I think is a fairly rare location in the anime. At the very least, this is the first time we don't see the Chinese/Japanese side of Mars.
+The main appeal here...outside of the fact it's another banger of a story...is that we get to see the great cities of Mars, which we don't really get to see in the anime, which focuses on small settlements and backwards areas.
+==== Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star ====
+<div rating>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star>★</div>
+<div star disabled>★</div>
+<div star disabled>★</div>
+<div star disabled>★</div>
+</div>
+Yes, I read the [[lb:manga|manga]], though I don't remember that much about it. The story here is completely different from the anime. The reason being that the manga was created before the anime came out, but based on it...and, well, there isn't a lot of material to work with if you're making something for something that doesn't yet exist. Kinda similar to [[lb:patlabor|Patlabor]], in a way. Though, unlike <cite>Patlabor</cite>, there was clearly zero coordination here.
+The story here isn't great, though it's serviceable and...well, I was more surprised that it existed than anything else.
+It's a bizarre relic, I guess.
+===== Speculah & Analysis =====
+==== Worldbuilding Realism ====
+<cite>Cowboy Bebop</cite> has unusually realistic world-building...at least when it comes to cultures. Different planets in the Solar System have different cultures...which aren't even the same across the whole planet. Mars' dominant cultures are Chinese and Arab, with a handful of others (likely) mixed in.
+This is realistic in that, //finally//, there's a sci-fi story that doesn't depict the entire Solar System as being //**American™**//.
+There was a point in time that I believed that <cite>Cowboy Bebop</cite>’s world, or something vaguely resembling it, might actually be a thing. The bit that's realistic is the bit where different cultures will probably share the Solar System. Let's hope a 1980s-1990s culture returns as well. Maybe. Maybe not.
+===== Trivilinks =====
+  * [[anidb>23|aniDB]]
+  * [[anila>1|AniList]] - Fun fact, the ID is 1 for some reason.
+  * Movie
+    * [[anidb>219|aniDB]]
+    * [[anila>5|AniList]]
+  * [[https://cowboybebop.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page|The Wikia]]
+    * Wiki isn't worth it, not enough to get you hooked.