Cowboy Bebop

About

Cowboy Bebop is an anime series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and produced by Sunrise. Since the series first aired in 1998, the show garnered widespread critical acclaim, and is often heralded as one of the best anime of all time. It is due to this that the show has garnered a significant online following.

History

Cowboy Bebop first originated as a 26-episode tv anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and produced by Sunrise, which aired from October 24,1998 to April 24, 1999, after an aborted first run from April 3 to June 26 of the same year. The show chronicled the adventures of the crew of the spaceship Bebop, consisting of ex-hitman Spike Spiegel, former ISSP officer Jet Black, amnesiac con artist Faye Valentine, preteen computer hacker Edward and Welsh Corgi Ein. Throughout the series, each of the crew members are forced to deal with unresolved issues from their pasts, with the show regularly showing flashbacks to illustrate the history of the said characters. After the success of the show, two manga series based on it started circulation, airing from May to October 1998 and April 1999 to April 2000. Two video games based on the series were also created, being released in Japan on the Playstation and Playstation. An animated film based off the series was also created in conjunction with Studio BONES, which aired in Japan in 2001 and in America in 2003.

Live-Action Movie

On July 22, 2008, Sci-Fi website If posted an article on it’s website about a rumour of a live action adaptation of the Cowboy Bebop series, to be developed by 20th Century Fox. This rumour was later confirmed, along with the announcement that Spike Spiegel would be played by Keanu Reeves^[1]. After the announcement, many fans of the series were quick to show their displeasement at the announcement, criticising the decision. On October 20, 2013, Reeves later went on to state in a Reddit AMA that it would be unlikely for him to star in the movie by that point^[2]. The movie, however, went on to linger in development hell.

Reception

Cowboy Bebop has become one of the most critically acclaimed and most popular anime of all time, winning a number of awards both in Japan and in America. The series has been praised for it’s soundtrack and voice acting, and is one of the few anime considered to be superior in English rather than in the original Japanese. The series is also heralded as one of the main reasons for the surge in popularity of anime in the west, after it became the first anime title to be shown as part of the launch of Adult Swim on September 2, 2001.

Online Relevance

The Cowboy Bebop series has garnered a significant online following since it first aired, with a significant presence on sites such as Tumblr^[3], Reddit^[4], 4chan’s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board^[5], Fanpop^[6], My Anime List^[7], FanFiction.net^[8] and DeviantART^[9]^[10]. There are numerous sites holding information of the series, such as the Cowboy Bebop wiki^[11], TV Tropes^[12] and Anime News Network^[13]. The Cowboy Bebop Facebook page also has over 100,000 likes^[14].

Related Sub-memes

Cowboy Bebop Opening Parodies/Tank!

Cowboy Bebop Opening Parodies referes to a series of Anime OP/ED Parody MADs based around the opening of the Cowboy Bebop anime. The parodies, usually featuring visual from other popular series, grew in popularity after parodies were posted to video sharing websites such as YouTube and Nico Nico Douga.

Cowboy Bebop Ending Title Card Parodies

Cowboy Bebop Ending Title Card Parodies refers to a series of parodies revolving around the phrases featured at the end of each episode on the ending title card (Most notably ’You’re Gonna Carry That Weight’ and ‘See You, Space Cowboy’). The phrases have spawned many parodies and mentions among fans, causing them to become popular.