Cowboy Bebop

[Alucard]

Recently had some downtime this evening and decided to re watch Cowboy Bebop. I've probably only seen
3 episodes thus far. The last time I saw this show was when Adult Swim aired it way back then. I've forgotten
how awesome this anime is.

Does the anime followly closely to the manga or is it completely different like how the original Full Metal
Alchemist series diverged halfway through?

 

[Rob King]

I'm pretty sure the manga are side stories, which would mean that A) the show and the manga don't tell the same story, but B) they do occur in the same continuity.

That's just my understanding, though. I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading the manga.

This past Saturday, though, I began to watch Cowboy Bebop again, with a female friend of mine. I'm afraid I might have oversold them, though, because after four episodes, it doesn't seem like she's interested in continuing at all. It always breaks my heart when people don't like Cowboy Bebop. It feels almost like something I love has been dismissed

 

[Baerdog]

I recently watched through this for the first time. Before I was even halfway through it, I knew it was gonna be my favorite anime. The only think I can't figure out is whether or not I like the actualy show or its soundtrack more.

 

[Alucard]

I think its a mixture of both. Well for me actually. The music just fits the show somehow.
I had to purchase this on DVD because it was that awesome. I prefer 'See You Space Cowboy' then the opening theme 'Tank!'

 

[Baerdog]

Are you talking about the ending theme? That is Real Folk Blues.

 

[Cajungal]

Mmmmmm, I love that song. I wanna sing that song at a karaoke thingie at an anime convention, but I haven't the courage.

 

[Rob King]

The music for that show is phenomenal. I think my favorite is from the movie, though, "Gotta Knock a Little Harder."

 

[Cajungal]

Blargh. I think I might need to watch this again this summer. Guess I'll have to put a few days aside to be terribly depressed.

 

[phil]

Looks like the comics are just adaptations and re-tellings of the series.

 

[Bowielee]

Speaking of anime, I just started watching Bleach for the first time on Hulu. So far, I'm finding it OK. Not good, not bad, just OK.

Anyone know if it starts picking up? I'm about 7-8 episodes in.

 

[Allen who is Quiet]

iirc, around episode 16.

 

[Soliloquy]

Cowboy Bebop just has a sort of... groove to it that I haven't seen matched in anything else. No sort of show, movie, story, play, anything

I tried watching some other anime series after it, but none of them really grabbed me the way Cowboy Bebop did.

Speaking of anime, I just started watching Bleach for the first time on Hulu. So far, I'm finding it OK. Not good, not bad, just OK.

Anyone know if it starts picking up? I'm about 7-8 episodes in.

I'm about to ruin the entire show for you:

Spoiler

Nobody dies in Bleach. Not a single major character.

I stopped watching after 30 episodes when I found that out.

 

[Iaculus]

Have you tried Darker than Black? Great English dub, and the music's by Yoko Kanno, the same lady who did Cowboy Bebop's. She also did it for Macross Frontier, another of my favourites.

Baccano's another good one, with another excellent dub, though the soundtrack's by different people. Here's the OP as a taster:

 

[Seraphyn]

As far as Bleach goes: the whole Soul Society arc is pretty awesome, but when that ends and the Bount start, it's time to move on because it's pretty much downhill from there. On Cowboy Bebop, I was under the impression that it was made as an anime first, so it would make sense that the manga would focus on other things as it wouldn't be very appealing otherwise. Never read it though.

 

[Alucard]

The only thing I cared for about Bleach was probably when they had to go rescue Rukia and that was it. It's kind of ludicrous how many episodes are out there now about it.

Baccano! is a series I'd recommend although it kind of gets a bit annoying since they jump around so much and keep going back to the events on what happened on the train.

Darker Than Black is great too despite the slightly unexpected ending.

 

[fade]

Cowboy Bebop is good. I had the same experience as Rob. I can't get my wife to like it even though I know she would. I've tried to ease her in with other things like Bleach after the fact, but she has this nearly uncanny ability to only be awake for the crappy giant-head-yelling-snot-bubble episodes. I mean, it's really unreal, to the point that I'm keeping tally. As far as bleach goes, it's pretty good, except that a) it suffers from getonwithitism, and b) the guy who does Ichigo does about half the male voices, and they're not even that different. Like when Ichigo and Ikaku talk to each other, I'd be confused if I was blind.

 

[Bowielee]

Cowboy Bebop is good. I had the same experience as Rob. I can't get my wife to like it even though I know she would. I've tried to ease her in with other things like Bleach after the fact, but she has this nearly uncanny ability to only be awake for the crappy giant-head-yelling-snot-bubble episodes. I mean, it's really unreal, to the point that I'm keeping tally. As far as bleach goes, it's pretty good, except that a) it suffers from getonwithitism, and b) the guy who does Ichigo does about half the male voices, and they're not even that different. Like when Ichigo and Ikaku talk to each other, I'd be confused if I was blind.

The version I'm watching is subbed, not dubbed, so voices don't really factor that much into it.

 

[Oddbot]

Cowboy Bebop is awesome and there's really no other anime remotely like it. Even the creators second show Samurai Champloo is nowhere near as good.

I've given up mostly on more recent animes, as they just don't seem to be as good as the stuff from around Bebop's time like Trigun, Evangelion, and Berserk.

Of course there's a few exceptions:
Monster is a great sort of psychological thriller that came out a couple years ago, Mushishi is a beautiful show with great stories and characters, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is just full of pure awesome. Much much better than the original series which I also loved.

 

[fade]

I thought Trigun was (GASP!) fairly bad. I know I'm in the minority, but whatever.

 

[Oddbot]

IMO, Trigun was a mediocre series until about half way through I'll give you that, and the whole plot was pretty much a rip-off of Kenshin (though done better imo), but it's still one of my favorite anime series.

 

[Cajungal]

I enjoy Trigun, but it's one of those series that I can understand people not liking.... not like Bebop, I've physically pounced on people who talked crap about Bebop.

 

[Seraphyn]

Trigun was ok in my book, it was a fun watch. After reading the manga though I really hope they remake it since the original anime was finished like a decade or so before the manga was. I hear that there's an animated movie coming though

 

[Philosopher B.]

I should really get around to seeing all of Cowboy Bebop. What I did see was pretty rad, though.

 

[Soliloquy]

I watched the first episode of Trigun, and decided that it wasn't worth my time. I cringed through the entire episode, and didn't think that watching any more of those was worth getting to the good stuff.

I'll look into Darker than Black, though. Sounds interesting.

 

[fade]

Despite my opinion on Trigun, I watched the whole thing. It was given to good moments, sure, but not enough to offset the general nature of the show. For instance,

Spoiler

Wolfwood's death

was one of the best death scenes ever.

 

[Cajungal]

 

[Iaculus]

I watched the first episode of Trigun, and decided that it wasn't worth my time. I cringed through the entire episode, and didn't think that watching any more of those was worth getting to the good stuff.

I'll look into Darker than Black, though. Sounds interesting.

That's reasonable. It does get a lot better (and a hell of a lot darker) later on, but it certainly wasn't the work of genius some seem to refer to it as.

Darker than Black is definitely worth your while - I advise watching the first two episodes back-to-back in order to decide whether it's your cup of tea, but if you like those...

Oh, by the way, here's a link to a site where you can watch the dubbed version free. Also has Baccano, if you ain't seen that yet. Unlike Black Cat, I rather enjoyed the anachronic jumping around as we got more and more information about what was going on, though I will admit that being able to watch several episodes in a single sitting helped with that, and the dub's pretty much mandatory (they even got the accents right!).

Oh, and like the above shows, DtB also has a bitching piece of opening music.



---------- Post added at 06:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:21 PM ----------

Cowboy Bebop is awesome and there's really no other anime remotely like it. Even the creators second show Samurai Champloo is nowhere near as good.

I've given up mostly on more recent animes, as they just don't seem to be as good as the stuff from around Bebop's time like Trigun, Evangelion, and Berserk.

Of course there's a few exceptions:
Monster is a great sort of psychological thriller that came out a couple years ago, Mushishi is a beautiful show with great stories and characters, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is just full of pure awesome. Much much better than the original series which I also loved.

Oh aye? What other recent stuff you watched that you disliked?

 

[Rob King]

I enjoy Trigun, but it's one of those series that I can understand people not liking.... not like Bebop, I've physically pounced on people who talked crap about Bebop.

I don't like to be known as an 'anime/manga' fan. I have plenty of friends who are pretty gung-ho about it, and I see how people look at/deal with them, so I don't go nuts and hope that people don't dismiss me for a loony. All that said, though I have never actually hidden my affinity for anime or manga, the only anime/manga I have ever publicly and vehemently defended and downright proselytized about was Cowboy Bebop. I think that's part of the reason I find it so difficult to take when people don't appreciate it like I do. It's one of the better shows (including western television) I've watched, and I want to share it, but it's difficult because people sometimes dismiss it as so much cartoon garbage.

I also really enjoyed Full Metal Panic!, which hasn't been mentioned up to this point. It jumped back and forth between dark sci-fi and lighthearted romantic comedy a whole lot, but that was part of it's strength. Also an excellent dub.

My guilty anime pleasure is the Gundam franchise. Nothing that's come out in the last ten years has been groundbreaking, or even incredibly entertaining, but the two series that stand out for me enough to talk about it and recommend it to people are Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team, and Mobile Suit Gundam: 0080, War in the Pocket.

 

[Bowielee]

I know this is pretty out of left field, but IMO Naruto is made by the devil himself. Every time I see some teenage geek wearing one of those bandanas, I say a little prayer for thier immortal soul.

 

[General Specific]

I know this is pretty out of left field, but IMO Naruto is made by the devil himself. Every time I see some teenage geek wearing one of those bandanas, I say a little prayer for thier immortal soul.

A little vindication for you, Bowie

For those who are wondering, yes, the Cowboy Bebop clip came first.

 

[Null]

I cannot stand Death Note. Loved Bebop. Loved Berserk. Wish Bleach got to the good stuff a little faster.

 

[Frank]

Was there ever more to Beserk? Or do I have to hunt for, like, decades old manga? If that's the case, shitty.

 

[Iaculus]

My guilty anime pleasure is the Gundam franchise. Nothing that's come out in the last ten years has been groundbreaking, or even incredibly entertaining, but the two series that stand out for me enough to talk about it and recommend it to people are Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team, and Mobile Suit Gundam: 0080, War in the Pocket.

Have you seen the first episode of Gundam Unicorn yet? Sure, it's an OVA, so the release schedule's going to be glacial, and the author of the novel it's based on apparently has some kiiinda sketchy political views, but what exists so far is excellent, and definitely retains the appropriately 'Gundam-ish' feel. Oh, and the animation made me salivate.

 

[Dubyamn]

Was there ever more to Beserk? Or do I have to hunt for, like, decades old manga? If that's the case, shitty.

You have to hunt for the Manga. Totally worth it though IMO since it explains what is going on at the end during the Eclipse. Unfortunately you'll have to buy the manga since it comes in those nice sealed booklets.

 

[SpecialKO]

Was there ever more to Beserk? Or do I have to hunt for, like, decades old manga? If that's the case, shitty.

You have to hunt for the Manga. Totally worth it though IMO since it explains what is going on at the end during the Eclipse. Unfortunately you'll have to buy the manga since it comes in those nice sealed booklets.[/QUOTE]

Hey Frankie, check your PMs.

I have long since despaired of getting my GF to like Bebop. She despises animation/cartoons in general, though, so I suppose it's a victory that she loves the soundtrack sans series.