The origins of Bebop itself seem almost too impossible to be true.
The two find themselves emotionally held at a distance from each other in consequence of a Shakespearean divide: a woman who can’t reconnect to her past and a man who can’t envision a future.
At the core of the bounty hunting adventure serial was a poignant relationship between a pair of now-iconic lead characters, Faye Valentine and Spike Spiegel. Though awash in style and verve, Cowboy Bebop wasn’t lacking in substance. (Still from Netflix trailer for 'Cowboy Bebop' anime) Tension between Faye and Spike was often sizzling. Communications scholar Fabienne Darling-Wolf explores how media producers in Japan were among others who found international reach, inviting viewers to negotiate their own sense of place with “cultural products, images and information increasingly disconnected from their place of origin.” Its critical acclaim and financial success speaks to a seismic shift in existing media landscapes in the 1980s leading into the 21st century. Thanks to the groundwork laid by shows like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing, Bebop not only found a sizable audience on DVD, but practically became an overnight success when it was selected as the first anime to be broadcast on Cartoon Network’s burgeoning late-night programming block Adult Swim in 2001.Īs noted by media scholar Sandra Annett, Cowboy Bebop represented a work of art that existed outside national boundaries - what she calls a “ shift towards post-nationalism.” The series, set in the year 2071, and anchored in the civilization hub of the planet Mars, presented a dynamic, compelling and surprisingly cohesive melting pot of disparate cultural influences, all of which combine to articulate a story that is - at its core - globally inclusive. Music is an intrinsic part to both the atmosphere and storytelling of Bebop, which features jazz, funk, hip-hop, blues, rock, metal and beyond.įirst released on home video in the West in 2000, Cowboy Bebop rode one of anime’s earliest major waves into western popular culture. Its genre-bending storyline about space-faring bounty hunters offered viewers a pastiche of American mafia movies, Italian westerns, Japanese cyberpunk, Hong-Kong style martial arts movies and many other international influences.Īccompanying the sampling of story genres is an equally diverse sampling of international music, seamlessly integrated.
The original Cowboy Bebop played a monumental role in establishing the transnational potential of anime. The occasion offers a moment to reflect upon the vast cultural and artistic significance of an anime that crossed literal and figurative borders to help carve out an international audience for the Japanese animation industry. The classic 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop is back in the public eye with a bold and much-anticipated live-action adaptation arriving on Netflix on Nov. John Cho plays iconic anime bounty hunter Spike Spiegel in Netflix's live-action adaptation of 'Cowboy Bebop.' ('Cowboy Bebop' 2021 Netflix trailer/'Cowboy Bebop Netflix anime trailer)