With each one of these challenges, it gets harder and harder to say what inspires me about whatever series/movie/comic book/podcast/etc. I have chosen for the month because … well, a lot of it is the same. I’m inspired by the character creation, the world building, the themes, the social commentary, the dialogue, what I don’t want to do … All of those apply to Cowboy Bebop naturally, and I maintain that it is still one of the best television series I have ever seen. And why? Because it’s all one planned story, from beginning to end.
Continue reading 30 day cowboy bebop challenge, day 30: in which cowboy bebop inspires me …Monthly Archives: November 2021
30 day cowboy bebop challenge, day 29: in which I discuss what I’d like to see next …
Honestly? I got what I wanted with the creation of a live-action version (of which I will be finishing up over the next couple of days), and although I don’t have a solid opinion of how they did as of yet, I haven’t had too many complaints so far.
But I think what I’d like to see next is a bit more … abstract? God, that sounds pretentious. But hear me out: I want entertainment to see why Cowboy Bebop was successful, both in Japan and in the States. It has broad appeal, but it doesn’t pander (at least, I don’t think it does); it’s diverse and in more than one way, but again, it doesn’t pander. It melds genres with its score, its animation, its voice cast, and it creates something new yet familiar.
This is what I want. I want more shows like Cowboy Bebop, but not in a pandering way. I want Hollywood to look for originals; I want praise for experimental methods of storytelling and not just with awards. I want all other areas of the world to get a chance to move outside their national borders. Like, I know there has to be Ethiopian television; I wanna see their shows! I want to see Native cultures of Northern and Southern America everywhere, telling their stories. I am sick and tired of seeing the same shit coming from the same people, so I’m truly hoping that the live-action show is as successful as humanly possible (no, I have not read any reviews but have heard mixed opinions). Because if it is, like how Shang-Chi was a box office success, maybe just maybe people will start to realize that there is so much value in telling diverse stories, possibly not even necessarily monetary value (although LOL, late-stage capitalism!).
Art Credit: PennLive
30 day cowboy bebop challenge, day 28: in which I discuss the movie …
Okay, so the movie is apparently not available on streaming, and even though there is a $300 Blu Ray on Amazon, as of today, I just refuse to spend money to purchase an actual DVD to be sent to me. Plus, I’m poor; even $15 is too much.
So I’m going off of a couple plot summaries and my own memory of the movie that came out twenty damn years ago. Be nice to me.
I remember really loving the movie but that I felt it was a bit bloated at times, essentially just one really long episode of Cowboy Bebop, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There was a lot of story that I feel dealt with the horrors of war almost as well as Howl’s Moving Castle: for example, Vincent is obviously not a good guy – he’s a terrorist, willing to allow millions to die for his revenge – but he’s much more understandable than Vicious ever was because his backstory was actually delved into. While you may not agree with his methods, you can at least empathize with the man; which just proves to me that the only thing that could have improved this series would have been if they’d done a bit more with Vicious, he would have been one of the best villains of all time.
I’m really hoping the movie comes out again or that it becomes available on streaming so I can refresh my memory; plus, from what I’ve heard, the live-action series incorporates quite a bit of the movie into it! So … that might be a perfect impetus for them to re-release it!
I might be more excited about that than I should be.
Art Credit: PennLive
cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 27: in which I prefer dubbed or subbed …
So back when I watched Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust for #Horrorpalooza2021, I mentioned to several people that the dubbed version was honestly just as good as the original Japanese, which isn’t super common. Granted, I haven’t been watching a lot of anime recently, and I’m sure that there are plenty out there now with stellar English casts, but at the time I was getting into the medium, pickins’ were slim. As much as I love Bubblegum Crisis (I’ll be doing a challenge on that show in February!), the English dub is horrendous – so much that I refuse to watch it – and the voice actors for Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, etc. were just so much better in Japanese.
But Cowboy Bebop?
Continue reading cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 27: in which I prefer dubbed or subbed …cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 26: in which I interpret the ending …
So this obviously has an obligatory Spoiler Alert warning for anyone who hasn’t watched an over 20-year-old anime, but if you don’t want to see me discuss the ending, I suggest you skip today’s challenge if you want to watch it first.
If you don’t care, please: read on!
Continue reading cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 26: in which I interpret the ending …cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 25: in which I have favorite music, part ii …
So there’s a lot of the Blue album on this part of the list, but honestly? It’s my favorite out of all of the soundtracks. And there are way more than you’d think there would be, especially since this was a single run of 26 episodes (and a movie). The red album was my first foray into the music on Cowboy Bebop, but I didn’t really realize Yoko Kanno’s brilliance until I ran across Blue. No Disc is a close second in favorites, though, so it gets sprinkled in there a bit.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this travel into the weird, wild brain of Yoko Kanno and her Crazy Batch of Musicians. I’m just going to go listen to this shit nonstop.
Continue reading cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 25: in which I have favorite music, part ii …cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 25: in which I have favorite songs …
Anyone who reads my challenges knows that I love the soundtrack challenge days because it’s basically just another on rotation … and I get to relisten to a lot of music that I forgot I loved so much. This is no different. Yoko Kanno is a musical genius, who has done so much that it’s a damn shame she hasn’t gotten more work in the United States (I mean, if she cares about that sort of thing, I guess).
This is 100% going to be a two-parter, so be on the lookout for a second page.
Continue reading cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 25: in which I have favorite songs …cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 24: in which there is a worst episode …
Now, I want to preface this by saying that “worst episode” does not mean “least favorite episode,” although sometimes those do coincide and I end up just wanting to throw the controller at my TV (I’m looking at you, “Black Market“). But with Cowboy Bebop, it seems like there are just episodes that I’m “meh” about. They’re not completely bad, but they simply do not meet my high expectations, which are exceptionally high … and that’s really the show’s fault more than anything else.
Continue reading cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 24: in which there is a worst episode …cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 23: in which there is a best episode …
It’s always just a little bit of a tough decision when you have to narrow something down to its best iteration, especially one as consistently amazing as Cowboy Bebop, and I’ve been going back and forth on it for a little while … actually a little thankful that I waited until near the end of the challenge to address it. But I was able to figure out the king of this creative mountain – what I believe is one of the best character-building episodes of all time: “Speak Like a Child.”
Continue reading cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 23: in which there is a best episode …cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 22: in which I have a favorite location …
I keep coming back to this episode, but damn, it’s just so good.
a little more juju 