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Name: Cowboy Bebop. *A personal favorite for all kinds of reasons.* History: I bought this series on the strength of one of the weaker episodes: Boogie Woogie Feng Shui. I was not disappointed. Art: Do you have eyes? Look at that header! Some of the character designs didn't strike me as being terribly original, but everyone who has a speaking role has a memorable appearance. Also, this show seems immune to the art wobbles that other animes-- such as Trigun and Outlaw Star-- suffer through. I'm not saying the quality is totally even throughout, but it never gets bad enough to be distracting. My only critique: I was never a fan of the CG sequences. They were too conspicuous, and if your CG is conspicuous, something is wrong. Characters: What's great about this show is that even though it's episodic (a little TOO episodic, in my opinion), you come to know each of the members of the Bebop's crew intimately. The fanfic community has a hard time with Bebop because it defies wish fulfillment-- you *know* these people too well to let bad writers get away with mutilating them. Every time you see the show, they get more complex. Part of this is because the writers left just enough holes so that an obsessed viewer comes to fill in the blanks for herself, leading to a personalized Bebop experience for everyone. Plot: There's a somewhat neglected over-arching story arc concerning Spike. Cowboy Bebop is a varied show. Sometimes the writers go for laughs, sometimes for drama. Every genre is represented. This "something for everyone" approach results in a couple of throwaway episodes, but this doesn't injure the series as a whole. It also causes the series to sacrifice a certain depth-- some people may be left confused by the series of events. Certain veiwers will react... badly... to the ending. ::whistles innocently:: Music: There's been a lot said about Bebop music. I agree with most of it. But I, personally, am happy downloading what I can get online. I find that the music wears on me pretty quickly. Like the episodes themselves, there is music from all genres in this series, united only by a certain tongue-in-cheek humor. Jazz, blues, opera, pop, rock-- even techno. The unifying genre, though, is blues and jazz-- those sounds are the soul of the show. Dub or Sub?: It takes a few episodes for the English voice actors to settle into their characters, and the secondary characters sometimes overdo it. But overall, this is an excellent show to watch in dub-- and sometimes the English translations are funnier than the Japanese. Since this was made for Westerners, there's none of that semi-translatable dialogue. Ed, in particular, is preferable in English, in my opinion. Reactions: Buy this. Go buy it. I mean it. Don't give me that crap that just because it's popular, it can't be good. Stop being a snob and experience the pure, happy joy that is Cowboy Bebop. (This goes double if you're female. I'd like to meet a girl who is immune to Spike Speigel).
Cowboy Bebop: Knocking On Heaven's Door History: Of course I was going to see this movie. I bought it bootleg. This injured my experience, because I had watched the series in English dub, and now I had to switch over to the Japanese voice actors. The subtitles were jagged and noticeably lacking in verve. Art: Absolutely beautiful. Everything is so intensely detailed that it almost hurts to look at it. The character designs are untouched, and the backgrounds swarm with activity and color. See the pic at the bottom of the page. Plot: Meh. I wasn't a big fan of the plot. First, Electra ticked my sorry fangirl ass off. (Spike/Electra? Da hell?) It was basically a bigger, more complicated episode of Bebop, which is fine, but it left me wanting something. Vincent (a bounty) is a bioterrorist; Electra is his star-crossed lover; and Spike is the twain where the two shall meet. Meanwhile, Faye gets abused. You see why I wasn't too wild about it? The opening sequence is priceless though. Music: Very poppy-- almost too much so. "Ask DNA" always gives me the feeling that I've made a wrong turn on the way to the toilet and stumbled into "Waking Life." Reactions: You should definitely see this if you are a fan of the show, but it certainly doesn't "transcend the show," as some critics have said. |
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