InAnimete: Part 15 - Cowboy Bebop

A generic phrase used to describe a lot of media, and I'm certainly among those who have used it, is "It had some good ideas, but..." and them something along the line of "needs more fleshing out/limited expression/rushed/budget cuts/etc". I mean, that's the most common criticism I've seen for really damn good anime like Angel Beats. Cowboy Bebop strikes me as an inversion of this.





Cowboy Bebop has strengths and new ideas, but it puts it's use of cliche and overdone ideas as a proud feature of the narrative. It wants to be retro in many ways, and achieves it, but just doesn't filter the parts that really needed to go.

As always, I'll get into the meat of what all this means in a moment, but first I should give an explanation of what the show is all about. I may have to spoil the many exciting "twists" of the show, so the Spoiler Warning goes here.

Plot:

 

This is from a giant casino with an indoor waterfall. Gotta dig space-opulence.

Cowboy Bebop begins as a show about the adventures of a pair of bounty hunters in a universe that is technologically and thematically somewhere between Firefly and Kiddy Grade. They are a grizzled ex-cop pilot and a martial arts-wielding former Mafioso tough-guy. As the show trudges ever forward, this pair (Jet Black and Spike. I wish I was kidding. Those are their names) are met with an expanded crew. There's Faye, the generic femme fatale and magnet of male-gazey camera, Edward, the sugar-powered tech genius and Ein, a super smart dog. Please note the last two actually are great characters.

This group travels around, trying to catch bounties, make a living and ever so slowly reveal to the audience just how dull and predictable their character arcs are. Except for Ed and Ein. They hardly even get arcs.

The highlight is, other than Ed and Ein, the colourful and really creative universe this is all set in. The planets, inspired by Earth in strange and perverse ways and the design of areas on these planets (such as the casino in the background of the above pic), characters reflecting regular stereotypes...IN SPACE! and the soundtrack. The soundtrack is awesome. I can't even try to knock it.

Anyway, let's just jump into the characters, one at a time. This is gonna get interesting.

Spike:

Pictured: Spike, contemplating a mushroom.

Spike is the fighter of the group, an expert in martial arts and is pretty clearly the main character of the show. He is, in short, my greatest problem with this show (or at least his story is, anyway). Spike is generally aloof, and generally tries to avoid making lasting relationships with people. He's also a pretty shit bounty hunter, but that's true of the entire cast.

My biggest problem with Spike is how bland a character he is. Sure, sure, I've been informed plenty about how much his backstory and arc contribute to this, and we'll get to that in a moment, but Spike manages to be, in the anime for people who don't watch anime, about as bland as the average anime protagonist. Sure, he at least demonstrates his humanity, and isn't stuck on "angry" or "humourless" for the entire show, but I kept just being bored whenever he was the main character of an episode (which was far too often). The show just dwells so much on how skilled Spike is, and how tortured he is by his past. Actually, let's talk about that past.

So, there's a character called Vicious. He has white hair, is the major villain of Spike's story andahahahahahahahaha I'm sorry I just can't. Vicious is the most anime creation I've seen in my life. I'm meant to take this fucker seriously? As either a threat to Spike in-story or as a figure of actual depth? My fucking Christ. I watched this right before Trigun (that'll be next week) and I was slightly worried that after "Vicious" and "Knives" all anime would just have stupid, ludicrous names and motivations (at least the next villain, despite being cartoonish, was called Max). There's another major character in Spike's story. Vicious is his big bad, but there's also his love interest, Julia.

I'll get to this more with Faye, perhaps, but Cowboy Bebop isn't good with well-written women. Ed is perhaps the greatest female character I've ever seen in an anime, but she's just a girl. Adult women, particularly plot-important, named women are given a limited role. Faye is kind of a joke, and her sexuality is portrayed as about the only skill she brings to the group. Julia is a different kind of horribly written. She exists only for Spike. Her entire story is dealing with him. Her and Spike's death at the end of the series is perhaps the most underwhelming ending I've ever seen. Julia was given so little personality or depth or even just screen-time that I've always likened her death to Spike loosing a well-like suit. Or breaking a favourite mug. Julia was a character that existed as a damsel for Spike to save, who just missed out on having a character. I detest Julia about as much as I detest Vicious: They both are loaded with boatloads of lazy, cliched characteristics. Whereas Vicious comes across as just hilariously stupid, Julia is far more indicative of the short straw women in anime (and, fuck it, most media) constantly draw in regards to treatment and characterisation.

So, in short, Spike, his arc and his story can all go fuck themselves. I can sum up Spike's character in a conversation I had with the one friend I have who liked this show:
Me: "Spike just seems such a non-character".
My mate: "No, actually, his character is really deep."
Silence.
Spike requires a fair amount of mental investment on the behalf of the viewer to be given depth, like blowing air in a balloon. If you let him sit as he is, he isn't that impressive.

Jet:

Pictured: Jet, also contemplating a mushroom.

I don't have nearly as much vitriol against Jet. Sure, he embodies some outdated cliches, but they're used interestingly. Jet is a retired cop, having lost his arm in the line of duty, and throughout the course of the show comes to understand how he was betrayed by his partner.

I feel Jet kinda got shafted overall. His own story is forced to take a backseat to Faye and Spike, especially, after about episode 16. He comes to terms with his ex-girlfriend's new partner. He gets a form of revenge against the partner that betrayed him. Where else can he really go? There's the peculiar, although well-intentioned episode 21, in which Jet helps the daughter of an old friend, but other than that Jet is the chauffeur of the more plot-heavy characters in his ship.

Jet, personality-wise, is the epitome of a grizzled ex-cop. He has a sense of humour and is personable enough, but he still has a short temper and is particularly business-minded, always trying to follow the bounty, even when it might me more practical to reconsider. I haven't got anything in particular against Jet's character, there just isn't much to say. He seems well rounded enough.

In conclusion, Jet seems pretty alright. There. Done. Next!

Faye:

Pictured: Faye, eating a mushroom. Yes, I might have gotten all these images from the same episode.

I like Faye more than seems to be generally accepted. Sure, she isn't the greatest character of all time, but she is independent, expressive and an individual in her behaviour. That's a checklist that most female characters in anime don't fill out, so credit where credit's due, I guess.

So, why do I like Faye? Well, for one, we were apparently born in the same year. Faye was frozen in the futuristic year of 2017 at the age of 23 due to an accident, and was awoken just in time for the adventures of Cowboy Bebop (2071, if Wikipedia is to be trusted). Apparently Faye was also born in 1994. Good for her. And yes, she has the same plot as Fry from Futurama. Which premiered the year after Cowboy Bebop. Guess our most recent fin de siecle was just the time for cryogenics.

So, Faye is a skilled con-artist, charismatic, uses her sexuality as a weapon and is always driven. She also is in pursuit of her past, and I find that arc particularly interesting, although not concluded to my particular satisfaction. Although she seems to be the black sheep of the Cowboy Bebop fandom, I do like her character in general. But let's also cover some pretty obvious bullshit.

Cowboy Bebop, and Faye's character in particular turned the phrase "male gaze" from a well-known element of feminist theory to a verb. A verb I use very often. Specifically for anime, which fucking thrives on it. Faye is constantly being studied in great detail by the camera in a blatantly sexualised way. I really can't phrase it more bluntly than that. It's really creepy and just bullshit. Anime: quit doing that, and even more-so for gyno-cam, which I can't accuse this series of doing too much.

Really, Faye walks a really thin line for me. On one hand, she represents a character who is confident and proud of herself, her body and her sexuality. Her personality isn't dependent on male characters, and her plot is about her personal journey. On the other hand, the camera just takes so much joy in focusing on her body, letting us know that Faye is fit, and has well-fitting clothes. Faye's a hell of a lot better than Julia, but goddamn, I wish the cinematography would take a step back.

Although Faye's story seemed to end with a lot of loose threads, I think that's intentional and I can respect that. Faye, like Ed and Ein, is at the beginning of her life. She can go a lot of ways, and now she finally has the closure to blaze her own path. Jet and Spike are holding her back, at the end of their own stories, and nothing left to teach. Long story short: fuck the fandom, I dig Faye's character and arc, and I'll read her as an independent woman, not a male-gazey piece of set dressing.

Edward:

Pictured: Ed, contemplating mushrooms, once again. (I really fucking love the mushroom episode).

Ed fucking makes this show. I don't care what anyone goddamn says, I fucking love Ed. She is written absolutely perfectly. Anime, to cast a broad generalisation, has attempted to write a lot of pre-adolescent girls. Not all are bad, and many of them represent varied and interesting takes on their surroundings. There are perfect angel characters, spoiled brats, creepy Daria-wannabes, mech pilots, etc. But I cannot think of a single one that is nearly as much fun to watch as Ed. Ed is a creature of complete transparency. Any thought she has will instantly be turned into words or, more likely, actions. She does what she wants, when she wants, how she wants. She never gets reality, her surroundings or her circumstances get in the way of life. She's like a twisted futuristic Pollyanna if Pollyanna consumed too much sugar and lacked a social filter for her behaviour. Ed is fun. Ed is energy. Ed goddamn takes Cowboy Bebop from "Meh. Looks cool, I guess" to "I kinda get the fans? Sorta?".

Ed, or "Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV" (real name Francoise Appledelhi) is a teenage tomboy hacker who, until forcing herself into the crew of the show, lived alone and caused chaos for fun. This included carving a smiley face the size of South America into South America. The Latin American Studies minor in me just cried a little. Ed frustrates everyone on the ship with her energy (and undermines the stuffy, pretentious noir tone the show touches on, which I really appreciate). She finds a friend in the genius dog Ein, and the two are inseparable.

I really don't have a lot to say about Ed. She is fun and energy incarnate and was the element I most looked forward to every episode. When Ed leaves the ship with Ein, the same episode Faye does the same, I just stopped caring. Jet's story was already wrapped up, so it was all about Spike. Who gives a fuck about Spike, anyway? My favourite episode for the entire show is Mushroom Samba, which gives us just a peek at the chaos Ed and Ein create when they're on their own. I will never know why they didn't get more screen time.

Ed's arc is pretty simple. Ed forces herself into the crew after a bounty, visits her old orphanage, and then follows her absentminded father in his grand adventures, now with Ein to keep her company. I mean, I didn't expect a girl like Ed to have a dramatic or self-aggrandising story. It wouldn't fit, and as such I'm perfectly happy with the arc she was given. I just woulda dug more screen time and a little closure.

Ed is just fantastic. I get how she could have been frustrating. I get how she could be a bit too much. I get how people there to watch Spike angrily fight criminals would be let down. But Ed was used well, and gave the show a sense of humour, a sense of humanity and a real demonstration that they could have fun with this world, which tended to be rather dour. I don't care what anyone says, I loved Ed. And Ein. Ein was cool.

Conclusion:

No love for Ein.

OK, here's my final opinion on Cowboy Bebop: It's a well executed anime with an interesting approach. It has strong elements, in setting, music, narrative flow, Ed, Faye's story in particular and playing with the format. It also has weak elements: Spike's characterisation and story, radically shifting tone that sapped from their attempt at drama, loose threads left with the plot, and a reliance on stereotypes to flesh out background characters.

It seems that at every stage, Cowboy Bebop lent more heavily on the weaker part of this equation, and the stronger parts of the show weren't given enough screen time. I want to be more interesting than just saying everything about Spike and his story frustrated and bored me. It's true, but it lacks explanation. Spike is a standby, a unifying element, a way of finding a central plot. He's a necessary evil. I get this all. But I find him so bland, his story a typical revenge-tragedy, and he is given so much spotlight it's amazing he doesn't have sunburn. And Julia was a pathetic attempt at characterisation, gender aside (although that's obviously a factor). Bar Jet, who has remarkably little story, any other character (including Ein) would have been a better protagonist. Sure, the tone would have changed radically, but that would have been for the best.

I don't call myself a fan of this show exactly, although I like parts of it. But I do get the amazingly widespread adoration of it. A lot of it is nostalgia, and I'll laugh at attempts to claim that isn't a major factor. There's also the fact it isn't like most anime. I call this the anti-Angel Beats - its strength is abandoning anime tropes, while Angel Beats embraced them and inverted them. For people who don't watch much anime, and most anime feels alien and hard to comprehend (I empathise) this is a welcome return to the familiar.

Pic unrelated to anything. I just don't want too many dull paragraphs of text without something to break it up

There's also America. I'm an English-speaking bloke residing in a First-world, democratic, capitalist society, but that doesn't make me an American. This show has a shitload of throwbacks to American culture. Take diversity: there are a large amount of people of colour in this show. My favourite episode takes place in a planet inspired by the uniquely American genre of "Blacksploitation" movies. There's an indigenous American woman. There's a show with two hosts dressed like cowboys, one of which is a black man. None of this is inspired by Japanese culture, obviously. It's one of the most racially and culturally homogeneous nations in the world. This is a show made for Americans. I'm not saying people who like this are suckers who have been manipulated, not at all. I'm just saying this is a Japanese produced show aimed at Americans, in a homage to Americana. I'm an Australian. I just don't get a lot of it. What is cliche and boring to me likely has a lot more cultural baggage to either Japanese or American viewers.

I've seen anime aimed at Australia. Deltora Quest and Lucy-May and the Southern Rainbow, both written by Australians or set in Australia. I'm sure they resonate with me more than the average American. It's just cultural baggage. On the 26th of this month, I'm going to listen to my radio (the one day I do so) and wait for a xenophobic racially-motivated riot to break out. This probably doesn't make a lot of sense to Americans. That's just cultural baggage. I don't get the 4th of July, Walmart, Starbucks, Gun fetishisation or why "Socialist" is an offensive term. It's just cultural baggage. I don't get the Japanese conservative demographic who just deny horrible inhuman acts were committed against civilians popu...actually, that's true in Australia, America and Japan. Scratch that.

I'm getting distracted. Cowboy Bebop has parts I like, parts I don't. It has a resounding message that you can only understand a small part of any person's story. I dig that. That's cool. It has diversity (something I'll crave next week) and Ed. Fuck yeah, Ed. I want to watch Ed & Ein's adventures. Somebody make that shit happen. Please. Cowboy Bebop as a whole isn't for me though. That's fine. I have problems with it, but I hardly figure anything I've said will puncture the bubble of most fans and I'm glad they can keep on enjoying it. Maybe in 15 years I'll feel a little more soft-hearted towards it. We'll see then, huh?

Next week I'll be back with Trigun, an excellent anime ruined by a spikey-haired fly in the ointment.

As always, cheers for reading,
H. Rourke