Tag: Cowboy Bebop

Pinkie Watches: Cowboy Bebop Episode 7 – Heavy Metal Queen

Hello again little lights!  Little by Little I am trying to get back into the swing of anime reviews! Well not so much reviews anymore as it is episode reactions! I hope to bring back an anime review every day sometime soon! Who knows by the time you see this we might be close already!  Of my seven anime I watched per week, Zombie Land Saga was the one I wanted to continue the most as it’s most in my style.. the second one I really wanted to pick up again was Cowboy Bebop! So here we go!  Let’s see how much I liked the seventh Episode.

Big Rigs In a shitty place

Unlike my review of Zombie Land Saga I completely watched this episode before I gave my reaction, I did not like the review format to much.. because it made me whiney or praise something I did not like at all, yet the as we go reaction causes a lot of pauses in the view , I get distracted and end up doing a lot of other stuff, so this is another way to try and approach it.  The Episode starts with a butch woman going by the name of V.T. She is a space trucker and she is walking into a trucker café.  She’s playing a lot of Heavy Metal on her speakers as she does. I don’t like heavy metal all that much but I must admit Cowboy Bebop uses it well.. I found the music annoying but it conveys that trucker atmosphere. The character design is quite gender ambiguous and since the voice kind of reminds me of Frieza.. that feeling was aided. Yet that is also kind of how I feel 80’s or 90’s  trucker women would be depicted and I don’t mean that in a bad way..there is this 80’s  action movie flavor to this episode and she fits right in it. 

There is a game going on to guess V.T.’s true name.. which no one does.. But I get it fairly soon as soon as I hear some bikers talk about rumors of a legendary bounty hunter… well her last name at least… but that one is SUPER complicated… so I forgot. Her favourite bar is crowded tonight as someone named Decker is on the planet and all these guys are Bounty Hunters… a great bridge is made to our no hung-over hero.  V.T. gets in a 80’s action fight with some ruffians and they spill Spike’s Anti hangover drink over him so he gets involved as well. I really like the choreography here, it really feels so 80’s.. including the narrative beats and music beats.. it really rocks! It kind of reminds me of Jack Burton from my favourite action movie!  He was a trucker as well!  Regardless the two bond a bit , she finds Bounty Hunters to be the worst people ever and of course this makes me know I have guessed the name right.  Spike plays along as she buys him a drink for helping.  She then withdraws that offer as she finds out the truth because of Faye.

Faye is sitting at a sort of Chuck E Cheese restaurant hoping to find Decker, who they only know has a Dragon Tattoo. When a big gorilla of a man walks in with a serpentine tattoo drawn on his chest she wastes no time and decides to confront him!  Obviously in typical 80’s fashion she got the wrong target and the real guy is a weasley nerd looking guy! Showing appearances can be deceiving. She chases him but with a little container he deals massive damage to her beloved ship!  Now he can get away freely so she has to call spike for help!  Those walkie talkies they have really cover some distance. I wonder where they got those!  V.T. wants nothing more to do with Spike and he leaves the “diner”  just to see his ship has been vandalised!  One of the Waitresses does the whole dumb blond thing that once again we see in 80’s movies. So much atmosphere!

Big Rigs in Space

Spike and Faye have to get towed.. and what better way to do that as with a truck. Spike catches a ride with V.T  so Jet can start working on their repairs.  Faye complains a lot about the heavy metal music but VT tells her to shove it basically because it is her ship! Which is completely fair. We also get a funny scene of Ein not eating Bean Sprouts which is the only food they have left.. showing money is scarce for the crew.. this means the bounty is probably going to get away again! Poor Ein! Going hungry like that!  This is a trope that I do kind of like but I also feel like we should at least be shown the crew making enough money to stay alive. I like dogs a lot so I kind of feel pained to see poor Ein be sold short! Last episode Faye ate his dog food as well.. What if that was his last can!  I would like to see them do a bit better at least.. if only for Ein’s sake. The whole atmosphere that we build up towards with the broken ships is pretty neat though! 

Having dropped off Faye and Spike, VT hears about a man in a space truck that rammed another trucker.. they had some dragon tattoo and some sort of buddhist art on their truck. VT knowing who it is seems to think she might be able to snag up a bounty and  deliver some street justice? I  am not really sure what her motivation is here.. I am bad at things like these. Truckers code maybe?! Who knows?!  She pursues the guy towards some Asteroid and Spike tells her not to go, thinking he is a stupid Bounty Hunter she ignores his call and we get a Truck Off!  Trucks ramming each other moving through asteroids and in general a pretty good space chase scene.. which kind of is reminiscent of … an 80’s action movie chase scene.  The villain however plays dirty and uses his weapon which turns out to be some advanced form of Nitroglycerin. VT is too skilled of a trucker to get done in by that and as she smirks, she realises the entire asteroid she is one is being used to mine some kind of explosive material and it has become totally unstable.  The villain meets his demise by his own doing.. which is quite conform.. that’s right 80’s action movies.

VT however is now up a creek without a paddle!  Her “truck”  crashed on a more and more exploding asteroid and her only shot to get out of this alive is by relying on the help of Faye and Spike. Both of them are rather bummed out on having missed yet another bounty but that’s when I notice the dialogue in this episode is really to the point. There isn’t a lot of “fluff” dialogue going on, these characters talk to each other but it’s not a conversation persé , all the dialogue is in service of the action and the main story.  At least after the first bar meet up. The characters don’t joke around here or say stuff like “If I ever am going to see a sunrise again I will. … <blank> “  No there is no lesson these characters learn, no larger appreciation for life and no witty banter to pad out the episode. I feel they talk like how normal people would which is a credit to the amazing writing. They just help and coach each other through certain actions and it still feels vibrant and interesting. 

This Trucker shows her real Face

The rescue operation becomes a lot more complicated when the meteorite collapses due to explosions and the exit is blocked. Now they have to use some tricky actions to get some Nitro into the collapsed part. Spike decides to use a play using his escape pod which forces him to space walk without a suit.  Without a shadow of a doubt he does it and he leaps towards VT.. He knows how she really is! He knows she will help despite her claiming to hate Bounty Hunters with a passion! I loved this scene! Spike doesn’t tell what he is going to do.. he just does it.. and while he is doing it everyone realises what is going on giving them the focus to do what they need to do.. but also drop those masks they sometimes hide behind. VT is forced to drop that harshness and Faye has to stop pretending to be weaker then she actually is.  She often plays the damsel in distress to gain an edge or to let others do her work but right now she can’t! She is forced to step up!

Spike is saved by VT in a rather weird way.. he misses the jump and falls into a weird form of  gravity.. so he uses his pistol to create momentum?!  That seemed odd to me.. I know there is knockback to a gun but would it really give him that much lift? Among all the anime I have seen so far where beams and magic is used as propulsion this feels.. flimsy and it looks kind of silly. For a slight moment it takes me out of the episode. Not for too long though! With an amazing explosion the group  makes it out of the destroying rock… just like an 80’s movie and we get a great conclusion! Spike just floats on the spaceship.. his near death experience still very present in his system.. he lights up a cigarette and thanks VT by her original name.. something I had already guessed. She is the wife of  one of the greatest bounty hunters after.. she lost him during a job and that’s why she hates them so much. That was really easy to guess I would be a great bounty hunter! 

The predictable ending can be justified with the words that it was well set up! I never minded it being so obvious and the same goes for most of this episode! I really enjoyed the story that happened here with the exception that I would have liked it if they would at least be able to feed Ein.. I don’t mind them being poor but I really hate to see a dog go hungry! That might be a weird thing for me to be so concerned about .. but in episode 5 the stealing dog food really made me angry and this time not being able to feed the dog kind of makes me sad! Luckily Ein is engineered to be smart so maybe he will understand!  I do hope we at least see one successful bounty or at least see them get some income! This episode Spike won a ton of cash but he did not accept it. I do look forward to the next episode though! The 6th episode was a bit middle of the road for me but with this I got pulled back in!

Pinkie and her Christmas Nakama: A Christmas Actvity With Anime Characters

Johoho Island Guests it is I, Santa Pink! I have come to bring some Joy to The World by taking on this amazing tag created by the wonderful Annie! She is the writer for Evening Tea Musings!.. I did not know there was Evening Tea.. but since there is Breakfast Tea I guess it makes sense!  In this tag we celebrate Christmas and it’s various activities with Anime Characters!  Now in the Netherlands we don’t have many Christmas traditions because we used to Celebrate Sinterklaas instead and just have the religious aspect.. but I’ve seen a lot of Christmas movies to give me some ideas!

Senpai, Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime, gave me the gift that is this tag so she and Annie can join me in these fictional Christmas celebrations.  Also note that I was actually supposed to have a post about Wild Wild West here, that now will show up somewhere in the final days of December. On Christmasday and on Boxing day I will not release any posts as we don’t box anything on boxing day..instead it is to celebrate christmas with the other part of the family we could not visit.  I assume most of us will celebrate christmas those days anyway so I felt I better save my blogs for later. That way we can all interact and have fun together again! Regardless this post snuck in because I thought it was super sweet! Thank you Senpai.. you gave me a great gift!  So how does the tag work? There are not really any rules except you list a Christmas Activity with an anime Character. So I will go in a sort of ..but not really Chronological order. As If telling a story!

Decorating the Tree with Monkey D Luffy

So in the Netherlands we have few Christmas Traditions.. but the Christmas Tree has been there for almost as long as I remember, lots of people did not do it when I was like 4 but by the time I was 7 every house had a Christmas Tree. While it is always lovely  to have the finished product there are some issues with decorating it. Reach… being on thing .. if you have a big tree you have to really work to get to those tough spots and more importantly untangling the lights of last year. Reeee that is so stressful! I just don’t have arms that are long enough so when I put it on the floor behind me as I go.. the stuff behind me tangles again!  Luffy is the perfect solution! He can easily untangle lights with his stretchy body, he can even decorate the  back of the tree properly and he can get to those hard to reach spots!  He is also a very Jolly and Merry guy who would bring some of that Christmas spirit in the house!

Carolling with the μ’s.

The second step in making a Christmas movie is showing how much I care about Christmas, or sometimes how I do not care about Christmas.. but that latter does not fit into this tag! So this movie shows how much I care about Christmas through me singing and dancing Japanese Idol style versions of classic Christmas Songs…and Snow Halation as well which is one of my favourite Idol songs ever! I do think that the μ’s make for good carollers though I might struggle with the Choreography! We do not have carollers here but from what I have seen in Christmas movies those are a bit stuff! They could really use the show element these girls would bring and I could live my dream to be an idol girl! Win for the people and a win for me!

Visiting a Mall Santa  with Team Rocket

The Krampus Pokémon

So… this is a bit of a sidestep.. .But in a good christmas movie there is always that person that is trying to ruin Christmas. Be it a Grinch or Krampus or whatever. Krampus actually appears in versions of our traditional Sinterklaas as well. Just in this case he is a super powerful Pokémon that Team Rocket actually releases to try and catch Pikachu!  However this monster is beyond their control and goes out to ruin Christmas!.. They don’t like that so in Panic they abduct Santa so Krampus can’t get to him and then they see the performance of the carolling people and think! Those girls  love Christmas. We should ask them for help… So Jessie dresses up as Santa Claus and James as a Female Elf Helper and they sit in a mall near us waiting for us to show and eventually we do! Now we need to save Christmas or they will keep Santa!

The hunt for gifts (+ Krampus)  with Spike

Ask a person what they want for their birthday and people , almost always, will answer! I don’t need anything! Just celebrate the day with, some flowers are fine! Stuff like that! With Christmas however people tend to be a lot more imaginative. “I saw this one particular set of bathing goods that would be lovely” , this one store has this amazing sterling silver charm on my bracelet that isn’t that expensive… I forgot what store it is though. It’s quite similar to Jingle All the Way, which is a much smarter movie then people give it credit for. It isn’t done very well..but that movie does really depict a real side of christmas. The thing people want is sold out, they forgot what it is called and what store it is in. I need a skilled hunter to help me track it down. It doesn’t hurt that he could track down Krampus as well!  Plus his Hair is Green and his little airship we can use to get around is Red.. so he also has the colour scheme down! As I haven’t seen the entire series yet and only missed bounties I would also like to give him a contract he can complete for once.. Even though I can’t pay a lot..it should at least feel nice to have somewhat of a success!

Stress Crying with Usagi

Well I have most of the gifts now, but that one gift was out of stock but would come in tomorrow, and for that other gift I have to remind myself to get some batteries, but I can best do that on my way to the house where I will eat Christmas Dinner because otherwise I am sure to forget. I still have to do groceries for dinner and remind myself to call my family, send out the last batch of Christmas cards, I still have to go shop for a new Christmas outfit and then there is Krampus who now took my most cherished guest for Christmas ….Waaaaaa that is a lot of stress!  For those who believe Andy Williams song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” It kinda is, but if you wholeheartedly believe this to be true you have never hosted anything. Christmas is one of the most Stressful times of the year. There is so much to do! Crying helps vent that stress a lot.. but I don’t stress cry that easily. I do cry easily but I need a stronger push! So Usagi ..who cries REALLY easy, might just be the incentive I need! When I see someone else crying of stress I feel like.. “okay I am not the weakest anymore now I can cry to” There have been few christmases where I did not at least stress cry a bit though! (Since I lived on my own at least)

Defeating Krampus with Maple

After the mental breakdown in the Christmas movie it is always time for the turn around we find our Christmas spirit back! When me and Usagi have cried ourselves dry Spike will point out that there is a weird star in the sky somewhere west from here.. it is really bright but it should not be there! It also looks to be a bit low in the sky!  We travel to the star and discover it is actually Angel Form Maple from Bofuri flying on her Turtle because she is looking for Santa ..  A few shepherds and their flock of sheep is running in terror as they see an Angel fly  on a Kaiju turtle as we arrive. Christmas needs some angels as well. Spike tells her where Santa is and how we can get him back and Maple sends Syrup on our way and the fight is fair. Usagi transforms, Spike shoots and I distract Krampus with Christmas songs that he hates! He evolves into something bigger and then Maple oneshots it! But Krampus can only be finished by someone who truely loves christmas..so now I have to sing the most sincere Christmas song ever. Of course that would have to be O Holy Night since we have an angel there.. and I did the whole analogy thing with three people traveling from the east to visit a super powerful child and all.. so yeah!  But it has to be sincere. I might have to sing R2-D2 we wish you a Merry Christmas instead. Pick whatever you want to hear and imagine that! (For those who don’t know the R2-D2 song) This is the first song Bon Jovi ever recorded! Check the YouTube link on my blog to listen to it’s greatness!

Drinking mulled wine and Eggnog with Aqua

Suddenly we realise it is already Christmas Eve… Imagine that.. whole story of the last bit. In the Netherlands we traditionally would go to Church, until I lost my faith when a priest refused to have my uncle in church because he was gay..and seeing a few movies that made me doubt this was it. Regardless at the end of the service people would meet outside and drink some Mulled wine together. After Krampus is defeated and we rescued my party guests who would probably both be quite shocked and unsure if they can attend the next day..due to being kidnapped by a demon.. i’d probably curse and use “the lord’s”  name in vain.  I worked so hard and now it is all ruined still! God dammit I hate Christmas..you see a lot of christmas movies have this second setback where all hope seems lost.  Then God would appear..well not “the god” just “A God” Aqua would show up and tell me.. you look like you could use a drink! I would nod and she would say! So could I !  Let’s have some christmas drinks! Sad and hurt my guests, I would agree! And I would enjoy the wine and try bourbon and rum filled egg nog as I go deep into christmas eve with Aqua. 

Seeing Three Ghosts with Fuyumi Yanagi, Nanana Ryuugajou and Meiko Honma

I would not stay sober that night and in a drunken Delerium suddenly Yanagi from Blood Lad would appear before me saying “I am the ghost of Christmas Past I will show you a vision”  she would show me a vision of back when I watched Blood Lad for the first time.. the christmas of that year.  Mom and dad had just separated and me and mom had one of the warmest Christmasses together, my sister was forced to stay at her girlfriend’s place. Mom had a Turkish boyfriend, but she came home because she did not want me to be alone for Christmas.. We had an amazing Christmas together. The vision would end and I wondered why Usagi and Spike let me get this drunk.

Then suddenly Nanana from Nanana’s buried treasure appears before me.  “I am the ghost of Christmas Present” she would say! I would take a bottle of Sake , probably empty and tell her she is not even a real ghost!  She would shrug and show me a vision of me staying in bed all day, my one guest would just read a book in her room by herself while she just been through a bad experience and my other guest would feel very unfulfilled. Nanana would say they need me and I would say they chose not come and it made me sad! They are always welcome but if they don’t want to come I won’t force them. Nanana would fade away as quickly as her show ended and Meiko from Anohana would appear. As the ghost of the future she would show me countless empty December 25ths..  Nothing bad happens.. but I would just sit at home doing what I always do..except no one is online because everyone celebrates. I would be shocked! I hate the idea of having an empty life and not being part of memories! I would tell her why is she here I have not even seen Anohana yet.. and she claims that is the exact reason why she is the ghost of the Future. I wondered when I would see it.

Cooking Christmas Dinner with Megumi

The next morning I would wake up in my own bed, hangover free, with a not from Aqua saying she purified me or something and that I should have a great Christmas.. awww perhaps she isn’t a useless goddess over all.  Though I can not help but wonder if the purifying was kinda lewd! I’d call up my two traumatised guests and in a joyful tone ask them to come. I promise them it will be great and without much convincing I succeed! People can be weird around these days and kind of shut you out but all they want to know is that you really love them! I  haven’t finished the entire Food Wars series yet, I am stranded at the part where they cook on trains!  So the Megumi that is coming to cook with me is earlier seasons Tadokoro-Chan.

She’d be my guest for Christmas but like I said in my New Years posts last year, rather than giving each other flowers and chocolates or a bottle of wine that gets added to the collection, we just help each other out! She loves cooking and I do too! So it would be super fun to cook christmas dinner together. I really adore her personality and while I would not serve a fish only Christmas menu, I think together we can still make something great!

Exchanging Gifts with Sayaka Saeki

Of course I would not leave my Waifu out of Christmas! I needed Spike to track down the perfect gift for her. I kind of like giving gifts more than I like receiving them, but I am fairly poor so it is a lot rarer as well.  For this little Christmas fantasy however I had a neat little cash influx that allows me to afford all these Shenanigans. I would give Sayaka a first print of her favourite book, or like a first edition of the first book I ever saw her reading. Something like that. I like giving things that show you know a person and while maybe not very valuable or rare or useful it shows thought!

Those are my favourite kind of gifts. If I gift you a hairbrush you want.. I am kind of saying “I agree your hair could look better”  but if I gift you an item that suits you without it being functional, I show… I like you.. I like this aspect of you and I accept you for who you are and I think Christmas is the perfect time to give such gifts.. I might be just gifting a keychain (and this year nothing  caused stores to close and I waited with gift shopping as one of my giftees wants something perishable) but it is not just a keychain! It is love as well. Obviously my Waifu would get a lot of love…the non physical kind, the physical kind seems kinda gross after having a rich christmas meal.

Believing In Santa with Yuki Takeya

The story would end with my little band of Carollers performing Snow Halation one last time! We do that inside because my house would be too small for so many girls to dance and sing!  As we look up in the sky me and the neighbour girl both at the same time point and what looks to be a sled flying in the sky! No one else seems to notice it! The girl straightens her black cat eared had and smiles and says “I saw him” , I would nod and smile “I saw him too, twice actually but last time he was kidnapped, I wonder how he escaped team Rocket”. 

Team Rocket wakes up in their own house and finds a big christmas present under their tree. There is a note from Santa “ I got out ..as there is work to be done , I will not leave without a gift though”  Team Rocket opens their gift and  they find a large tub of Coal. James sighs when he suddenly sees something move in the tub of coals, as he digs it out he discovers a Voltorb. He gulps as he knows what is happening.  We cut back to me and Yuki waving at Santa and the others thinking we are crazy.. then a bang can be heard in the distance, three shapes shoot up past santa. “Three Rocket is Blasting off Again…..Meeeeowwwth”….me and Yuki hear Santa laugh “Hohoho!” Merry Christmas”

With just one day for Christmas I am not sure if I can still tag anybody! So I will open up this thing for everyone who wants to still give it a try! My Christmas gift to you guys! Just be sure to tag Annie in your post so she can read them all! You know a lot better if you have the time available than me so I think this is pretty fair! You ALL are nominated by simply reading this! Hohoho! I at least gave some gifts this year it seems!

Animini: Cowboy Bebop – Episode 6 – Sympathy for the Devil

Greetings my Dear Island Guests, today’s first content cocktail contains a lot of preservatives as we look at those who do not age!  These are served in a somewhat darker cocktail. Packed with both sweet and bitter flavours. This cocktail is best when you drink it at our poolside on a moonlit night! The episode in question is strong in atmosphere but doesn’t have the kick some of the others had so far! So let’s take a sip and enjoy our content cocktail.

The Summary

A nightmare , of what seems visions of the past,  place Spike on an operating table! It isn’t a very hygenic operating room because I am pretty sure I saw fish float with the organs.. or they put a tube with live fish between it.. which is just plain weird.. message received either way… these are probably not good guy doctors.  When Spike wakes up he is in a blues bar. A kid is playing Harmonica on stage, it almost seems as if he is cosplaying Lupin the Third.  The bar is seedy and smokey and just the perfect amount of grime! Yet then a horrible crime happens! Faye , who is back at the Bebop, is rifling through the fridge to find it empty, showing the group is still out of money.. The only thing in the fridge is dog food for Ein, who happily barks to receive this blessing!  Then Faye eats herself! She tells Ein to work for his food and looks at a bounty..pondering if she can make the guys get that money for her!  Faye loses lots of points from me.

Back in the bar Jet has joined Spike! It seems they are indeed after that Bounty… a man nicknamed Giraffe , he doesn’t have a long neck so it is quite random.   Another Bounty Hunter named Fatty River (yes I remember these types of names) , who IS fat is one the case as well. Leaving Spike to deal with Giraffe.  Giraffe is following the kid and some wheelchair bloke. Spike decides to pursue them in his fighter. Yet when he gets to the hotel they were heading , Giraffe ends up falling through a window with a huge gunshot wound. While Spike catches him.. he can’t prevent him from falling, the man dies anyway but not before handing Spike a ring and telling him to not be fooled by his looks and to protect him.

Having failed yet another Bounty Spike and Jet decide to do some more investigation into this. Apparently  the wheel chaired man is called Zebra.. they were partners in leading a group of raiders. While on a terf dispute.. things went awry and Zebra was said to have betrayed Giraffe. Thus him wanting revenge.  This happened ten years ago.. but when Zebra showed up again he was wheelchair bound and with this harmonica kid. When looking for info about the kid, Jet finds him in a 30 year old magazine. Spike follows them after a new concert and discovers the boy named Wen is actually well over 50 years old. Something in his body got changed when something called “The Astral Gate” accident happened. An event that seems to have devastated earth. The Astral gate blew up the moon and high powered meteors showered the earth charing Wen’s mother and father.. but their corpses shielded him from dying.

Now he is completely immortal.. even gunshots do not kill him, so Spike is out of his league. In a chase Wen dumps Zebra on him..showing the man to be in a completely catatonic state.  He is hooked up to a machine that can read his memories and we see Giraffe was trying to save his friend from Wen..instead of getting revenge. The ring is deduced to be a meteorite piece and with it..Wen can be killed..or so they theorise. A Bullet is made and Spike chases Wen into the desert by blowing up his taxi! The boy is completely unharmed. Spike uses the special bullet after being shot at a few times and shoots the boy in the head. The boy  rapidly ages (way more than 50 years)  and dies. Spike tosses his Harmonica and yells BANG.

The Positives

I have very mixed feelings about this episode,  which makes sense, coming after the incredible 5th episode. Self contained this episode was pretty great. There was a neat little mystery to unpack in the form of what’s going on. The Whole Zebra , Giraffe, Wen situation is pretty interesting.  Though somewhat obvious as well. It might be me.. but when I see a kid with raven black hair, cold eyes playing a Harmonica in a smoked up blues Café.. at the skill level he does…  you know he is evil. Blues should only be played if you have a pained heart and have experienced something..and he did. Yet that does show the power of this shows music. Regardless of the obviousness it was a pretty sweet little adventure to see unfold. I was fooled into believing Giraffe was just working with Wen so finding out he is basically a vegetable to be used as a doll to make the boy have a parent so he can get into places sounds quite cruel and exactly the type of stuff I want to see in Cowboy Bebop. Atmosphere 10/10.

I also liked the idea of the Astral Gate accident. Telling us what happened to earth by making it relevant to the plot is one of the better ways you can do exposition. The incident seems pretty gruesome and it opens up possibilities for some interesting effects. I really digged how gruesome it was depicted with Wen popping up on a devastated earth by having his fathers charred corpse on top of him. It shows both love and sorrow and makes the situation quite real. A parent would probably shield their kid, even though I would use kids as a shield, such trauma would cause the boy to go pretty bonkers.  I get where his Blues capabilities come from. It also gives so much flavour to earth!  Which I assume is mostly desolated.  I am not sure I have seen it yet.. I don’t think so.. but then we saw a lot of desert so maybe one of those. Unsure! Regardless, a very cool world event and credits for the amazing world building yet again. It makes sense that people would fan out after such an event resulting in this more nomadic and .. settlement based,  living style we see in Bebop. Pinkie is impressed.

The Negatives

That is also why this episode annoyed me quite a bit.  This show is great at it’s writing but Wen I found a pretty terrible character. Sure he is a pained “antagonist” of the episode.   But he acts as if he is hundreds of years old. In the end when he says “I can finally die” .. he is only like 60-ish.  Maybe late 50’s or early 60’s.  He lost his parents sure.. but so did many people seemingly.   He doesn’t seem to be off THAT bad that he has this deep desire to die at age 60 to me.  The heck is going on! It really confused me a lot.  Maybe being an 8 or 10 year old or whatever he is forever makes things annoying but I am just not buying he is this tired of life already. Even if he was , it made no sense to kill Giraffe who had the ring, let him kill you with it then?! I might have missed something here but Wen did not make sense to me at all.  The way he mummified at the end.. that’s not what a 60 year old looks like!! It seemed like they forgot just how old he was and just made him like 300 or something. I really did not believe the character.. I believed his music.. but something felt really off for me.

For some reason I also could not escape the idea that this episode was solely created to tell the story of the Astral Gate Incident. As much as I love this way of exposition I really got a feeling this episode happened for expositions sake. As if one episode later will be set on the moon or a destroyed earth and you need to tell us why it is in the state it is. I can’t fully explain it but this episode felt a bit cheap to me.  Giraffe and Zebra really felt throwaway.  The other bounties so far at least had connections to bigger gangs, or organisations this one feels so “random”.  Besides Giraffe , Zebra and Wen there is nothing behind it.. or at least we don’t get to see it at all. While Giraffe trying to get Zebra back is charming to see we never had any memories of how the two were buddies so his good guy act did not have THAT much impact either.  I love myself a good Bromance.. but when we have to assume Bromance solely on the line “give him back” it lacks that spark! I wasn’t even in a sour mood or something when I watched this episode.. I felt it was good on some levels but it just felt as SUCH an empty episode to me. I felt nothing for the trio this episode was about.

The Score

That is why I score this episode , just an Okiwi. I liked the elements in there and for the series a lot of cool things were established. I loved the music, I loved the lore but as an episode this did absolutely nothing for me. I wasn’t bored , I wasn’t THAT annoyed I just experienced nothing.  I saw some cool sets.. I do liked the headshot.. and the Bang in the end was enough to kind of make me smile but in comparison to all the other episodes this wasn’t it! It is weird though because I don’t think of this show any less. Normally I wonder stuff like.. could I be falling out of love with this show.. is this a turning point for me.. No.. this episode literally did that much of nothing for me. 

Had they just have Wen be dead by the headshot.. had he shown an intention to die or  something to make this tale feel more consistent this would probably be up there with my favourite episodes so far. I could just not get over that thing that I feel like he was overly aged.  Maybe because I watch so many vampire shows. 50 years feels so little. Heck even in anime we have seen so much older girls and boys who don’t complain about being 60. I just did not resonate with Wen.. . I did not understand him at all and it completely tanked this episode for me! Luckily.. I am pretty sure.. he is dead!

Animini: Cowboy Bebop – Episode 5 – Ballad of Fallen Angels

Steamed Hams and steamed hello’ my sweet Island Guests! Closing of the week has never been as exciting as before I watched cowboy Bebop! Of course I have already watched this episode before sunday.. so it’s more of a metaphor but still! This show is really really good! This episode is easily the best one so far. With a dark broody tone .. and what I assume will be the series villain being introduced. I vaguely remember being spoiled by the “Bang” scene  and I think I saw that guy! Not sure and please don’t confirm or deny.. Yet.. boy.. did I have some fun this week! 

The Summary

The episode begins with a shady deal between two mob-like boss figures making a treaty of sorts. One looking a bit friendlier and human than the other.  They are in his house when the deal is closed when he sees his guest leave.. he also sees the man is blown up!  Then strangers walk into his house and hold his neck against a Katana. A man named Vicious shows up.. though the name is only revealed later. With a little motion he has the man known as Mao Yenrai executed.  Unbeknownst to Jet that this bounty has become inaccessible he finds himself at odds with Spike.. who doesn’t want to take this bounty for unknown reasons. The lack of transparency  vexes Jet.. while Faye walks in after a successful shopping trip, showing she has now fully joined the crew. I like how that happened. It makes it feel a bit more natural. Spike walks off angrily and goes planetside to walk it off.  There he meets a shopkeeper named Annie, shocked to see Spike alive. Apparently he had connections with her and Mao in the past.. and this Vicious  guy seems to be part of the same organisation as Mao.. as the guy spoke of betrayal.. I am not sure.. but I think that was what happend.

Faye however does not know about all this backstory and just sees a high bounty number so she decides to try and capture Mao.. and she finds herself being overwhelmed by a surprisingly well prepared Vicious and his mobsters. He must have one heck of a source.  She gets captured and Spike goes back to the Bebop .. but is armed by Annie.. now goes to stop Vicious.. there seems to be a lot of past between these two.  The meet is in an old church.. that I think will also be the scene for the final episode.. but I am not sure!   A shootout happens and Faye manages to escape while Spike pursues Vicious.. not letting a few gunshot wounds stop him. Faye calls Jet for help not wanting to see Spike get killed and the man reluctantly goes to rescue his friend. Who fights Vicious in front of a stained glass window. The two have a mexican standoff but instead of rolling away like gentlemen and resetting the fight.. both take the killshot.. missing because both get harmed. Spike gets stabbed and Vicious gets shot… but Vicious manages to throw Spike out the window towards his death.. but the quick fingers of Spike allow him to leave a grenade behind.. As Spike falls to his death.. his life flashes in front of his eyes..showing shards of the story of him and vicious and a blonde girl that I think got killed by Vicious.  The church explodes.. and Spike’s vision goes dark.. he Remembers the blond woman singing to him.. but it is actually Faye watching over him on the Bebop.. he calls her tonedeaf and she punches him with a pillow and tosses cards on him an ace of space is used as a recurring symbol.

The Positives

Almost everything was spectacular in this episode. Every single set piece carried so much weight. The opera house, the house of the Mafia guy , the tiny little store, the church. It brings so many layers of society to the table. It shows people linked in the past are at very different places now. It also fills in some of the classic Film Noir tropes quite well. Which really gives this episode so much atmosphere and weight. It feels important just because of how things unfold.  We see heavier use of visual metaphors with the ace of spade, the flashbacks, the dramatic slow motions. the bigger close up on the eyes.  It all has been seemingly designed to carry weight.. to feel big. I do not realise yet what the full scope of this is.. but it all feels some more relevant than Twinkle Maria last week! The stakes are higher here.. this matters more and it oozes out of every pore of this episode.  From the way Vicious is designed but brought into frame that clearly to the sepia filter of Spike’s memories.  The implications that Spike now knows?! Was he a criminal before as well? What caused him to fake his death.. is this blond woman really dead? I assume so.. but  the film follows classic Noir Archetypes.. so you never know. 

I really enjoyed how the action felt once again.  The guns seem to really have a kick to them.  Characters hold still to fire, even when running towards their opponent there is this moment where they let the gun do the talking.. and it seems much more subjected to real life forces. Not always.. but the way bullets shoot church pews away, how different weapons are used at the same time and how they interact with the environment differently makes this fight have such an impact. In 90% of the anime mobs all use the same gun and half of the time it makes just a few sparks people jump over.. here Spike has to run dip and dodge depending on that type of arm his enemies have. It just ands so much oomph to the action.  The explosion from the church also was pretty amazing…. granted I do not think the explosion should be that big given how the first grenade exploded.. but the falling out of the window scene.. with the shards of glass chasing Spike as his eyes dim.. was one heck of a well done “action” scene.  So much motion and it really felt as if everything had different weight when falling.  I really love that sense of materialism.. that this show has..  it’s not so much.. how do we make this look cool.. but more Hollywood.. where I can see this in live action much more than most anime.. that sounds like a determinant..but not for this show..  not for me.

The Negatives

The downsides of this episode are ones I really had to look for with a fine toothed comb. The first is that I kind of dislike that Vicious knows about Faye Valentine.  Unless Jet is a traitor of sorts which I highly doubt right now.. It doesn’t feel like it’s knowledge he should have.  Then again she has been shopping on the planet..but assuming her association with Spike seems just that tiny bridge too far. Just like how big that final explosion was.  It works in the confines of this world but it felt like just a tad much. I would have preferred she gave up her association with Spike herself.. then when he rushed in to save her.. she regretted it prompting her to call Jet.. now Vicious feels a bit high and mighty.. considering what we have seen other people in his position do with their power. Minor  thing though.

There are a few more things like this such as Faye being able to have her spaceship equipped with gun turrets land in front of a high prestige opera house seems like something these worlds should have a counter for. The shoplifting  boys seem a bit to dumb.. why would you steal the same nudy magazine as your buddy.. in that case one of you goes to pay for a paper plane and let someone else steal the bigger item… while you distract to she shop keep (yeah I stole something as kid once or twice…)   much better strategy!  The kids did not fully feel like kids!  Yet that is me really nitpicking.. it’s all just super fun and exciting to go through and some minor weird things in no way decrease that joy.

The Score

This was by far the best thing I watched this week! And I actually had a pretty good week!   With two other Star Fruits and lots of Berry Goods.  Yet since this one is my favourite I bet you can guess what grade it is going to be!  It was so good!  Not only did it show us the past and wet our appetites for a bigger puzzle, I think it might also have foreshadowed things as well.  Let’s not forget that indian prediction in episode 1. He would meet a woman that would lead to death.. it can be referred to the cowboy woman of episode 1 but now I think.. this blonde chick will show up again and it will lead to Spike’s death! I am not sure.. that’s just what I think. This episode got me super excited!

I have to shout out the music as well , it felt really different from what we saw before.. again establishing those higher stakes through everything. Story, visuals and sound design all come and tell us what to feel and I love that kind of thing!  Where visuals and sounds are not just used to establish grandeur..even though here it does.. but also convey an emotion. This episode doesn’t only feel big.. it feels important.. it feels deeper. I want to see more!

Animini: Cowboy Bebop – Episode 4 – Gateway Shuffle

Jolly good to see you all again steampunk people! Paradise’s week of anime concludes with an unexpectedly strange episode of Cowboy Bebop! I never expected monkeys to show up! While this episode to me may not be close to how amazing the third episode was , I had an amazing time and thus yet again the strength of the week was in the tailend of things. Join me as we see Faye join the Bebop crew in this fourth episode of an all time classic.

The Summary

Faye’s ship has run out of fuel and she is drifting in Orbit of a planet called Ganymede.. or well google shows it’s actually one of the moon’s of Jupiter. People mostly ignore her calls and pass her by.  When some debrief floats by however she spacewalks towards it hoping to loot some propellent but what she finds is much different. She finds a dying man who hands her a container with something unknown. Hoping it might be worth a lot, Faye goes back to begging for help! Breaking the man’s wishes to not look at the item. It is unknown however what exactly she has acquired.  A fun set up and I do love how Faye really fills the role of Femme Fatale including their classic shortcommings.  It really felt like I was reading or watching one of those classic noir scenes, where the tough woman finds herself in high water. Speaking of Water.. Spike and Jet are having breakfast… On Ganymede!  What are the chances! There they discover a potential bounty who orders some kind of sea creature.. in the rudest way possible. A few Eco-Terrorist lead by what looks like Josuke Higashikata (Jojo’s Part 4)  actual  mother..  a woman named Twinkle Maria Murdockc then murder him for it.

Jet realises the woman has a 25 million bounty and Spike takes her to his ship.  On their way into orbit to strike a deal they also happen to stumble across Faye Valentine and pick her up again! Two bounties?! That must be good to be true! And so it turns out to be.. while Spike tries to break open the container Faye has brought along, Jet discovers the bounty on Twinkle Maria has been lifted. Because she holds the planet hostage. She possesses a virus called monkey business.. a bio weapon that makes humans devolve back into a monkey like state… Super Mario Bros movie memories made this quite delightful.  Thus bounty hunters have to let the woman walk free… and since the government of Ganymede doesn’t follow her exact terms she launches a missile with Monkey Business towards them. The bounty now reinstated causes Spike and Faye to work together to stop the missile and capture miss Twinkle.  Going through a Hypergate thing when the missile goes off. The Ganymede people close the gate which would leave Spike and Faye trapped forever.  Dodging and trying to destroy the Monkey Missiles.. heroes barely manage to escape but not Miss Twinkle.. as she swears revenge.. the content of the container Faye was handed falls out of her pocket. Spike broke it earlier and saw her reaction and figured out what it must be.. thus leaving her to slowly turn into a monkey trapped in Hyperspace.

The Positives

I love how Bebop is a show that isn’t afraid to have fun with itself. Eco-Terrorists that try to turn humanity into monkeys? I really love the idea!  Faye Floating in her ship with just bags of chocolate, salt sugar.. and chicken with rice floating around seems so mundane yet funny at the same time.  Like it’s a joke on astronaut food, all in the most basic of brown bags. It makes this world feel so “lived in”. It’s sci-fi but it deals with the same trouble we have.. an overzealous PETA or .. whatever those guys from Whale Wars were called, car trouble and trying to flirt your way to being saved. It is quaint, just pushed into a hyper caricature of itself  by adding cyberpunk sci-fi elements to it. Added with a lot of Film-Noir tropes. I can not fully describe it but every scenario just feels so “right”.. like “this is the correct way to tell this tale for “this series’. The twists, the dysfunctionality it is like watching one of those youtube videos of seeing a machine cut playdough in super neat chunks.  I am just so intensely satisfied. Another big thing that is really catchy is that the main characters nearly always seem to have fun.. sure there are goals  they pursue for other reasons as well.. but they are also having fun and that emotion really carries over.   We have fun “WITH” them rather than having fun because we see them do stuff.

I really liked the animations in this episode as well, the way Spike charges up his little electrical beam, the way the missile splits into several pieces.. because Maria made a weapon that can defend against typical weaponry. There is a level of mechanicalness to it!  Beams charge up, gun turrets need to move into aim,  a missle detaches a lid before it splits up into tinier parts.  Yet that energy seems to come from somewhere, the move of the turret isn’t exactly fluid as it might not move from a neutral position but revolve back from a less fortunate position. There is  something really satisfying about seeing Spike and Faye lean onto their dashboard to make their vehicle go faster.. while of course it doesn’t make any difference. It all feels real and thought out and because of it you can really get into the action not just because it is epic but because it has impact as well. Motion not only serves the scene but is subject to the world and it really makes it seem more lively and believable.

The Negatives

The episode does not escape a few flaws, my main gripe is the whole.. “oh look at the chances we end up in the same place as Faye” thing. Lots of anime do this.. but  off alll the moons on Jupiter you just happen to go to the same one she is orbiting. And on  your way out of orbit you stumble across here? While earlier it is established she has been there for a while?! It’s a bit lazy and I know this show can do better. The whole convenience thing could have been solved with a single line like “It has been months since you escaped”  or  “We heard rumors you might be around here”  but instead they wonder how she could have spent all the money from last episode already. While this also signifies a passage of time it is not defined as a long time.. rather as a short time.. making the convenience feel more real. It is super common in anime or western media to see but in something as large as our solar system I would love to see at least some sort of explanation. 

I also think the eco-terrorists are a bit over designed. While they eat with Mamma Maria they have their faces revealed and it is the faces of people that fit the stereotypical eco terrorist. I am totally on board with that, however when they take out their guns and prepare to kill they have these weird seel helmets or whatever the creature is. That felt slightly too much for me . Twinkle Maria’s design is nice but doesn’t seem to eco-terroristy to me, to be fair she is ruling it more like a mob-boss and that she does look like but I would have loved to see a bit more of an eco-terrorist in her rather than just a money hungry mob-boss using eco-terrorists on her behalf. The way she steps up in the beginning to defend animals was fun.. but she lets go of that behaviour  later in the episode which I think is a bit of a shame. 

The Score

Cowboy Bebop is once again among the best episodes I have seen this week.  The plot may border on being  too silly, but for me it is something filled with nostalgia and a cheeky little charm, where the creator isn’t too afraid to have fun. The way Faye is reintroduced to the group requires you to suspend your disbelief quite hard.. but it is worth it to see how well see interacts with the group and how in her place she feels. The twist ending of the space fight feels like a bit of an afterthought.. with a fake out that doesn’t do anything but that comes as fast as it went and when push comes to shove we got a whole lot more positive things than negatives causing a high but not perfect score.

While in the large scale of the show I probably will not think about this episode a lot.. the inner workings of the show are very much shown are at it’s best here. Like an amazing tech demo telling me that the journey that will follow is absolutely amazing and I just had such a great time at watching things move,, seeing spaceships go  woosh and big beams go mmzzaappp! It’s like one of those Lego Technic bulldozers or cars. I do not care that much about the package as a whole.. it’s fine but kind of forgettable.. but if I stare at the loose parts and admire how everything works.. I can stare at it for hours and just be mesmerised and entertained..admiring how well everything is put together.

Animini: Cowboy Bebop – Episode 3- Honkey Tonk Woman

Konichi…Wooohooo! This was such an awesome episode of anime to experience! After knowing more or less nothing of this show before.. This was the first episode I truly had expectations off…  I wanted to see something with gambling, seedy crime ..smuggling stuff!  The underbelly stuff of Mars that we established in the last episode.. Okay so we weren’t totally on Mars but it was darn close.. I got so much of what I asked and I got so much more in the third episode of Cowboy Bebop.

 The Summary

We do begin our adventure in the streets of Mars.. at least I think it mars.. it looks like Macau with all the chinese lettering and I feel that’s what they were going for with Mars, plus the planet is red.  So yes.. A woman is heading into a herbal store.. just to find herself being attacked by goons.. But this is not an ordinary woman. She comes prepared.. she takes out a machine gun and shoots at the shadowy figures outside the store.. teaching the friendly store keeper a lesson in violence. In response.. The henchmen shoot up the guys store with a gatling gun and the woman finds herself captured. She gets taken as a space variant of a cruise ship that has this rotating roulette wheel as an engine thingy.. lot’s of spaceships have these spinny things…but this one is a roulette table.. It feels so campy but just the right amount. On that ship is a Mafia boss who calls the girl Poker Alice who is allegedly over 200 years old. Is she an android?! Why am I so obsessed with Robots lately! .. Regardless she allegedly has a huge gambling debt which she can pay with one job.. it just happens that Spike stumbles upon that job

Spike and Jet are having a nice relaxing night out.. .. Jet sticks to slots .. and things mechanical while Spike’s sharp mind draws him to the Black Jack table.. the girl is the dealer of the table and uses her cheating skills to scam him.. thinking it is part of her job!   A guy in an outfit like him.. and looking kind of but really not all that much the same was supposed to lose everything and hand over a final chip.. that is actually A CHIP .. that unlocks some super hacking thing. Spike catches her cheating and has some fun and walks off the table with his last chip.. Thinking she somehow blew it and wanting to repay her debt she follows him and Spike ends up bumping into the guy he is mistaken for.. they end up swapping chips in the old.. duplicate item falls on the floor sjtick. The girl chases Spike and ends up getting captured by him..  getting locked up in the bathroom.. Ein the dog .. Now the named guards her while the other two investigate the chip and discover her name is Faye Valentine.. a woman with a 6 million bounty on her head. Trying to decide whether to give her to the police or sell the chip to the crime lord type.. they end up going for the latter which obviously ends up being a trap. We get an awesome space scene.. Faye escapes and after some more epic space action we see Faye take off and Spike still having the chip. I assumed she would join the crew by the end of this episode but looks like we need more time! And I like that.

The Positives

Without a shadow of a doubt in my mind, Cowboy Bebop was the best thing I watched this week! And I watched the finale of Flip Flappers so that is saying a lot. It encapsulated my love for the OLD Star Wars ( I really enjoyed the prequels but none of the sequels did it for me.. I liked Rogue One and Solo well enough) . I deeply enjoyed the atmosphere,  the action, the characters and the amazing will  sets and action pieces. Faye Valentine is a really interesting character, there is a mystery of her age.. her violent tendencies, at the beginning there is so much to unpack. I do feel like she will join the team but I am not sure yet.. but I think I saw a shadow of her ship in that funky little intro! She kind of fills the function of a rogue of the party with stealing and sleight of hand. It works well with Spike who is the muscles of the group punching and kicking his enemies. She seems more heavy range based.  So I already like the sense of diversity! Ein was a good boy in this episode though it did not seem not nearly as intelligent as the last episode. Jet in a white suit looks pretty amazing. 

The Zero G/ Gravity Boots fight  on top of the casino spaceship was something else.. so many moving pieces are utilized.  Spike throws the chip in low gravity.. uses the gravity  boots to have a very different momentum, to  dodge bullets, he uses the mechanics to defeat an enemy all while there is a little ship floating around that is being attacked by missiles. I really loved that action scene.  I also very much enjoyed the casiono chase as well, the use of colour in that scene.. the way Faye froze when she was revealed to be a cheater.. unable to repay her debt.  There’s a way the motion has been done that really sold the scene for me. The show caters HEAVILY into tropes.. and yes even for an anime that was released in 1998.. these tropes we get might be older than me.. yet for some reason it really works. For some reason I want those Film Noir tropes to happen. I also love how everything is just oddball enough.. the world is quite grim and raw.. but it is also funny and charming.  The Bebop might feel cold and grey but by seeing Ein run around in it.. it’s quite cute.  There are plenty of jokes that relieve the “dark” and keep things consumable for me.

The Negatives

I have very little negatives about this episode . and when I saw few I kind of mean none.. So it’s nitpicking time! I found the roulette wheel on the big cruise ship a bit too garish and cheap. It’s a fun effect  but the way these space ships are built no one would see it.. yep .. that’s about all I have as a negative. I still really want to see more of Mars as it looks so cool.. but for now I can’t really use not seeing that as a negative either because it looks like we might see more of Mars in the next episode so yeah.. I am honestly unsure how to fill this  segment.  I just loved this episode that much.

Thematically Cowboy Bebop might not be my show entirely.. but there is just a way that it is presented that makes it so appealing and a delight to watch. The cyberpunk atmosphere,  is normally not something Pinkie enjoys..  and I do have issues with seeing cliches  be used at times.. it can make a series predictable .. as if I know the blueprint. With Cowboy Bebop it’s not the cliches that drive the plot it’s the personality of everyone and the world.. The cliches happen in the world as a reward. To strengthen that atmosphere.. let’s compare this for example to  let’s say.. Sailor Moon or more so Pretty Cure.. In Pretty Cure.. we get a monster of the week and one monster does fears, the other creates strife in a group.. the cliché is the engine. Here Spike is the engine..  the cliché just makes it more enjoyable and delightful. It’s a testament of how strong the writing in this show is. 

The Score

While watching this I remember a time of my live I really love, when western film making did not bore me when everything was predictable.. but in a bit of a different and more satisying way.  This episode has a level of campiness that makes this show so great to me. We aren’t the only ones having fun with this.. the maker is having fun with this.. the writer is telling a tale they really want to tell.. or at least that’s how I experience what is shown in this episode. It’s not made just for us.. it’s made  out of a love, a passion project. It’s just one of those episodes where goodness oozes from every pore!

I think it’s a great thing if all you have to nitpick about is thinking a certain spaceship is slightly garish! Oh! And I just thought up of a second one.. you for people who really want to burn this episode to the ground because they want to hate on it! When Ein Barks at Faye .. there is no Echo in a room that clearly should have an echo! You know that is a great reason to drop this show if you want. Oof I am really catching steam right now with finding the negatives so let me stop this review before I burn this episode to the ground… or think about Ein so much that I want a Corgi!

Animini: Cowboy Bebop -Episode 2- Stray Dog Strut

If you have read my latest Natsume Book of Friends  review you’ll know I often have issues with second episodes of anime. These are usually exposition dumps that have very little interesting stuff to tell in favor of fleshing out the world.  Cowboy Bebop takes a bit of a different approach and I like it!  It isn’t a flawless second episode but we got no exposition dump here.. instead we get Corgis. 

The Summary

Spike and Jet travel to Mars where a new bounty rests on the man named Abdul Hakim! Using Bounty Hunter TV we discover the universe knows roughly 300.000 Bounty Hunters and an 8 Million bounty is sure to attract some attention right?!  Hakim allegedly stole a precious lab-animal. Spike decides to go to shady pet-shops to track the man when he eventually wants to unload the precious pet.  Spike quickly slips up however when  Hakim seems to have used a proxy to make the sale. Seeing a “worthless” Corgi sitting in a box the petshop owner with a turtle on her head values it at just 200k which apparently in this world is nothing… maybe it’s even just 200.. I am not sure how much the currency of this world is worth and heck it might even be called K… *Checks around if she accidentally summoned a movie blogger* 

Hakim walks into the store and tries to take the dog back.. but Chaos ensues.. the dog escape and Spike pursues Hakin.. eventually the dog Jumps of a bridge onto a boat and when  Spike leaps in to pursue.. the dog latches onto his face causing him to miss the jump and the dog escapes from Hakim.  Jet and Spike don’t care much for worthless Corgis so they use the dog as bait.. only to lose it  to some scientist who made a super sonic dog whistle van.. as all dogs in town chase the car, Hakim steals a car and Spike goes in pursuit with his airship.  The scientist snare up all the other dogs but the Corgi escapes, it seems super smart..almost like a person.. it can not escape Hakim however.. who basically  Chloroforms it with an Aerosol (And I know Chloroform doesn’t actually work like that.. but it’s a detective novel/film noir trope,, that I think fits the setting)  The scientist start using guns on Hakim and Spike.. who tries to use his landing gear to bash the roof of Hakim’s car open. This makes the Corgi wake up who jumps on the wheel.. pushes some buttons and then falls out the window once Hakim’s car gets harpooned by the dog whistle van. Spike chooses to save the dog and forsake his bounty. Hakim turns himself in.. and Spike gets himself a genetically engineered super smart Corgi…even though he dislikes dogs.

The Positives

For those who have followed me for a while and actually read what I write, you probably know I love randomness. It’s a big elementi I try to incorporate in my life as much as I can… so when I see what i believed to be a dark Space Western with some dandy elements ..be all about chasing a Corgi I was amazed. It felt so random and nothing like a second episode normally is. We get no long tales of Spike’s tragic past, we get no flashback to how he and yet met.. no we get a guy who goes and tries to earn some money and ends up with hyper intelligent Corgi instead. I love it! The weird pet shop lady, calling all the animals her babies but looking like a heavy smoker and boozer  felt almost out of place.. but also not.. THere is a turtle on her head that nobody questions.. which is kinda amazing and seeing a Corgi do that classic bridge leap to land on some canvas instead of the human characters?! I certainly haven’t seen that before! This episode was entertaining with a capital E.. Maybe a capital N as well. 

The character designs were amazing as well. Abdul had so much flavour, the Petshop lady even more.. even the random mook who had to sell the Corgi had this design element to him.. kind of looking like a young Leorio from Hunter X Hunter. Last week I complained that the grunts looked a bit like “video game mooks” which instantly told you how easy they would be to deal with.  This week we have some new grunts but there is a sense of design in them, unique hairstyles different body types even a bit of personalities.. as a result you can push them way further and get a much more interesting chase in the end. I also love the design elements in Mars so far.. taking a more Chinese like approach in design it feels a bit like Macao City… the Chinese Vegas but more seedy and filled with underhand deals and earlier .. opium trade and the likes. It is also established as such.. on Mars “Everything” is for Sale. Under the counter shops are everywhere , and people don’t take kindly to you asking questions.. unless you show you are a cool guy. I like that money isn’t the only rule here.. Spike adresses an arms dealer based on his passions and it works, it lifts these characters from cartoon characters in a stereotypical town to something a bit more real.

The Negatives

I really enjoyed this episode but it also does feel a bit sloppy at times, because of how weird the plot is.  The Corgi can bend his shape to operate a steering  wheel but can also latch onto a face and for whatever reason Spike and Jet have a dog collar in it’s size on board..while they don’t really seem to like dogs. Jet seems to be fine with him.. but he calls the Corgi a Mutt anyway. When it hopped onto the steering wheel it kinda felt to “liquid” also Hakim not yanking it off his steering wheel feels off! If I was driving a car.. and Arceus have mercy on the soul who is in the car with me,  I would not allow a dog to make me crash let alone push it several buttons on the wield why I just quietly tell it “stop it”. I would punch the dog of my steering wheel.. and No that doesn’t make me cruel I am driving on a bridge while being shot at that just makes me sensible.. and sometimes this episode misses that sensibility making the characters cartoony… it’s very entertaining but it isn’t “ engaging”.

I am willing to believe this dog is hyper intelligent.. I just don’t think ti can change size… To make this episode a bit more powerful I would have at least liked to see Spike and the dog bond a bit… I am pretty sure they are going to keep it..but now it staying on Bebop feels kinda un-earned.. I would have loved a brief scene where the dog found Spike a half eaten Peking Duck in  one of those take away boxes that he could finish.. or stealing him some actually food out of a restaurant.. heck even a look would have been fine! Just something that makes Spike want to save the dog when it falls out of the car later on..That is not really a negative though ..but more of a suggested approvement. 

The Score

I really liked this episode a lot LOT more than the first one, and that already was great.. yet I have to give this episode the same grade. This episode is a lot muddier than the first one and a bit more clownish. It is really something I want to see in this series.. the ability to have fun with itself  but I can not escape that feeling that there is a lot of rickety parts either. It’s kind like comparing A Tardis with Bell and Teds Payphone time machine. I’d probably have more fun with Bill and Ted but if you ask me which is the better time machine it will be the Tardis. The payphone is a bit of a joke so it lacks that same wow factor and I think that is a good summary of those episode as well.

I loved this episode and I am super excited to see if they will keep the dog and name the dog. I am super curious to see if the dog will live and heck.. I am also super curious to what other worlds are out there.. what else Mars has to offer and what is in store for the crew of the Bebop. This is quickly turning out to be one of  those cases that Science Fiction really works out for me and Mari pointed me out why. One of the few sci-fi shows I really like is drawing HEAVY influences from Bebop to a point where I now feel that Firefly really copied HARD.  The way these characters are, the banter, the level or airiness and the whole Cowboy/Space world building it clearly was a love letter to this. So seeing a prequel to one of the greatest Sci-Fi shows ever seems to become quite an enjoyable ride.. but who knows.. which of these two will be my favourite Sci-Fi Serial in the end?!

Animini: Cowboy Bebop -Episode 1- Asteroid Blues

It’s the end of the week again my dear island guests. Concluding my weeks worth of anime daily reviews should be something special! So I decided to fill the 7th slot with classic anime I haven’t watched yet.  The first one Cowboy Bebop! I didn’t even know it was set in space before I watched this episode!  So I was very surprised. I was also surprised that the gritty thing isn’t normally for me.. I must say I quite enjoyed this first episode.

The Summary

We are introduced to Spike and his Co-Worker/ Bounty Hunting Fellow Jet. They live on a spaceship called Cowboy Bebop. Down on their luck they take a lower end bounty to hunt a man named Asimov. A drug runner type who killed all his friends and took off to some asteroid thing… I think!  Jet tells Spike he made Bellpeppers and Beef but unfortunately they are too poor to afford beef, so they just eat noodles and bell peppers. This prompts a reluctant Spike to take on the bounty that he did not deem worth his time before and he travels to a world/place with heavy Western themes. Here we find out that Asimov is trying to sell drugs.. called Bloody Eyes or something.. An Eyedrop drug that makes you hyper aware.. it’s not said to be drugs… but it’s drugs!  He clearly is addicted and tripping out on them.. killing people in a bar brutally! He is accompanied by a woman who looks to be pregnant. Of course it doesn’t take too long for Spike to track them down! Mostly because he had a Indian Vision Quest.. of sorts right before with him having his fortune told by and old Indian lady! She warns him about the Red Eyed Coyote and a Woman coming in his life that would also bring death.

Spike meets this woman and the Red Eyed Coyote at a seedy gas station. Helping the woman take care of groceries but eating her sandwich. He charms her up quite nicely as he offers her cigarettes in return. Claiming to her to be some cowboy! However once she sees his fighter jet she quickly realises he is a bounty hunter. He tells her has lost interest in the bounty again as Asimov is sick and he has no interest in weaklings. Insulted Asimov chokes him.. to unconsciousness.  His life was spared by the plees of the woman.  When the druggy man that has more bulging eyes then Nicolas cage  goes to sell the drugs. Spike has replaced the buyer. A fight breaks out and we see  Mister Spiegel ‘s ‘excellent footwork and combat ability, overwhelming Asimov. However when other criminals come in to shoot up the place the Cyberpunk Bonnie and Clyde manage to flee. Leading into a final space chase. Here we see Asimov is so consumed by his drug that he loses control entirely and rushes himself and his woman into death. To prevent Asimov from being taken down by his enemies his woman finishes him off.. after which she lets herself be killed by space cops!  As her body is jettisoned into space we see the pregnant belly was nothing more than a way to hide the drugs. Having not collected a bounty.. Spike and Jet eat “special” beef and Bellpepper again.

The Positives

On paper this should not be my type of show! It combines genres that usually are less my cup of tea. I am not the biggest science fiction fan in the world.. though I do enjoy Star Wars and Star Trek.. but in anime terms .. it’s usually too bleak and political. It has some heavy western elements.. which makes sense given Cowboy is in the name of the title and it’s about a Bounty Hunter.. which aside from the Mandalorian I find a horrible profession to make a show out of. Yet somehow the spunk of Spike, the low tech level..with bullets instead of lasers, and a very varying world makes it a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.  It is very much helped by the mentality of the two bounty hunters. To me falling more in the “Firefly” like types of characters. It gives the show a level of “airiness” while keeping lines such as Adios Cowboy, impactful. We see a cowboy tavern, a spaceship interior, a french Bistrolike restaurant and a seedy gas station , and have gunfights,  fistfights and a slaughter in space, so I  think this first episode does a tremendous job showing what this show will be and what we can expect.

It also sets up some interesting mysteries, Spike claims he already died once because of a woman.. what does he mean with that?  What is he so desperately training for. How is he able to take down a drug induced hulk life figure that can dodge bullets and crush people. Was Asimov that weakened from overdoing it on the drugs, or is there more. What is with that weird footwork Spike does when he is fighting. The show offers us a lot to unpack, but also nails showing us what characters like Jet and Spike are. After one single episode I feel like I have a pretty good idea I know what type of people they are.. and I don’t mean that in a way that they are shallow. The written story here just really hits some key points and uses the right dialogue that still feels natural but also tells us so much. The Bonnie and Clyde ending really worked wonders for me as well giving the show a sense of realism and real stakes straight of the bat. The good guy clearly doesn’t always win in this show, not everything is going to be alright at the end of an episode. Every choice this show makes so far is done with a reason and it feels legit. 

The Negatives

That being said, this also lies in this episode’s greatest weakness. I always saw the pair as a Bonnie and Clyde , it makes the link very clear for me.. so the outcome here felt a bit “set in stone”. There is nothing wrong with that for a single episode but I was never surprised by this first episode… and I did not even know it was a cyberpunk like setting, so that is saying something. It is set up to be surprising later on but for now I can not escape the feeling that it felt a bit predictable. I like how human the characters are generally being depicted and how their skills all seem very human. However when the eventual gruns show up those have StormTrooper accuracy.  The grunts also clearly have a more generic design, so when they show up .. it slightly undermines tension. It’s not a big flaw.. but we know Han Solo isn’t going to be taken down by two StormTroopers.. and we know Spike isn’t going to be taken down by the orange coat and green coat mafia. It’s not bad.. just not that exciting.

Another small pet peeve I had was a logical flaw. The woman is revealed to carry the drugs in her fake pregnant Belly.. but there is nothing protecting the little bottles. Which are made out of glass. When she would walk she would make a lot of jangly noises and no way she would get it to look that smooth. This is a nitpick.. but if you make Spike someone who has a big attention to detail.. I feel conflicted about this. At least show us she is wearing a satchel underneath the dress or something.. but no. .as soon as her dress rips the stuff just pours out! That would make noise you know. It’s just a weird little thing that does not add up. Note though that I did not really mind while watching.. just in hindsight it seems silly and conflicting with what is established about the vials elsewhere.

The Score

I had a much better time with this episode than I figured I would. I thought this show would be very much  in my face “Not for me”  but I actually got quite a lot of enjoyment out of the very good writing. It’s thus weird that it’s great writing also is for me it’s biggest hindrance right now.. what I want to happen happens so I am very satisfied.. but I am not “enchanted” It might be weird to say a show is written too well… but  yeah.. that kinda is my beef with it. The weird little jangly bottle plot hole I do not really mind.. I just structured this post thatI have to nag about something! Being a sucker for details this irked me enough to mention it. Again had the bottles been plastic or the containers be soft.. I’d been fine but they make a point of how fragile and glassy these things are! 

In the end I’d compare this episode with a REALLY REALLY REALLY good colour by numbers painting.. or one of those diamond paintings and those are more modern these days. It looks stunning, pleasing and you can clearly see that every element is carefully placed in the right way.  Even with some sparkles added to it that get you excited for the next canvas to come. Yet it is also exactly what you expect when you start the project. You won’t suddenly find a surprise unicorn in your painting when you’re done..so when you’re done you just end up with what you knew you would end up with all along. Thus it reaches the top of great for me.. but it fails to push into amazing.