Tag: Spike

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 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.