Cowboy Bebop: Remix: volume 1

Reviewed By: Carla Land

Bandai Entertainment DVD

Review based on disk 1 (episodes 1-5)

Rating 13+/ TV 14

What it’s (basically) all about: Spike is a bounty hunter. Jet is his partner. Both have pasts they’d rather not talk about, and both of them are very good at what they do. Ironically, that doesn’t mean they always get their man (or woman, for that matter.) Together, along with Faye, a fellow bounty hunter and Ein, an ultra intelligent corgi, they search the galaxy on their ship Bebop for people who are worth a lot of money to the police. The bad guys in the galaxy had better watch their backs.

Nitty Gritty: I know that the synopsis sounds vaguely familiar (the same as about five or six other anime reviewed on this site) but the show is very good. Spike and Jet are two very different characters, and they are slowly developed over time. Add in Ein, the corgi Spike hooks up with in episode two and Faye, the other bounty hunter that hooks herself up with the crew of the Bebop in episode four, and you have a tossed salad of a lot of different personalities that make for an interesting show.

Language is a little on the rough side. Sh*t, a$$, sonofab*tch, sucks, and goddam all make it in the show in both the subbed and dubbed versions.

Violence plays a large role in the show, since the bad guys are usually using guns and Spike has to defend himself. There are fist fights, laser blasts, guns, knives, high speed space chases and car chases. Fortunately, most of the violence isn’t gory, and there isn’t always a lot of blood, though there is some. By episode five there is quite a bit of blood splatter, but as this episode deals with organized crime the violence meter is automatically going to go up.

Faye dresses on the fan service side, and there are plenty of boob/ butt shots as well. There has been no nudity, but most of the women that play any kind of prominent role are big chested and seductively clad. Once or twice we see a shot of a girlie magazine, but the detail on the magazine mostly isn’t very specific, only enough to let you know that it is what it is. For a brief moment you actually see a picture in some detail, but it’s not a naked woman, just a scantily clad one. (It’s so brief I had to watch the episode twice to really see it.)

There is smoking and drinking done by main characters and the action in episode three takes place almost entirely in a casino. Some of the bad guys use drugs on screen, but none of the main characters do. Spike smokes like a chimney, by the way.

Special features include: a trailer collection for the show (old and remix releases); Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim TV spots; Cowboy Bebop movie trailer; clean ending credits; Bandai previews for Mars Daybreak, Planetes, and Gundam Seed; an interview with Wendee Lee (the voice of Faye Valentine); and commentary on episodes 1 and 5. The commentary on episode 1 is actually by the Japanese voice actors and is subbed. The episode 5 commentary is by the ADR producer and Wendee Lee, and gives some interesting insight to the differences between Japanese and American animation.

Survey says: This was shown on Adult Swim, and I think it may have been edited for television. The rating says 13+, but this is probably better off in adult collections because of the violence, which can be very realistic at times.

Personal Ad: This is a really well done show, and I like it quite a bit.. The colors are used to carry the story, there are camera angles used that are more likely to be seen in a live-action drama, and the music overall is great (it has a kind of 1960’s spy movie feel to it). Overall it’s just a really well done show.