This series was once voted the greatest anime series of all time, and so any criticism of it is likely to incur the ire of its many devoted fans. For me, though, this series was sort of the Miami Vice of anime - very long on cinematic style and flashy visuals and very influential, but pick it apart and you will find that the underlying structure is weaker than you first thought, at least in the early going.
The science fiction details are well thought through and the animation direction is very good overall, but when you start looking at story structure and character, the level of originality drops sharply. The first four episodes have basically the same story line - the bounty hunting main characters go after a fugitive only to find that he has stolen something top secret that other people want and are willing to double cross the bounty hunters over. In the fifth episode we find that one of the main characters used to be an enforcer for the mob. How novel. Okay, this probably sounds worse than it is.
Beyond this point, quite fortunately, the story line breaks away from the formula to explore more of the universe of Cowboy Bebop and how the characters relate to it, all of which is a plus. The show's incredible visual sense, with a great many wonderful science fiction ideas thrown out often in passing and glimpsed but never in other than purely visual terms, and this continues, while the story framework gets more ambitious. More of Earth and why humans spread out into the solar system is examined as is how the crew of the Bebop came together and where they are headed. Love, regret, revenge are introduced and added skillfully to the mix. The storytelling is assured and varied and a strong emotional atmosphere hangs over everything as characters examine their choices, and their motives and wonder where they are headed. But even then, it's long on cool and short on depth.
There is a lot of music in the series - jazz, blues, heavy metal - in fact many of the shows have a thematic music style, and this is a plus, but the resulting music video montages, once again elevate superficial style over dramatic substance. It's a really cool series to look at. With less of a formula approach, especially in the early going, it might be a perfect one.
The science fiction details are well thought through and the animation direction is very good overall, but when you start looking at story structure and character, the level of originality drops sharply. The first four episodes have basically the same story line - the bounty hunting main characters go after a fugitive only to find that he has stolen something top secret that other people want and are willing to double cross the bounty hunters over. In the fifth episode we find that one of the main characters used to be an enforcer for the mob. How novel. Okay, this probably sounds worse than it is.
Beyond this point, quite fortunately, the story line breaks away from the formula to explore more of the universe of Cowboy Bebop and how the characters relate to it, all of which is a plus. The show's incredible visual sense, with a great many wonderful science fiction ideas thrown out often in passing and glimpsed but never in other than purely visual terms, and this continues, while the story framework gets more ambitious. More of Earth and why humans spread out into the solar system is examined as is how the crew of the Bebop came together and where they are headed. Love, regret, revenge are introduced and added skillfully to the mix. The storytelling is assured and varied and a strong emotional atmosphere hangs over everything as characters examine their choices, and their motives and wonder where they are headed. But even then, it's long on cool and short on depth.
There is a lot of music in the series - jazz, blues, heavy metal - in fact many of the shows have a thematic music style, and this is a plus, but the resulting music video montages, once again elevate superficial style over dramatic substance. It's a really cool series to look at. With less of a formula approach, especially in the early going, it might be a perfect one.