Topic: Cowboy Bebop Marathon

[dfmorgan]

Thanks Sophie for reminding me of these. I'll have to sort them out and (re)watch them, I think I watched the first couple of episodes then got distracted. I have the movie so will have to give that a go as well.

[Najemikon]

Sophie, sending overseas isn't very expensive from the UK at least. £2-£3 will see a DVD reach anywhere really. I've sent stuff to Australia through Ebay before.

Your real problem is playing multi-region... 

[Critter]

No worries Dave! You should definitely check them out again, Bebop is probably my favourite anime series.

And Jon yeah I forgot about the multi-region. I wouldn't be able to play it on my TV's although I do have programs on my computer that I think could play any region of DVD.

[Najemikon]

Ah, yes, you should be able to do that at least.

[Critter]

I have VLC player, as well as the usual Windows players. VLC can pretty much play anything can't it?

[Najemikon]

It can, I think, though I use AnyDVD anyway in the background which covers it.

[Critter]

7. Heavy Metal Queen

Plot: The crew of the Bebop chase a bounty named Decker, who is running a load of high explosives. While nursing a hangover at a diner, Spike meets a cargo hauler pilot named V.T., who hates bounty hunters, but ends up lending him a hand.

My Thoughts: This is perhaps my favourite episode so far. Everything was great here, from the comedic timing of some of the funniest lines to the pacing of the whole story in the episode. V.T is such a great character that I hope she makes a reappearance at some stage, although I have a feeling she may have been just a one-episode character. The bar-fight scene was a highlight of this episode for me, V.T taking on all those bounty hunters while Spike just sat in the bar, oblivious due to his hangover was hilarious, as was his eventual motive for joining in the fight himself. It was great seeing the whole team work together here, especially Faye who's efforts at the beginning to catch the target on her own was hilarious. It's interesting to see how her character is developing. While being portrayed as lazy and generally self-absorbed, she is starting to show signs of forming into a very well-rounded member of the team. We have already seen that she is quite adept at using weapons and is quite a good pilot. I'm looking forward to seeing how her character grows in upcoming episodes. I'm also hoping there are some more Jet-centric episodes soon as he was hardly in this one at all and it's a shame to see such an amazing character but in the back seat.

Rating: 5/5

[Critter]

8. Waltz for Venus

Plot: While the crew hunts down a Venusian mobster, Spike meets Rocco Bonnaro, who is on the run from the same mobster the crew is tracking for stealing a very rare and valuable plant, which he plans to sell to pay for surgery to restore his sister's eyesight.

My Thoughts: Another amazing episode with this one! Venus is such an amazing setting and I'm starting to love how this show decides to play with gravity. It's never really mentioned, but in the background art you see just how much gravity has been changed on these colonized planets. On Venus for example there appears to be large flat floating islands in the air, with buildings on both the top facing up, and the bottom facing down. In fact all of the background art on this show has been amazing. The new characters for this episode were Rocco and his sister. Their story was truly tragic and a mark of the crazy world that is the future. With havoc and crime everywhere they really represent whole generations of young people just trying to get by on this string of planets. Once again great episode!

Rating: 5/5

[Critter]

9. Jamming with Edward

Plot: The crew enlists the help of an elite computer hacker nicknamed "Radical Edward" to help them track down a bounty-head who has been vandalizing Earth's surface with hacked laser satellites. However, when they finally meet Edward face-to-face, the hacker's true identity proves to be a surprise for everybody.

My Thoughts: Yay we finally have Ed join the crew! This episode works perfectly to introduce the final member of the Bebop crew. Ed is a real contrast to the rest of the Bebop gang as she really is a free spirit. Her interactions with an abandoned satellites CPU were fantastic and really emphasize her caring nature, as she didn't want the CPU to be left behind. Also, this episode is really interesting as it's the first one I believe where we actually see Planet Earth and the mess it has become. Not many humans still live on Earth, and the ones that do are portrayed as eccentric and living amongst the ruins. The visuals of Earth are either barren and dead or similar to a third world country.

Rating: 4/5

[Critter]

10. Ganymede Elegy

Plot: Jet is even more taciturn than usual as the Bebop lands on Ganymede, his last post before leaving the ISSP and the home of his ex-girlfriend, Alisa, whom he has never quite left behind. Meanwhile, Spike pursues bounty Rhint Celonias, who just happens to be Alisa's new boyfriend.

My Thoughts: We finally have a good episode based around Jet which is something I have been looking forward to a lot. I did enjoy this episode and I love how the show is slowly but surely exploring the past of each of the main characters and how they ended up where they are. It's interesting to learn that Jet used to be a cop, and even more interesting to learn why he left his home planet to become a bounty hunter. There wasn't too much action in this episode, mainly just one chase scene involving a boat and a space ship which was handled well but quite brief. This type of episode doesn't really need a lot of action though, it's really all about the development of characters. There were a few hilarious interactions with Faye and Ed in this one, it's funny to see how the crew have just accepted the fact that they are stuck with Ed, despite not being too happy about it at the start.

Rating: 4/5

[Critter]

11. Toys in the Attic

Plot: A strange blob-like creature with a poisonous bite infiltrates the Bebop and incapacitates Jet, Faye and Ein. With half the crew out of action, it's up to Spike and Ed to destroy the creature and find out where it came from.

My Thoughts: This is quite a strange episode compared to all the others so far. They obviously tried to go for a different angle here, and while this episode did have some pretty funny moments it didn't have quite the lasting impression of some of the previous ones. I also found myself slightly confused with the ending, which is something that hasn't happened with this show yet. I think I got the general idea of what was going on, but it was just so odd that I wasn't 100% on the whole situation. Not a bad episode, but not exactly a great one either, although I do commend them for trying a different style with this episode to shake things up a bit.

Rating: 3/5

[Critter]

12. Jupiter Jazz (Part 1)

Plot: Faye cleans out the crew's safe and leaves the Bebop for Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. While Jet chases after her, Spike decides to follow up on some clues about the location of his ex-girlfriend Julia, which leads him to another confrontation with Vicious.

My Thoughts: This was a really well done episode, and the use of jazz music was more prominent here than in many of the previous ones so that was a nice touch. This episode really broke down Fayes character as we explored both her strengths and weaknesses. The idea of her leaving the crew out of fear of abandonment is interesting, and not something I would have expected of her character. Also, this episode may have the most intriguing side character yet, a person by the name of Mr Saxophone who seems to be both male and female. While many people tend to say that in anime, girls look like boys and boys look like girls, it's very rare that they have actual hermaphrodite characters so this is pretty unique.

Rating: 5/5

[Critter]

13. Jupiter Jazz (Part 2)

Plot: Faye is helped by Gren, a man who holds a grudge against Vicious. After explaining his story to Faye, he chases after Vicious, and when he and Spike end up reaching him at the same time, a three-way battle takes place.

My Thoughts: This is another great episode and a perfect ending to this two-part story. Gren really was a great character, and it was interesting seeing Vicious again as he is panning out to be the shows main antagonist. It really was touching to see all of the crew come back together. This episode actually marks the halfway mark in the series so I think that's why they wanted to make this one go out with a bang and feel a bit different, as was shown with the ending credits which have been different to the rest of them so far. Also, this episode had my favourite song of all the Cowboy Bebop soundtracks in it. I have listened to it on my iPod so many times that I was very pleased to hear it in the actual show.

Rating: 5/5