Anime Review: Why I hate Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is a classic, or so I have been told.  I really have no clue why people like it, and it seems like one of those artsy animes that all the hipsters just love.

It's aged relatively well, but from my perspective, it was a boring.

The verdict

The Good

Animation

The animation was pretty fluid for its time.  The action was pretty well done with the combination of gun battles and hand to hand combat.  The biggest problem is that there simply isn't that much action.  Sure, every episode is another job for the bounty hunter crew.  In theory, this should lend itself to some amazing action, when Spike et al. get into a sticky situation.  However, they usually just sit a lot on a ship.

Sound

With its jazzy, quick tempo, Cowboy Bebop provides a very upbeat original soundtrack.  This made the action really hit a peek.  To be honest though, I really don't remember the soundtrack at all.  The pace just didn't afford for anything but the opening to be memorable for me.

The Bad

Characters

The characters were somewhat interesting, but there just wasn't enough story to really expand upon them.  Spike had this overall backstory that was too bits and pieces for me.  It didn't really seem like the series was going anywhere, and thus didn't focus on putting the characters in a situations to show how unique they were.

Story

I have always hated the episodic storytelling.  We all hate filler episodes in Naruto, because it did not lend itself to the overall plot.  When I watch the entirety Cowboy Bebop, I get the same feeling as watching filler episodes of Naruto.

Final Thoughts

Cowboy Bebop is a 5/10.  It was extremely discombobulating.  No idea what the characters were doing in a given episode.  No idea what the story was trying to get across.  The animation just doesn't stand up to series today.  It has an artsy attitude to it, but it is not my piece of cake.

Peter