It should come as no surprise that old television shows tend not to age well, especially when compared to current standards of television. This is no different for Cowboy Bebop which was released in 1998. Cowboy Bebop is not necessarily the worst example of this, though, just because it was occasionally offensive; they are hardly the only ones guilty of this after all.
Regardless, it is sometimes a gamble for anyone to go back and revisit old shows that were remembered fondly by viewers. It might help, then, to check out 10 things that didn’t age well in Cowboy Bebop.
10 Some Of The Logic In Cowboy Bebop
Starting off this list is a quality that most have referred to during a criticism. Whether it is the science of how Spike could move between space-ships sans spacesuit, or how the crew was able to survive on the few bounties that it did catch, Cowboy Bebop sure play around with their story logic. The strangest example had to be how the police were constantly slow on the uptake and easy to fool. No one wonder they need bounty hunters.
9 Mistreatment Of Animals
Despite the adorable quality of Ein, many characters on the show did not think much of him. Honestly, it was more than not Edward’s dog. Though it was much worse for him when he nearly died after a bounty threw him out of a moving hovercar.
Spike had caught him, of course, but he had to use his Swordfish to do it. How did Ein even survive that landing?
8 Smoking And More Smoking
Smoking is probably one of the major indicators that a show is either old or set in a time where you could smoke on a plane. In Cowboy Bebop, the only major character that is not seen smoking is Edward. The supposed cool factor of smoking a cigarette was clearly much of the reason why nearly everyone had a smoking habit. The irony here may be the fact that the show was set in the future, even though smoking has become (more or less) a thing of the past.
7 Child Abandonment
The lackadaisical treatment of Edward’s backstory was probably one of the most noticeable flaws of the Cowboy Bebop series. It was as if they rushed out a story about how her dad apparently abandoned her because he forgot he had a kid. It’s a bit odd how unaffected Ed seems to have been by her father’s disappearance, and her sudden happiness at finding him again is all the more baffling. It just goes to show that Ed was more than not the comic relief for the show.
6 Poisoning The Bebop Crew
In the episode “Mushroom Samba,” Ed ventures out to find food for the crew, after they run out of resources. By some strange turn of events, she eventually found some hallucinogenic mushrooms, but Ed didn’t know they were drugged. Still, she tricked the crew into eating them, to see what would happen. Needless to say, it led to some hilarious moments. Really, Ed was lucky that the crew didn’t end up like the older Shaft brother.
5 Occasional Racism
Speaking of the Shaft brothers, it probably should be said that the show does include some racial stereotyping. The most obvious example was the nod to Blaxploitation in “Mushroom Samba.”
Technically the representations were based on those found in a problematic genre, but it didn’t help either that the black characters in this episode displayed so much racial in-fighting that it inevitably led to them embarrassing themselves.
4 Mistreatment Of Sexual Diversity
Some of the most off-colored jokes in Cowboy Bebop, though, were those that related to homosexuality. They weren’t so obvious as to say being gay is wrong, rather, their portrayals of diverse sexuality were primarily negative. Case in point, Spike mistakenly thought that a transsexual prostitute was Julia, after which the man tells him- “Sorry Sirrah, I’m not Julia. Juli-US, my name’s Julius, not Julia.” Again, how is this the future?
3 Women In Cowboy Bebop
In addition to erroneous portrayals of members of the LGBT community, the portrayal of women in the show is similarly negative. The occasional shots of Faye in angles that amplify her breasts and body indicate the male gaze. Although Faye does use this to her advantage in hustling, it still backfires on her when men like Jet see her as a dangerous woman. Spike hustles people just the same.
Elsewhere, characters like VT, who appeared to be one of the better examples of representation, are nonetheless there because of their association to a male (which was VT’s husband, in this case).
2 Terrorism
There were many instances where the crew encountered terrorists who had political agendas. What was ridiculous about this, however, was how the police were usually incapable of stopping them and relied on cowboys like the crew to stop them. The threat of terrorism is furthermore downplayed when terrorists are their own worst enemies. At times, a group of criminals would behave as if they were clowns at a circus instead of attempting something illegal and dangerous. A stark difference from the Dark Knight Joker terrorist.
1 Possible Reference To Sexual Assault
This technically took place in the Cowboy Bebop movie, but I’m going to count it because it is supposed to be in continuity. A scene in the film had implicated that Faye was possibly raped by the antagonist, who had drugged her and ripped her top open. Faye’s encounter appears to be overlooked, however, in favor of proceeding with the central conflict. This, in turn, glosses over the serious matter that Faye may have been raped, and thus, disregards the serious nature of this violation. A real low point, for the series as a whole.