With the live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop now out on Netflix alongside its original anime source material, Sunrise Entertainment's universally acclaimed franchise is more prominent than ever as new and familiar audiences watch the adventures of bounty hunter Spike Spiegel and his friends with fresh eyes. However, one key piece of Cowboy Bebop's anime story is absent from Netflix's library: the 2001 canonical anime film Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. This film is vastly underrated and well worth a revisit from longtime fans, while also remaining perfectly accessible for viewers who may not be as familiar with the anime series.
After the main Cowboy Bebop series came to an end in April 1999, fans expressed their hopes for a continuation, although the story had seemingly come to a decisive end with the series finale. Much of the animation staff behind the anime series reconvened to craft the film, including director Shinichiro Watanabe, writer Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto and of course, composer Yoko Kanno and the main voice cast.
Given an increased production budget and development window than they had on the anime series, production officially commenced in July 2000 after writing on the film was completed following the film's September 1999 announcement. Originally released in Japan in September 2001 as Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, the film was retitled Cowboy Bebop: The Movie for its international distribution.
Set between the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the anime series, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie has the capital city on Mars endure a devastating terrorist attack that results in a deadly genetically engineered pathogen being unleashed on hundreds of people by a shadowy figure named Vincent Volaju. With a steep bounty placed on Vincent's head, Spike and the crew of the Bebop hunt for the terrorist across Mars. Learning more about Vincent's tragic past as his ex-girlfriend Elektra launches her own search for Vincent, Spike and his friends scramble to stop Vincent from instigating an even more catastrophic terrorist attack targeting the city's large Halloween celebrations.
The filmmakers took advantage of their increased budget and extended production window to craft more prolonged and elaborate action sequences, including a centerpiece fight between Spike and Vincent on a train and a final showdown overlooking the city's Halloween parade. To offer more visual variety than the series, the movie saw Spike visit a part of the Martian capital heavily inspired by North African cultures, with Watanabe visiting Morocco during production for visual references to draw from.
The extended runtime also saw the filmmakers provide a more vulnerable side to Spike through conversations with Elektra and a near-death experience over the course of the film. Despite respecting everything that had come before, the production sought to make Cowboy Bebop: The Movie as accessible as possible to audiences unfamiliar with the series -- a sort of one-off adventure for the Bebop crew.
While Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is very much an extension of the anime series, it is not currently available to stream on any major digital platform, including Netflix, Funimation or Amazon. However, physical home video releases were made in 2003 and 2011, while Funimation would publish a Blu-ray release in 2018.
Despite its lack of streaming availability, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is well worth seeking out, especially for fans of the series looking to complete their collection. As a story crafted by much of the original animation team and cast, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie showcases some of the most ambitious storytelling the franchise has embarked on and makes for the perfect palate cleanser to the more bittersweet series finale.