Cowboy Bebop's beloved for all the best reasons. Its great characters, unbelievable soundtrack, top-notch animation, and humor mixed with sorrow enchanted viewers. It's a show that left its fans watching those same stories on repeat, wanting more. Part of the reason why is that it's hard to know what we're going to get in a given episode. A goofy episode like "Mushroom Samba" can coexist comfortably with the melodramatic "Ballad of Fallen Angels" and the poignantly absurd "Speak Like a Child" and all feel like part of the same show. The show itself was an act of love for Anime, for music, and for storytelling.
That's what drives these memes-- an unforgettable show, and a desire to laugh at the things we love.
11 Be Forever, Bebop
Anime and Manga have a way of sticking around in the culture long past what would be an expiration date on other shows. Sometimes it's just the sheer size of a series that keeps it around, making it unbingeable in ways that only American shows like M*A*S*H* and Sesame Street are. Naruto, Inuyasha, and the seemingly infinite Dragon Ball series-es are prime examples. They're like rabbit holes fans can fall into and never emerge. Hajime Yatate's 1998 series Cowboy Bebop is a different beast altogether. In 3 years, just 26 episodes were released, but it's one of Anime's most enduring series. In that brief period, it even released an episode where all of its characters died. Its desire to not go on forever is one of the things that makes it great.
10 Ya Like Jazz?
One of this series' addictive features is its soundtrack. Starting with its intro theme, "Tank!," by Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts this is a show with a particular and peculiar groove. It's not just a jazz show, of course. The memorable Spike Spiegel theme "Rain" is more of a slow pop ballad, and its titles reference everything from Heavy Metal to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Still, if you watch this series you're signing up for a lot of jazz. Serious Hard Bop jazz music that demands attention to be appreciated. Hilariously, Cowboy Bebop's one of the best ways to get nonbelievers into this challenging musical style.
9 It Happened Happens
8
The essence of Spike's aura of cool is summed up in his response to approaching reentry in an ancient, broken space shuttle. He lights a cigarette and murmurs "Whatever happens, happens," in the face of fiery death. Naturally that moment's found its way into a lot of memes.
This picture of that same moment is perfect. "OH WELL WELL IT HAPPENED HAPPENS!!!' is exactly what one of us uncool mortals would say trapped in this situation. We try to be as cool as Spike, but it slips through our fingers along with our composure. Besides, anything that happens is bound to happen, so Spike's statement had emotional content but no real information in it beyond resignation. It's nice to see that laid out concisely here.
7 Spike vs VHS
Spike Spiegel has his limits. He faces death with ice water in his veins, but when confronted with obsolete technology he's as confused as the rest of us. It says a lot about this series' age that when it was made the majority of viewers would recognize VHS tapes and had at least heard of Betamax. "Speak Like A Child," where the crew tracks down a Betamax player to view a fragment of Faye's life's mysteries has a timeless resonance, but just as is true with its use of American space shuttles, its technological references are firmly planted in the late 20th century.
6 Spike Hill
On the surface, no two animated characters could be more different than Hank Hill and Spike Spiegel. Hank's consummately unhip. He's so square it changed his head's shape. He's uptight to Spike's calm, loud to Spike's quiet. Even so, there's the weird cowboy culture that drives Texas as well as it drives Cowboy Bebop's vision of space travel uniting them. Dig a little deeper and you'll see that Hank and Spike both shove their feelings way down deep inside themselves, and they share a profound sense of justice. Both characters love music and Hank even has that weird family connection to Japan. Face it tiger, this meme hits the jackpot!
5 Mad Pierrot
Pierrot the Fool is an odd, semi-divisive character. In a universe of eclectic weirdos, he's a Joker/Superman/Commedia dell'arte hybrid covered in bombs. If you can put Pierrot's strangeness aside, though, the cackling, bouncing, experimental assassin is one of the scariest figures to grace the show. He's also one of the saddest. Pierrot's a victim of medical experiments. His homicidal insanity was inflicted on him, and his fixation on Spike is a reflection of his isolation. He feels a misguided connection to his fellow killer. His kinetic energy activated force field is bulletproof but not knife proof, and the first minor injury he's had in years overwhelms him, crying for his mommy as he's trampled by a robot parade. Yeah, we felt sad for him! Even Spike felt sad!
4 Spike's Money Woes
The Bebop's crew of bounty hunters are bona fide and always on the brink of a big score. Somehow, they always pull defeat out of the jaws of victory and never manage a big payout. Puffy Jacket Spike sums up this problem up pretty well. Discarding his usual cool look in cold temperatures, Spike manages a rare burst of outrage. His lazy, bounty hunting lifestyle affords him many things, but never money. In a way it's unfair, given what he and his pals go through. In a way it's exactly what Spike's lack of concern has earned him.
3 Visited By An Ein
Ein's another payout the Bebop crew never got. He's a priceless "Data Dog," and could have been sold to make their fortunes. Instead, while Jet and company rescue the ridiculously smart corgi out of a sense of decency, they never realize why he was being pursued. They were lucky to be visited by a dog, but through the alchemy of the Bebop, the mercenaries managed to turn a fortune into another mouth to feed. Which is okay, who wants to root for the scummy guys who turned the Good Boy over to evil scientists for a payday?
2 Things Spike Hates
Whether you believe Spike's claim to hate children, dogs, and women with attitude or not, it's one of his defining quotes. So of course, as the ship fills up, that's who Spike ends up surrounded by. In fairness, Edward and Ein are both pretty low-maintenance critters and Faye's so standoffish that he doesn't have to worry about many intrusions. It's still a funny fate for a guy with such a laid back Extreme Bachelor mindset to half-choose. A life in space, and other than his cyborg pal only the things he (thinks he) hates are his companions.
1 American Bebop
We all have the same fears when we hear about an American version of Cowboy Bebop on Netflix. They're going to lose the show's essence, the show's fun, the show's joie de vivre and je ne sais quoi. That it's a show that can't be remade, much less remade well, especially with live people and crappy CGI effects.
Well probably, but if they have to go off in a different direction, they could do a lot worse than the cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Yeah, it's a goofy comedy, but they actually handled police drama and action pretty well on that show. Besides, Andre Braugher could bring an entirely different kind of energy to the "Heavy Metal Queen" role, donchathink?