Format: TV, Manga
Episodes: 26
Episode Duration: 24 mins
Status: Finished
Start Date: Apr 3, 1998
End Date: Apr 24, 1999
Source: Original
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, Space
Cowboy Bebop
Average rating 8.8/10
Crime is timeless. By the year 2071, humanity has expanded across the galaxy, filling the surface of other planets with settlements like those on Earth. These new societies are plagued by murder, drug use, and theft, and intergalactic outlaws are hunted by a growing number of tough bounty hunters, referred to as "Cowboys".
Mellow and carefree Spike Spiegel is balanced by his boisterous, pragmatic partner Jet Black as the pair makes a living chasing bounties and collecting rewards. Thrown off course by the addition of new members that they meet in their travels—Ein, a genetically engineered, highly intelligent Welsh Corgi; femme fatale Faye Valentine, an enigmatic trickster with memory loss; and the strange computer whiz kid Edward Wong—the crew embarks on thrilling adventures that unravel each member's dark and mysterious past little by little.
While developing bonds and working to catch a colorful cast of criminals, the Bebop crew's lives are disrupted by a menace from Spike's past. As a rival's maniacal plot continues to unravel, Spike must choose between life with his newfound family or revenge for his old wounds.
Cowboy Bebop Trailers
About Cowboy Bebop
Well-balanced with high density action and light-hearted comedy, Cowboy Bebop is a space Western classic and an homage to the smooth and improvised music it is named after. Cowboy Bebop has been hailed as one of the greatest animated television series of all time. It was a critical and commercial success both in Japanese and international markets, most notably in the United States. It garnered several major anime and science-fiction awards upon its release, and received unanimous praise for its style, characters, story, voice acting, animation, and soundtrack. The English dub was particularly lauded, and is regarded as one of the best anime dubs. Credited with helping to introduce anime to a new wave of Western viewers in the early 2000s, Cowboy Bebop has also been called a gateway series for anime in general.
Production of Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop was developed by animation studio Sunrise and created by Hajime Yatate, the well-known pseudonym for the collective contributions of Sunrise's animation staff. The leader of the series' creative team was director Shinichirō Watanabe, most notable at the time for directing Macross Plus and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. Other leading members of Sunrise's creative team were screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, mechanical art designer Kimitoshi Yamane, composer Yoko Kanno, and producers Masahiko Minami and Yoshiyuki Takei. Most of them had previously worked together, in addition to having credits on other popular anime titles. Nobumoto had scripted Macross Plus, Kawamoto had designed the characters for Gundam, and Kanno had composed the music for Macross Plus and The Vision of Escaflowne. Yamane had not worked with Watanabe yet, but his credits in anime included Bubblegum Crisis and The Vision of Escaflowne. Minami joined the project as he wanted to do something different from his previous work on mecha anime.
