Cowboy Bebop review
8.9 / 10 — CineScope score
Overview
A crew of bounty hunters drifts through the solar system on a ship called the Bebop, each of them running from a past that keeps catching up.
The short verdict
Cool, melancholy and structurally perfect — twenty-six episodes that function like a jazz record with a great final track.
Story
Mostly episodic, with occasional glimpses of the past that finally resolve in the last few episodes. The looseness is deliberate and makes the ending hurt more.
Direction
Shinichirō Watanabe directs genre by genre — noir, western, horror, comedy — with a different visual grammar in each, unified by tone.
Performance
Kōichi Yamadera's Spike is the archetype for a whole generation of anime protagonists; the dub is also famously excellent.
Cinematography
Cel animation at its most confident, with striking composition and a lived-in production design.
Music
Yoko Kanno's score is the show's co-author — bebop, blues, heavy metal and opera used as narrative voice.
Pros and cons
What works
- One of the best TV soundtracks ever
- Genre-hopping without losing identity
- A perfect finale
What does not
- Episodic middle may frustrate binge viewers
- Some episodes are deliberately strange
Final verdict
See you space cowboy — a genuine classic and the best possible entry point to anime.
8.9/ 10