It’s 12am, you’re passed out on your couch and all the lights are off except for the faint glow of your TV screen. You rub your eyes before adjusting your vision to see what’s in front of you and are greeted by an awe-inspiring montage of thoughtful characters in the chicest, futuristic clothes flashing across your screen, all set to an explosive jazzy soundtrack playing in the background. It can only be one thing: Shinichirō Watanabe’s magnum opus “Cowboy Bebop”.
Cowboy Bebop was the first anime title to air on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim program on September 2, 2001. Since then, his tremendous success has seen him become a staple of the program’s series of quirky shows. The anime is a neo-noir sci-fi series set in the year 2071 and follows a crew of space-travelling bounty hunters as they traverse the galaxy aboard their spaceship Bebop. Representing a different mission, each episode offers a wide range of intriguing villains that populate the void of space, as well as insights into each character’s development at a profound level.
The show is perfect for watching in the depths of the night not only for its dark and moody aesthetic, but also for the strong themes of loneliness and introspection that permeate each episode. With numerous flashbacks that delve into each character’s backstory, the show shows how they can never fully escape their past. It definitely gets you in the mood for your own existential musings in the late hours.
As well as impeccable storytelling, Cowboy Bebop is also known for its standout soundtrack: a captivating jazz exhibition that paints the universe of Watanabe alive. Many also consider the show a gateway to anime, having played a big role in the early 2000s’ introduction of Anime played for Western viewers. In the never-ending dub vs. sub debate, most anime fans actually consider the dub version of the series to be one of the few worth watching.
Since its release, the series has also gotten a movie, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, as well as a live-action Netflix adaptation that was released not too long ago (which we all know how this will turn out to be). It’s not hard to say that nothing could ever top the original series, which brought us the utmost comfort during the frontier space that emerges after dark. Many of the show’s iconic images can also make for wonderful tattoos. You can channel the cunning cunning of Spike, the flirtatious class of Faye Valentine, or even the innocent but intellectual prowess of Corgi One. In true Cowboy Bebop fashion, trying to keep yourself from getting inked is as futile as trying to keep yourself from what you know to be true. And on that note, see you Space Cowboy.