Cowboy Bebop is a story of a group of bounty hunters who go around the solar system catching people with bounties on their heads. I'm not saying criminals because even in the future one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. "Cowboy" is the term that is used to refer to a bounty hunter. Bebop is the name of the ship that everybody resides in and uses as their base of operations.
The main reason that got me interested in watching this 26 episode tv series and the Cowboy Bebop Movie offshoot was the involvement of some Macross related people in its production. The list below of Macross people who had worked at Cowboy Bebop was sourced from AnimeNewsNetwork.com.
- Shoji Kawamori - Macross Creator, wrote episode 18, where Faye learns a small snippet about her past. He was also credited for helping in the Cowboy Bebop Movie.
- Shinichiro Watanabe - who directed Macross Plus, also directed Cowboy Bebop
- Yoko Kanno - who made the brilliant songs for Macross Plus and Macross Frontier also made the soundtrack for CowBoy Bebop
- Megumi Hayashibara - voiced Lucy MacMillan in Macross Plus and also voiced Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop
- Unshou Ishizuka - voiced Guld Goa Bowman in Macross Plus and also Jet Black
- Katsuyuki Konishi - voices Ozma Lee in Macross Frontier, but played lowly Robber D in the Bebop Movie
- Maaya Sakamoto - who played Ranshe Mei, the mother of Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier, played Stella in Cowboy Bebop.
- Norio Wakamoto - played Dr. Worth in Macross Plus and also played Spike Speigel's nemesis - Vicious.
- Houko Kuwashima - played Nanase and Canaria in Macross Frontier and also played a cashier in the Cowboy Bebop movie.
- Miki Nagasawa -played Jessica in Macross 7 and Judy in Cowboy Bebop
- Takao Abo - directed episode 3 of Macross Frontier and did animation for the Cowboy Bebop Movie
The main characters of Cowboy Bebop are Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Edward and Ein. Aside from going after bounties, the series entertains us with the crews constant quest for food and tries to disseminate piecemeal per episode the mysterious origins and secrets of each crewmember to build on to the overall plot.
The soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop has always been synonymous with what a great movie soundtrack should be. Anytime there is a discussion about an anime series with great music and arrangement, most often than not, Cowboy Bebop will always come up. That is due to the very Talented Yoko Kanno who did the music and the arrangement. Each episode in Cowboy Bebop is called a session and named after a song in real life. The musical arrangement for each episode was specifically tailor fit to the title in order to invoke a general theme. Its no secret that a great soundtrack can immerse the audience further to the plot, therefore increasing one's entertainment experience, and Yoko Kanno definitely over delivered in Cowboy Bebop, cementing her position as a giant in the musical scoring side of Anime production.
All in all, its a great anime franchise, the artwork is very impressive and each episode's story is carefully crafted. Its only the cliffhanger ending that I didn't like because it left me clamoring for more. CLOSURE! CLOSURE!