But does the show live up to its hype? In my opinion, it exceeds it. While there are noticeable faults, like the slightly muddy and confusing story and the under-developed villainous Vicious, there are many more things that are good about it than bad.
Like previously mentioned, the show's characters, with the exception of Vicious, are generally well-developed and likable. The main four characters: Spike Speigel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, and radical Edward, are all very different, with clashing personalities, complicated back stories, and their own individual insecurities and faults, as well as their own strengths. I guarantee you will love at least one of them, if not all of them. There are also multiple minor characters that only appear in one or two episodes that are equally complex and compelling, especially Gren from the "Jupiter Jazz" sessions (the episodes are called sessions, like in music).
The show also has amazing animation. Although it aired in the late 90's, earlier than many of the 'greats' in anime, it has equally good, if not better, animation. It still holds up today, and is still hailed as having some of the best animation for an anime. Fun fact- the character Spike was purposely animated to appear cooler and more attractive when he fights.
Similar to the genre, the emotions within the show are very diverse, with episodes that break your heart and make you cry, like both "Jupiter Jazz" episodes and "The Real Folk Blues Part 2" alongside laugh-out-loud funny episodes like "Cowboy Funk" and especially "Mushroom Samba" (my personal favorite episode- what's funnier than a dog getting high on mushrooms?). There are also very action-heavy episodes such as "Heavy Metal Queen" and "Pierrot Le Fou", and noir-type episodes like "Black Dog Serenade". Lastly there are parodies of other movies, notably "Toys in the Attic". There's an episode for everyone.
My personal favorite part of the anime is the soundtrack, so good that some people cite the soundtrack as a main reason, even only reason, they watch Cowboy Bebop. The soundtracks are so popular they have been sold as vinyls, sets, and CDs. The music is a variety of instrumental and vocal pieces, with not a single dud on any of its many soundtracks. It consists mostly of jazz music- but from every form of jazz under the rainbow. There are immersing and relaxing smooth jazz pieces, like "Space Lion", slow and sassy blues pieces, sometimes featuring a single instrumental, but other times full band, like "Cosmos", "Spokey Dokey", "Digging My Potato", "Farewell Blues", "Cat Blues", and others. The soundtrack also has blaring, in-your-face swing, with tracks like "Bad Dog No Biscuits", "Rush", "Too Good Too Bad", "Gateway", "Mushroom Hunting", and the show's opening, "Tank!" (video above). Some have western influences, like "Felt Tip Pen", "American Money", and "Go Go Cactus Man". Some tracks are so unique they are almost indescribable, like "Pot City", "Cats on Mars", "The Egg and I", "The Real Man", and "Piano Black". The vocal pieces are also very well done, with the ending theme "The Real Folk Blues" (video below), and the songs "Rain", "Words That We Couldn't Say", "Call Me Call Me", "You Make Me Cool", "Green Bird", "Don't Bother None", and "Blue".
So, the shortened version is Cowboy Bebop is a very diverse show, in terms of characters, emotion, and episodes, and is particularly notable for its animation and soundtrack. It absolutely deserves the undying praise it has, and makes a great starting anime, as well as an all-around good show that can be enjoyed by anyone.
videos used:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw3fN3OPk3A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxUbgEHP2Qg
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