loathe as I am to call anything a "comfort show", I find myself coming back to BEBOP all the goddamn time when I'm in a specific weird funk. or just for no reason, really, i don’t need any excuse to rewatch this show. it's probably the first thing most of my friends associate me with. this is one of my favourite shows in the world - and, yknow, it is as good as everyone tells you it is. the art, the animation, the dub, the music, the story. everyone raves about it and it is for good reason. it's a show that's been analysed and adored to death by people much better at articulating things than me, but I can throw in my two cents anyway.
the first time i watched this show, I was in exactly the right position to find value in its core themes - this is probably why I've latched onto it so hard, but i don't think it's lost its value to me over the years at all. It's as impactful and important to me now as it was all those years ago. obviously i'd come into this show decades too late - i was born in the year it was airing, and then i had to bypass the silly mental block i had that wouldn't let me watch animated things in high school - so i was in my, like, early 20s when i finally got around to watching it? and a weird spot in them, too. it feels so silly to be this attached to a show this much but hey. my brain does what it will and just takes me along for the ride
this show is about a lot of things - bounty hunters, space heists, very cool jazz music - but it's also about trying to find meaning in a world you feel displaced in, it's about the value of connection and the loneliness of avoidance. Its about learning that acceptance - of yourself, of others, of your situation, or your past, or your actions - is imperative to make room for progress. It’s about how clinging on to the past will kill you, and you have got to learn to let it go and lean on other people instead. The only way out is through, yknow?
COWBOY BEBOP explores it’s genres and themes so beautifully and thoroughly - it’s a little bit neo-noir, it’s a little bit western, it’s a little bit sci-fi, it’s a lot of music. It cares so much about the history of all of these things and that’s why it all coalesces together in a way that nothing else i’ve ever watched has done. all of our little cast of characters are unique and individual, they all get their spotlight episodes and focus is shared between all of them. I love its slow paced nature, and how much of the show takes place in long stretches between heavy plot action. one of my favourite episodes is just a silly nothing episode that barely involves the BEBOP crew at all! I love how damn good the show looks too - the backgrounds and scenery and attention to detail on all these planets and outposts are so good; you can tell where the episode is taking place just based on these little worldbuilding details within the scenery alone.
UGH this show is so special to meeeeeee <33 i love it so bad everyone should watch it
