Cowboy Bebop, Voted greatest Anime of all TIME!

In 2022, the explosion of an experimental warp gateway caused major damage to the Moon, bathed the Earth with radiation, and left an asteroid ring that threatens the surface with daily meteorite bombardments. As a result, many survivors abandoned the barely-habitable Earth to colonize the inner planets, the asteroid belt and the moons of Jupiter. The series opens in 2071, decades after the accident, when the entire Solar System has been made accessible via reliable warp gates.

The crew of the Bebop spends much of its time on Mars, the new central hub of human civilization. The government is corrupt, using soldiers as test subjects for biological weapons during a war on Titan. Interplanetary crime syndicates exert influence over the government and the Inter-Solar System Police (ISSP), limiting their effectiveness in dealing with crime. As a result, a bounty system similar to that in the Old West is established to deal with fugitives, terrorists and other criminals.

The crew of the spaceship Bebop are a partnership of bounty hunters, called "cowboys", who travel the Solar System trying to apprehend bounties. Jet Black is the owner of the Bebop, but has partnered with Spike Spiegel for his diverse combat skills. Though he is reluctant to admit it, Jet has also come to rely on Spike for companionship in the normally solitary field of bounty hunting. During its travels, the Bebop gains new crew members, much to the visible annoyance of both Jet and Spike.




Most episodes revolve around attempts to bring in a specific bounty. Some of the Bebop's varied targets include small time thugs, gangsters, hackers (known as "net divers" in slang), religious leaders, psychopaths, genetic experiments, mutant creatures and petty thieves. Though the characters advertise themselves as self-interested, their actions frequently show that they are sympathetic to the plight of others. On several occasions, the crew forgoes the chance to collect bounty rewards upon learning of the circumstances of their bounty-heads.

Occasionally the Bebop crew members' pasts catch up with them, and the show regularly turns to the history of the main characters in flashbacks. Spike's past as a syndicate enforcer is a major element of the series, while other episodes deal with Jet's previous occupation as an ISSP officer on Ganymede, Faye's mysterious past and significant debt problems, and Ed's childhood.

The day-to-day life of the crew is also explored during the series. A major recurring theme is the chronic lack of money, a situation that is not helped by the crew's frequent inability to collect on bounties. This results in the general disrepair of the Bebop and common shortages of food.

The series features a crew of distinct main characters. The first two introduced in the series are Spike Spiegel and Jet Black. As the series progresses, more characters are introduced and become members of the Bebop crew. Antagonists include a variety of bounties that the crew hunt to collect funding, including Faye. In addition, several recurring characters appear in various episodes. While some, such as Julia and Vicious, are central to the storyline, others like the three old men and Punch and Judy are more peripheral.




Spike Spiegel - a former member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate. Spike is a master in firearms and hand-to-hand combat, practicing Jeet Kune Do, and is also a skilled pilot. Despite his outwardly carefree attitude, he is haunted by the memory of his time in the syndicate, particularly of his romantic relationship with a mysterious woman named Julia, and his conflict with arch-rival and former syndicate partner, Vicious.



Jet Black - a former ISSP officer and the owner of the Bebop. Once called "The Black Dog" by his fellow officers for his relentless nature, he left the ISSP after becoming fed up with the corruption and red tape of the organization, and turned to bounty hunting as a way to pursue justice. Despite the ability to have it replaced, he voluntarily bears a cybernetic arm as a reminder of what happened when he rushed into trouble without looking first. Like Spike, he is haunted by the memory of a woman, Alisa, his longtime girlfriend who left him without giving a reason.



Faye Valentine - a femme fatale with a penchant for gambling. She uninvitingly joins the Bebop to the protests of Jet and Spike. Though she abandons the ship several times during the course of the series, her attachment to the crew always brings her back. These feelings are apparently reciprocated, as Jet and Spike always allow her to return despite claiming they're pleased to see her leave. Her gambling, cheating, and competitive skills are unrivaled except by Spike. Most of her past and her real last name are a mystery.





The crew of the BebopEdward - a young, eccentric computer genius and master hacker. Ed is a girl, though her name and appearance suggest otherwise. She had followed the travels of the Bebop before encountering the ship, and agrees to help the crew track down a bounty-head in exchange for becoming a member of the crew. While her intelligence far exceeds that of the other members of the crew, she is clearly the child of the group, looking up to Jet as a father figure and Spike and Faye as a big brother and sister. She gave herself the fanciful name "Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV" after running away to an orphanage, but after her father is found, it is revealed that her real name is Françoise Appledelhi. She goes by the name Radical Edward when hacking, and commonly spends the most time with Ein.



Ein - a Welsh Corgi and former lab animal identified as a "data dog" by the scientists who created him. The reason for this title is never explained, but it is suggested that he possesses enhanced intelligence, which he displays in subtle ways throughout the series, including showing the ability to speak to other animals, and possibly Ed, and perfectly hacking the 'Scratch' website in session #23. Despite his enhanced intelligence and comprehension, the rest of the Bebop crew, with the exception of Ed, often fail to notice these qualities and treat Ein as an average pet

This is a series you do not want to miss.
 
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