"Ballad of Fallen Angels" post coming soon-ish; here's a preview to hold you over.

(This excerpt is subject to edits, of course!)

 I'll summarize all the new information about the characters' pasts. Spike, a former Red Dragon affiliate of some sort, "died" three years ago, presumably during the events seen in his flashbacks. (I'll get into Spike's "death" and his debt to Mao later, don't worry!) According to the article that Jet decrypts later on, the syndicates Red Dragon and White Tiger were in a dispute six years ago. The rest of the article states, and I quote, that Mao "[r]ecently changed his line to the moderates, and Maked the project of cooperation with the W.T.. But...." Something happened that made him lose his fangs, perhaps spurred by Spike. We already know about Jet and the ISSP,  so his friendship with Spike must have been scandalous, regardless of whatever Spike went through to make good. Although if the "shady" ISSP already has crime connections then maybe not... Finally, Faye might have had some history with "Mao-taijin" and Vicious. Maybe she was just starstruck, but a look of recognition and fear crept across her face during her encounter.

Session 4: Unconventional Oral Fixations

crunch shudder crunch shudder

"Gateway Shuffle." Once again, my expectations are subverted. That is, my utter lack of expectations or predictions subverted this action-packed, genre-busting episode. Usually, the previews have been a good indicator for what to expect. I got another vaguely "silly" vibe à la "Stray Dog Strut," but this episode turned out to be much more chilling and creepy. My feeble attempt to categorize this show into monster-of-the-week and lore-heavy episodes was also thwarted, with "Gateway Shuffle" having the best of both worlds. Amongst the sea of text in the intro is the phrase "They are sick and tired of conventional fixed style jazz." Guess the creators had the same philosophy about episodic television. To my delight, "Mom" from Futurama (yes, I know it aired after Cowboy Bebop) aka Twinkle Maria Murdoch became my favorite villain thus far, surpassing Asimov! But does the episode as a whole surpass "Asteroid Blues?" Let's find out.

Session 3: Luck of the Gaucho

feel the swoon, faye

"Honky Tonk Women." Or just "woman." As much as I love overanalyzing this show, it's hard to tell where the translation issues end and the attention to detail begins. The English dub, which apparently holds more canonical weight as I mentioned before, called it "Woman" in last episode's preview. Was naming the episode "Women" a conscious choice to make it sound more tantalizing, while the translation to "Woman" strove for accuracy? For ease of mind, I'll speculate no further on translation issues. I'll continue to watch each episode at least once with the subtitles, but I'll give the English dub the benefit of the doubt for any discrepancies. However, for categorical purposes I'll still call the episode "Honky Tonk Women." Speaking of episode titles, I did finally notice that they all have a musical reference so far: "Asteroid Blues," "Stray Dog Strut," and "Honky Tonk Women." I haven't looked at the other episode titles yet, so we'll see if the trend continues.

Session 2: Scooby Doo and Bruce Loo Too

bruce... bruce loo...

"Stray Dog Strut." Spike wasn't kidding during the last preview about "totally changing gears." I assumed in my naïveté that these previews represented the most "Japanese" aspect of the show, and all the silliest moments were cherry-picked to target a certain demographic. Turns out it accurately set the mood for what the episode was: a comedic romp. Whether it was too much mood whiplash is something I'm still reeling from, but it certainly wasn't what I expected.  Actually, it was sort of was what I expected before starting the show, having more of the usual anime tropes. Whether these tropes were played straight or lampshaded is hard for me to say, since this is still my first real anime. But I'd like to think that Cowboy Bebop has some measure of self-awareness, and that this episode was an example of not taking itself too seriously. If you consider "Asteroid Blues" to be "style over substance," then "Stray Dog Strut" must be "comedy over substance."

Session 1: Bell Peppers, Small Fries, and a Magic Hot Dog - I Am Starving!

MFW watching "Asteroid Blues"

"Asteroid Blues." Well I'm certainly not feeling too blue after watching that! Many, many times! Doubly so for the intro!! Let me come right out of the gate and say I think I'm going to really love this show. Last post, I lamented the possibility of not being able to connect with this anime for being too "foreign." The title should have been a dead giveaway, "cowboy" and "bebop" being two of the most western things imaginable. Even so, the occasional Japanese peculiarities were hardly jarring. Hell, Deadly Premonition is one of my favorite games, remember? I don't know what I was worried about! The only real hangup I had was with the subtitles and dubbing, so I looked up some info on the subject. I'll talk on that for a bit, but after that, I'm keeping outside influences to a minimum. Reason being, I may have been spoiled on a few things during my innocent search. Not to worry, I'm not a believer in spoilers "spoiling" my enjoyment of something. Still, I'll attempt to keep my noobish perspective pure, and avoid internet influence as much as possible from now on.

What's This All About?

"First Impressions of an Anime Noob." As the name implies, I have never seen Cowboy Bebop before. Here's the extent of my knowledge: the show aired in the late 90s, it involves space travel, and was made by a Japanese studio. It's often regarded as one of the best animes (or is the plural anime? This is even further proof of my ignorance...) so what better way for me to get into the genre? My only other exposure to anime is a smattering of kids shows like Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh, or maybe whatever's on Adult Swim that I'm not really paying attention to in the background.