‘Cowboy Bebop’ helps viewers deal with their past, wrongdoings
Anime is one of my favorite things to watch, and basically the only medium of television I can truly enjoy and it has helped me develop as a writer in many ways.
“Cowboy Bebop” is quite near perfection when talking about an animated classic, and to this day is my favorite anime of all time.
After watching all 26 episodes in four days, I felt something I had never felt before about a show – a connection to a character that anyone can relate to.
The entire series focuses on a bounty hunting crew, who ride on the ship the Bebop. The main character, Spike Spiegel, is a lazy and carefree bounty hunter who anyone would fall in love with.
One thing I definitely like is the fact the theme in the anime is dealing with past, present and future, with a strong focus on the past. Almost all characters have something that is burdening them and until they find closure, they can’t escape their past.
What I love about Spike is he has a dark and mysterious past viewers don’t really understand until much later in the series – almost toward the end.
He is constantly trapped in past wrongdoings of his life that he so desperately wants to try and fix, but he just can’t.
The other members, Jet Black and Faye Valentine, are also dealing with their past, though on different terms. While Faye is trying to remember who she was, Jet is trying to forget his past and ignore it.
When a show or book has a central theme that circulates the entire story, it keeps that balance of connection, and not just a random story with multiple conflicts.
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Since I’m a writer, stories such as “Bebop” have helped me create better stories, characters and most importantly now, thematic concepts.
That is one thing that stood out to me the most – how the story follows the same issue throughout the series and it doesn’t stray far from Spike’s issues or any of the Bebop crew’s issues. It’s brilliantly played out.
The end of the series finishes with perhaps the most memorable quote in the entire series.
“You’re gonna carry that weight,” which has been discussed many times before about the exact meaning.
This is imperative to the story because it reflects on not only Spike and his never-ending issues with his past, but rather, how he is going to inevitably face it and stop running away from it.
But the quote is sort of directed toward the viewers. Despite the recollections of Spike’s past, that one quote at the end sums it all up. Unless a person accepts their face-to-face encounter with their guilt, they’ll never be ridden of it.
This is very prominent to real life. There are always those past endeavors that haunt us.
No matter if humans are too prideful to show how their past wrongdoings have affected them, there will always be a sense of redemption that leads them to correct their past, even if the result is costly.
That is exactly what Spike goes through, and toward the end of the show, the viewer will feel a connection with him, or anyone on the Bebop, that is so personal, it’s almost scary. They’ll understand how a character lives with this regret, but won’t understand how to fix it until it is face-to-face with them years later.
“Cowboy Bebop” is a great tale of dealing with the past, and how to overcome it.
It’s a wonderful anime that I recommend to anyone.
