Anime Reviews: Cowboy Bepop The Movie

After the disappointment that was Macross II I realized, that watching my sister's anime VHS wasn't going to be all that much fun after all. After Macross II I though that I could go and see this anime called Ghost In the Shell. Why? Because of the cover.

But I thought not, since if I've had learned anything from Macross II it was never to judge a VHS by it's cover. So I decided to go with an anime VHS I knew was going to be at least decent.

That's right.

But you're not going to believe this, if I knew virtually nothing about the Macross, then I know nothing about Cowboy Bebop. I know right, how is that possible? One of the most celebrated animes of recent history and I barely even heard about it. Well it just comes down to one thing:

I live in Finland

And in Finland anime really isn't that kind of thing that one can just see from TV all the time. There use to be that time, but alas the times have changed. Why? Well none of the TV channels know who owns the rights these days. Not to mention anime's really don't get released that often in Finland. The best examples of this is Dragonball, now in Finland Dragonball is just as big thing as it is in anywhere else, but the show was shown only once, there is no DVD-box sets or hell DVD releases of any kind, only things that I can remember are two Dragonball Z movies that were released on VHS way back when and that's it. Oh sure there is the manga but seriously, who reads Dragonball mangas?

Of course Naruto and animes made by Studio Ghibli get they're DVD releases and basically everything that has anything to do with the Finland's favorite anime: Ginga: Nageroshi Gin.

 What you never heard about it?

 Anyways let's talk about Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.

Before I start however here is a quick rundown about the series itself. There is this guy called Spike, this really hot chick named Faye and this guy called Jack and a chick named Ed and the dog Ein. Spike is the main character, I think and he's a really laid back badass, then there is Faye who's basically fanservice, I think, Jack who is a badass, but with a heart of pure gold - I think. Then there is this girl named Ed who is - just weird and a computer genius and they also have a cute dog called Ein.

What's that you say? Who is this Cowboy Bebop? Well Spike and Co. are bounty hunters and in the distant future of 2071 bounty hunters are called Cowboys, and they're ship is named Bebop.

Cowboy Bebop: The movie is about the Bebop crew trying to catch a terrorist named Vincent who's spreading a nanite that is going to kill the entire world. But the Government of Mars doesn't like this because during the war on Titan they used nanites in order to win, but using those nanites is a serious war crime, so the Government of Mars is trying to cover the whole thing, by issuing a reward of 300 million woolongs to those who kill Vincent, but this is somewhat difficult because Vincent knows what he's doing and he used to be a elite soldier  - I think.

And the movie?

It's good. The animation is great, the movie has ton of atmosphere and it's a really good movie. The villain is somewhat lazy though, maybe it's just me but he seems to me to be so one-dimensional and angsty. I me he's plot is to kill everyone in the planet. Isn't that basically, a plot to every single Final Fantasy ever?

Not to mention all the nitpicks I have.

The most obvious one being that there is no chance that we are going travel in space that easily by 2071 and we are going to colonize Mars too? Really? By 2071 we are lucky if we have colonized the moon and paid a visit to Mars. Well at least they have a space program, unlike some other sci-Fi shows I could mention.

 Yeah I'm just kidding.

 The real nitpicks are stuff like how they are suppose to get the tattoo right from such a bad picture? And if the Government of Mars doesn't want to have any evidence about they're war crimes and they are going to kill anyone who is immune to nanites? Then why the hell are they bothering to make a vaccine in the first place?

But aside from those nitpicks I enjoyed Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. So much so that I just want to see the anime. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is well animated, stylish, classy, action pack and all together really well made anime. But even still it just wasn't enough to make me forget what a disappointment the Macross II was, so I stopped watching them. My vacation was already coming to it's end and there was other things I wanted to do.