My"Selective Anime" kick has reaquainted me with "Cowboy Bebop", which my sister introduced to me a few years ago. Now I can't stop watching it; midnight on Adult Swim- they are playing the episodes in order.
I never thought I'd be eagerly awaiting a cartoon like this, but it's a sort of dirty little secret of mine. Well, one I wouldn't bring up in conversation in any case. I felt pretty self conscious renting the "Best of..." episodes and movie last week at Blockbuster. Not sure if Amy would appreciate a Netflix Anime takeover, currently on hiatus.
"Cowboy Bebop" music is incredible and fun. It really helps hold it all together, aside from the great characters and gritty stories. It's made me appreciate the genre. It sets up a world in 2071 where crime syndicates are powerful, and bounty hunters are more predominant than ever. Some devastation has occured to Earth in the past (ie. no more Moon), but society somehow manages.
One episode recently kind of got to me: "Speak Like a Child". Faye, one of the Bebop bounty hunters, has an old beta tape mysteriously sent to her. Her comrades go hunting for an old beta-tape player just to see what's on it (Jet tells Faye she can't watch the tape until she reimburses him for the C.O.D. charges). Finally getting a hold of one, the tape shows a young Faye in the very early 21st century, making a tape for herself to look at 10 years in the future. Faye, as it is revealed in the story, has no clue to her past. She was caught in the middle of a terrible accident when she was 20, and placed into a cryogenic freeze to save her (reviving her 54 years later). No one knew her name or where she was from; just the debt she owed the hospital from being woken up. Faye spies at the tape playing, realizes that it's definitely her, but feels nothing as she stares at the TV screen. She wants to know her past, but has no frame of reference for it.
I felt, for a cartoon even, that it really did a remarkable job of capturing a moment of humanity, not resorting to some cheap or melodramatic tricks. Just a closeup of Faye's face watching the screen, her expression of mixed emotion revealed just enough.
