What Cowboy Bebop Taught Me About Life

When I was a kid, I had a major obsession: Cowboy Bebop and its impressive jazz-fusion inspired soundtracks. There was this great sense of fun, melancholy, and maturity in the series that I loved so very much. However, it wasn't until a recent re-watch that I realised that it was maybe more than just entertainment for my younger self.

For better or worse - it taught me about life, and probably in the most independent sense of the word.

The Cowboy Bebop series is one of many standalone stories revolving around the (offbeat) adventures of three space bounty hunters, a kid, and a dog. What's so untypical about this masterpiece is that it doesn't have any real epic, overarching plot. There's absolutely nothing about heroes trying to stop the bad guys from destroying the universe. Nothing of that sort.

In that vein, I think Cowboy Bebop is also one of the greatest attempts at portraying humanity in a near future where space colonisation is possible and commonplace.

Every episode pretty much takes place in fragmented, stateless societies all around the galaxy - it is as if mankind has moved on from childhood into adulthood, severing its ties with the umbilical cords of nations and the greater collective.

Space (or dis-attachment) is liberating. But it also comes at the cost of paralysis.

Without any real attachments other than our memories, and an entire universe to explore - where do we go and what do we do? This non-theme in Cowboy Bebop is particularly evident in its absence of any character development. It's just a story of three adults going about their everyday lives, bounty-hunting, and sometimes going on a quest to resolve their past. It's almost like an anime version of Seinfeld, but set in space and its many interesting, seemingly broken and rustic worlds.

Keeping it interesting, Cowboy Bebop prominently features a wild, diverse range of characters and settings, tackling just about everything from shamanism, existentialism, mushrooms, homosexuality, boredom, bounty hunting - you get it. All with the occasional space jazz and honky-tonk to spice things up. There's really nothing and everything to learn from the masterpiece. It's truly a classic that is proving to stand the test of time!

There is a reason why I've given Cowboy Bebop a run again after ~15 years. It's all thanks to the video that I've found on Youtube recently, which dissected its universe and manner of creation in length. If you've not watched this before, I would highly recommend it. The series is 26-episodes long, and look out for the awesome standalone movie too. Or if you've watched it before like I did more than 10 years ago, maybe it's time for a revisit :)

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_{Entire OST found on Youtube - here}