Shinichiro Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop (1998) is one of the few currently imported anime series that isn’t intended for a school-age audience. Cowboy Bebop looks back to the good old days or Captain Harlock and The Dirty Pair, and will probably win some new fans for Japanese animation. Non-Japanese audiences will find this series easily accessible, courtesy of Watanabe’s storytelling skills and Yoko Kanno’s brilliant musical scoring. Best Sessions is a misleadingly titled two-DVD set featuring a selection of episodes from the series.
As in the later feature film Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Cowboy Bebop is the slightly futuristic chronicle about four bounty hunters. Spike, a somewhat laid-back and youthful bounty hunter, is balanced by Jet, a brawny former cop with a cybernetic arm. Joining them along the way are the androgynous computer whiz kid Ed, and a tough female bounty hunter named Faye. Their adventures are along the lines of classic Raymond Chandler or Mickey Spillane stories. Watanabe’s storytelling has more in common with classic crime dramas than with the duller, reality-based CSI-style programs created lately. We get to see a gritty side to the future, meet unsavory villains and flawed innocents, and wander neighborhoods we probably would not want to visit alone. Sometimes the stories are character-driven mysteries and other times action seizes center stage. Throughout, Cowboy Bebop avoids the intricate continuity-driven story line that most TV anime stress. The visual style of the characters and their surroundings mesh perfectly, (unlike what we saw in the feature film) in a slightly jerky, exaggerated style. Always, Yoko Kanno’s brilliant absorption of African-American musical styles provides perfect support. In fact, Kanno’s music is practically the fifth member of the Bebop team. As such, I recommend tracking down a copy of the Perfect Sessions boxed set, which contains all the episodes from the Cowboy Bebop series.
Best Sessions, on the other hand, is a flawed sampler. Although one might think the anthology format implies that we are getting the "best" episodes of the series, in actuality we aren’t. Best Sessions simply contains remixed soundtracks for all six episodes. True, the use of 5.1 stereo sound gives these episodes a special added texture, and we get to further appreciate Kanno’s music. I particularly enjoyed listening to the 5.1 stereo remixes with headphones, and wish that more producers would provide better sound for their DVDs of television series. (By the way, animation series aren’t the only guilty parties. Most TV series turn up on DVD looking and sounding virtually the same as they did on the small screen years ago.) It’s expensive to import Kanno’s CDs to the USA, so any chance to hear her music is always welcome. She rarely resorts to clichés, and although jazz purists may not appreciate her take on jazz and blues, Kanno’s music is always a refreshing change of pace from the J-pop and Techno that comprise most recent anime soundtracks.
However, I would greatly prefer to see Perfect Sessions reissued with improved sound quality.
As mentioned earlier in the review, for the most part Cowboy Bebop avoids a soap opera-like continuity. In theory, new fans should be able to enjoy Bebop thoroughly at any given episode. In practice, an anthology that jumps around as much as Best Sessions runs the risk of confusing newer fans. Characters such as Ed and Faye are introduced along the way, but Best Sessions doesn’t include their introductions to the series, nor does it include any additional information the DVD audience can use to figure out where Faye and Ed suddenly came from.
I’m a fan of the Cowboy Bebop series. If you have no other alternative, then rent Perfect Sessions. Bear in mind that this isn’t the best introduction to the series and that you are watching what ought to be the bonus disks of a DVD box set.
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