I missed Otacon. But dear DVD Message Board poster and all around anime otaku Jason Hinds made the trip and even posted a Road Trip report (hopefully Dean and co. will archive it).
News galore came out of this con, all I can say is that if Animeigo announces to a crowd that they have "Kodomo No Omacha" on their "radar" then they'd better deliver!! (I'll being writing up a KODOCHA review for DVDAR #11 hopefully, either that or a review of the awesome Jubei-chan)
This week DVDAR brings the series everyone should watch whether they are an anime fan or not!! I give you Bandai/Sunrise's "Cowboy Bebop", the tale of bounty hunters who never get their man, get stuck with a pain in the ass fewmale sidekick, a picky welsh corgi and the galaxy's GREATEST computer hacking genius!!
To understand Bebop one needs to flip the caledar back to 1995/96. Shoji Kawamori, best known for his work on Macross and Patlabor, had just finished up the critically acclaimed TV run of Tenkuu No Escaflowne (literally "Escaflowne of the High Skies" but given the name "Vision of Escaflowne". watch it this fall on Fox on Saturday mornings and be in awe of great storytelling and beautiful animation.) decided that he wanted to go back to traditional sci-fi anime. Back ot outer space yes but he wanted to do it with a twist... he wanted to give his new idea some heavy factors of coolness. Kawamori used one his childhood anime influences to get the mood of their show across, that influence being the much heralded "Lupin The 3rd" (Go see "Castle of Cagliostro", the BEST Lupin movie EVER!! Now available on US home video and DVD). To make it even sweeter Kawamori went to Yoko Kanno, the new guru of anime background music, whom he had worked with on both Escaflowne and Macross Plus. Kanno was given the task of getting the cool factor across through the music and relied on various music styles to do so, but the one that pops up the most is Jazz, giving "Bebop" an even deeper mood than your average TV Show.
Kawamori went one step further, the show was scheduled for 26 episodes but only half were shown on TV the first time around. Banai, seking to make as much money as possible released every even numbered episode as an "LD Special". Aaahhh, marketing...
hus we get tale of Spike Spiegel, down on his luck bounty hunter and his partner, former space cop Jet Blacke spend their time on their old beat-up space-ship the "Bebop". Both men are fans of Charlie Parker and when they aren't hunting down their latest bounty they are busy trying ot scrape enough money to eat and refuel the ship. Things get worse when they take on card hustler and space gypsy Faye Valentine as a partner (well kind of...). You see Faye knows almost nothing about her past and has a price on her head that is so high she doubts she'll ever get it paid off. Things get stranger and stranger as every bounty that the three go after seems to just slip between their fingers. Well things get stranger because we are tackling Bebop LD Episode 9 (TV Episode 5)

Cowboy Bebop TV Episode 5
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Earth is is for suckers. Once mankind moved to outer space or colonization only the poor, sick and social misfits got left behind on earth. Well Name: Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV is queen of the social misfits (Yup, a girl named Edward). She spends most of her days surfing the net and hacking into government databases with her computer "TOMATO". She also keeps tabs on the crew of the Bebop. When an earth defense satelite suddenly starts drawing pictures on the planet Edward (henceforth Ed) is an immeadiate suspect. Dreading going to earth Speik and co. are after the bounty on Ed (a few million credits). When the police come looking or Ed she uses her computer to hack into their patrol ship's control system and crashes the thing.
While Spike and Faye scour around trying to pick-up clues on how to find Ed (gewtting a million and one different leads and descriptions, none of them correct) Ed makes contact with the satelite and discovers that the AI in it is lonely and only drew the pictures because it was depressed. Realizing that the military will probably destroy her new friend Ed calls the Bebop and gets Faye on the line. Faye's charms are lost on Ed so Faye strikes a deal for info.
Ed wants to save the AI rather than have to blown up by the ISSP. Spike needs the AI to collect the bounty on it and thus sets out in his "Swordfish II" oneman fighter to hopefully copy the AI before the satelite is destroyed. but the satelite recoginizes Spike as a hostile and commands the other defense satelites to open fire. Ed makes contact with the AI once more and fills it in onto what they plan to do. Spike makes the download just as the ISSP barrage the satelite with missile fire.
Returning Ed home, Faye breaks her deal, the promise to let Ed travel on the bebop with the crew. Ignoring her the Bebop and co. take off... only to have Ed hack their ontrols and take command of the ship. Defeated Jet and Spike agree to let Ed onboard... a genius computer hacker just might come in handy...
 

James Take
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I LOVE THIS SHOW!! This episode sound swacky but its the mood of the show that sets it apart from your average comedy. Ed is a weird little girl but at the same time she is super cool (a later episode has her matching wits with an ex-chess master who has been planning robberies). The music for the show is just amazing. Ed's unofficial theme "Cats on Mars" is funky and utterly cool. the opening theme for the show "Tank" is swanky and has a "Johnny Quest" meets "Mission: Impossible" vibe to it. The animation is fluid and awesome. Spike exudes a laid back kind of cool while Faye Valentine is Queen of the Sultry Anime Babes. This really isn't an episode to get ot know Jet but he has a few episodes dealing with his past as a cop.
Since 1993 Shoji Kawamori has consistently topped himself with every project he has put out. Yoko Kanno seems to make her best music when teaming with Kawamori (need an example, compare her music for Brain Powerd, a non-Kawamori show vs. her Kawamori inspired projects).

Cowboy Bebop is the spiritual successor to Lupin the 3rd in every way. Bebop has style, somethying plenty of shows lack. If you aren't an anime fan but are interested even slightly this is what I'd have you watch (along with Escaflowne and Gatchaman). The show is that damn COOL!

James "Cowboy Bebop" Rating - ***** all around!!
 

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