Essential What Anime are you currently watching?

[Primetime]

And this Ballistic season 2 is kinda trash

I loved the first one, but this one just lacks the charm and nuance

 

[Cᵣₐₛₕ&ₜₕₑCₒᵤₚ]

What's up with every anime nowadays having some s*** CGI ? it feels like though the technology is improving budgets are going down with all these microwave series/shows​

 

[Phantum]

When Kiritsugu said fukk all this magic shyt and blew up the building... Got me hyped up for an intense magic battle and he said One of my favorite moments in anime.

 

[42 Monks]

When Kiritsugu said fukk all this magic shyt and blew up the building... Got me hyped up for an intense magic battle and he said One of my favorite moments in anime.

when lancer got that work i knew it was real

 

[I AM WARHOL]

What's up with every anime nowadays having some s*** CGI ? it feels like though the technology is improving budgets are going down with all these microwave series/shows​

shyt pisses me off. I can't watch that shyt. As soon as I see that overly cgi garbage I change to another show. Idk how people can bare it

 

[winb83]

when lancer got that work i knew it was real

This is my favorite moment in anime period. Kiritsugi was a savage. He betrayed Saber without a second thought and she was pissed.

 

[HabitualChiller]

Anybody got any good Ecchi

Shimoneta is a great one. Watch the Dub because that shyt had my ass in tears.

 

[Straw Hat Luffy]

My Cowboy Bebop Review.

Spoiler

Side note: I want to make it clear. This is not my final review. I will watch the series again sometime in the future. I always learn something new about the series and myself. Also, I’m working on my grammar. Hopefully, by next review, I will be able to express myself better and I will have my grammar knowledge perfected! This will be the first time I’ve done a review, which means I am just going with the flow. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

“Whatever happens, happens” is a quote from the series. The quote might be simple to you but for someone who loves this series, this quote could be your motto to life. The quote reflects the series-simple yet deep, sexy, smooth, and so god damn cool. This series is Cowboy Bebop.

Most likely, if you’re an avid anime watcher you’ve already seen this, and probably more than a few times. And if you haven’t you’re new to watching anime. The new to anime starter pack recommendations usually starts with series such as Cowboy Bebop and FMA: Brotherhood. They are the top tier certified classics that happen to be praised from all walks of life in the anime community, which rarely happens. I am one of those people who’ve seen the series over a thousand times. And every time, I re-watch the series, I love Cowboy Bebop more than I did previously.

Cowboy Bebop made its debut in 1998. It’s been a recurring theme in my life ever since. Every American child, in the early 2000’s, knew they accomplished staying up past their bedtime, once InuYasha or Cowboy Bebop hit the television screen. I have vivid memories that take me back. I can remember being so fukking sick early in the morning throwing up, while watching InuYasha, before I eventually went to the ER. I can remember staying at my grandparents when Cowboy Bebop would popup on the television screen, before I fell asleep. Years went by and at least one of these shows continued to fill that time slot for Adult Swim and Toonami (Toonami programming made a comeback in 2012.) Cowboy Bebop was the first anime ever to debut on the Adult Swim block back on Sunday, September 2nd, 2001. Currently in 2018, Cowboy Bebop is airing every weekend on Toonami. Cowboy Bebop continues to dominate Cartoon Network programming. Cowboy Bebop has been in my life ever since I was a child and continues to remain in my life as a college student.

Cowboy Bebop is a series animated made by Sunrise in 1998. The director Shinichiro Watanabe (Fun Fact: Watanabe is credited for Samurai Champloo), screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane, and composer Yoko Kanno helped contribute to this twenty-six-session classic. The shortest description of what Cowboy Bebop is this “bounty hunters searching for criminals.” The longer description would be about a series set in the year 2071, with the protagonists being bounty hunters, who live together on a spaceship named Bebop. The protagonists are Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, and Edward Wong (and if you want to count the dog Ein.) The Bebop team goes on adventurous missions while dealing with their individual problems. Spike’s problems happen to be the central focus of the series. Bebop’s genre can be listed as space Western but Watanbe listed this series as a “new genre unto itself.” Watanabe lists his main inspiration for Cowboy Bebop as Lupin III. Lupin III is a familiar name but it can be argued Cowboy Bebop has surpassed Lupin in popularity. Cowboy Bebop has won many awards while receiving praise from all over the world, specifically Japan and the United States. Cowboy Bebop is labeled as the gateway series into anime. The series is still popular to this day. Also, Cowboy Bebop is considered the greatest anime of all time.

I’ve stated that I’ve seen Cowboy Bebop many times. But I truly haven’t understood Bebop until my last watch. I think we all can agree, that one can’t truly understand how legendary the series is, until you reach adulthood. The kid version of myself thought Bebop was a decent show, but I threw the ‘’classic’’ label on front of the name because everyone else did. I was trying to fit in before I developed my own taste in Anime/Manga. Currently, the 23-year-old version truly believes this series is a classic. The kid version of myself, thought this was a 26-episodic series, where some episodes were random and certain characters happened to be too damn annoying or uninteresting. Aka Faye and Jet. I now understand each episode has a meaning that paves the way to a conclusion for each character and their stories towards the end. Except, the Toys in the Attic episode. I don’t know what it brings to the full story, besides paying homage to Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But besides that, I also realize I relate to characters who I didn’t care for in the past. Aka Faye and Jet. However, I never realized this until my 242th watch. And one important detail I never noticed about the series up until now is this. Cowboy Bebop is fukking sad. Behind the sexy music, iconic characters, gorgeous scenery, the adventures and many cool quotes. Everyone in the series is going through something rough. Bebop focuses on concepts such as being lonely, the meaning of life, and dealing with the past at the same time trying to go forward. And it’s those type of concepts you can only grasp through experience.

Now it’s time to “review” the series. Cowboy Bebop is considered the greatest anime of all time. And I’m confident I agree and if not it’s top five. Cowboy Bebop story is simple to follow. They are bounty hunters looking for bounties, meanwhile they are dealing with their personal conflicts. The personal conflicts make the series what it is. I could never understand why the highly praised animes were considered the classics, as a child. I was the Shounen guy who idolized Goku (I still do hehe) but I realized I can’t relate to him. Goku’s damn near perfect. He eats whatever he wants, can fly, gets stronger with age, has thousands of power ups by screaming, and has died damn near ten times. I may not know what the setting of Cowboy Bebop feels like. But I can relate to the protagonists. The protagonists have the perfect mix of anime clichés and realism I can relate too. For example, the internal conflicts of not being able to let go of the past. We all miss something. It can be someone who’s no longer in your life or a certain feeling or time you know you will never experience again. It’s something every human deals with. The realism in the series to touch your emotions is amazing.

I want to review the protagonists who I didn’t care for in the past. I love Faye and Jet now. But first, I want to give a brief praise to Spike and Edward. Spike is honestly the coolest anime character ever. First of all, dude pulls off the messy hair. The only other dude to pull off messy hair like that is Bob Dylan. Spike Segal and Bob Dylan are in a league of their own as GOATS (Greatest Of All Time.) From what I’ve heard, Spike’s messy hair is a dedication to Dylan. Spike is also smooth beyond one’s imagination. He has so many quotes that I can cite faithfully, which is weird because I can’t remember my studies. The type of quotes that come off the top of my head are:

“Does it look like I have money?!”

“whatever happens, happens”

“I love the type of woman that can kick my ass.”

The quotes happen to be like the series. It’s simple and cool. It’s more of a you must see and hear Spike’s delivery for yourself type of thing. Spike is one of those guys who you can’t ever imagine being that cool until you witness it for yourself, explanations don’t justice his character. Either way, he’s a legendary anime character that remains as everyone’s favorite, decades later. Edward Wong is the second female protagonist. I remember being a child wondering if Edward was a boy or girl. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t 100 percent, until multiple Google searches confirmed for me. Fun fact: she was originally supposed to be a male. They changed Ed to a girl to even out the gender ratio. She’s also inspired by the music director of Bebop. I consider Ed the comic relief of the series. The series can get dramatic and intense at times. Ed always saves the mood with her cuteness and childlike personality. The episode, Mushroom Samba, convinced me we need an Ed and Ein spinoff, or at least we should have received an extra episode or two, of those two going on an adventure. Every interaction between both is gold. And Ed’s voice actor is one reason why the dubbed version of Bebop is classic tier. It was like she was born to play Ed. Ed steals everyone’s hearts as soon as she enters the series.

 

[Straw Hat Luffy]

part 2. I had to break it down it wouldn't let me post it all.

Spoiler

Jet Black and Faye Valentine. They are proof that I find something new to appreciate, after every watch. They are proof that watching or reading a series one time is not good enough. Artists, authors, and creators put so much detail into their work. It’s hard to take in and notice everything on the first watch. It’s always after you’ve seen something countless of times- something else important catches your attention. I always thought Jet was uninteresting and Faye was useless and annoying. But both characters deal with the same conflict, in different angles. Jet is dealing with forgetting the past and moving on with his life. Faye is dealing with not knowing her past and being lonely. I don’t know why I didn’t notice this in my early viewings. But either way, both are bad-asses in my book now.

Jet Black can be considered the dad of group. He’s the mature one. He’s always trying to give off his wisdom. He considers everyone in the group as his family. He’s the one who prepares the meals. Jet, unlike Spike, tends to stay busy, with repairing the Bebop or doing simple tasks like playing board games or watering his plants. He also has that quality of kicking someone off the Bebop but never truly meaning it. The arguments he has with the rest of the group reminds of parents with their children. He also has a parent to child relationship with Ed. He’s the relaxed guy. He’s simply trying to do his work and live day by day. He sounds like a likeable character. However, I’ve never cared for Jet until now. I respect him. I strive to have the same mindset and hustle as Jet.

I learned to respect Jet after Session 10 (episode 10.) There is a hefty bounty in Ganymede Elegy. This is where Jet used to live with his ex-girlfriend Alisa. The large bounty forces him to go back. Jet decides he wants to confront Alisa on why she left him. The coincidence of this all is, Alisa’s new boyfriend, is the guy with the large bounty. Finally, after stopping them, Jet questions Alisa. Alisa’s answer is she didn’t want to live the life that Jet wanted for her. She wanted to make her own decisions. Jet then throws the watch he had owned for years into the water and eventually left.

Right then and there, I respected Jet. He decided to do what most of us can’t do. He let go of the past. It sounds easy but it’s not. I mean it probably wasn’t easy for Jet. The only way anyone can truly move on is by action. He no longer had Alisa or the life he used to live, but he found a new home on his Bebop and a family within Spike, Faye, Ed and Ein. I’m relating to that now. I’ve lived with my family for 23 years before moving away to college on my own. I am no longer part of that town’s community. I am out of the loop. All my friends from there are still my friends but I no longer see them. I have new friends here. I live a different lifestyle from what I originally did. I have no choice either. I mean we all will go through this. I will go through this a few more times in life. People, titles, moments, and phases all come and go, in a blink of an eye. Some of the past we can let go while others we wish we could pay a billion dollars to relive. There really is no advice to dealing this. The only thing we can do is what Jet did. Metaphorically do what Jet did; throw the watch into the water. The concept of Jet’s ideology is about smelling the roses that are around now. He’s not worried about the roses in the past. He’s not worried about the roses that will come. Jet stays in the moment. He’s a hard worker. He has hobbies that he is passionate about, Jazz and cooking. The people in his life now happen to be his focus. And he puts effort into maintaining it all. Again, I really have no advice about letting go of the past if you’re trying to move forward with your life. The only advice I can give is Jet’s actions. Jet’s actions are simply just living day by day.

The last character is a character who I once found annoying. I mean technically she still is. She drives Spike and Jet crazy throughout the series. She’s selfish, arrogant, and lazy. She brings more problems than positives for the crew. She smokes, gambles, battles alcoholism, and puts in little to none effort on bounties. However, she grew on me this time. I realized she does care for the Bebop crew. I realized she does have a personal and soft side. I realized she’s battling probably the worst thing in the world. She’s dealing with being lonely. This is Faye Valentine.

“They say humans are social animals, they can't live alone. But you can live pretty well by yourself. I tell ya...instead of feeling alone in a group, It's better to have real solitude all by yourself."

I looked at Faye in a different view. And I don’t know why, I feel like I never payed attention to the Faye episodes as much as I did up until now. The episode that caught my attention is session 18 (episode 18,) “speak like a child.” The episode revolved around Faye getting a random package. She thought someone bad was after her. She decided to disappear from the Bebop crew the entire episode, doing random shyt like gambling. Spike, Jet, and Ed find out that inside the package is a beta tape. They spend the entire episode looking for something that will play it. The end of the episode is so emotional to me. The Bebop crew gets back together to watch the beta tape. It’s a tape of a young Faye recording herself. A couple episodes before, Faye tells her backstory, on how she was brought back to life, after being frozen. She remembers nothing. Faye doesn’t even know how old she is. The scene that got me emotional was the scene of the younger version of Faye on the recording. She woke up and gave her future self some amazing quotes, in my opinion.


“today, you are who you are today see, you’re still me but you’re a newer version. Myself ten years from now. It’s so far away it’s hard for me to imagine. Am I alone? Or is there a wonderful person next to me? Knowing me I’m probably causing lots of trouble for many people. I’m sorry I don’t mean to. But it’s alright. That’s part of life, anyways isn’t it? You’re not perfect but you got a lot to give, so remember I’ll always be cheering you on.”


"And now a big cheer from my heart. Let's... go... me, alright! Do your best! Do your best! Don't lose, me!"

It’s so deep. The episode where she revealed she doesn’t know her past Spikes response was “does it matter? You have a future.” Then I remember Faye watching the beta tape with Spike, Jet, and Ed. The tape tells me Faye came from somewhere that had a good upbringing. The video consisted of what looked to be like her classmates, which I’m just making a guess, but it seems like a private school. Faye would also go on all these nice adventures. Another scene showed her room which was loaded with toys, great sheets, antiques, and a great view outside. When she asked herself where would she be in ten years I’m pretty sure she didn’t have being a broke bounty hunter in space after coming back from being frozen came to mind.

But like Spike said, does it matter? Somehow it reminds me of myself. I used to always fantasize about the future. I would always wonder where would I be. And now I spend a lot of the time thinking about the past. I relate Faye to myself often now. Everything that happened in the past and what Faye once was literally doesn’t matter. Faye could somehow remember her past but what does it really accomplish? I could sit and remanence about the past but what does it accomplish while I’m in college? Faye chasing her past is ignoring the great group she has with Spike, Jet, and Ed because obviously that won’t last forever. I still think of some certain things. I imagine I have a certain image to upheld for others to view me as. I think about a group of friends I used to be with. I think amazing accomplishments or bad things I’ve done. The truth is technically most of this stuff doesn’t matter. Today I am who I am. This is what matters.

The sad part of this all is that Faye finally remembered her memories. Faye is 77 years old but with the help of being frozen, she’s still in her 20’s. She returns to her home to find her location destroyed. She has nothing to go back to. And the saddest part of this all. She finally realizes she has a family on the Bebop, but it’s too late. Ed leaves with her father. Spike dies. I don’t know what happens between her and Jet. I want to assume they go their separate ways. Jet will be fine because his ideology is looking ahead and living life. But the sad thought is that Faye goes back to square one of being lonely. And I just feel bad. Faye remembering her past gives her more questions than answers. What happened to her home? Why was she frozen? Who dropped off that package? She might have the saddest story out of everyone.




Cowboy Bebop is dark. These guys are always losing when it comes to bounty hunting. The people with these bounties deal with the same conflicts. The Bebop crew struggles to find daily meals. They have all their individual problems. People die. And many other obstacles are in the way. But the beautiful part of this all is everything is forgotten, when the Bebop crew interacts with one another. When they interact, it seems like they are “in the moment” and I am with them too. Cowboy Bebop, besides the spaceships and other objects that come with the year in the series, is realistic as it gets. Cowboy Bebop protagonists are characters who resemble the common person. They have problems and the only thing they can do is live life. It’s the only thing we can do. We all have problems and we will continue to always have problems. We can only live life and enjoy the people around us because we won’t be here forever. I feel like Cowboy Bebop teaches that and so much more. I wish I could break down Cowboy Bebop more. There is so much detail in this series that screams art. This was a series that was ahead of its time. It still is. I aspire to live like these characters. A series does its job when the fictional characters and moments from the series stick with you. Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed and Ein stick with me. I wish I could do them justice by explaining how I truly feel about the series. But as of right now, it’s not the perfect time for me to do it. I’ll get it down soon. All I know is Cowboy Bebop is much more than an anime. Is it wrong to give a series a perfect score? Does one believe in a masterpiece? I wish Cowboy Bebop was a long on-going series like One Piece. I assume it’s best Bebop ended the way it did. The only way I could end this is by quoting Spike.

“I'm not going there to die. I'm going to find out if I'm really alive.”

 

[RennisDeynolds]

Seven deadly Sins Season 2 . I tried to read the manga to be ahead but I just kinda gave up so I could watch it instead


Also Disastrous Life of Saiki Kusuo is back for season 2. Y'all need to peep the fukkery *judgment knights of*

 

[RennisDeynolds]

I keep trying to start watching Fate Zero and UBW, but haven't even made it through the 1st ep yet . I know if I stick with it I'll end up enjoying it


On ep 8 of Steins Gate and shyt is . Thought it was supposed to be one of the GOATs? Does it pick up soon?

 

[Mortal1]

Mob Psycho is pretty good so far I'm on episode 7.

 

[winb83]

I keep trying to start watching Fate Zero and UBW, but haven't even made it through the 1st ep yet . I know if I stick with it I'll end up enjoying it


On ep 8 of Steins Gate and shyt is . Thought it was supposed to be one of the GOATs? Does it pick up soon?

Steins Gate is a weird show. Either you like it or you don't and by episode 8 you'd know already.

 

[He Who Posts Well]

Um brehs what's up with Mcgillis and this little girl in Iron Blooded Orphans. They are supposed to get married?! Out of all the pawgs at the ball,breh seriously running game on a seven year old.

 

[winb83]

Um brehs what's up with Mcgillis and this little girl in Iron Blooded Orphans. They are supposed to get married?! Out of all the pawgs at the ball,breh seriously running game on a seven year old.

She was a pawn in his game to acquire power. He needed to marry her for her family name. I don't know how far you are but you'll see.