What's the appeal of "Cowboy Bebop"?

[Felon]

No, I'm not trolling, despite being admittedly unimpressed by the episodes I've watched. I'm generally curious to understand why this particular anime commans such a large host of fans. Every ep I've seen was rather slow and meandering. I don't require mindless wall-to-wall action to be entertained, but even the drama isn't terribly intense.

So share with me. What's the appeal? What am I missing?

 

[trancejeremy]

Lots of people like slow and meandering?

I like it. Not enough to constantly watch it over and over and over (I guess the Japanese use the BBC format of TV shows, only a handful of episodes a season). But I enjoyed it the first time through. Until the last couple epsiodes which were kinda depressing as they were winding down the show..

Why did I like it? Well, it's near future SF noir. I'm interested in all those genres.

 

[Ibram]

I've always felt that it was a decient series, not good enough to buy but good enough to watch if it was on.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I loved the characters: impoverished, undignified but never quite desperate. The shows were pretty self-contained; I loved that, generally speaking, you could watch the episodes in pretty much any order and still enjoy it. It had very good voice acting in the English dubbed version. It had plots that you didn't need to have a degree in Japanese Culture to understand.

 

[mmadsen]

The opening and closing credits. You have to love the music.

 

[Brain]

I like the series overall but a couple of the episodes were annoying. Depending on which episodes you saw, I'd say watch more before passing judgement.

 

[Testament]

I loved the characters: impoverished, undignified but never quite desperate. The shows were pretty self-contained; I loved that, generally speaking, you could watch the episodes in pretty much any order and still enjoy it. It had very good voice acting in the English dubbed version. It had plots that you didn't need to have a degree in Japanese Culture to understand.

I'm with the Wrangler here. It's a simple enough show, with a heck of a lot of style, and Spike is just such a likeable scoundrel.

And god help me, but the dub is amazing. I actually prefer to watch the dub to the sub, no other show has come close to that (except maybe Evangelion). The English voice cast just suit the characters perfectly.

 

[Look_a_Unicorn]

LOVE the intro music...

episodes overall are nice and cruisy, as well as self-contained.
All the characters are interesting on thier own and when interacting.

I could go on and on but... it's a series that suits me, and I don't like that much manga. I hope it suits you... if not, don't beat yourself up over it *shrug*

 

[micromaximum]

I think the series is best watched in order. All of the main characters have a past and their pasts are gradually revealed as the series continues. The main characters all have depressing pasts so not only are they involved in a bunch of harrowing adventures but they also have their own inner demons to deal with. For me, that makes the characters seem interesting and real. It also makes for some real depressing episodes. There's a very mature, realistic style that permeates all of the stories. Most of the time the characters aren't even successful at catching the bad guy, they just manage to survive. As has already been said, the music is also very good and is used to great effect in some of the episodes. The dubbing really is top-notch, also.

I watched the series in order once and was really impressed. Since then I've caught random episodes on Cartoon Network or DVD and that just doesn't have the same effect on me.

 

[argo]

Its all about the characters. Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed, Ein, Vicious and the lovely and eneigmatic Julia. Cowboy Bebop has some of the deepest, most human, most memorable and facinating characters you are likely to find anywhere, heck even the background characters who only show up for a single eipsode are fairly well fleshed out. I'll admit that the eipsodes can seem slow and meandaring... if you are looking for a plot. There is no plot, even the show's "metaplot" isn't really a plot. Bebop is sci-fi western noir; all there is is characters and situations and characters interacting with each other and working their way through situations. And if the show has done its job right then the last three eipsodes should hit you like a sucker punch in the gut. In some ways I think that the entire show is just a set-up for the finale.

Also the show is filled with some very subtle details that you don't, that you can't, notice the first time through. Foreshadowing of major events, commentaries and analysis of the major character's personalities carried out in some inventive ways, repetition of themes that don't make any sense until you can pull back and view the work as a whole. There is a lot of craftsmanship that went into the creation of that particular show and sometimes it is possible to appreicate it just for that fact (remember too it was made in '98, the production values were ground-breaking for the time).

And there is of course the music. Tank (the opening theme) and Real Folk Blues (the closing song) are very good of course but I am very partial to Road to the West and Words That We Couldn't Say. And of course there is Blue, I swear that song makes me tear up every time.

So yeah, thats why I like the show. YMMV.