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Review: Cowboy Bebop
First impressions: It's quite good, good enough to show even non-anime fans. Visually very pretty, plot is perfectly adequate, entertaining yet moderately deep, it's about all I ask for in an anime movie: it's fun.
The movie is strongly reminiscent of the animated series - if you lengthened and filled out one of the standard episodes, boom, you've got a movie. All of the Bebop crew are present, which would put it, time-wise, roughly in the middle of the series. Each of them plays a significant part in tracking their latest target, a bio-terrorist who plans to unleash an unpleasant plague on the population of Mars, but as in the series, they work side-by-side but not necessarily as a team, rather as a loose affiliation of, err, cowboys. The plot is simple but reasonably compelling. The antagonist's motivations are laid out; I didn't find them particularly sensible, but, ignoring that, the actions of the characters make sense and everything pretty much holds together.
The movie is significantly prettier than the series. Instead of the computer-generated beauty of Spirited Away, there are quite a few exquisitely drawn backgrounds. Most of the action takes place in a city on Mars which bears a strong - very strong - resemblance to modern-day New York City. Shadows are rendered with great care, leading to a number of scenes where the shadows play as much of a part in the scene as the character casting them. Although the rendering of Martian daylight is not, perhaps, very realistic (Mars is going to get a lot less light than Earth, even if it's massively terraformed...), the artists do take the opportunity to show us several beautiful sunset shots. The movie is worth watching for the art alone, IMHO.
Fans of the series will know that it's known for its jazz (or maybe jazz-like is more descriptive) numbers. The movie still has some jazz, but there's a lot more rock, leading to a more fast-paced feel. The soundtrack is quite good without being overpowering and without losing the feel that "made" the series. The voice acting is as good as the series, which is not surprising.
At least two of the showings in the movie theater I saw it in were sold out. I imagine that won't continue, since this is a bit of a niche market and the movie hasn't been advertised at all that I've seen, but perhaps it will be enough to get a wider U.S. distribution for the movie, and Spirited Away picking up an Oscar shouldn't hurt either. It's worth seeing in the theaters, I think, assuming there's one near you. If you've ever wondered what sort of beating Spike can dish out when he's really upset at someone, this movie will answer that question. :)
One thing I liked in Cowboy Bebop was the sad ending. No happy ending, no hollywood crap, good japanese drama :)
Karma cannot be described by words alone.
is this Cowboy Neal girlfriend
Overuse of the Pumping Lemma causes blindness
Har dee har har. =P Well, I can't wait until it comes out. I mean... it's CB. It's a masterpiece of writing ans animation.
By reading this you acknowledge that you have read it.
My only major dislike of the movie was that the two new characters (the villain and the chick associated with him) were a little underdeveloped - they remained a little unclear to me even after the third viewing. The movie had fantastic action scenes, though, far outweighing any in the series, and as the reviewer says, the art was fantastic.
This is one of only two movies I've ever downloaded (it was even a sub, not a dub)... and my hard drive promptly crapped out soon after, before I had a chance to watch it. Karma's a bitch, innit? :p So now I'm sitting here in Ypsi, waiting for it to come this way... A Spirited Away / Bebop double feature would rock, I think :)
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
I thought it was a fake Slashdot anime name based on "Cowboy Neal". It certainly doesn't sound Japanese.
What I'm saying is, see the movie. But if you want some real fun, see the series too.
The critics seem to like it overall, and, skimming through the reviews, the ones who dislike it seem to do so for the usual reason: it's a cartoon.
Man, I just don't get it. Cartoons are great for anything with a fantasy element.
Why?
'Cause you can do anything you want with cartoons...cheaply!
Live action has certain drawbacks. Sure, you can have beautiful people at which you can stare, but some things are difficult or downright impossible to do with live action.
The people who don't like cartoon movies are just snobs. Beautiful things can be done with the medium.
To simply deride something because it's a cartoon is so shortsided.
"It's a tarp!" -- Dyslexic Admiral Ackbar
the season has a overall theme, but not all episodes progress the storyline -- some are just w, well, OT. i liked this series far better than any of the 20 other anime movies i've ever seen
Is Cowboy Neil named after Cowboy Bebop? I always suspected he might be.
:)
Now, if we can just figure out what kind of crack Malda was smoking when he came up with "CmdrTaco"
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
I'm an avid anime fan, and it bothers me to see such meaningless reasons as to why the Bebop movie isn't good. The Cowboy Bebop movie does not have the best stand-alone plot (it goes well with the entire series), but I still think that it's a good movie for a one-shot and the animation did not get as much credit as it deserved in the negative reviews.
However, it is nice to see that a majority of the reviews of the film are mainly positive. It's not like everyone is against it, but the one's who are against it seem to have poor reasoning.
take off every sig for great justice
I dunno... check out the onion AV club for a review that didn't like it for good reasons.
I mean, we should be happy about this. Anime is finally getting reviewed by the same standards of story composition and directing that "real" cinema is. And I've got to agree with them -- the Bebop movie had some great scenes and animation, but it felt like one more episode, and not one of the best. The series ending captured the whole point of the show so well....
Oh well, theres always DVD.
Mod Points: Helping you keep your opinion to yourself.
Just because people disagree with your opinion doesn't mean you should just disparage 'em.
for giving it away, schmuck.
just kidding, i think most of us could have guessed as much
Does anyone have a list of cities and/or theaters it is playing at?
"MPAA Rating: R for some violent images. " from movies.yahoo.com holy shit. :-p
-Anu
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
anime will NEVER become mainstream. As much as I would love to see it happen, I KNOW that the american culture is too pompous and ignorant to let it happen.
People have become way too dependent on what critics say about a movie. They go watch what other people tell them they should, possibly because it costs way to much to see a movie. Critics who diss the movie for poor animation and "Speed Racer" style action obviously never went to see the movie, and instead opted to read some online summary and diss what they do not understand.
So ignore (the vast majority of) the critics, and go see what is a GREAT action movie that actually has a plot.
A common problem with a movie based on something episodic is that it gets tangled up in all of the continuity; you have to know about all of the storylines to make sense of the references dropped into the movie. This didn't happen with Cowboy Bebop. I haven't seen all of the episodes yet, and I really enjoyed the movie. There were a couple of references I missed, but friends assured me it wasn't major plot points, such as, say, Spike's life having Indian influences, or an apparent cameo that got a cheer from the audience.
Some of the naysayers are right on as far as the bebop movie goes. It does start off very nicely, but it devolves into another episode or another anime film. At one point I didn't know if I was watching Cowboy Bebop or Macross Plus or what. After a fun intro and some nice technique it really just falls into the motions of being "just another anime."
Some of the sourness current critics could be because most people might think the creators are capitalizing on the whole terrorism thing, but actually this movie was made before Sept 11, 2001. It might actually have come out very shortly after it in Japanese theaters (IIRC). A lot has happned in America since then regarding terrorism, biological weaopns, and diseases. When you watch this film remember that at the time there was no Sept 11, no anthrax scare, no SARS, no Iraq "weapons of mass destruction", no North Korea nuclear programme, and to most of us, no Osama bin Laden and Al Queda. It's really not the same world as when this movie was made and it's a shame, at least for Bones (the creative team behind the Bebop movie). And it goes without saying the rest of us, too.
While I love Bebop, my biggest problem with this movie is that it was just one long episode. It didn't really do anything new or exciting, they just relied on the tried and true Bebop formula, Spike being cooler then Jesus, good fight scenes, good action scenes, and kick ass music (see the movie for the music if anything, Yoko Kanno is a goddess.)
That being said, most anime movies based on TV shows aren't usually that good. Escaflone the movie was fairly bad, and the Eva movies will never, ever, see a US theatrical release. However, Bebop was still a decent movie, and some of the scenes, such as the last fight scenes with the fireworks and butterflies, just demand being scene in a theater.
Sleep is for the weak!
Okie, slightly off-topic. But I'm curious :)
At the very end of the series, did Spike survive? Is there going to be another series? It'll be a shame if that's all there is, because it's such a great show! And these days that's unusual.
The critics ate up this anime film over two of disney's movies. And this is the conservative, "we give awards to ourselves" Hollywood we're talking about, not Sundance "we hate Hollywood" types.
If the academy awards giving an anime an oscar means the critics don't like anime, I don't know what I'm talking about.
unless you'd like to tell thousands of fans they are delusional. Think of it in the context of the "engrish" picked up by the Japanese youth. And the show does actually blend the two concepts fairly well. "Cowboy" in that the main cast is a group of bounty hunters, "wranglin'" outlaws for profit. "Bebop" is a jazzy type of music from the 40's and 50's, which can jump around in tempos and such. For more on Bebop, check AllMusic.com.
I enjoy the television show, but I suppose I realize now that a big part of that is the fast pacing they are forced into by the 30 minute episode length. While I did enjoy the movie, there were many times when it dragged. And the fighter sequence with Spike in his jet... not only did it have nothing to do with the plot (only an excuse to show his jet) it was soooo loooong.
And was anybody else disappointed that the credits song from the TV show was missing? That is consistently my favorite part of the show.
The critics seem to like it overall, and, skimming through the reviews, the ones who dislike it seem to do so for the usual reason: it's a cartoon.
It's a cartoon?! Why does nobody tell me these things!
Kierthos
(And here I thought it was a documentary....)
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
While it's pretty obvious Spike died in the end, that's not stopping creative writers from fixing that. Add some more cyber body parts and we're ready for another 100 episodes.
Cowboy Bebop is pretty popular, but this kind of masculine anime is not so popular in Japan anymore. The demand is driven by a small but dedicated fan base that is not getting any bigger.
As they showed us with the Bebop movie, if they wanted to add more episodes they could just do it before Spike died. Make some prologue, some pre-prologue, some in between episodes. A few movies here and there. A spinoff series. But I don't think they want to do that IMO, they're too "bad ass" for sequels right now. Maybe when the economy gets worse and they've got to return to profitable franchises they'll remake Bebop on a lower budget with less talented writers, but in short don't expect a "glorious return" of the series within the next 10 or 20 years.
[LOOK OUT!!! MASSIVE SPOILER!!]
No, he didn't. That, in my opinion, is the beauty of bebop. They had the nerve to kill off the main character. They said "This is the end. No more Bebop."
I said "No he didn't" pretty finally, and all there is is symbolic proof, but I think its pretty solid. The flock of birds flies up as the camera pans; they used that a couple times to signify death, most notably when Julia died. The lyrics of the song that plays is "I'm ascending" (good news; he went to heaven). And most importantly, in the very last shot of the series, looking at the stars, there is that star that fades out, just as Old Man Bull says happens when someone dies.
I think that the series up to the last 3 or 4 sessions is good, but it is those last 3, where everything comes crashing down for everyone, that really makes Bebop great.
Is Cowboy Bebop the bad guy from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? That was a good cartoon.
I maintain the usual opinion that anime's cartoonness is its main weak point; I mean, think how cool it would be if someone actually pulled it off without animation? But I have to admit, Cowboy Bebop would gain nothing with live actors and setting. The city scapes were impressively beautiful, and the plot and characters' powers were realistic enough that I soon stopped caring/forgot it was animated. Anime such as Princess Mononoke doesn't impress me nearly as much; shooting an arrow and taking a guy's limb off is just ridiculously unrealistic and brings its cartoonness to full attention.
Cowboy Bebop doesn't come off as particularly adult. The characters can be described with 2 or 3 adjectives, Faye is around mostly to show off her animated ass, and in general it's not as intelligent as an Hollywood action flick.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
You will win tomorrow!
I've never watched the series. I saw the movie in a Saturday matinee in Toronto. There were about 60 people in an auditorium that seats about 500. Most of the attendees were Comic-Store-Guy clone guys like yours truly. (One noteworthy exception was the young woman with a couple of kids around 4-7 years old who seemed more interested in shouting than paying attention to the movie. I question the judgment of anybody who would expose kids of that age to material this violent. Oh wait, it's a cartoon, so it *must* be suitable for kids.
o f-rape scene. I realize not all anime have this element, but the point I'm trying to make is that non-fans who come into this with an open mind may very well walk out saying "Gee, I guess Jimmy Swaggart [or whoever] is right about this garbage".
On to the movie itself: A few of the action scenes were interesting, but for the most part I thought it was pretty boring. I don't agree with people making a big deal about the art. I appreciate the art in the same way I appreciate banjo music: I know it takes skill to pull it off well, but if it doesn't grab my interest, why should I care? I thought the scenes were very drab for the most part. It was effective at creating a mood, but it got pretty monotonous. If you enjoy being bored, as long as thing boring you purports to be sophisticated, then feast your eyes!
The plot was typical anime fair: a mystery/thriller trying to have an epic feel, but falling short, and stirring in some pointless metaphysics that don't translate well from Japanese (unless you're a fan of people like Dr. Phil McGraw, in which case you'll probably lap it up).
We also get another staple of anime that contributes to its lack of mainstream acceptance in north america: the obligatory highly-sexualized-female-facing-immediate-threat-
Another element is the yawn-inducing smugness of Spike's fight scenes. I get it. Nerds will see this and wish they could be so cool. Again nothing wrong with this, but it's sooooooo typical. People who percieve anime as wish-fulfillment for nerds will not have their opinion changed by this movie.
The one thing I will grant you is the music. The opening credits were probably the best part of the movie.
People familiar with the series will probably enjoy it more than non-fans. The scope of the movie doesn't allow sufficient time for us to really get to understand the characters as anything other than cardboard cutouts.
I've seen another post argue that "it's an action movie, don't prejudice yourself against it just because it happens to be a cartoon". My response: it's an action movie (and a mediocre one at best), don't place it on a pedestal just because it's a cartoon.
Does it have any tentacle rape? I only watch anime that has tentacle rape.
Riding on the wave of Spirited Away? Is there a rennaisance in far east animation?
It's on the sony pictures site. Now if only I could get flash to work for me...
.. about having to watch it in English in the theater. Bla bla bla, I hate the dubs, bla bla, not the same feeling, bla.
You know, my heart doens't seem to be into this rant today. I don't think there's a showing near me anyway. But the sooner I can pick up the DVD, the better.
Only joking. I'm laid off -- for a Perl/C++ job I'd move to country (shudder) Mecca, too.
(On the other hand, this autumn I'm going back to university to study nerdy interests I always wanted to learn about. I'm lucky this happened before I got too old to do more math (-: I hope! :-).)
Karma: Excellent (My Karma? I wish...:-( )
I've seen it, and the nicest thing I can say about it that it's not Cowboy Bebop. Ed is messed up, grapically and character-wise. The computer animation is pretty poorly integrated. Jet's barely in the movie and spends most of it moping around like a schmuck. Faye's top is cut open for no particular reason. Spike's at least about right, but Ein is painfully obvious.
The villain is some kind of nihilistic joke who can't even keep continuity -- he survives, without disfigurement, exploding a grenade in his hand that blackens and twists a nearby metal seat, but takes one bullet in the climax and dies.
Speaking of which, the entire story around the contrived love interest is incredibly hammy, and if anyone didn't see that twist at the end coming you'd best get your eyes checked. Ugh.
I didn't expect the world from this movie, but it didn't come close to matching up with the worst episode.
I disagree.
Although some of the reviews that were linked to did appear to take the view that 'its a cartoon, it cant be good', there were just as many that said it is just a bad anime film, not that it was bad because its an anime film.I'll still be checking it out anyway though, i'm a fan of the series, and there were more good reviews than bad.
It wasn't a "sad" ending. "You will always suffer from not-knowing [whether he is alive or dead]." Any time they want they can bring it back (though they likely won't).
I'm not ignorant, I just plain don't like it. Tried watching Bebop, Excel Saga, and Hellsing. Sorry but it doesn't hold my interest. Now The Maxx is a whole different story...
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Manga dudtilted vs. US Realease (Exclsv Engmnt)?
The subtitles on the original was pretty lame/goofy, but not too bad. I enjoyed the play on words warped between translations from Japanese to engrsh.
Personally I liked Spikes voice much better in the original. It sounded really cool. I bought this movie on ebaY from Hong Kong over a year ago under it's original title Knockin On Heavens Door. Also note a vintage 80 year old Power Mac G3 in a scene.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail:
Jan Stuart, Newsday: Mick LaSalle, San Francisco ChronicleMaybe you could put down the end of that last quote to an "anti-cartoon" bias? But from the paragraph as a whole its clear that the reviewer thinks the animation is actually the only thing that the movie has going for it.
I don't mean to bash the movie. (In fact, I had to read through a lot of positive comments to get to the above quotes. Sounds like it might be a fun movie!) I just question the article's claim that the reviewers disliked the movie just because it's animated. Seems to me that does an injustice to the criticisms raised, criticisms which are actually repeated by a lot of reviewers, and which have less to do with the medium than with the dialog, the story, and the characters.
--Bruce F.
Im only interested in this if there are graphic depictions of tentacle rape
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Anyone know if the voices are the same as in the (english) series? The voice actors did such a great job; I prefer the dub way more than the subtitle, and I usually go for the sub.
c-hack.com |
Anime is so main stream. Go to Suncoast, what's the rack on the left next to the door? ANIME.
What is Pokemon? ANIME. What is Yu Gi Oh? ANIME. What is Gundam? ANIME. What is Dragon Ball Z? ANIME. You ask anybody age 1-35 if they've heard of any of those and they'll tell you yes. Age 1-18 and they've probably seen it.
Anime makes more money in the US than it does in Japan. Every geek-boy just likes deluding himself that it's some underappreciated subculture and he's some kind of connesuir, but really he can't tell good anime from bad anime and just eats up the shit they put on Cartoon Network. "Anime's an artform, why can't American movies be more like this? Why doesn't everyone just love this?" Because you live in a hole where "movies" equals The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and James Bond. Traditional movies have greater depth and breadth. That's not saying there aren't some good anime movies, but even those are merely appreciated as "exotic" or "foreign" and not for their actual fine qualities.
I just think it's funny that so many people here are such suckers for it. That stuff you see on Cartoon Network and shit isn't on Japanese TV 24/7. They show it for kids at 8 a.m. and late night on pay channels.
If you want to know what the Japanese really appreciate it's comics, which were made popular by Osamu Tezuka (http://www.tezuka.co.jp/).
>> Although the rendering of Martian daylight is
>> not, perhaps, very realistic (Mars is going to
>> get a lot less light than Earth, even if it's
>> massively terraformed...),
Actually the reason for that is implied, if not
directly explained in the context of the series.
The Hyperspace gateways that were created to allow ships
to travel between the planets (and facilitate the migration
from earth after the great Gate accident) are also used
to pipe sunlight from near-earth orbit to the other colonies.
It was a convienient vehicle used to give the other planets
consistent conditions without having to nit-pick too much
on other physical differences between Earth, Mars, Venus, Ganymede
and a few other spots.
Half the fun of watching anime is trying to figure out what the
hell the creators were thinking when they came up with scenarios
like that.
Good overall entertainment, but... The movie lacked the key elements of the show that separate it from the other sci-fi animes. The best regular shows revealed a part of each character's past, motivations, and/or personality that you didn't know before. The villian was the most vanilla of any I've seen, and considering how much depth the twenty-minute shows given their enemies, it's a big failing. It was a two hour plus movie! The personalities of the characters weren't consistent with the show, Spike was more morose and mopey than the standoff-sarcasm he is portrayed with the best. Jet was a prognosticating, worrying parent rather than the steely, unflinching, speak with few but important words. I could probably go on. It was fun, but not really a crowning touch to the series.
Hey, I'm just your average shit and piss factory.
People here don't realize the differences in censorship between the two countries might mask the target age group. But REALLY, most anime is made for 14-year-old boys and 12-year-old girls at best.
The movie 'takes place' mid-series if I recall. It was really cheating most of the US to show them the complete series first- the movie should have been timed to premiere in the US around ep 20 or so, but well before the last episodes. Sadly, I think the only reason this is in theaters(and/or perhaps the reason it took so long) is because it's about terrorism; as a topic for entertainment, first it was taboo, now it's all the rage.
It doesn't have to have a sad ending to be good, by the way. Watch the third Patlabor movie some time if you like the whole political intrigue/detective story(which is part of what Knockin' on Heaven's Door is about.)
Personally, I would have been just as happy if Cowboy Bebop had a happy ending, since I enjoyed every episode. If anything, the sad ending was a huge let-down. Then again, the first episode in the series was a pretty tragic, and should have been a clue that they'd go any-which-way.
I've already seen the movie(it was fansubbed at -least- a year ago); I highly recommend it; everything you've come to love in the bebop series. There is a GREAT dogfight sequence, worth the cost of the ticket alone, and two great hand-to-hand combat scenes. I will probably go to see it in the theaters, since I a)support anime and b)I want to see the great artwork up close and personal.
(currently watching Read Or Die- let's hear it for secret agent librarians, yeah!)
Please help metamoderate.
Obviously slashdot doesn't traditionally point this stuff out, but if you buy a DVD off ebay that has no region encoding and chinese subtitles that ISN'T Chinese it means it's pirated and you just paid some guy $15-$20 for a $1 burn. It's unlicensed and stolen because China does not enforce copyright laws.
Now you might say, "who cares." But that means the original creators don't get a dime for their work. You're basically telling them to go out of business.
And those "hokey" subtitles were hokey because they were written by a Chinese guy that doesn't really "know" English. Don't buy DVDs or VCDs off ebay (or anywhere else). You are paying thieves for stolen goods.
And yes, these are professional pirates. They can make nice looking packaging, but they pay no licensing fees. The same goes for Son May (SM) and EverAnime CDs you may find. All pirated professionally.
That's an awfully pompous and ignorant thing to say.
Yeah, I like how CmdrTaco pretends he likes the plot or whatever, when most anime is about 12 year old girls in short skirts. Freakin' pedophiles...
Cowboy Bebop is a complete story. The series had a begining, a middle and an end. For a Cowboy Bebop movie to be Cowboy Bebop, it would have to take place somewere in the middle of the story covered by the series. There is no Cowboy Bebop befor the series and definatly no Cowboy Bebop after the the series. The last episod was the "Last Episode". Any story line used, must leave the characters in the same state they started. Otherwise it would impact episodes chronilogicaly later. That means no major character growth, no major setting changes etc. That leaves little to work with save a highly episodic plot. So anything done will be just a long episode. This can be applied to most Movies based on TV Anime. It probably also aplies to anything based on any TV series.
I don't much care for anime either. I don't much care for chick flicks, either. Besides, it's a known factoid that anime uses subliminal messages to make slashdotters flame non-anime watchers. ;-)
Denver, CO has no showings listed either.
Spirited away got exactly ONE showing prior to the oscars, and that at a small art house. Now, it's showing on several screens around the city.
You'd think that the theater chains would at least show the flick at one or two screens, for a week or so, just to capture that revenue.
Like you said, there's always DVD, in another 9 montsh...
When VCR's are outlawed, only outlaws will have VCR's.
CmdrTaco is a goddamn smirking pedophile. I wonder what his wife thinks of the fact that he likes watching 13 year old girls in short skirts fight with monsters and stuff. That is weird shit. How can anyone who watches that deny being a pedophile?
This will definitely get modded down, but I'd rather hear an explanation of why it isn't pedophilia. Can someone explain it to me? Another AC who isn't afraid of being modded down?
I think your troll is in the wrong topic. AIDS? Africa? Completely unrelated to anime.
Don't you mean "Fark this Shiat"? ;)
First off, I would like to disagree with submitter. I don't think the Cowboy Bebop movie is good enough for "non-anime" viewers since it's not even good enough for people not familiar with the series. The movie spends zero time introducing the four main characters. There is no way of knowing why there such a love-hate relationship between Faye and Spike/Jet. And why does Ein know the next move of Go? Or why does Spike have this whole devil-may-care attitude? Viewers of the series or readers of the manga could easily answer those questions. It's a good anime movie, but it is squarely aimed at the fans of the series.
I enjoyed the music from the movie more than the series. I guess it was more blues/rock-n-roll-like than jazz-like.
In addition, I was amazed with the script and the voice talent. This is coming from a Sub-over-dub guy. It appeared that lip syncing software was used, but this is the first time I thought the script did not suffer from it. I only cringed maybe 3 times at a weird sentence or an abnormal pause in the rhythm of speech. The translation was excellent.
I have watched the series as subs and only briefly checked out the dubs on the DVD's. Major kudos goes to Wendee Lee who actually out performs Megumi Hayashibara as Faye. Her performance really made Faye a multi-dimensional character. Also kudos to Melissa Charles for matching the perfection of Ed by Aoi Tada. "Faye-Faye, Stay Away-way." ^_^
I agree with another poster about Vincent and Elektra, very under developed. The series, in just 25-50 minutes, did a much better job of bringing depth to the "villians." Episodes like the 2-part "Jupiter Jazz" or "Pierrot Le Fou" really made you feel for the story's main character.
From what I've read, the time line for movie is between Session #22 and Session #23.
89 out of 100: For the amazing translation and acting performances of Wendee and Melissa. Points off for underdeveloped characters.
Anthony
Not so. Check out this review from filmthreat, who I generally happen to like.
Quote from the review: The reviewer seems to be a big fan of the series and can't stand the movie. So, it doesn't seem to be some sort of anti-anime bias to me.
I pulled a jack move to cop this sig
I saw this movie for the first time roughly two years ago when it was released as a digital divx fan sub though the wonders of P2P networks. Its amazing animation even in its lower quality format was amazing and beautiful. But seeing the movie now: after the events of 9-11, make it seem more reflective to the current events of the real world. With scenes of a mars after the destruction of earth and every major World monument from the Twin Towers to the Eiffel tower make the terra formed Martian city a place where every man could be.
The voice acting in the English dubbed movie is simply beautiful each character seams to match there Japanese actor counter part perfectly. The director Shinichiro Watanabe amazed me with his directing in the series but his directing of the movie blew me away. The choreography of the martial arts was amazing. Spike perfect use of Jet Kun Do, the style developed by Bruce lee, was beautiful and fluid. While the Special Forces style of martial arts Shotokan is shown for its hard stiff movements but amazing use of power with little effort. Wanatabe has this eye of such things to make you even sit back and thing you were watching two actual people fighting when he directs each scene out.
I am very much looking forward to his take on the new Animatrix film called "Kids story" due out in May for download.
The movie even though dealing with a biological threat makes you sit back and look at why the villain is doing what he is doing. Seeing even in his madness there is this perfect solid calm of reason. One point in the movie that made me laugh that I didn't think I read in the Japanese version was when Vincent "the villain" is in the car with his hacker associate Leo. Leo is talking while playing on an old game saying back in the old days all you needed as 5 buttons and a great game was how hacking back in the day was easy
Then making a reference to how captain crunch hacked the phone systems with a simple whistle at 2600 hertz. I laughed out so hard that half that didn't get the reference in the theater turned. Funning thing was that it was also the first Friday of the month and right after the movie I was going to a dc 2600 meeting.
Over the entire movie was beautiful but what make cowboy bebop what it is, is right in its title the bebop! The series and movie cowboy bebop with its amazing score and music done by the great Japanese "Female" (I not this because she has over 100 shows and movie under her belt and most people think she is a he) Composer Kanno, Yoko was simply spell binding with its 20's/30's big band jazzy fashion. But Miss Kanno took the movie a different direction pulling songs from newer movies such as the opening song from the cheesy 1989 movie "Earth Girls Are Easy" (Jim carry, Damon Waynes, and Jeff Goldblum). But as the action gears up giving a jazzier feel like we usually have from Cowboy Bebop and then adding a twist of an electronic hard house jazzy sound of the more modern variety but still keeping the typical trumpet/snare drum sounds you typically find in jazz.
Sitting during this movie two times now at the Washington DC premiere at Dupont circle was a joy, nay a privilege. As I sat with fellow anime fans it was amazing to see the non anime fans get the jokes they had in the movie just the same as the full blown "otaku" anime fans. The movie at times seems to go on and on but in a way that even if your ass hurts in the seat the movie makes you want to keep watching and not fall asleep because its stylistic art it's simply beautiful in all ways fluid form. Most of my friends who have seen it simply say it's a 2 hour long episode. But that can be is so far from the truth I realize they have no clue what they are saying. This movie was a salute to an amazing anime series and gives its last Farwell leaving us happy to know that seeing it made us smile and look at things with different perspectives.
"to be like god we make our own dolls to play with, but what does that make us, but dolls for god to play with?" Ikari,
I didn't know that fourth-graders could be critics. Even the most amateur critic doesn't usually dismiss a movie simply because it's a cartoon. Would you expect to see the following sentence in any newspaper? "The characters were truly motivated, the mythology deepens with every scene, and the story is well-paced. But it's a cartoon, so I can't recommend it." Please.
Maybe some critics didn't find the animation up to par with their expecations. That's a whole world of difference than "I don't like it because it's a cartoon."
Just because the poster likes Cowboy Bebop doesn't mean everyone else is going to. Nor does it mean that those who don't are as ignorant as the poster implied.
"But the cars are all flashing me, bright lights are passing me, I feel life passing me by" - Stiff Little Fingers
Thanks for modding the parent up to +5. You know, so everyone can see how the movie ends instead of being able to skip the thread. Can we slap a few "Overrateds" on this so it's hidden again?
I loved the series of Cowboy Bebop, thought it was great. As a product of the series, the movie was just so-so in my layman opinion.
But that's not why I'm posting. I am actually posting just to wind up all of you animé freaks out there; 2 weeks ago I was at the Tokyo International Animé Festival. And I found it slightly *SHOCK* boring.
Killed a couple of hours though, and the building that it was held in is magnificent. Tokyo Big Sight. Now looking up at that architecture, THAT was entertainment!
It ain't paedophillia because there ain't any 13 year old girls in short skirts fighting with monsters and stuff.
If there were, then it still wouldn't be paedophillia, but I'll conveniently ignore the facts for you and concede your point.
But hey!! What's the point in letting the truth get in the way of a good accusation huh?
Are you assuming that because it is Japanese then it is going to be fuuuuulllll of 13 year old girls in short skirts fighting with monsters and stuff???! Oh come on, that's just silly!
I mean it'd be like me saying that all Americans are stupid, brainwashed excuses for world citizens. Oh wait a second...
I had this same feeling. Having watched and been impressed by the show, the movie was a bit disappointing because it just wasn't EPIC enough to be called the Cowboy Bebop movie. I mean, the topic was serious, and the team pulled together to save the day. But I just wasn't very excited while watching it; they got into and out of worse situations in the show itself! I guess my standards were just too high.
:{
And I can undestand how someone who hadn't watched the show would be confused by it. It made sense to me why each character did what they did because I was already familiar with them. This actually annoyed me because I wanted to know the bad guys a little better, but we miss out on that. (The characters all needed equal development, after all..., even if that means less development than I would have appreciated.)
I also want to throw out the realization that this movie was NOT underadvertised. Unless you had seen the show, there was not a real good reason to see the movie. (OTH, if you saw the show, you would be chomping at the bit to find out when and where it would receive its theatrical release.)
A newcomer would totally be lost in it, and that's probably why people complained about the lack of a coherent plot. Show watchers would shrug and say, well this shit happens ALL the time on Mars, and they know the Bebop team knows exactly what it needs to do, without pointless explanations to placate the viewer. The long time viewer just wants to see how they resolve the problems, and if they get the money. Also they're primarily interested in the Mrs. Valentine fan service.
meh, boys.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
You don't get out often, do you? Anime has been more popular than PacMan years and years ago.
No... I dislike "Cowboy Bebop" because
a) its a cartoon
b) its anime
c) has lame crappy plot
d) has lame name
Your first problem is actually believing something that appeared in a Slashdot story writeup.
Free Hans!
Yet another great anime movie which won't be shown in my city. I'm still waiting to see SPIRITED AWAY on the big screen in Saskatoon.
The worst terrorist attack in recorded history occurred in September 2001, followed by a WAR against Islam in Afghanistan and now we're involved in ANOTHER war against Islam in Iraq, and you people have the gall to be discussing cartoons, oh, excuse me, anime???? My *god*, people, GET SOME PRIORITIES!
The bodies of the thousands of innocent civilians who died (and will die) in these unprecedented events could give a good god damn about obscure science fiction, your childish Lego models, your nerf toy guns and whining about the lack of a "fun" workplace, your Everquest/Diablo/D&D fixation, the latest Cowboy Bebop rerun, or any of the other ways you are "getting on with your life" (here's a hint: watching Cowboy Bebop in your jammies and eating a bowl of Shreddies is *not* "getting on with your life"). The souls of the victims are watching in horror as you people squander your finite, precious time on this earth playing video games and watching cartoons!
You people disgust me!
Ein barks. It comes out a synthisized (tron) "Yes."
>>I mean it'd be like me saying that all Americans are stupid, brainwashed
>>excuses for world citizens. Oh wait a second...
You know, just because you're responding to a troll, you don't have to lower the intellegence of your comment to match.
My joke got modded as Insightful and my insight got modded as Funny.
I've been looking forward to this release for a long time. Cowboy Bebop is far and away my favorite anime series. It's just so...COOL! Though the movie is excellent, I hope it'll also serve the audience as an introduction to the series.
The movie takes place near the end of the series, after episode 24. All the main characters are here, as well as the outstanding jazzy soundtrack.
...and I liked it - for all of the same reasons that I liked the TV series. But there were some of the TV episodes that I liked better and, as usual, there was just not enough Ed or Ein.
But it really did look that much better than the TV series. I watch the series on a high rez monitor from DVD. Now, I did like the 16:9 on the big screen but the animation still had that cheap jerky feel. Great graphics as usual. The music was not very special. And I like a lot of Yoko Kanno's stuff - and the Seatbelts.
There is no way it was half as good as "Spirited Away" - but really, they are two very different stories done in very different styles. And dammit, of course none of the theaters in Austin will show either subtitled. But Cowboy Bebop has always had one of the better dubbing crews.
It was soo depressing to see a city on Mars far in the future look a lot like a dirty ole city of today. So sad.
I wish Ed was here. She can always cheer me up.
"Cowboy Bebop," the recent anime film release with a substantial following in the United States is poorly executed, lacked a sound premise, and demonstrated a poorly written plot. These problems had nothing to do with it being a cartoon however; the filmmakers should tend to some plot development and creativity before attempting a major release in the United States again.
The fidelity of the animation, special effects, and sound were good, but not great. On the big screen the colors pallete the artists used seemed ordinary, but there was a commendable amount of movement and smoothness considering this is anime. The positive aspects of this anime end here however, as there were serious issues with the thematic elements of the film.
The premise, and the lack of suspended disbelief thereof, were absurd. They are in Mars in about 2070, yet there are slums. A good friend of mine assures me that "If you watched the first 10 episodes, it would make sense" but I don't remember major film releases requiring those kind of clauses to view them, so I can't give this one a pass. For example, I saw, and enjoyed "X-men" even though I never read the comics, among other cartoon or comic film interpretations that were executed well and didn't require a huge investment of time on the part of the viewer.
The plot of this particular "episode" was ludicrous and could barely raise anyones heartbeat considering the craziness going on in the world today. The dialog was hackneyed and the characters went from the under-developed (Vincent) to the utterly annoying (Edward).
The execution of this film, considering it was anime, left much to be desired. It could have ended sooner, with an additional half hour for another boring fight scene not worth the price of admission. The flight scenes were direct ripoffs of Star Wars and Macross, and showed a lack of creativity. The creators also failed to exploit the female characters to their potentional, either as serious roles or as sex objects.
In all, "Cowboy Bebop" is one of those anime films that has a cult following because it has a cult following. While initially excited to watch this movie, I left disappointed and wondered if I'd be willing to make future investments in anime genres that attempt to crossover contemporary and sci-fi themes.
Two thumbs down.
GetTheJob.com : Nothing but Real Jobs.
I think that the poster was being a mite unfair to the reviewers. Its true that there are some out there who would deride this as "only a cartoon," but those guys didn't seem to be at the Rotton Tomatos website, which I think did a very good job of showing what was good and what was bad about the movie.
There is a lot of bad anime, and its comonly recognized that "90% of anything is crap" be it SciFi, code, movies, books, or anime. The Cowboy Bebop series is emphaticly *not* in the 90%, but the movie does slip a little.
When I first saw a fansub of the movie at the MIT anime club at the Halloween 2001 showing, I liked it, but I didn't love it the way I did some of the episodes in the TV series. Of course, comparing anything to say-Ballad of Fallen Angels is completly unfair, but it isn't unreasonable for critics to complain that the movie falls from the heights that are Cowboy Bebop.
The movie had great animation and a solid plot, but it lacked some of the series' style and was a little slow (and not the good slow that GitS represents). If you liked the series, I'd recomend it, but it isn't in the same leauge as Spirited Away.
This sig wasn't worth reading, was it.
The reviewer writes:
which I find quite amusing since Ghibli films (of which Chihiro is the latest released outside of Japan) are well renowned for their exquisitely hand-drawn backgrounds.
A poster claims that the action in the movie is even better than in the series, and since I haven't seen the movie yet, I wonder, how can it possibly be better than in the Pierrot le Fou episode? By the way, Pierrot le Fou is the title of a classic French film (1965) by Jean-Luc Godard with Jean-Pierre Belmondo and Anna Karina.
Another poster notes that an advantage of animated cinema is that in fantasy settings, anything can be drawn without additionnal cost. Another advantage is that everything blends: reality and fantasy share the same status, whereas in photographic cinema fantasy is rendered by special effects which can often be distinguished from a normal picture. The movie Perfect Blue shows this effect quite well, I think. This distinction is nevertheless quickly fading, with the advent of always better computer generated special effects, and the abuse of CG in animation. Another feature of animated cinema is that everything that is seen on screen had to be decided upon, so that it can be claimed that every element of a picture carries a meaning, at least much more so than in traditionnal movies.
Xavier
Do I make sense? Please report if not.
Damn, I am so hoping this does decently. I've been looking for a plush Ein doll for a couple of years now, with no luck. Even eBay can't help with this one, though I know they do exist.
If the movie does well, maybe the Ein dolls will be re-released... *crosses fingers*
Well, I'm off to see if the movie is in any area theatres.
-- Bander
What we need more of is science!
What we've been needing for a very very long time is a 3 part series, like LOTR, Robotech moview through all three generations, and maybe a fourth for the Sentinal series.
Yes, they brought back the same voice cast who dubbed the tv series.
> it [Cowboy Bebop] is not pornography.
A comment with the above is moderated as flamebait? So I take it the moderators disagree. Go to hell you stupid anime haters!
Or so I hear - I've seen random snippets of the non-animated Iria, and haven't been impressed enough to stay tuned. How could it possibly be as cool as the animated one, anyway?
One thing that I haven't figured out about the movie, or maybe missed somehow is:
How did Electra become vaccinated? More accurately, is there any explicit path or reference?
There seems a lot of handwaving on this. There is substantial proof of course that she was. And dialogue about how she didn't know.
Now, I've used my imagination and what not, but the timeline doesn't seem to fit, making me thing i just plain missed something in the scenes or dialogue (I tend to have to watch Bebop episodes a few times to get everything, and am in this case unwilling to wait for the DVD of the movie to check again).
But it doesn't seem like she and Vincent hooked up ever after his Titan experience, and Titan was when he was tested, so any relations they had before wouldn't have caused any transfer of the antidote/vaccine nanobots/counteragent. And it doesn't seem like Vincent vaccinated her before implementing his malicious plans, because he doesn't remember her until the very end...unless he did so subconsciously (and took action to protect her), just as he knows about how to fight, the nanbots, etc., but doesn't have personal memories.
The closest thing that makes some sense is the latter point, but it seems lacking. So...what am I missing? (btw, I even searched on the web and groups, and I see the closest match I found was from German newsgroup, and the explanation given still doesn't fit.)
btw, I saw the movie yesterday in DC (I drove 120 miles to see it--small screen and theater, but I got to see it). I enjoyed the movie a hell of a lot, yet at the same time, I understand both the praises and complaints that people seem to have about the movie. It's one of those movies that I don't think you can simply characterize as good or bad, since it contains both.
Actually the movie takes place inbetween episodes 23 and 24.I do agree the movie rocks and definetly on of the best movies in the world.Hopefually it will get a larger distrabution.
> One thing I liked in Cowboy Bebop was the sad ending. No happy ending, no hollywood crap, good japanese drama
The problem with "Hollywood crap" is not happy endings. There are movies in which the happy endings come naturally and are quite enjoyable (e.g., The Princess Bride, Ladyhawke and Groundhog Day). The problem is with movies in which the situation goes from bad to worse up until the last 3 minutes and then some deus ex machina miraculously manages to set everything right. The happy ending feels bolted on and the viewer feels cheated.