Now let me tell you: Like most of the animés listed in Keyframe, it has superb animation (even for this times). Some episodes had good stories and the characters are colourfull and charistmatic. Now the bad news: unless you like the action packed Shinichiro Watanabe's creations, this show is overrated. I'm not a big fan of animés, but at least not of this one. Mainly for this:

SPOILERS:
This series has a tragic and sad ending. During the last episodes things go from bad to worse and in the end nobody wins.
END SPOILERS.

However, as I previously said, the show can be a lot of fun for some people. Just don't think it's good because someone else told you rather than because you think so.

Cowboy Bebop is a real gem in the world of anime. In fact it's a quality production in the areas of music and general science fiction, too. If you aren't a big anime-watcher, I'd recommend this, as it was written with you in mind. If you are, I'd still recommend this, because it will show you things you've probably never seen before in an anime. Personally, I just love the mood of it, the characters, the stories, and the kind of cool, jazzy attitude that the whole series has. The art is beautiful, too; for example there are some sequences in Episode 5, Ballad of Fallen Angels, that have garnered worldwide critical acclaim.

I am admittedly a pretty hardcore Bebop fan, but that's partly because it appeals to both my sci-fi and my animation tastes. Personal preference aside, I do think this series is a real groundbreaker in many ways in terms of visual art and story...and as others have and will continue to say, the soundtrack is nothing short of fantastic. Beyond that I'll let the series speak for itself. Take a look...you won't regret it!

By the way, I also strongly recommend the Cowboy Bebop Movie, either before or after watching the series (or during--most fans agree that it fits nicely between episodes 22 and 23). Like most of the episodes, it does well both as part of the series and as a stand-alone production.

Cowboy Bebop is a very impressive anime, in terms of story,animation and artwork. However, the personalities of the main characters are just so bland, its takes out a good amount of quality in this series.

Spike is your sterotypicel anime cool loner who knows how to fight exetremely well and has no regard for his life and somehow, survives by a miracle.Ed is ripped right out of a "how to draw manga" book, Faye is a carbon copy of Fujiko from Lupin III ( the series which inspired this anime). However, Jet is quite intresting, he his cool in a way that he hads his head on straight and knows when to attack. But speaking about the cool factor, Lupercal basically hit the nail on the head, they try so hard to be cool in this show it goes beyond annoying. For example, in a scene in the episode entitled "mushroom samba", Spike picks up a mushroom from a plate left out by Ed, who is trying to see what the effect of these entoxicating mushrooms are. Spike did it in a way, so that it whould seem sooo cool, your left thinking "is he trying to impress someone ?". The episode revovled aorund the fact that Spike, Faye, Jet ,Ed and there brainy little dog,Ein, Were starving since they had no food for a long time. Why whould Spike ,or anyone for that matter, try sooo hard to be cool just to pick up a damn mushroom if there starving ??????? Especially with Spike's massive appitite!( which is another anime sterotype).

But, Iam defeinetly not saying this is a bad anime series. Quite the opposite, its good. The fight scenes were extremely well done and the stories were very creative. And the side characters, are actually very in depth and quite interesting to watch. If it wasn't for the flaws I mentioned above, I would consider this the greatest anime Tv series of all time, but I can't, but still, its good.

(EDIT) Iam sorry, I can't find any real reason to give this show 3 and 1/2 stars, its good, not great.

Ask an anime fan what the best series ever is, and if they don't say 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', they'll probably say 'Cowboy Bebop'. And you get the feeling these are the more mature fans. Does it deserve its almost legendary reputation? Well... in my view, not quite. Now before anyone gets upset, I'm not saying CB isn't an excellant series. I think 'Citizen Kane' is an excellant film, too. I just don't think it's the best film ever made.

There's a great deal to admire in this very stylish series, with its mixture of SF, film noir and western. The animation still looks very good, seven years on. The art direction is oustanding. The soundtrack by Yoko Kanno is almost a miracle, certainly setting the bar for every soundtrack composer since. The music moves from blues harp and steel guitars to walking bass jazz, to an electronic composition in one episode which sounds conspicuously like 'On the Run' from 'Dark Side of the Moon'. The earthy touch that the use of acoustic, bluesey instruments lend to what would otherwise have been sterile scenes of spaceships and hi-tech hardware is a master touch.

The stories are way above average, too, with several being very impressive pieces of writing. The thing refuses to really sit in any one genre, either. One episode will be funny, another will be dark and poetic, and the next two will be straight-out action adventures.

So why did I almost give CB only three stars? (I'm still not convinced it deserves three and a half). In the end, two things. Firstly, the episodes aren't just inconsistent in style, they're inconsistent in quality. A few too many of the 26 episodes were, 'yeah, that was alright' for it to rate a four overall.

My other problem was with the characters. They're better than the average anime types, I'll grant you, but I think the series makes a mistake in trying to be just TOO cool. Many will disagree with me, but there is an awful lot of surface sheik to the main characters, and not as much real substance as I'd have liked. Spike in particular is just too cool for his own good. There are times when genuine human imperfection shines through, but too much of the time he's just an assemblage of cool poses, remarks and hip aloofness. Faye is a little more interesting, particularly with her back story, but nothing really out of the box. Ed is just a nut. The only one who comes across as genuinely interesting and three dimensional to me is Jet - but maybe that's just because it's so unusual to have a middle-aged central character in one of these things. Still, he's a huge hulking guy with a metal arm, who cultivates bonsai trees, and gets talking to them if he accidentally ingests toxic mushrooms. That works.

I have one admission to make. I didn't quite make it to the end of the series. The last disc in my boxed set wouldn't play properly on my machine. I got it replaced, and the new one wouldn't play properly either, and since by this stage I was really only watching the thing to review it, I finally threw in the towel. However I don't believe the last five episodes could have raised the whole series to four stars, even if they were the best episodes of anything ever made. 21 eps out of 26 is enough to form a pretty informed opinion, and to be honest I found that I'm kind of relieved to have the thing out of the way.

Cowboy Bebop is definately a superior anime, and one of the best out there, but I've seen a couple I prefer. The music is superb, though. This is one of the few animes ('Wolf's Rain' - also Yoko Kanno, is another) that the soundtrack is well worth buying even if you've never seen the series.

A very classy piece of work. Doesn't quite deserve the awe in which it's held, but if you wanted to turn someone onto anime without damaging their brains, Cowboy Bebop would be a pretty obvious choice.

Oh yeah, and P.C. Unfunny is absolutely right in the review above where he says this series is clearly influenced by Lupin III. I'm pretty sure the writers admitted this.

I was wondering when this series was gonna reach the site, and what a unique one! Cowboy Bebop has a mixed premise and matchless style. The combination of genres and categorys it covers is cleverly, darkly, hilariously, and sometimes sadly, embodied briliantly throughout the show. Every episode stands strongly on it's own, even though the same constant goals are continueously being reached. this is mostly due to the variety of enviornments, and trully genus characters they come across during their journeys through space. the jazzy music incorporated with the diverse atmoshere can be entertaining and breathless. i am more fond of some eps over others, but this rather short series is a very intelligent, stylish, action-packed, and emotional one. though i give a five as a must see (i came across it by accident, and was quietly intrigued before i trully realized it's incredible individuality amoung others) there are still a few flaws. but i'll leave that to you to pick out. the ending is wrapped up intensely, with several classic yet original, forgivable dissapointments.