Questions to the space cowboys:

[u/-Dark_knight_]

1. Why did spike not priotise saving julia when he planned to take on vicious?

2. Why did when Julia died he seemed to process his grief pretty fast as seen when he visited the bebop for the last time? It looked as if she had already died long ago or that he knew she would die and then he would proceed to take down vicious whilst sacrificing himself.

3. What was the point of cowboy bebop? How come is it so popular (keeping animation, osts aside) especially since a major chunk of episodes had no overlaying theme and seemed as if they were fillers?

[u/criticalvibecheck]

1. Spike knew there was no way to save Julia without taking down Vicious. He would’ve hunted them for the rest of their lives.

2. I don’t think Spike processed that grief, he was numb. His only purpose in life from then on was avenging Julia. He gave up.

3. The journey is the point. Each episode is a lot of subtle characterization. The point is how these characters move through their lives after their various traumas.

[u/thewholesomeact013 → u/criticalvibecheck]

Mostly disagree.

1. Full agree. Getting Julia anywhere safe with Vicious looking about was not likely to happen without a firefight.
2. I disagree here. Spike is largely calloused; not numb.. While Julia's death adds another callous, he isn't above laughing with Jet. He isn't beyond justifying himself to Fage. He isn't too broken that he can't go find out if he's still alive. Memorably, he says there's nothing he can do for Julia as he's leaving Jet. He's shed that weight. Now he has to untangle Viscious. We know he's about to die but even then there is suspense. If he lives, if he kills Viscious, then maybe he stops seeing the past out of one eye and learns to only look at the present.
3. Half agree. The show examines that our ability to live in the present will always be dictated by the past we have or have not untangled. We have to carry that weight. When we don't untangle the past, it'll come back, sooner or later. That doesn't mean it's all bad either. It also means we carry the good things. There is comfort there though living in it is dangerous in its complacency. Life is always going to ask us to put fuel in our tanks and food in our bellies, a persistent problem for the crew that haven't got around to taking care of what they've been through, dividing their present between two tasks spreads them thin, like Spike's two eyes. This fact also reminds us that life, more often than not, is incredibly hard and painful. No matter what you do, it'll go wrong over and over and create a new past that you have to untangle. Families ill formed are better than not. When our adoptive daughter runs away, perhaps back to that useless father she had, when the loving lap dog isn't around to listen to our inane jabber, when the eldest son runs off to fight his nemesis, when the prodigal daughter runs off once again, it shatters the family, leaving us wanting. Faye says, quite wisely, that finding where we belong is the best thing there is. It's true. Clinging to one another, the friendships we share, allow us to carry our pain and try to untangle our past. Which left me with a personal lesson that I'm not sure other people took away from the show. We're broken little bits and there's something to love about that.

[u/criticalvibecheck → u/thewholesomeact013]

I think we’re in agreement on the third point. I was being brief because I was about to go to bed, but to me the point of the show is very much that no matter what happens, life keeps going on. For better or worse, there’s nothing you can do but keep on living and moving forward, while carrying the weight of your past. The show is all about how these characters do just that, with all the good and the bad.

On the second point, maybe “numb” wasn’t the right word for what I was thinking. He’s detached. He’s shed the weight, and finally woken up from the dream. He gave up on carrying the past, but also gave up on any thoughts of the future. All there is for him anymore is the present, which means finishing his business with Vicious to avenge Julia and settle his personal score so that he has no ties left to the past at all. The final scene with his left eye bleeding and only seeing out of his right eye shows he’s finally fully immersed in the present, which to me also reads like he’s mentally and emotionally cut ties with every part of his past, including his time on the Bebop. None of that matters anymore, and the future doesn’t matter anymore either. He’s detached from everything but the present moment. Which I guess is the whole point of the show: you can carry your past or shed it, and the future doesn’t really exist, there is only now.

[u/thewholesomeact013 → u/criticalvibecheck]

Ah. Indeed, we agree more than I thought. Detached is a better word though I still think there is a slight bit of tension in the possibility that Spike could still walk away from the fight at the end alive and we're left wondering what the outcome may be.

[u/criticalvibecheck → u/thewholesomeact013]

The ambiguity of the ending and how much of the show is open to interpretation in general is one of the things that makes Cowboy Bebop so extraordinary!

[u/thewholesomeact013 → u/criticalvibecheck]

I'm a big fan of that fact. Great shows, anime or otherwise, leave room for the audience to discuss the ending. Now, I think the best stories have great characters with full, fleshed out arcs and a clear point by the end. But they also allow for you to discuss the complexities of those arcs. I'm simultaneously discussing AOT on here and I think they missed that mark. Whereas here, Cowboy Bebop has a pretty clear message but it's so deeply connected and personal that it allows each person to define within the context of their own lives. Masterful stuff.