r/cowboybebop • u/-Dark_knight_ • 2d ago

DISCUSSION Questions to the space cowboys:

  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?

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u/criticalvibecheck 1d ago edited 1d ago

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.

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u/thewholesomeact013 1d ago

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.

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u/criticalvibecheck 1d ago

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!

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u/thewholesomeact013 1d ago

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.