Line #45 ShoutOut/CowboyBebop


1	There are more shout-outs (and ThemeNaming below) in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' than this page can possibly list. [[http://www.Jazzmess.com The Jazz Messengers]] has a full list of all intentional and probable references for every episode.
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3	* For starters, a number of episode titles are references to real-world popular music:
4	** [[Music/LetItBleed "Honky Tonk Women"]], [[Music/BeggarsBanquet "Sympathy for the Devil"]], and [[Music/StickyFingers "Wild Horses"]] are all titled after songs by Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}
5	** "Jamming With Edward" is titled after a collaborative album by Rolling Stones members Music/MickJagger, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman, accompanied by Ry Cooder and Nicky Hopkins
6	** "Toys in the Attic" is titled after the Music/{{Aerosmith}} album and/or its accompanying TitleTrack
7	** [[Music/ANightAtTheOpera "Bohemian Rhapsody"]] is titled after the Music/{{Queen\|Band}} song
8	** "My Funny Valentine" is titled after either the 1937 showtune by Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, the Music/MilesDavis album, or the Larry Willis album
9	** "Speak Like a Child" is titled after the Music/HerbieHancock album and/or its associated TitleTrack
10	** "Hard Luck Woman" is titled after a Music/{{Kiss}} song
11	** "The Real Folk Blues", in addition to being named after the show's ending theme, partly takes its title from a series of blues albums released by Chess Records between 1965 and 1967 (the ending theme, by extension, can also be considered a reference to the same).
12	** The Japanese title of the 2001 film, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", is taken from a Music/BobDylan song
13	* "Asteroid Blues" was inspired by ''Film/{{Desperado}}''. Asimov and Katerina Solensan are even visually inspired by Creator/AntonioBanderas and Creator/SalmaHayek.
14	* Sunrise previously worked on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', and as tribute based [[PsychopathicManchild Tongpu/Mad Pierrot]] on ComicBook/TheJoker and the Penguin.
15	** If that wasn't enough, the episode he's featured in has more than enough scenes that mirror Episode 11 "Be A Clown" of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
16	** While not related to the ''Batman'' series, the title of said episode, "Pierrot le Fou", is another reference in that it comes from the title of a Creator/JeanLucGodard [[Film/PierrotLeFou film from 1965]].
17	** Tongpu/Mad Pierrot seems to take his name from the songs [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestraAlbum "Tong Poo" and "Mad Pierrot"]] by Japanese SynthPop band Music/YellowMagicOrchestra, the former of which is itself derived from the Chinese term for "Eastern wind."
18	* The opening of the movie could be one toward the beginning of ''Film/PulpFiction''. Starts with a TakeThat aimed at Jules ("Another wannabe preacher with a gun."), some CasualDangerDialogue, and finishes up with everything (very nearly) going to hell when the one guy they didn't know about comes out of the bathroom with a gun.
19	** In fact, Spike Spiegel is portrayed as Vincent Vega, Jet Black as Jules Winnfield and Faye Valentine as Mia Wallace, in various Cowboy Bebop/Pulp Fiction promos and fanfictions.
20	* Vicious bears more than a passing resemblance to Manga/CaptainHarlock, right down to the bird that likes to perch on his shoulder.
21	* "Jamming with Edward" is notable for containing a few {{Shout Out}}s to ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', including a sentient AI that looks and talks like HAL 9000.
22	* The hosts of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Big Shots]]'' are named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy Punch and Judy]], stock characters from a puppet show that is more than 500 years old.
23	* Asimov Solensan's name is a reference to the famous science fiction writer, Creator/IsaacAsimov.
24	* The whole of Session 11: Toys in the Attic is a shout out to ''Film/{{Alien}}'', including how the fridge is ejected out the airlock, Spike crawling around the vents, arming himself with a flamethrower, and using a motion tracker of a similar design. The ending itself is one giant allusion to Space Shuttle scene from ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.
25	* Jet makes a reference to Ernest Hemingway's short story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" in the "The Real Folk Blues Part 2".
26	* Spike's CharacterArc is a WholePlotReference to cult director Creator/SeijunSuzuki's classic {{Yakuza}} movie ''Tokyo Drifter'', among others.
27	* In "Session 2: Stray Dog Strut," the dogcatchers' van has a vanity license plate that reads "NCC-1701," which is the registry number of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the starship Enterprise]]. Given that the drivers are scientists who act in a stereotypically nerdy manner, this is ''entirely'' in-character for them.
28	* In "My Funny Valentine", the designation of Faye's cryostasis pod is [[Film/StarTrekGenerations NCC 1701 B]].
29	* Speaking of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ever notice in "Honky Tonk Woman" that Spike's red spacesuit is nearly identical to Dave Bowman's?
30	* Also in "Honky Tonk Woman" is the fact that the casino is named [[Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars "Spaiders from Mars"]]. Granted, they spelled it wrong, but still.
31	* The [[BloodstainedGlassWindows shootout in the church]] in "Ballad of Fallen Angels" is similar to the climactic shootout in ''Film/TheKiller1989'' and to an extent, the climactic shootout in ''Film/FaceOff''.
32	* The final shootout at the Red Dragon Syndicate's headquarters in "The Real Folk Blues, Part 2" is inspired by the final shootout in ''[[Film/ABetterTomorrow A Better Tomorrow 2]]''.
33	* The whole UsedFuture-meets-FilmNoir look of the series and the main character being a bounty hunter owes a lot to ''Film/BladeRunner''.
34	* Spike's mode of combat is Jeet Kune Do, which is a shout out to Bruce Lee, who created the martial art.
35	* The name of the thugs Spike collars at the start of episode 8? [[WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck Huey, Dewey and Louie]]
36	* The bounty Decker from "Heavy Metal Queen" looks a lot like [[Creator/WoodyAllen Woody Allen]], and shares some of the same nervous tics he usually have in his movies. Faye even encounters him in a place called Woody's.
37	** In addition, the SpaceTrucker radio chatter is similar to that found in the film/song ''Film/{{Convoy}}''. Some of the truckers' handles are even pulled straight from the film.
38	* Engineer Doohan, in addition to being a Shout Out to the actor who played [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Montgomery Scott]], has a space shuttle that reuses some computer noises from ''Film/{{Alien}}''.
39	* In "The Real Folk Blues", Spike making a FingerGun and pretending to shoot after a shooting rampage is similar to Travis Bickle in ''Film/TaxiDriver''.
40	* In "Speak Like a Child", the logos of the two delivery companies are, in order of arrival, [[Literature/AesopsFables a turtle and a rabbit]].
41	* "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" features Vincent Volaju. A character who has gone insane and repeatedly states he's convinced he's living in a dream he can't wake up from. Vincent also happens to be nigh-unstoppable in hand-to-hand combat and spends the entirety of the movie wearing full black, leather boots, and an ankle-length black trench coat. Complete with a slow-motion scene of him jumping down on top of Spike wire-fu style. His idea of living in a dream is clearly an extreme take on something Spike alludes to figuratively in the series, but all of this together is a clear reference to Film/TheMatrix (which had just come out 2 years earlier).
42	** Topping it all off is the fact that Daran Norris delivered every one of said lines in an otherworldly deep drone. Morpheus-style in the English voice-over.
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44	[[AC:Serenade of Remembrance]]
45	* Jet Black mentions a historical "[[Manga/CaptainHarlock Captain H]]" who became so famous that they made an anime series about his exploits.

Context ShoutOut / CowboyBebop