Thematically, it said what it had to say. While it would be nice to know what happened to Edward, Fay, and Jet, the main stories were resolved to a point where we can guess.
One of the most notable things that's stuck with me is its approach to Worldbuilding. Or rather, lack. There's implied to be a very interesting history behind it all, but despite knowing the most about the war on Titan for example out of the rest, we still don't know what it was for, what sides were fighting, and the point of the conflict. We just know that many horrific experiments were done to its survivors, something like Nam.
There's also the subtle thread of bounty hunting dying out like the old west the series is inspired by. Aside from the Bebop crew, the occasional bar, and the one-off guys, any others mentioned are dead. Big Shot says there's 300000 in the solar system, but that's a marketing slogan and they eventually get canceled because of ratings. The crime bosses and syndicates express a desire for change, and the ISP though corrupt seem to be slowly getting things done.
I don't think the series could be as perfect as it is if it didn't leave so many threads hanging. Did Spike live or die? How did Spike and Jet meet up in the first place? Why was Faye put into cryo in the first place? What ever happened to Ed and Ein? It's the way each episode leaves so much unsaid, that lets me keep on coming back to this series. I think a definitive answer one way or another might ruin it, in a way.
So I don't want an ending. Gotta stay hungry.
Faye was frozen because she was in some space ship accident and medicine at the time couldn't do anything else to save her, IIRC.
PSN ID: FateSeraph | Switch friendcode: SW-0145-8835-0610 Congratulations! She/TheyI originally assumed that Spike had died, but over the years I've come around to the opposite conclusion. If the series has a single unifying theme, it's about dealing with the past so it doesn't tie you down in the present. All the main characters have incident in their past that they can't — or at least haven't — gotten over. In the course of the series, all of them deal with those incidents, which allows them to move on toward their future. Spike dealing with Vicious and Julia is his version of that. Rather than running away (which is what he — and everyone else — had been doing), he deals with it once and for all. If he had continued to run away and been drawn in regardless, then I would say that he was probably dead, since he'd refused to face his past so it consumed him, instead. But by facing it and dealing with it, he freed himself from it, so I expect him to recover just like he did the handful of other times he got shot to hell and back.
If I had to headcanon an ultimate fate for the crew of the Bebop, I'd have them give up bounty hunting in general. There's indications throughout the series that the solar system is becoming more civilized, in a very Twilight of the Old West fashion. Bounty hunting is a dying business. The Syndicates are fading away. The ISSP are less and less made up of Cowboy Cops and Dirty Cops and more and more legitimate forces of law and order.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.I think he's alive as well, but I take issue with your reasoning. He's no longer bound by his past, but spiritual freedom is not necessarily accompanied by physical survival. Quite the opposite. You could even take it the opposite way and say that he's been 'dead' this whole time just like he claims, but with him no longer being bound to the world by his regrets over Vicious and Julia he's finally free to pass on.
edited 6th Feb '17 9:23:33 AM by Arha
That doesn't really fit the theme we see in the show, though. They're pretty up front about the past holding you back, preventing you from moving forward, not as an anchor that keeps you from being swept away. At one point in the last few episodes, Faye accuses Spike of going back to the Syndicate in order to die. He responds that he's not going there to die, he's going to find out if he's really alive.
If he'd been unable to let go of his past and move on, then he'd have died — metaphorically, he'd have been dead since he left the Syndicate and lost Julia in the first place, and his being killed in the fight with Vicious was just his body catching up to the rest of him. But he was able to confront his past, deal with his issues, bring closer to his old relationships. If he dies at that point, it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, thematically.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Sure it does. Plenty of episodes end with characters who die after being confronted with their past. It's more about whether or not they can die well, be at peace with themselves, whether what they died for was worth it. You could argue that if Spike could really ever let go of Julia and Vicious, he wouldn't have needed to walk into that final shootout in the first place, and that finding some sense of release in death was the happiest ending possible. I don't know if that's how I see it, but I like that it's possible as an interpretation.
So many episodes are about saying goodbye, trying to die without leaving one last thing unfinished. Katerina's last words in the very first episode are "Adios", and that really sets the tone for the whole series. Rocco, Fad, Gren, even Vincent— they find redemption in death, and they're able to accept it, to move on. Meanwhile, characters like Wen, Tongpu, and Londes are all stuck in the past, each trapped in childhood in a different way, and lashing out at the world they believe has wronged them until it finally lashes back.
Chessmaster Hex can die happy because he can't remember the obsession that consumed his life— Meifa's father's last act is to move heaven and earth just to try and make up for not being there for his daughter— Spike gives VT a chance to vicariously forgive her bounty hunter husband for dying and leaving her. With so many stories about characters who regret dying without knowing what could have been, I think it's entirely fitting for Spike to die having finally closed the book on Mars. It's also very possible that he lived, and that would be just as good of an ending. But I don't think either one would have worked anywhere near as well as the final bittersweet note of not knowing.
edited 6th Feb '17 8:04:07 PM by Unsung
Laughing Bull: Do not fear death. Death is always at our side. When we show fear, it jumps at us faster than light, but if we do not show fear, it casts its eye upon us gently and then guides us into infinity.
In a lot of respects the show doesn't concern itself with how characters will survive but how will they die? Will they accept their deaths, rage against it, or die with regret?
The movie's one of those things where something that was so specifically honed in one format doesn't really work in another. The series is unusual in that it's both very spacious and unrushed, yet also very tightly packed, since most episodes are pretty self-contained.
The thing about the movie is you kind of need to watch it more than once, and I don't say that to defend it, but it's hard to absorb what they were going for in one sitting. Not because it's so complicated, but rather because it's actually very simple— it's just hard to tell what's important on the first viewing.
I think the main thing to understand is that it's supposed to be something where it could all be a dream, and on that level certain things about it aren't meant to make sense. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but really, Vincent's actions only work if you can accept that he doesn't have any greater purpose in mind, that he's meant to be running on dream logic. I don't think that's as compelling as it could have been— I like the idea, but I don't think it's enough to sustain the character through 90 minutes of movie.
Also, Vincent is meant to be a stand-in for Vicious— another element that adds to the dreamlike in-between quality of events, where you see a person in your dream and just somehow know they're someone else. But like Vicious, Vincent allows them to comment on a certain kind of nihilistic villain, what it takes to become that person, what it's like to be that person. They mostly avoided explaining Vicious in the series (a strength, I think), but he is compelling for someone who we don't spend much time with, and I can understand the desire to explore his archetype further. But I think it feeds into what I've been saying— the best thing about Cowboy Bebop is that it eschews those explanations, leaving things to your imagination.
edited 7th Feb '17 10:28:32 AM by Unsung
Probably obvious now that I think about it, but looking back, I'm guessing Spike is Electra's counterpart, or vice versa? If this is 'were' part of Spike's delusion/dream then... she would pretty much have to be. Even the way they're juxtaposed in the two cells seems to say as much.
Electra:
- is highly skilled at martial arts
- dresses coolly, in a red jacket that directly opposes Spike's own
- she and Spike bond over how obtusely they fell in love
- both obsessed over trying to save that better half until said half either betrayed or abandoned them
- both had to watch that person die in their arms at the last moment
edited 3rd Jul '17 1:34:45 AM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!Electra's a female Spike, I think there was an interview to that effect. She's one of many such foils for Spike, along with Vincent himself, and Vicious, and Gren and Rocco and Andy and so on, since the whole show's about parallel lives, roads not taken, that common chord of regret in all our lives.
edited 3rd Jul '17 5:13:02 AM by Unsung
So... I want to gush about these previews.
Outlaw Star and Tri Gun are the only shows I know of with previews this... pithy. And, apart from the character introduced next episode being transgender what is the narration referring to?
edited 28th Feb '18 7:31:03 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!The obvious answer would be Julia, though it's sort of hard to confirm that one way or the other since we don't actually get much characterization for her. Plus Spike's tone is pretty upbeat for talking about Julia, which doesn't really fit. The other obvious answer is that he is talking about Faye (and just lying when he says he's not), but that only really works if you ship Spike x Faye, which I personally don't think makes a whole lot of sense.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien....
Shinichiro Watanabe — director of the original anime — will serve as a consultant on the new series, and executive producers include Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios, Yasuo Miyakawa, Masayuki Ozaki, Shin Sasaki, Tetsu Fujimura, and Matthew Weinberg.
Not at all a bad lineup, though I am somewhat wary seeing one of the guys behind The Dark World writing episode 1. Good to have Watanabe involved.
Give Keanu pls.
PSN ID: FateSeraph | Switch friendcode: SW-0145-8835-0610 Congratulations! She/TheyAlso, I'm wondering if the live-action adaptation could bring back the English voice actors (i.e. Steve Blum, Beau Billingslea, Wendee Lee, Melissa Fahn, etc.) for cameo appearances where necessary.
Edited by gjjones on Nov 28th 2018 at 11:58:46 AM
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.Heh. Beau Billingslea as Bob. Maybe even combine the character with Fad. Steve Blum as Teddy Bomber.
I mean, they're probably going to adapt the equivalent of a handful of episodes and some of the backstories presumably focusing on Spike, and they'll probably start by adapting the early bounties without doing the whole bounty-of-the-week thing to the same extent. But I can dream.
Edited by Unsung on Dec 4th 2018 at 11:11:04 AM
Have them be the people Spike, Jet, and Fey talk to when looking for Ed
PSN ID: FateSeraph | Switch friendcode: SW-0145-8835-0610 Congratulations! She/TheyJust to add to it, that adaptation might cast staff members (such as Marty Adelstein, etc.) for cameo roles.
Edited by gjjones on Dec 6th 2018 at 1:34:24 PM
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.

Cowboy Bebop is one of those shows that told its story and then was done. They could keep showing the random bounty hunting adventures of the crew of the Bebop, I guess, but the overarching plot that tied it all together was finished, you know?
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.