I just finished watching Cowboy Bebop. Normally, I’d give myself a bit longer to process but I want to write this now. Even though I’m a bit confused.

Cowboy Bebop is amazing. Not an unpopular opinion. More than anything, it’s unique. And it seems to know that.

Cowboy Bebop is an anime series created in 1998 with only twenty six episodes, but its impact has been immense. It follows the witty, petty, but mostly skinny bounty hunter named Spike Spiegel and his far more uptight but equally petty partner and pilot of the Bebop, Jet Black. The Bebop is a spaceship flying through the stars in the year 2071. The Earth is mostly abandoned, and humanity populates the neighboring planets and moons. On their adventures, the sleazy Faye Valentine joins, who turns out to have a heart. Joining the crew later on is the master mechanic/technician/hacker/goofball: a twelve-year-old girl named Edward. She might be my favorite of the bunch, but it wavers between the four of them, depending on my mood.

More than anything, Cowboy Bebop has an undeniable flair. The visuals are genuinely stunning, the animation is fluid, and is there any better setting than outer space? If you’re curious to know why history unfolded the way it did in Bebop, you’ll have to join me and keep wondering. There’s never a direct answer for the Earth’s collapse, but the care the artists put into every detail allows us to put together our own picture.

There is a plot, but the episodes are often one-offs, so you can really jump right in wherever you want. Because of this, Cowboy Bebop is hard to pin down. Sometimes it’s a chill stroll through space, other times it’s a mafia thriller that’ll light up your dark room. I often watched it before bed, dozing off before the sound of gunshots woke me up. And then I’d have to rewind because the overarching plots suddenly became important.

What I will say is that some episodes are just kinda there. Some are good, some great. A few are genius. But some of them, I felt like the author was killing time and nothing more. But when it’s on, you can’t take your eyes away. Now for some talk about the ending, since it’s fresh in my mind.

SPOILERS BELOW

After watching the last two episodes in a row, Real Folk Blues: Parts One & Two, the questions I had were finally answered. Or at least answered enough. I think what got me the most was the ambiguous message.

Spike goes off to take revenge all on his own. It seemed to me for a moment that he wasn’t going to, subverting the classic revenge tale I was expecting. And I thought that would have played into the vibe of the show: be chill and let go. But they had more. Spike takes revenge but pays with his life. Seen it before, right? But something was off. At the end of the credits, there’s a message at the bottom of the screen: You’re Gonna Carry It With You. That gave me goosebumps. What? It didn’t line up for me.

And that’s why I wanted to write this. Because I felt like Faye at the end, who tries to get Spike to stay aboard the Bebop. Maybe it was just his attitude, but Spike seemed so at peace, so unafraid of death. Not hellbent on revenge like you’d think he’d be. You’re Gonna Carry It With You. What does it mean? Turns out the internet is divided on the topic as I am.

Here’s the best I got:

It doesn’t matter what you do, you can’t outrun your past. Not only will it catch up to you, but you will never find peace in the present if you don’t confront it. I think I already knew that, but Cowboy Bebop seems to take it further. Almost as if Spike had no choice in the matter. That’s his way and there’s nothing else to say. We can be like Faye and try to talk him out of it, or be like Jet and accept it. Either way, we have to watch him go and die. Can’t tell a bird not to fly. Can’t tell a gear not to turn. We are what we are, and there’s no point in running. An object in motion stays in motion. All that.

I think my explanation is good. But I don’t like it. It stings a little. I believe change is possible. But maybe not all change. I’ll chew on this a little longer. In the meantime, I think there’s only one way to end this post.

See You, Space Cowboy