See you Space Cowboy
It’s been a little over a week now since the Netflix live action remake of this legendary anime was announced. Yes, I used to L word. I tend to usually ignore plot details in these pieces and focus more on themes and I’ll try doing the same here.
So why has this remake been making noise and why is the original so beloved ? Well, for starts if I were to recommend anime to someone who might be a little prejudiced to this medium, I think Cowboy Bebop would be right at the very top of that list. One of the major themes in this show is ‘existential ennui’. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, a simple definition would be boredom but it’s more than just typical boredom. It’s a sort of indifference to one’s surroundings. A sort of dissatisfaction with everything . A feeling of listlessness. Spike, Jet, Faye and Ed are characters without any real purpose in this world.
In the anime this is a consequence of loss. At times we all put so much of ourselves into one thing that once it’s gone we are left feeling very empty. Well, this show handles that expertly. It also deals with surrogate families that we adopt on the way, this is unintentionally of course , which provide for some of the most tender moments in this series. Now, there was another show which was a space western and had its characters adopting each other called Firefly starring Nathan Fillion. They definitely share a few similarities in a generic sense but they're very different shows. Now, the creator of this series Shinichirō Watanabe is a master at this.
Another very distinct aspect of his creations is the music in these animes, Bebop was a style of Jazz developed in 40s America. If you remember Charlie Parker in whiplash being constantly used as a reference point , well he was a pioneer of this style. His series Samurai Champloo set in the Edo period in Japan also has these characteristics. Instead fusing that period with jazzy hip hop sounds. As bizarre as that sounds, this juxtaposition of sounds works and must be credited to the now deceased musician, Nujabes.
Another trademark of Watanabe's creations is that despite these worlds being set in a different era of history, the worlds these characters inhabit are not so different from the world we inhabit. Shichciro Watanabe is now being tasked with making an anime adaptation of Blade Runner as well and it really feels like a match made in heaven. So my recommendation to you this week would be to maybe give these shows a chance as a gateway to this beautiful medium
It’s been a little over a week now since the Netflix live action remake of this legendary anime was announced. Yes, I used to L word. I tend to usually ignore plot details in these pieces and focus more on themes and I’ll try doing the same here. So why has this remake been making noise and why is the original so beloved ? Well, for starts if I were to recommend anime to someone who might be a little prejudiced to this medium, I think Cowboy Bebop would be right at the very top of that list. One of the major themes in this show is ‘existential ennui’. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, a simple definition would be boredom but it’s more than just typical boredom. It’s a sort of indifference to one’s surroundings. A sort of dissatisfaction with everything . A feeling of listlessness. Spike, Jet, Faye and Ed are characters without any real purpose in this world.
In the anime this is a consequence of loss. At times we all put so much of ourselves into one thing that once it’s gone we are left feeling very empty. Well, this show handles that expertly. It also deals with surrogate families that we adopt on the way, this is unintentionally of course , which provide for some of the most tender moments in this series. Now, there was another show which was a space western and had its characters adopting each other called Firefly starring Nathan Fillion. They definitely share a few similarities in a generic sense but they're very different shows. Now, the creator of this series Shinichirō Watanabe is a master at this.
Another very distinct aspect of his creations is the music in these animes, Bebop was a style of Jazz developed in 40s America. If you remember Charlie Parker in whiplash being constantly used as a reference point , well he was a pioneer of this style. His series Samurai Champloo set in the Edo period in Japan also has these characteristics. Instead fusing that period with jazzy hip hop sounds. As bizarre as that sounds, this juxtaposition of sounds works and must be credited to the now deceased musician, Nujabes. Another trademark of Watanabe's creations is that despite these worlds being set in a different era of history, the worlds these characters inhabit are not so different from the world we inhabit. Shichciro Watanabe is now being tasked with making an anime adaptation of Blade Runner as well and it really feels like a match made in heaven. So my recommendation to you this week would be to maybe give these shows a chance as a gateway to this beautiful medium
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