Why you loved it
Anime like Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop looks like a cool space western, and it is. But fans stay for different things: the jazz and the style, people running from their past, or the sadness under the jokes. Here are three reasons people love it.
The 3 reasons people love Cowboy Bebop
Read them all. One will sound more like you than the others.
Style and cool: jazz, noir, space
This was your reason if…
- "Tank!" is still one of your favourite openings.
- You liked that every episode tried a different genre.
- Spike's fighting style looked effortless.
Yoko Kanno's jazz score, noir lighting, kung fu and westerns, all mixed together in space. The show is effortlessly stylish, and every episode tries on a new genre. If this is your reason, you want stories that are as cool as they are good.
People running from their past
This was your reason if…
- Faye's videotape episode hit you hard.
- Spike's story with Julia and Vicious mattered most.
- You liked that the crew never quite became a family.
Everyone on the Bebop is avoiding something: Spike his old syndicate, Jet his old job, Faye a life she can't remember. They chase bounties so they don't have to face it. If that's your reason, you want characters defined by what they left behind.
Melancholy under the fun
This was your reason if…
- The ending stayed with you for days.
- "See you, space cowboy" makes you a bit sad.
- The quiet episodes were your favourites.
For a show about bounty hunters, Bebop is very sad. Its jokes and fights sit on top of loneliness and people who can't move on. If this is your reason, you want stories with a heavy heart under a light touch.
Picks that share your reasons
Guardians of the Galaxy2014
- Style
A band of misfits in space with a great mixtape soundtrack. The crowd-pleasing space crew with style.
Firefly2002
- Style
- The past
A small crew of outlaws taking jobs in a western-style space. Cancelled too soon, and loved ever since.
Samurai Champloo2004
- Style
- The past
From the same director, Shinichirō Watanabe: samurai in Edo-era Japan with a hip-hop soundtrack. Style, and a road trip into the past.
TRIGUN1998
- The past
A gunslinger with a huge bounty on his head who refuses to kill. It starts goofy and ends up being about guilt and the past.
Black Lagoon2006
- Style
- The past
Mercenaries smuggling cargo through Southeast Asian waters. Gunfights, style and characters with dark histories.
The Castle of Cagliostro1979
- Style
Hayao Miyazaki's first feature: the gentleman thief Lupin in a castle adventure. Pure fun and charm.
Violet Evergarden2018
- Melancholy
- The past
A former child soldier learns to write letters for others, and to understand feelings. Beautiful and deeply sad.
Blade Runner1982
- Melancholy
Rain, neon and a detective who might be more lost than the people he hunts. Future noir with a sad soul.
Ghost in the Shell1995
- Melancholy
A cyborg agent wonders what is left of her humanity. Cool on the surface, melancholy underneath.
Reasons and picks chosen by the Ipsomap team. This application uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
That's one anime.
Ipsomap does this with everything you watch. Write a few honest lines after each one, and it works out which reasons are yours, then finds picks that share them.
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