I'll admit to not being a huge anime fan. Most of the shows I like in the genre are from the 80s (Robotech! Voltron!) even though the American versions are considered terrible. (Note: I also love Miyazaki films, but those should really be in a totally different category, like not even film--but recorded dreams or something.)
Anyway, there are a few anime shows and films I really do enjoy and Cowboy Bebop is one that I come back to again and again. It's definitely a space opera, but also definitely not in the traditional sense. It's got a distinctively 20th century feel to it--a melding of the 40s/50s noir and 80s fashions. It's fantastically futuristic and yet still grounded in a believable spacescape where all the action takes place in our own solar system. There's a lot here for game or writing inspiration--it's an incredibly well-realized world.
I likewise appreciate the collection of bounty hunter weirdos that crew the Bebop: a cynical cyborg, a femme fatale, a hipster loner, and a weirdo with a corgi--all of whom are often at odds with each other. It makes for some off-the-wall fun that can often times find some not overly-sentimental heart (which can sometimes be the bane of shows in this genre).
Well now it 's FINALLY going to be available in a format that will do it justice. It's coming to blu ray and will also be available as part of a special edition set.
One of these days I'll get around to doing a solar system campaign--maybe around the moons of Saturn. Bebop will be one of the first places I look for some inspiration.
Best of all, it happens to have one of the coolest opening sequences ever! Enjoy:
I loved Cowboy Bebop and Spike was just so cool.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably one of the best series I've watched & the movie was great too, but I'm not sure Blue-ray is needed? If its got extra features then that's nice, but can you really make an animated production "that" much better by being on Blue-ray?
ReplyDeletePlease forgive my ignorance if its quite possible to do so, but I thought it could only improve the resolution of real life, not something that was drawn. I would have thought anime would have been put onto film as good as it could be at the time it was recorded?
That's a really good point, but I think this will be the best way to see it. The bluray is 1080p which is pretty impressive. Even for an animated series, colors will be more accurate and lines, details, and textures will all be sharper.
DeleteIn the US, it was originally broadcast in a much lower quality broadcast (NTSC, which is shit). The resolution was sufficiently poor as to obscure details and dull colors.
In 2007, Cartoon Network began an HD channel, and repeats were shown on Adult Swim from then on. But nothing near that standard has been available to buy until now.
The other thing to consider with this release is the audio, which is Dolby TrueHD--a higher standard than the old Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 versions that were on the old DVDs.
So I think this will be the best picture and sound tyet hat Bebop has been available for purchase by the public...and yes, you'll notice the difference!
I suppose if you had to sit through it in NTSC then I can imagine you'd be pretty happy to have it available on Blue-ray, but I watched it in PAL, so I didn't have an issue with the picture quality.
DeleteAfter I finished watching it, I felt that satisfied but sad feeling you sometimes get after reading the last page of a great book.....don't get that feeling too often from on screen productions.
Cheers.