Bruce Lee’s philosophy could be found also in anime, and Cowboy Bebop is the major example of a legacy that reaches places and times that you never imagined. Let’s see the original tribute of Shinichiro Watanabe to the “Little Dragon” in his innovative anime.
3, 2, 1, let’s jam!
Cowboy Bebop is a science-fiction anime series released in 1998, that covers a wide range of genres and references, sharing the common feature of the space. The Western components are also very present, like the blues and jazz music. All this mixture of strong different elements make Cowboy Bebop to be considered by the critics as one of the best anime ever made! In fact, since its debut it becomes a critical and commerce success in Japan and internationally, winning various anime and science fiction awards. But Cowboy Bebop’s original style is not its only strength, the story is central too…
Whatever happens, happens…
Cowboy Bebop follows the adventures of the bounty hunter Spike Spiegel and his crew. In 2071, when humanity has colonized most of the planets and moons of the Solar System, the figure of the bounty hunter (cowboy) was legalized in order to help the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) and to lower down the crime rate.
Meeting the crew…
- Spike Spiegel is the main protagonist of the series and an exiled hitman of the criminal Red Dragon Syndacate. Spike fakes his death after leaving the Syndacate with Julia, his partner and best friend’s girlfriend, in order to protect her. A few years later Spike meets Jet and decides to embark on a ship known as Bebop and starting the career of bounty hunter or better: Cowboy.
- Jet Black is an ex ISSP agent, who quits his job because of the corruption of his department. Survived after a brutal attack of the European Syndacate that left him without an arm, he starts a new life as bounty hunter, purchasing a former fishing ship, which named Bebop. A few years later Jet meet Spike, becoming together the most feared cowboys of the Solar System.
- Faye Valentine was born in 1994 and cryogenically frozen after a bad accident during a private space-travel when she was 20 years old. In 2068, Faye was cured by Doctor Bacchus, who wants to take advantage of the situation asking her a huge sum of money. So, Faye starts a long troubled life, adding always more money to her virtually unbearable debt burden and being continuously kidnapped. This lifestyle is taking Faye to meet Spike and Jet, joining the Bebop crew.
- Edward is a child prodigy skilled in hacking from Earth, one of her dream is to join the legendary Bebop crew. Thing that she manages to do, helping them to complete a mission. Later she becomes a very good friend of Ein the mascot of the Bebop, a dog modified in laboratory saved by Spike.
Bang…
There is a very particular aura around the character of Spike, represented as indifferent and lazy, he is passing the majority of his time watching TV or sleeping, in contrast he shows several times his caring and heroic side. Spike philosophy follows the ancient samurai ideals of immediacy, such as considering oneself already dead… Spike is also often compared to Bruce as Jeet Kune Do athlete, but the link between them is in reality much more deep. He believes in Bruce mindset and shares his thinking, Spike’s approach to Bruce Lee philosophy is more spiritual than physical.
The action, the pace, the style of Cowboy Bebop are unique, but this peculiarity come also from very well known masterpieces. If you really watch carefully the anime, maybe you will notice that Spike and his crew are part of something bigger, a story, a way to see the world. That is why Bruce Lee’s philosophy could be found also in anime, and Cowboy Bebop is the major example of it.
I’m watching a dream I’ll never wake up from.
Spike Spiegel
I take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas guys! Stay safe and warm 😉