Whether you’re new to the series or just need a refresher, these episodes are a good starting point.
So… what’s Cowboy Bebop? If you’re not one of the millions of fans who have hopped on the train of this series somewhere in the past 20 years, that may be an actual question you have now that the live-action adaptation has landed. For the uninitiated, Cowboy Bebop is based on a manga of the same name that was first published in 1998 and created by Hajime Yatate. The accompanying anime series is widely viewed as a classic and the debatable pinnacle of anime storytelling as it follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters (a.k.a. cowboys) aboard a spaceship called the Bebop. To be fair, that synopsis doesn’t do the concept justice and seeing it trend on social media every time a trailer drop doesn’t necessarily explain why everyone gets so worked up about it. And while our Jason Tabrys said the show “delivers by way of its playful and creative presentation and the strength of its cast” before saying it gives off fun “rogues in space vibes” akin to Guardians Of The Galaxy and Firefly, gaining a deeper understanding of what inspired it might make you like it more… or cause you to be totally frustrated (which may happen anyway, because overall reviews have been mixed-to-negative). Either way, here’s a list of five episodes of the original Cowboy Bebop that we recommend before diving into this new version. As a note, this list is meant to serve as a crash course into the world of Spike Spiegel and co., not an all-encompassing, best-of list. Although a couple of these episodes could definitely make one. No, our primary goal is to give you a road map to one of the most respected anime television series of all time so you can decide if you want to take a deeper dive from here. “Asteroid Blues” The best way to understand the world of Cowboy Bebop is to start at the very beginning of the anime series. “Asteroid Blues” introduces viewers to two of the main members of the crew, Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, and shows how chaotic their day-to-day lives can be as they chase down bounties. But, more importantly, how in control they always seem to be amidst that same chaos. In this case, Spike comes across a woman named Katerina and her smuggler boyfriend, Asimov, as they’re being hunted down by the mob because of some high-value drugs he stole.
