Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite Japanese anime. When I first watched Cowboy Bebop on Toonami on Cartoon Network when it was weekly. I fell in love with this show, and ever since then I've wanted the complete series on Blu Ray. When I saw the flash sale of this Amazon exclusive just before Christmas 2016. I jumped at the chance to buy it, and I haven't regretted it.The Show: Cowboy Bebop has some of the coolest lovable characters in an anime. The way the show introduces the characters also shows of the amazing writing that goes into the show. Each character has depth and their character interactions is written really well. The story follows a rag tag group of bounty hunters trying to make a living while traveling between Earth's solar system. They are always never successful in catching their bounty, and they do not agree with each other most of the time. However, they seem to get along very well even with their differences between them. Some of the best part of the story is the places they go to. However, the story is grounded in reality, meaning there is no aliens in this series. Cowboy Bebop is a human tale with believable and human characters. (I won't ruin the story for those who have not see the show.) Cowboy Bebop also showcases some great scientific concepts that follows the traditions of Star Trek. For example, when the Cowboy Bebop crew go to Mars. The way the creators of the show portrayed their Mars colonies makes me want to actually go there, and they do it in a way that is scientifically possible in the near future to have similar Mars colonies.Animation: Cowboy Bebop has some of the best animation that is not soaked in with allot of CG (Computer Graphics). This show is mostly old school animation and is at the very beginning when CG effects takes over. I really enjoyed the art style of this anime from the character design to the design of their ships. Cowboy Bebop is also old school pan and scan 4:3 aspect ratio, and this collection keeps the show in it's original 4:3 ratio. They could have gave it the cinematic 16:9 wide screen treatment, and I am glad they didn't. This collection is also remastered and clears this anime to HD standards.Audio and Soundtrack: The English voice cast of Cowboy Bebop is spot on, and one of the best in the industry. The Japanese dub is also equally amazing, and it is hard to find an anime that has both amazing English and Japanese dub.The music is the best soundtrack in anime in my opinion. From the "Tank" intro of the series. Yoko Kanno does an amazing job at blending jazz, and rock together making this soundtrack unforgettable.This Collection: This is an Amazon exclusive and comes with both Blu Ray and DVD version of Cowboy Bebop. It also comes with 2 collector books that showcase the animation of Cowboy Bebop. I really like that this collection comes with both Blu Ray and DVD version. Most shows only come with either Blu Ray or DVD. The box itself is really well built and the disk is held with in a decent Blu Ray jewel case.Pros:Great Story.Great Characters.Great Voice Acting.Great Music.Cons:No cons in my opinionFinal Thoughts: I recommend Cowboy Bebop to fans and new comers. This collection may also be a little pricier then say just the Blu Ray edition. However, this collection does come with Blu Ray and DVD and some really cool art books and a really study collector's box.Also, I received my copy in mint condition. Which I am always happy about. I thought about posting photos but I think there is enough photos from other reviewers.

I bought the Cowboy Bebop complete series without ever having seen Cowboy Bebop; I had only ever heard good things about it and needed to check it out. I'm glad that I checked it out. It was truly a classic among anime.Tank, the opening theme, is a very unique and iconic theme. It's bebop type jazz and it really sets the mood for the show. This show is full of great music though. Every episode has a great soundtrack that very much enhances the enjoyment. It also adds to character interaction.The characters were really awesome and engaging. Each character feels unique. They also did very well with character development. I was very much impressed with the depth of each character. These characters definitely helped make the plot very enjoyable.Now, the plot to Cowboy Bebop is pretty cool. It starts with them just out to make money, but it evolves into showing what drives each character. It all seems cohesive though, and just builds upon itself to an amazing climax. The story is definitely worth watching.Overall, Cowboy Bebop is a classic that is befitting of a spot in anyone's anime collection. It's distinctive soundtrack will help get you hooked, the depth of characters will engage you, and it's story will take you for a great ride. I would definitely recommend getting this. If you have a chance though, I'd probably get the Amazon exclusive edition because it's chock full of extras. If you're looking for it on the cheap though, this edition is definitely worth it too.

Funimation has done a stellar job bringing this Blu-ray set to North America, and while it is THE definitive way to watch the show in English, there are some nagging usability issues which should be noted.What you need to know is that every episode is here in its original aspect ratio (4:3) in glorious HD, as it should be, with both the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and an excellent English dub done by Funimation.That said, CG graphics in some scenes do look slightly blurry. As other reviewers have noted, this is because the show's CG graphics were originally generated in standard definition (in 1998!) and have been upscaled to HD for this release. To remedy this upscaling issue, these assets would have had to have been re-created in HD, which could have risked altering the style of the original (see Ghost in the Shell 2.0, Star Wars on Blu-ray, blegh!). Personally, I’m glad the original animations were used.Additionally, the original opening and closing sequences for each episode have been edited to replace the Japanese credits on-screen with English translations. While there is an option to watch the original sequences on their own on disc 3, and Funimation did a great job with the translated sequences (mostly matching the original's visual style), the Japanese sequences are memorable, and it would have been nice to have the option to watch each episode unaltered.Minor usability issues:- You can’t switch audio/subtitle options during playback, so you won’t be able to compare audio tracks on the fly. Kind of a bummer. You must back out to the main menu to make changes.- English subtitles are tied directly to the Japanese audio track, so your only viewing options are English audio with no subtitles, or Japanese audio with English subtitles. There are no other language options.- All episodes on each disc are combined into one long clip on the two Blu-ray players I tested, even when choosing a single episode from the main menu (for example, choosing the second episode on a disc will place you at around the 21-minute mark of a 3+ hour clip of all episodes combined). It would have been nice to have the option to watch one episode at a time.- As others have mentioned, the way selections are made in the Blu-ray menu is counterintuitive: the item that is greyed out is selected and the items that are highlighted in white are not. There are sections of the menu with only two options (when picking between Japanese and English audio, for example) where this can be confusing even if you know what to look for.I should also note that my Blu-ray copy of Bebop arrived with two of the nubs holding each disc in place broken off, which fell out of the box when I first opened it. Since it took me a few weeks to open my set after buying it, I wasn't able to exchange it for an un-broken version in time. I don’t hold this against Amazon, since I’m sure they would have honored an exchange if I had reported the issue in time.My full breakdown of the contents of each disc:DISC 1:• Sessions #1-9Extras• Session #1 Audio Commentary with Koichi Yamadera (Spike) and Unsho Ishizuka (Jet)• Session #5 Audio Commentary with Wendee Lee (Faye) and ADR Producer Yutaka MasebaDISC 2:• Sessions #10-18Extras• Session #10 Audio Commentary with Wendee Lee (Faye) and ADR Producer Yutaka Maseba• Session #17 Audio Commentary with Director Shinichiro Watanabe and Composer Yoko KannoDISC 3:• Sessions #19-26Extras• Session #24 Audio Commentary with Megumi Hayashibara (Faye) and Aoi Tada (Ed)• Cowboy Bebop Session #0• Interview with Wendee Lee (English Voice of Faye Valentine)• Interview with Cartoon Network Producer Sean Atkins• Original Opening Song• Original Closing Song• Original Closing Song Ep. 13• Original Closing Song Ep. 26• Textless Opening Song• Textless Closing Song• Textless Closing Song Ep. 13• Textless Closing Song Ep. 26• U.S. Trailer• Trailers' Michiko & Hatchin' Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine' Black Lagoon' Attack on Titan' Chaos;Head' Code:Breaker' Samurai Champloo' Funimation.comDISC 4 (addl. extras):• Memo from the Bebop: Dub Sessions Remembered• Ein’s Summer Vacation• “Tank!” Full-size Music Clip• “Tank!” Club Remix Music Clip - UK Version• Dinner Aboard the Bebop