Cowboy Bebop "Asteroid Blues," "Stray Dog Strut," "Honky Tonk Women," "Gateway Shuffle," "Ballad of Fallen Angels," Sympathy for the Devil"
Holy shit. I love this show. Good Christ, I f**king
love this show. A sci-fi space Western tech-noir anime, of course I f**king love it! I had planned on just watching one or two of the Sessions, but once I started, I just couldn't stop. I just kept thinking "one more, one more!", going through to the next episode, starting it up, hearing and seeing that motherf**king awesome intro, before starting in on another half-hour long compact story.
The main draw, I think, are the characters; funny and nuanced, with light sides and dark, both of which get explored throughout the few episodes I've seen. I just love watching these people interact with each other. It's like
Firefly but with less people and a better soundtrack (I'll get to that later). Actually,
Firefly is a fantastic comparison to this. The two shows feel very much of the same vein.
The art and direction is just beautiful; cityscapes reminiscent of
Blade Runner; spacecraft that are rugged or sleek, lived-in or brand new, massive space-cities or tiny celestial canoes; character animations that are fluid and real, while still being stylized and unique; and finally, the action scenes. Good Christ, the action scenes. They're wonderful. It's like something out of a John Woo film; fast a chaotic, yet still easily followed and entertaining as all hell. The standout sequence for me, direction-wise, was in "Ballad of Fallen Angels." A slow montage with no dialogue, many different shots intercut from year apart, yet perfectly conveying a story of friendship turned to hate, completely capturing the emotions of something like that in a brief two-minute clip. Fantastic.
And then, the music. My Gods, the music kicks unparalleled amounts of ass. The theme song is just... I can't describe how badass it truly is. Hell, that song alone was a huge part of me deciding to watch this series, and the music in the sessions themselves is equally as good. Bluesy and jazzy and funky and just generally sex in my ears.
In closing, all I have to say is this:
Spoiler
