Four bounty hunters, one broken-down ship and a soundtrack that never gets old.
Cowboy Bebop first aired in Japan in 1998, and it is still the anime people hand to friends who say they do not watch anime.
The premise – Broke bounty hunters in 2071
Spike Spiegel and Jet Black chase bounties across a solar system humanity has spread into. They rarely get paid, and the people they pick up along the way are just as broke.
Faye Valentine, a gambler with no memory of her past, a teenage hacker called Ed and a very clever dog named Ein end up aboard the Bebop, mostly uninvited.
Why it still works – Every episode is its own song
Director Shinichiro Watanabe makes each episode a different genre: noir one week, western the next, then comedy or horror. Yoko Kanno's music holds it all together.
Her band, the Seatbelts, plays an opening theme that is one of the most recognisable in anime, and it sets the mood in about ten seconds.
The verdict – Twenty-six episodes, no wasted ones
It is short, stylish and grown-up, and it never explains more than it needs to. Watch the 26 episodes, then the 2001 film, Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
Few anime have aged this well. The cars and the phones are old; the loneliness is not.
Where to watch
Streaming catalogues for Cowboy Bebop differ between the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia, and they change from month to month, so check the services you use.
Shop the Cowboy Bebop collection
Liked Cowboy Bebop? This is where it leaves the screen: every Cowboy Bebop design we carry, in one place.
Cowboy Bebop The Killers Vintage Anime Hoodie Double Sided$24.99
Cowboy Bebop Smoke Vintage Anime Oversized T-Shirt$20.99
Cowboy Bebop Asteroid Blues Vintage Anime Oversized Double Sided Graphic T-shirt$22.99
Cowboy Bebop Asteroid Blues Vintage Anime Hoodie Double Sided$24.99
Cowboy Bebop Pulp Fiction Hitmen Vintage Oversized T-Shirt$20.99
Anime & Manga Cowboy Ballad of Fallen Angels Vintage Anime Oversized T-Shirt$20.99
Source: the Anime Crush Anime Guide.
