PopMatters explores some of the themes lurking in of my favorite anime series:
The animated series Cowboy Bebop is a blend of classic film noir motifs mixed into a futuristic setting that reverses the roles of gender and character. Consisting of a concise 26 episodes and one movie that doesn’t drag out the story, the show managed to raise the bar for not only anime, but television in general. Taking the stereotypes from film noir and paralleling the story of (Jacques Tourneur’s) Out of the Past, it bends the noir formulas of the film so that sometimes the man is fulfilling the femme fatale’s role and the woman is the doomed protagonist. It blends the formulas of both noir and anime as it takes the crooked partner story and mixes it with the classic anime buddy formula. The gloomy poetry of men walking into certain death is combined with Eastern philosophy over a backdrop of country music and Bebop jazz.
Note: The article contains several major spoilers if you haven’t already seen the series or the movie.