It's a pity to see this unparalleled work so late. Perhaps it is not too much to call it unprecedented. As the pinnacle of the end of the century, its content is full of content that I have never seen in anime in the past ten years. Different from the more "hard" sci-fi works of "Star Cleaner", the sci-fi element of "Cowboy Bebop" is not to trigger thinking about the future, but to provide a stage for the story. Here, science fiction does not explain the unthinkable, but facilitates the unthinkable. The story mode of each small story is actually set up now. The sci-fi setting gives the story a broader location background, from Venus to Io, and continues the space opera-style background since the Star Wars. The explosion of the space difference gate has weakened government control and justified the profession of bounty hunters. Just like the title of cowboy bebop, the work reproduces the American West in the cowboy era, providing all the seemingly unreasonable and absurd things. A self-contained scene.
There are also many tributes to westerns in the film, Eastwood's coat in the first episode of Red Dead Redemption; Cowboy Andy's character and soundtrack are similar to Morconline's soundtrack; in the theatrical version, jet and old colleagues watched together Western movies. A good story frame provides it with a natural and free narrative unfolding without any abruptness, and the narrative has a lot of space for free play. Like many works in the old era, each episode exists as an independent plot, and the two chapters can also be summed up in it. The form of the unit drama keeps CB in a more routine mode. The level of sophistication of the independent script of each episode is something that I have hardly seen in the animations of the past ten years. In the animations I have watched, only the first few episodes of eva and a few episodes of Ghost in the Shell can be compared with them. comparable. But cb is basically the quality of every word is so perfect... This is incomparable to the same great works I have listed. It is also because of the independent story of each chapter's independent narrative, CB's narrative is both complete and incomplete. The extremely fleshed-out content and fast-paced narrative of each episode, combined with the witty development, makes each episode entertaining while maintaining its integrity. If I have to say that there is a fly in the ointment, it is due to the limitation of the form of TV, and the development of a few words to the back of the story is a little hasty, and I always feel that something is missing. In a more routine mode like CB, there is no main line, the past of the four people exists as a clue, and there is no priority. The longest spike is only 5 words, and it does not promote the plot. (Personally, I think the only thing that really drives the plot is to find the three episodes of the rest of the members except jet and spike) In fact, everyone's past is divided, and everyone has no relationship with everyone's past, and even one person explores the past The process is not coherent throughout the episode. Being a dark line isn't even enough. Taking the line of spike as an example, I have always been confused about the organization that spike has been in, until the villain seized power in the end. The character of the white-haired villain has only temperament but no logic. It is difficult to see the reason for his behavior from the play alone.
Personally, I actually think that such a defect is actually insignificant for such a work and cannot be made up for. Unit narrative and linear narrative have a fundamental contradiction that cannot be reconciled. It is precisely because of the large scope of the daily narrative and story background that CB has the opportunity to shape a world that is full and distinct.
Personally, this ending belongs to spike alone, not to anyone else in bepop. At the end of the TV, Spike accepted his destiny, leaving the audience with an open ending, and the follow-up of others could not be explained before the departure of Spike. For the writer's preference, I still feel a little pity for other people.
The way to end the story is actually very interesting. After Julia was forcibly killed by the plot, the spike who lived in the second half of the 21st century broke into the headquarters in the same way as Chow Yun-fat in the 20th century and defeated him in the duel of the villain. . The final ending abandons the sense of science fiction, instead it is filled with the violent aesthetics of John Woo, but a return to tradition. CB just tells a very "retro" and very 20th century story in a science fiction coat. Directly throw away the form of science fiction.
If you compare CB with the works of the same era that can be called masterpieces, eva’s obscure content and theological metaphors, and the complex social psychology and politics of attacking the shell are equally complicated and difficult, CB is actually regarded as the one with the lowest viewing threshold. , such a witty but occasionally serious style is also one of the most interesting to watch. (Of course I am not accusing the other two works by this)
If the other two works are epoch-making works (especially eva), then CB can be regarded as a summary of an old era. The soundtrack is full of jazz, and the scene is retro and with a hint of wasteland. One can always find other shadows of the twentieth century, whether there is a tribute to the alien, or the one that turns humans into a monkey virus, reminiscent of the Planet of the Apes. Looking at it now, it is appropriate to call it a work of tribute and nostalgia. People always miss a bygone era, and a golden era representing Japanese animation has passed. Although CB was not the final glory of that golden age, it was the pinnacle of the age, the final song at the end of the century. It is also one of the most representative works of that era. In the end, I'm actually lucky to see this work so late that almost no other work can match it. This also means that my personal baseline for animation will be further improved... Tastes are more critical. For works that have almost reached the ceiling, I think it is better to watch them later.
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