Review for Cowboy Bebop Collectors Edition Part 2

Introduction

Cowboy Bebop on Blu-ray! I still can’t quite get my head around how cool that is, how brilliant that we are getting it first! In the interim between the first volume and this, the US company Funimation has finally announced that they are going to release it as well, but still, getting it first in the UK is well... cool. You may notice that this second instalment has been delayed, which I suppose might bug the ‘want it now’ generation, but this time All the Anime want to get the release right, get it as perfect as possible. They’ve taken on board some of the feedback that people gave about the first set, and fixed a few issues. When they noticed a problem with the video, they delayed the release by two weeks to fix it. Actually it’s become a bit of a litany from them. The DVD release of Cowboy Bebop has also been delayed until November to fix an issue with its video. Outlaw Star was pushed back to November as well because of issues with the materials. The forthcoming Makoto Shinkai collection was delayed when they got the rights to Garden of Words, and rather than release it separately (it is a short film), they decided to wait and make the collection even better value. You may think that delays are a bad thing, but given years of DVD and Blu-ray releases with minor glitches and technical issues, this desire for perfection, for getting things right first time, is just what the UK anime industry needs.


Incidentally, a minor video glitch did get through on the first release of Cowboy Bebop Part 1 on Blu-ray, but All the Anime will correct it for the second print run, and anyone inconvenienced by the error (It is a minor glitch that lasts four frames) will be able to request a replacement at that time.

It’s the year 2071, and mankind has colonised the solar system, terraforming worlds and moons, and establishing space stations, spreading out across the heavens. Travel is made easy by means of warp gates connecting the various worlds, but a catastrophe means that Earth has been left marginalized, a dumping ground for people that can’t get offworld, and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It also means that policing the solar system is a tough prospect. This is where the bounty hunters come in, 300,000 of them, trying to make a living by bringing fugitives to justice. One such group of Cowboys are the crew of the spaceship Bebop. Faye Valentine, hacker Ed, and datadog Ein join Spike Spiegel and Jet Black in their never ending quest to earn enough money to keep their stomachs from growling. The concluding 13 episodes of Cowboy Bebop are presented across two BD50 discs, as well as an extra feature seen for the first time in the West.


Disc 1

Session 14. Bohemian Rhapsody
Attacks on the Gates are increasing, with someone hacking into the toll system, and cleaning the credit cards of anyone paying a toll. Faye insists that she, Spike and Jet go their separate ways to track down the culprits, but all they get are the minions, not the mastermind. The only clues they find are a handful of chess pieces. It’s a good thing that Ed has taken up chess.

Session 15. My Funny Valentine
Once upon a time, there was a young girl who was left in cryosleep for 60 years, while the world around her changed. When she was revived, she had no memory of her past life, except what the doctor told her, and all he knew was her name, Faye Valentine. He also told her that the revival and healing service cost 300 million woolongs. She could never pay that in her wildest dreams, but it was fortunate that she had a handsome lawyer named Whitney to argue her case and get her acquainted with the future world. Naturally the two began to get close, until the day the insurance company showed up demanding its money. Faye and the lawyer went on the run, and he boldly sacrificed his life to save her. Then one day, aboard the Bebop, Jet captures a two-bit criminal, a fat man with a familiar face…


Session 16. Black Dog Serenade
There’s trouble on the Jupiter Pluto route, when prisoners take control of a prison ship, and slaughter the crew. First among killers is former mafia assassin Udai, who is taking particular pleasure in despatching anyone who gets in his way. Not long after, Jet gets a call from his old partner from the ISSP, Fad. Udai was the man who cost Jet his arm, and that missing arm must be calling for retribution about now.

Session 17. Mushroom Samba
Food is scarce again aboard the Bebop, as is fuel, and they wind up crashing in the middle of nowhere on Io. Faye’s dealing with food poisoning after stealing the emergency rations (which had expired a year ago), Jet and Spike are working on the ship, and so Ed gets sent out to find food. Shame they crashed in the middle of a desert. But there’s a fugitive on the run on Io, selling hallucinogenic mushrooms. If Ed can earn her spurs as a bounty hunter, maybe the crew of the Bebop will stop their stomachs from rumbling.


Session 18. Speak Like A Child
Faye has a hard day at the races, and comes back to the Bebop to find that someone has delivered a package to her, C.O.D. Seeing as she now owes Jet for the package, on top of her already substantial debts, she decides to opt for discretion. That leaves Jet and Spike out of pocket, and in possession of what looks like a Betamax tape. Thinking that they can at least get the delivery costs back, they take it to an antique electronics fiend to see what’s recorded on it. They catch a glimpse of a young girl before the player eats the tape, and Spike kicks the player to death. Now intrigued by the image, they need another player, but the only such device now exists in the ruins of Tokyo on Earth.

Session 19. Wild Horses
The crew of the Bebop are hunting Space Pirates. These particular miscreants attack their targets by infecting their computers with a virus, rendering them prone to capture. It also means that the valiant crew of the Bebop are defenceless when their own ships are compromised. They could really use Spike’s help; only he’s planetside getting his plane overhauled by the engineer that built it. Doohan is an engineer of the old school, a perfectionist who loves old machinery, and quickly runs through assistants by demanding the same standards. Then he gets a suspiciously cheap spare part from the same pirates that Jet and Faye are hunting.


Session 20. Pierrot Le Fou
A menacing fat clown in a top hat, carrying a walking stick is raging through the city, assassinating public figures. When Spike is a witness to the latest murder, the clown turns on him and Spike winds up swathed in bandages, recovering on the Bebop. It’s a mixed fortune, as while he survived the attack, the assassin known as Mad Pierrot has a reputation of never leaving anyone alive. It’s become personal, and he invites Spike to a showdown in an abandoned theme park. Only this assassin has a sinister origin.

Disc 2

Session 21. Boogie Woogie Feng Shui
It’s a hot day on Mars when Jet gets an e-mail from an old friend. He’s a little late in looking Pao up though, as he’s been dead three days. Paying his last respects, he runs into Pao’s daughter Meifa, just before some gangsters show up and open fire on them both. Pao was a Feng Shui Master, and the e-mail holds a clue to the location of the Sun Stone, a mystical artefact that Meifa is looking for.


Session 22. Cowboy Funk
Hot on the trail of the Teddy Bear Bomber, Spike learns that there are only two bounty hunters to strike fear into the hearts of miscreants the solar system over, Spike and Andy. Andy? Just when Spike has the Teddy Bear Bomber cornered in an office building, the window shatters, and a cowboy with horse makes an entrance. Andy has arrived, and he’s here for the bounty on the bomber and he has his target in his sights. It’s just a shame that he’s aiming at Spike.

Session 23. Brain Scratch
There is a new cult in town, offering technological nirvana and an escape from worldly desires, by uploading its adherents’ souls onto the Net. Cult leader Dr Londes weaves his magic through his evangelical broadcasts, but remains an elusive figure in real life. No wonder really, as he’s wanted for murder, and has a massive bounty on his head. When Faye goes missing, it’s a toss-up as to whether she is after the bounty, or sees a chance to escape her debts by shedding her mortal shell.


Session 24. Hard Luck Woman
Faye has finally built up the nerve to rediscover her past. The trouble is that her past is on Earth, and Earth is a wreck, unrecognisable from the world that she left all those years ago. When she is looking for clues from the Betamax tape, Ed wanders in and happens to recognise a landmark. Ed has her own reasons to go back to Earth though, as her past is looking for her as well.

Session 25. The Real Folk Blues (Part I)
Session 26. The Real Folk Blues (Part II)
When Vicious attempts a takeover of the Red Dragon mafia group, and fails, it sets into motion a series of events that impacts on the crew of the Bebop. Vicious is imprisoned, sentenced to death, and in their paranoia, the heads of Red Dragon turn against all those who once worked for them, and left. That includes Spike Spiegel, and Jet pays the price when he and Spike wind up ducking bullets during an assassination attempt. Meanwhile, Faye runs into a blonde woman running from a bunch of gunmen. Her name is Julia, and she has a message for Spike.

Picture

I’ll just point you to my review of the first collection at this juncture, as my opinion of the sound and video hasn’t changed with this collection. The 4:3 pillarboxed transfer at 1080i 60 Hz resolution is as good as you’ll probably ever see this show. The image is clear and sharp, and the show looks gorgeous. The only way it could be any better is if it was somehow presented as progressive 1080p, but the CG elements in the show preclude that option, as they were animated as interlaced, and at a lower resolution, and as such are the sole up-scaled elements in the show.


It turns out that I spoke too soon when it came to screening out the bugs, as I did spot a couple more glitched frames during playback. They’re in episode 19, with one glitched frame at 10:45, and two glitched frames at 14:13. I gnashed my teeth and had a grumble, until I remembered to my chagrin that I had missed the four glitched frames in episode 2 of the first set, and I had watched that episode twice. Nevertheless I am informed that All the Anime are aware of the issue and are addressing it.

Sound

No glitches here, just amazing DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround English and Japanese audio. Brilliant Japanese voice actor performances, one of the best, if not the best ever English dub ever put to anime, Yoko Kanno’s sublime music, and dynamic use of the soundstage to immerse you in the action with a grin on your face; it’s the best way to partake of Cowboy Bebop.

One thing that hasn’t changed in this collection is that the ellipsis followed by question mark/exclamation mark glitch is still there. It’s an error in transcribing the subtitles from the Bandai release, and in this collection it’s only noticeable once during episode 24, where Jet should leave a question hanging, but the necessary ellipsis before the question mark is erased.


One thing that has changed for this release, and not for the better, is the introduction of locked subtitles. Part 1 gave you full access to the audio and subtitles via the menu, and with your remote control. Part 2 stops you from accessing these options with your remote control, and now if you select the Japanese audio track, then the translated subtitles are locked on by default. Given that this is a Region B release, and that reverse importation shouldn’t be a concern, it’s confusing as to why this was done. On the bright side, if you choose the English audio, then you can choose between English subtitles, signs only or no subtitle stream at all.

Extras

That’s a smidge of bad news about the locked subtitles, but to make up for it, there’s a smidge of good news as well, as All The Anime have taken aboard some of the feedback regarding the first set, and have improved the chaptering to the episodes. There are now chapter points after the opening credits, and prior to the end credits as well as the mid episode point. You can skip credit sequences should you wish, although there’s still no chapter point at the next episode preview, and you can’t skip to the next episode, you’ll still have to use the popup menu for that.

While I was reviewing the check discs so kindly supplied by All the Anime, my own retail copy arrived, and I got to look at the goodies within. It’s all packaged in a thick, chipboard box, with Ed and Ein silhouetted on the front, and blurb and screengrabs on the back (needs a bit of quality control as there was a bit of staining on the front of my box down to a printing error). Inside, you’ll find a video-tape looking digipack, which folds out to allow access to the two Blu-ray discs.


Also inside is the glossy art booklet, The World of Cowboy Bebop: The Vehicles, which offers 40 pages of line art featuring the space-ships, vehicles and technology in the show. It’s a useful addition, but as in the booklet with the first collection, the print quality is hampered a bit by the way that the images have been scaled to fit the page. Colour images would have been nice...

The discs present their content with animated menu screens, and everything is clearly labelled and straightforward to use.


Disc 1

The sole new extra feature with this collection is the Ein’s Summer Holiday short. It lasts just over a minute and is presented in 1.78:1 1080p widescreen. It’s a small, dialogue free story that’s presented as an image slideshow, a bit of fun and a nice, previously unseen addition to the set, but it is pretty ephemeral.

Episode 17 gets a commentary from director Shinichiro Watanabe, and composer Yoko Kanno. It’s heavily weighted to the light and frivolous, but manages to be informative and a joy to listen to (well, read) as well.


Disc 2

Megumi Hayashibara (Faye) and Aoi Tada (Ed) meet on the commentary track for episode 24. It’s a general conversation about their experiences on the show, and there are some pleasant anecdotes to listen to.

Once again, we miss out on the CN video extras from the Bandai set, although there weren’t any in the second half of that series. There was a Japanese promo piece called Session 0, which had 20 minutes of documentary and 10 minutes of music video. You’ll find the music videos on Part 1 of the Blu-ray, but the 20 minute documentary isn’t in this Blu-ray collection (neither was it on the Japanese Blu-ray release), so I find that I still have to hold onto my DVDs as well as these Blu-rays.

Conclusion

I think I blew my enthusiastic fervour on the review for Part 1, as everything I wrote in the review for the first thirteen episodes on Blu-ray, is just as valid for the final thirteen episodes as well. Can you feel the glee and passion I feel for this series with a simple ditto? One of the best television shows around looks absolutely stunning on Blu-ray, and you shouldn’t hesitate in picking this show up. It’s already pride of place in my collection, and I can see it getting a fair few re-watches in the coming months and years. Cowboy Bebop gets a whole new lease of life in high definition, and it’s almost like watching the show for the first time.


However, a review wouldn’t be fair and balanced without a little criticism, and if I do have one problem, it’s with the Cowboy Bebop movie. Up till now, when I got to episode 23, I would pause the series, and take a day out to watch the Cowboy Bebop feature film. Alas Sony are sitting on the rights to the movie and have made no mention of releasing it on Blu-ray in the UK (although there is a rather lacklustre Region A locked Blu-ray in the US). Watching the UK DVD of the movie is now a dispiriting low resolution experience compared to the Blu-rays, and it’s one that I chose to avoid this time.


Once more you get brilliant storytelling, amazing characterisations, and Yoko Kanno’s divine soundtrack, coupled with immersive world-building and stunning animation. Cowboy Bebop refuses to put a foot wrong, and with this collection it once more becomes apparent that it really is 26 slices of awesomeness, mixing and matching styles and genres with abandon. With each episode, I’m firmly convinced that it is my favourite of the whole series, until I see the next one. That’s a process that continues right the way up to episode 26, which is firmly not my favourite episode, as it makes clear that there can be no more Cowboy Bebop thereafter. Of course there could be prequels, or like the movie, stories that take place between the episodes, but I think for once the creators decided, just as with John Cleese and Fawlty Towers, to not waste the effort in attempting the impossible, recapturing lightning and bottling it.


While the stories are episodic in this half, there is also a sense of closure to the character arcs, with the way that their stories play out. We learn more of their pasts, and they come to terms with how they have been shaped by those pasts. The strongest of those arcs is Faye’s as My Funny Valentine, Speak Like a Child, and Hard Luck Woman follow her as she rediscovers her past. Two of these episodes also reveal the writers’ skill in delivering comedies that turn on a dime into heartbreaking pathos.


Then there are the out and out comedies, stories like Mushroom Samba, which is a much appreciated Ed-centred episode, and of course the downright absurd Cowboy Funk, which features Spike’s ultimate rival, Andy? It’s this episode that this time reminded me of the brilliance of re-watching episodes for learning something new. For the first time I caught a Lucky Luke reference that I had missed the first eight or so times around. These episodes are so rich in narrative, art, and references that the re-watch value is incalculable.


There are also the action adventures, rip-roaring thrill rides like Wild Horses and Boogie Woogie Feng Shui, episodes that delight in their light touch and summer blockbuster feel. Of course Cowboy Bebop can take a walk on the wild side as well, with the warped perceptions of Brain Scratch, while when it comes to sheer atmosphere and striking visuals, Pierrot Le Fou may just be one of the best animated 20 minutes of all. Finally there are the action thrillers, elements of film noir fused with genuine character drama, which in Black Dog Serenade resolve some of Jet’s issues with his past, and of course the thrilling conclusion to it all, The Real Folk Blues, where Spike comes face to face with his real ultimate rival, Vicious, and learns that he can’t outrun his past.


Of course you probably already know all this, as Cowboy Bebop is no hidden gem of anime. It is often touted as the best that anime has to offer, and justifiably so. For those of you still nursing those old Beez and Bandai DVDs, and who are yet to upgrade to HD, surely this release is reason enough to do so. But if you are still reluctant, All the Anime are re-releasing Cowboy Bebop on DVD next month, taking advantage of the cleaned up visuals used for this Blu-ray release, which will no doubt enhance your standard resolution viewing experience no end.