50 Fun Facts About Cowboy Bebop

In what year is Cowboy Bebop set?

It is roughly fifty years after a hyperspace-gate accident left Earth nearly uninhabitable and pushed humanity out to the rest of the Solar System.

How many episodes, or 'sessions,' does the original Cowboy Bebop series have?

Watanabe planned the ending from the start and refused to let the show become a Star Trek-style long-runner he would be tied to for years.

Which crime organization was Spike Spiegel a hitman for before he faked his death?

Vicious later stages a coup and takes the syndicate over, which is what sets up the final confrontation on its top floor.

What does the ISSP, the authority that licenses the show's bounty hunters, stand for?

The ISSP's contract system pays registered 'Cowboys' to bring criminals in alive, which is why the Bebop crew so often ends up broke when a bounty dies.

What breed of dog is Ein?

Character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto based Ein on a friend's corgi and then bought one himself to use as a motion model.

How did Faye Valentine end up in her situation, decades out of her own time?

She spent 54 years in suspended animation, woke with total amnesia and a crushing debt, and is really about 77 years old despite looking 22.

Which of Jet Black's body parts is cybernetic?

It is later revealed the metal arm was his own choice; biological replacements existed, but Jet kept it as a reminder of his past.

Which of Spike's body parts is artificial, a flaw Watanabe insisted on giving him?

Watanabe originally wanted Spike in an eyepatch, but the producers vetoed it. Spike claims he lost the eye in an accident and may not remember the surgery.

Jet Black is a former cop from which moon?

He was known there as the 'Black Dog' for his tenacity, and the streets of Ganymede in the show were modeled on a modern port city.

What is the name of Spike's personal ship, a converted asteroid racer?

Mecha designer Kimitoshi Yamane named it after the Fairey Swordfish, a British biplane torpedo bomber he admired.

What is Faye Valentine's ship called?

Faye can hold her own against Spike in a dogfight in it, though the show makes clear Spike is ultimately the better pilot.

The Bebop itself is a converted version of what kind of vessel?

Both the Bebop and Jet's smaller Hammerhead can land on water and share a fishing theme; Jet named the ship after the jazz style he loves.

Which real martial art, and which real martial artist's philosophy, does Spike follow?

Spike's 'be like water' speech in 'Waltz for Venus' is lifted straight from Lee, and the show also pastiches John Woo films.

What is Spike's handgun of choice throughout the series?

Watanabe chose the show's guns himself with the mechanical designers, specifically avoiding common firearms because they 'wouldn't be very interesting.'

What is Radical Ed's full name?

Ed is a girl, a hacker prodigy from Earth, and her behavior was modeled on someone the director had just met.

Which real person's behavior was the model for Edward's eccentric antics?

Ed and Ein were the only two main characters with real-life models; Watanabe based Ed on Kanno's behavior when he first met her.

What kind of animal is usually perched on Vicious's shoulder?

The bird's croak is one of the show's creepiest recurring sounds; Vicious himself carries a katana in a world full of guns.

How did Vicious try to get rid of Spike when Spike planned to leave the syndicate with his lover?

Julia went into hiding instead, and Spike faked his own death, which is why the two do not reunite until the final sessions.

In the finale, what does Spike see when he looks up at the sky after killing Vicious?

He then walks down the syndicate's staircase into the sunrise and collapses in front of the remaining gangsters, presumably dead — an ending Watanabe planned from the start.

Which classic anime did Watanabe cite as his main inspiration for Cowboy Bebop?

Specifically the first Lupin III series; critics have noted the Bebop crew superficially mirror Lupin's gang, only with far more troubled pasts.

Which British band's song 'Space Cowboy' inspired co-writer Keiko Nobumoto?

The acid-jazz connection fits: the show's opening title card promised 'a new genre unto itself,' a tagline Watanabe later admitted was an exaggeration.

Which company's toy division was the original sponsor of Cowboy Bebop, before it pulled out?

Watanabe's only instruction was 'so long as there's a spaceship in it, you can do whatever you want.' Sister company Bandai Visual rescued the show from development hell.

Which two real cities mainly inspired the look of the show's urban settings?

Watanabe wanted a world that was 'multinational rather than stateless,' and he deliberately had the United States destroyed decades before the story begins.

Which planet was used most for the show's storylines because the others were 'unexpectedly difficult'?

Setting producer Satoshi Toba said even the finale's rooftop scene could not be staged on Venus, so the staff 'ended up normally falling back to Mars.'

What is the name of the band Yoko Kanno formed to perform the Cowboy Bebop music?

Kanno's music was written before most of the story or animation was finalized, and Watanabe said her tracks inspired him to create new scenes.

What is the title of the show's big-band opening theme?

It is mostly instrumental with a spoken intro by Tim Jensen; figure skater Kevin Reynolds once skated to it at Canadian nationals dressed as Spike.

Who sings 'The Real Folk Blues,' the show's ending theme?

The title nods to a series of 1960s Chess Records blues albums; a charity remake featuring cameos from the English voice cast raised money for COVID relief in 2020.

Who voices Spike Spiegel in the original Japanese version?

Yamadera is also Togusa in Ghost in the Shell and Kaji in Evangelion; Unsho Ishizuka voices Jet.

Which American voice actor plays Spike in the celebrated English dub?

Blum's deep voice also belongs to Amon in The Legend of Korra, Starscream in Transformers: Prime and Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat.

Which voice actress won the Anime Grand Prix voice award two years running as Faye Valentine?

Hayashibara described Faye as initially an 'ugly' woman defined by liveliness and sensuality; the show also won best male character for Spike both years.

Why did TV Tokyo air only a handful of episodes during the first run in 1998?

Only episodes 2, 3, 7–15, 18 and a special aired at first; satellite network Wowow later showed the whole series from October 1998.

Which was the first non-Asian country to broadcast Cowboy Bebop, in October 1999?

It launched MTV Italy's Anime Night block, nearly two years before American viewers saw it on late-night Cartoon Network.

Cowboy Bebop was the first anime shown on which Cartoon Network block on September 2, 2001?

Episodes 6, 8 and 22 were skipped in that first run because of their violent content so soon after the September 11 attacks.

What is the Japanese subtitle of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)?

The film slots in between episodes 22 and 23 of the series and reunited the entire Japanese and English voice casts.

In Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, who threatens to wipe out Mars with a nanomachine virus?

Vincent is a soldier believed killed on Titan; Watanabe partly modeled him on actor Vincent Gallo.

How large is the bounty the Martian government puts on the movie's terrorist?

The crew is unusually motivated for once. The plot hinges on giant jack-o'-lantern balloons full of nanomachines timed for a Halloween parade.

Which country did Watanabe travel to for research on the movie's Arabic-influenced aesthetic?

The Arabic elements also crept into Yoko Kanno's score for the film, which was co-produced by three studios rather than Sunrise alone.

Which studio, founded by former Sunrise staff, co-produced Cowboy Bebop: The Movie?

Bones was started in 1998 by producer Masahiko Minami, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto and Hiroshi Osaka, and went on to make Fullmetal Alchemist.

Which Hollywood star was attached to play Spike in a long-stalled live-action film announced in 2008?

20th Century Fox's project sank into development hell over budget; asked about it in 2014, Watanabe said only that there were 'a lot of Hollywood problems.'

Who played Spike Spiegel in Netflix's 2021 live-action Cowboy Bebop?

A knee injury Cho suffered in October 2019 shut down production in New Zealand for more than six months.

Who played Jet Black in the Netflix live-action series?

Daniella Pineda was Faye, Alex Hassell was Vicious and Elena Satine was Julia. Netflix cancelled the show on December 9, 2021, less than a month after release.

How long did the Netflix live-action Cowboy Bebop last before cancellation?

It premiered on November 19, 2021 to mixed-to-negative reviews and was axed on December 9, leaving its story on a cliffhanger.

Which 2004 series, mixing Edo-period Japan with hip-hop, was Watanabe's next show after Cowboy Bebop?

Watanabe had co-directed Macross Plus before Bebop, which was his first project as a solo director.

In a 2004 Newtype USA readers' poll of the top 25 anime, Cowboy Bebop finished second behind which series?

Bebop also ranked second to Evangelion on IGN's top animated series and top sci-fi shows lists, and Anime Insider put it at number one in 2007.

Which video game franchise added Cowboy Bebop skins in 2024, followed by Fortnite in 2025?

The show also joined the mecha crossover Super Robot Wars T in 2022, its first video-game appearance since a cancelled PS2 title.

What are the names of the hosts of 'Big Shot,' the in-universe TV show for bounty hunters?

The cowboy-costumed duo announce each week's bounties in mangled English and Spanish; the show is cancelled near the end of the series.

Which Western figure was Faye compared to when she was first introduced, to emphasize her situation?

Faye debuts as a card sharp in a casino, and Poker Alice was a famous frontier gambler — the comparison sets up her hustler persona.

Which of these hobbies does Jet Black cultivate aboard the Bebop?

Jet also cooks, loves Charlie Parker and reads Goethe, and named the ship after his favorite style of jazz.

Under what collective pseudonym are Cowboy Bebop's core creative team credited?

The billing covers director Shinichirō Watanabe, writer Keiko Nobumoto, designers Toshihiro Kawamoto and Kimitoshi Yamane, and composer Yoko Kanno.

Which satellite network aired the full Cowboy Bebop series in Japan from October 1998 to April 1999?

TV Tokyo's truncated first run had shown only episodes 2, 3, 7 to 15, 18 and a special.