You Haven’t Really Seen Cowboy Bebop Until You've Watched Its Sequels: Here's Why

1 day ago 2

Evan Mullicane is the senior editor and founder of Screen Rant's anime section. Having started as a writer for the Comics Team at the beginning of the Pandemic, Evan was swiftly promoted from writer to editor, and then from editor to lead of Screen Rant's newly established anime vertical.

Throughout his time with Screen Rant, Evan has made a handful of appearances at conventions such as Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, and has interviewed some of the biggest names in Anime and Comics history.

In addition to editing anime and manga articles for Screen Rant, Evan is also a science fiction and fantasy author. In 2018 and 2019, his short story "The Demon's Mother" won honorable mentions from the Writers of the Future contest.

You can find Evan on Twitter @EvanDM and BlueSky @evandmu.bsky.socia

Though Cowboy Bebop might rank among the most recognizable '90s anime, it's not exactly an optimistic series. The anime's vision of 2071 is far from a hellscape, but it isn't exactly heaven either.

The future imagined by Cowboy Bebop was relevant when it was released, and appears to have only grown more relevant as the real world marches closer to 2071. In addition to contemporary issues like wealth inequality, organized crime, and environmental concerns, Bebop also seems to have predicted problems like the gig economy.

Despite all of its many dark elements and its ambiguous ending, however, Cowboy Bebop is secretly far more hopeful than most fans would assume. The key to unlocking hope for Bebop's future isn't found in the series itself, but instead comes from the series' two secret sequels.

Bebop's Two Sequels Prove There Is Hope For The Future

Spike Spiegel taking a drag from his cigarette in Cowboy Bebop

Though the connection isn't initially clear, Cowboy Bebop technically has two sequel series in Space Dandy and Carole & Tuesday. All three series were created by legendary anime director Shinichiro Watanabe and share a universe with Samurai Champloo.

Carole & Tuesday actually takes place only a little bit after Bebop. While Bebop takes place in 2071, fans estimate that Carole & Tuesday takes place in the late 2070s. The series is set on the same terraformed Mars seen in Bebop and is focused on a pair of girls trying to make it in the music industry.

While Carole & Tuesday's depiction of Mars does have many systemic problems, the tone of the series is far more optimistic. Despite the many issues facing the future in Carole & Tuesday, there is still a sense of hope that the series' two title heroines embody well.

What's even more encouraging than Carole & Tuesday, however, is the far future shown by Space Dandy.

Space Dandy Proves That Humanity Survives Far Into the Future

It's easy to see how Carole & Tuesday and Samurai Champloo fit into the Cowboy Bebop extended universe. All three anime series, while having many ridiculous elements, are relatively grounded and have a focus on music that connects them.

Space Dandy, on the other hand, is set in such a far-flung future that interstellar travel is positively mundane. Humanity has successfully integrated with aliens, and though the future is far from a utopia, it lacks many of the universal systemic problems plaguing Bebop and many of Watanabe's other series.

In addition to all this, Space Dandy tackles the concept of multiverses and other dimensions. This means that there is always reason for hope, as even if one version of humanity is in dire straits, there's always an infinite number of other versions living a relatively calm and stable life.

Despite many similarities between Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy, the latter's strange and truly alien future makes it a marked outlier from its kin.

Fans might feel a sense of despair in watching Cowboy Bebop, but only in watching the series' entire extended universe does it become clear that these are ultimately stories about finding hope and fighting for a better (and weirder) future.