Story
The story of Cowboy Bebop focuses around a bounty hunter named Spike Spiegel and his partner Jet Black. The story takes place in the future year of 2071; complete with space ships and Mars colonies. You could compare the setting to that of Outlaw Star if you need a visual, but the artwork combines two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional animation. Much as I may be wrong in my assumption, the way the openings and musical scores are attributed seems as though the series is parodying 1970s television shows such as The Green Hornet or Cagney and Lacey. Don't let this stray you away from Cowboy Bebop, read on and you'll see why this anime is amazing.

Packaging
Unlike FUNimation, screenshots are not used by Bandai on their DVDs but rather a silhouette type drawing of Spike doing a roundhouse-type kick with another person in the background. The top of the cover contains the title and a 1 to signify this is the first volume. The back cover is something of greatness. Instead of screenshots with episode summaries, the back contains summary of the story, biographies, and a episode listing. Very nice. However, in small letters at the very bottom of the back-cover is where you will find "Dual-Language DVD" written. Not the best place for this important message. The DVD contains 5 episodes making this volume worth $30. Within the DVD casing we are given an extra. Screenshots with text of the show name and episode titles are displayed along with an episode summary and an episode chapter selection list. Very nice.

Menus
I wasn't impressed by the menu of Cowboy Bebop nor was I disappointed. A computer-like window opens revealing your options with the japanese/english opening theme playing (which I didn't quite enjoy as I did with some of the other musical scores of the show). Navigation is simple enough and the menu is not just a plain image but rather short scenes from the episodes.

English
A utterly flawless dub in respect to the Japanese version. I could not find one voice that disgusted me, not even the very minor characters that you see only once. The musical score is the same as the Japanese and as stated before, the voice actors are superb. There are very few changes in the dialogue but the changes do not take away from the story. In one instance, Jet states that the beef on a planet is great, however in the dub he says "Out of this world." Not a huge change nor one that makes you sick.

Japanese
As in all Japanese animes, the Japanese versions are always perfect when compared to their English counterparts. Flaws did appear on this version as some of the subtitles seemed incorrect at times and the subtitles themselves are a plain yellow color, making the words difficult to see at some small instances.

Extras
Though the extras were in a way commercials for other animes by being trailers, they were still well done. The narrator sounded like a normal guy, unlike in DBZ where Chris Sabat stresses certain words to make "World of Dragon Ball" seem more exciting than it really is. Also contained on the DVD is a well made music video with "Tank" (the opening theme) playing. I didn't like this music too much, but the video itself was cool. The character profiles contain the profile of the four main characters along with some cool scenes showing the character's personalities. These are some really cool extras and a step up from extras I have seen on other anime dvds.

Final Thoughts
Not knowing anything about Cowboy Bebop, I put the DVD in with a complete ignorance towards anything wrong or right about the series. I found myself gagging from the opening but once the show itself started, I got really into this series. Cowboy Bebop is an incredible series that I look forward to finishing. Later minna!

© Eric.