Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 Japanese animeseries developed by Sunrise. It featured a production team led by directorShinichirō Watanabe, screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto, character designerToshihiro Kawamoto, mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane, and composerYoko Kanno. The twenty-six episodes (sessions) of the series are set in the year 2071. It follows the adventures, misadventures and tragedies of a bounty hunter crew travelling on the Bebop, their spaceship. Cowboy Bebop explores philosophical concepts including existentialism, existential ennui, loneliness, and the past's influence.

  The series premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo's 18:00 timeslot originally occupied by Kodomo no Omocha, from April 3 until June 26, 1998, broadcasting only twelve episodes and a special due to its controversial adult-themed content. The entire twenty-six episodes of the series were later broadcast on WOWOW from October 23 until April 23, 1999. The anime was adapted into two manga series which were serialized in Kadokawa Shoten'sAsuka Fantasy DX. A film was later released to theaters worldwide.

The anime series was dubbed in the English language by Animaze and ZRO Limit Productions, and was licensed by Bandai Entertainment in North America and is now licensed by Funimation. For English releases in the United Kingdom, it was licensed by Beez Entertainment and is now licensed by Anime Limited. Madman Entertainment has licensed it for releases in Australia and New Zealand. In 2001, Cowboy Bebop became the first anime title to be broadcast on Adult Swim in the United States.

Cowboy Bebop became a critical and commercial success both in Japanese and international markets, most notably in the United States. The series garnered several major anime and science fiction awards from Japanese publications, and received universal praise for its style, characters, story, voice acting, animation and soundtrack. In the years since its release, critics and reviewers, from the United States in particular, have hailed Cowboy Bebop as a masterpiece and frequently cite it as one of the greatest anime series of all time. Credited with helping introduce anime to a new wave of Western viewers in the early 2000s, Cowboy Bebop has also been labelled a gateway series for the medium as a whole.

 

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  The story begins with the introduction of protagonist Spike Spiegel, an exiled former hitman of the criminal Red Dragon Syndicate, and his partner Jet Black, a former ISSP officer who retired following a mob hit that cost him his arm, as two bounty hunters who travel on Jet's spaceship the Bebop. Through unintended circumstances, the duo are eventually joined by three new members: Ein, a hyper-intelligent genetically-engineered Welsh Corgi dog, Faye Valentine, an amnesiacfemme fatale con artist, and Edward, a barefooted preteen female prolific computer hacker. The series is mostly episodic in nature, with the story regularly following the crew's adventures and bounty hunting quests, while also exploring their day-to-day lives. Aside from the stand-alone stories, there is also a main overarching story arc that centers on Spike.

  Throughout the series, the Bebop crew members deal with unresolved issues from their pasts, with the show regularly utilizing flashbacks to illustrate their backstories. Over the course of the series' episodes, Spike occasionally encounters and battles his former friend Vicious, an enforcer of the Red Dragon Syndicate, while his past is shown to be tied to a mysterious woman named Julia. After a brief reunion with his former ISSP partner, Jet discovers he was betrayed and the mob hit that led to his arm loss was a trap carried out by his corrupt partner. Faye discovers she was born in the 20th century and was cryogenically frozen after a space shuttle accident left her severely injured. Edward encounters her long-lost father and eventually decides to leave the Bebop, with Ein choosing to accompany her.

  The series ends with the conclusion of Spike's story arc. It is revealed that Julia was Vicious' girlfriend who started a dangerous affair with Spike, who offered to abandon the Red Dragon Syndicate and elope with her. After Vicious found out, he confronted Julia and ordered her to kill Spike, threatening that both would be killed otherwise. To protect herself and Spike, Julia went into hiding, never meeting him as both of them had planned. Spike then faked his death to the Syndicate and disappeared, eventually meeting Jet and forming a bounty hunter partnership with him. In the present, Vicious stages acoup d'etat on the leaders of the Red Dragon Syndicate, becoming its new head and ordering a hit on Spike and Julia. With help, Spike manages to find Julia in their original meeting place. However, the two are shortly ambushed by hitmen sent by Vicious, and Julia is killed in the escape. Spike returns to the Bebop and shares a final moment with Jet and Faye, before flying to Red Dragon headquarters where Vicious is waiting. After fighting his way through numerous henchman, he finally manages to confront Vicious. The two battle, Spike using his pistol, and Vicious using his katana. After a brief standoff, the two exchange blows simultaneously, leaving Vicious dead and Spike severely wounded. Spike descends the staircase, where he is confronted by the remainder of the Red Dragons members. Smiling, he mimics a gun with his fingers, utters a final word "Bang", and collapses.