Spoilers Ahead.
A beloved anime that has the issues of abandonment, loneliness, death, betrayal, and many more would definitely seem like a depressing show. In reality, Cowboy Bebop is just that, but it portrays those dark themes in a way that catches the viewers' attention. Cowboy Bebop is a Sci-Fi anime that was released in 1998 by Sunrise studio in Japan. In a world of bounty hunters and space adventures, a group of unlikely people become friends and later on, a dysfunctional family.
Edward “Ed” Wong Hau Peplou
The first character that will be discussed is Edward, also known as Ed. Ed is a unique character with having viewers confused about what gender they are. At first glance, Ed looks like a boy and also has the name “Edward”. But as time goes on, the viewers learned that Ed is, in fact, a girl. We also find out that her real name is Francoise Appledelhi.
We first meet Ed who is a master hacker and is incredibly intelligent in the ninth session titled, “Jamming with Ed”. Ed finds out that the ship, “Bebop” which includes Spike Speigel, Jet Black, and Faye Valentine is heading to Earth. She hacks into their ship and finds out that the group is hunting a mysterious hacker that vandalizes the Earth's surface. Ed discovers that the hacker is actually an old satellite and helps out the crew of Bebop with a promise in mind. Faye promises that she will grant Ed’s wish with her help but later lied. The promise was for Ed to come with them. At the end of the episode, Ed hacks their aircraft and makes it pick her up. Together they travel the galaxy hunting down bounties.
That seems like a happy ending, right? Not exactly. Ed does, in fact, get a happy ending but it is more sinister than it appears. At the end of the season, when Faye is having her own crisis on Earth, they meet a group of people. All of them are almost children and we later learn it is an orphanage that Ed use to live in. Ed learns that her father has been looking for her, therefore placing a bounty oh his head in secret to try and track him down.
Ed ends up finding her father, Mr. Appledehi, and his assistant trying to map down astroids to find the key to stopping them. After a brief reunion, her father gets distracted and ends up leaving her again. One night soon after, Ed leaves the Bebop with their dog Eid in hopes of finding her father again.
That is a lot to digest for as young as Ed is, a young 13-year-old girl. Ed is one of the most carefree people on the show and doesn’t show any of the emotions of being sad or lonely from being separated from her dad. The theme of abandonment is played beautifully throughout the final episodes that Ed is in and her decision on leaving the Bebop. It shows how twisted Ed’s life is and how it is portrayed as happy but deep within it is extremely depressing.
Jet Black
The next character we will be talking about is Jet Black, the pilot, and owner of the Bebop. He used to be in the police force on his home planet, Ganymede before some terrible stuff happened. One night Jet was trying to bust a mafia family in the city with his partner Fad. Jet had a suspect and was chasing down Udai Taxim down a dark alley when Udai shot a bullet so powerful it destroyed Jet’s arm. Unbeknownst to him, his partner was working with Taxim. This betrayal was one of the reasons why he left and started a new life.
Another reason was the betrayal of the woman he loved, Alisa. Alisa was one of the things that kept him going in the police force. One day Jet came back home and found a note that said “farewell” and a pocket watch. Jet was devastated and vowed that when the clock would stop ticking, he would stop waiting for Alisa to come home. It stopped, and she still never came back.
The theme of betrayal of his close friend and lover impacted him. Nevertheless, Jet did start a new life and made close relationships with Spike, Faye, and Ed. He may not show it, but he cares about them in his own special way. His story was definitely not the saddest of the Bebop crew, but it still made the show what it is today.
Faye Valentine
Faye Valentine, had a long past before she joined the Bebop. Unfortunately, she could not remember any of it before waking up from cryosleep. Faye has a very sad story and it has the themes of betrayal, death, heartbreak, and abandonment.
Faye Valentine was born on Earth and lived a normal life. She lived in a big house and recorded herself on a Betamax videotape to be shown to herself 10 years later. As time went on Faye turned 20 years old, and decided to join her parents on a private spacecraft. An accident occurred, leaving her parents dead and Faye in critical condition. She was left in cryosleep until new technology could be developed to fix her wounds. She woke up 54 years later in the Cold Sleep clinic. She had no recollection of anything.
The doctor, Dr. Bacchus charged her a heavy debt of more than 300,000,000 woolongs (the currency), for her operation. He gave her a new identity since she didn't know hers, but he actually planned to take advantage of her. A lawyer named Whitney Haggis stepped in and said he would help Faye pay off her debt little by little. Unbeknownst to the audience and Faye, Whitney was Dr. Bacchus’s nephew.
As time grew on, Faye fell in love with Whitney. One night as they were driving, a ship flew by them and Whitney claimed it was one of the collectors trying to get money from Faye. He urged Faye to run away while he distracted the collectors' ship. As Faye ran away, Whitney faked his death and all Faye saw was a big explosion. Naturally, she assumed he was dead.
Faye went back to the clinic and Dr.Bacchus informed her that she was left in Whitney’s will and that he left all his assets. Faye, thinking that Whitney did really care about her, agreed to take it. Instead of any money, it was all his debts which put Faye at more than 600,000,000 woolongs in debt.
Faye decided to run away since she could not pay her debts, and lived a life on the run. A bounty was placed upon her head to try and track her down. This caused Faye to have serious trust issues.
A little while later, Faye is living on the Bebop when Jet caught a bounty. Faye discovers it is Whitney and she is extremely betrayed. She tries to find out more about her past but he didn't know anything. This event caused Faye to find out who she really is throughout the series.
The Betamax tape was finally shipped to the Bebop and when she watched it she was in awe. It was one more clue about who she was. She decided to run away and find out who she really was. On Earth, she found one of her old classmates that knew her before the accident. That classmate gave her a little clue, and Faye started to run. She didn’t know where she was running to but she felt like she was going somewhere she once knew. Faye started to have small flashbacks and finally made it home. Unfortunately, her house was destroyed due to the asteroid crisis Earth faced. With her memories back, Faye still felt alone.
Faye decided to go back to the Bebop in the end, because she felt like that was all she had. She finally accepted her past, and wanted to be with the crew of the Bebop. She didn’t feel as abandoned as she once felt, and wanted to be with Jet and Black,(at this point Ed was already gone). Even though Faye was back, Spike had his own internal war to fight.
Spike Speigel
Spike Speigel, the most complex and depressing character of “Cowboy Bebop” had the messiest backstory in the show. Spike is your average bounty hunter, looking for bad guys to get money. But what actually lies deep within Spike’s past is a dark and tragic story.
Before joining the Bebop Spike was part of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, an organized crime family on Mars. Spike grew close to the members and was even considered to be the leader of the Red Dragon in the future. He acquired an injury and his right eye had to be replaced with an artificial one. When he joined the Red Dragon, Spike met and fell in love with a woman named Julia. He also created a complicated friendship with a young man named Vicious. Spike and Vicious started to compete and see who would become the next leader, Vicious took it too far and began to hate Spike.
Spike decided that it would be a good idea to run away with Julia from the Syndicate. He told Julia to meet him at a cemetery and he proceeded to fake his death. Unfortunately, Vicious threatened Julia that if she didn’t kill Spike that she will die. Julia never showed up to the cemetery and instead went into hiding to protect Spike. Spike believed that he was betrayed so he left.
Spike slowly moved on but whenever he ran into a clue about Julia, Spike dropped everything to try and find her. This often left the crew of Bebop confused with many questions. In session 25, Faye returns home after receiving a message from Julia to Spike. The message was for Spike to meet her at the cemetery so they can talk. Spike immediately left the Bebop.
Spike and Julia are finally reunited, but during that time Vicious took over the Red Dragon Syndicate and sent assassins out for Spike. As Spike and Julia are running away, they make it to the rooftops of a building. The pair is able to take down all of the assassins, but a stray bullet hit Julia in the back. She ended up dying in Spike’s arms. Spike returned to the Bebop for one last goodbye in case he never made it back, because the next day he planned on killing Vicious and ending the Syndicate.
Spike had one last glass of booze with Jet; before he was able to leave, a gun was put up against his head. Faye tells him that she finally realized that she had a home and it was at the Bebop. And now that he was leaving, she wouldn’t feel as complete. Faye also mentioned how Spike told her to let go of her past, but he couldn’t let go of his. Spike confides to her that he has a fake eye which will always remind him of his past. Faye is shocked and questioned why he told her that since he never told her anything personal.
In the end, Faye couldn’t get him to stay, and he left to go bring down Vicious. Spike had to go through a skyscraper to be able to face Vicious at the end. Through the way, Spike had multiple wounds and eventually couldn't even see properly. The final battle between Spike and Vicious left Vicious dead, and Spike with a serious injury. At the end of the series, the viewers are left unknown whether Spike is alive or dead.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that this anime is incredibly depressing, but the complex characters hide the fact that it is so sad until the last few episodes. Cowboy Bebop is an extremely good anime and this character analysis gives out a little bit of information on how the show works so well. And how throughout the decades this anime will always be loved and treasured.
