Three, two, one, let’s jam.
These words launch viewers in to the world of “Cowboy Bebop,” the brilliant anime series by director Shinichiro Watanabe. “Bebop” perfectly blends visual appeal, engaging stories and phenomenal music to create a work that expands the anime genre beyond clichés and stereotypes to truly move viewers.
As you can tell, I’m a fan.
Which explains why I’m practically peeing myself at the impending run of “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie” at the Bijou during the next few weeks. This film’s journey to America is due in no small part to Cartoon Network airing the series, beginning September 2001. “Bebop” was one of the titles that sparked the success of the network’s Adult Swim, which remains one of the premiere places on television to see anime.
As anime’s legitimacy increases on the small screen, certain exceptional titles such as the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” and its predecessor “Princess Mononoke” give the style increasing credibility in theaters. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have the Disney marketing machine on your side.
But the most successful anime films are self-contained stories that require no background. The “Bebop” movie could stand alone, but audiences would likely misunderstand the film. It would be like watching “Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style” without having followed the Zach Attack through previous years.
The movie works infinitely better as an extended episode, adding to the established story of the original 26 “sessions,” as they are called. The series is very episodic; it does not show stories stretching beyond two sessions. But piece by piece, as “Bebop” unfolds, an entire world is created through the human insights and interactions in these episodes.
I am protective about this series similar to the way I will one day watch over my adolescent daughter. So, to protect its integrity, I am taking the fight off the page and to the people, when I host screenings of the series from 8 p.m. to midnight May 6 through 8. Because I’m trying to put this together very last minute, details are currently sparse. But check future Emerald issues for more details, or e-mail me and I’ll keep you posted.
Here’s what I can tell you now: The screenings will be on campus, hopefully in Willamette 100 because we all love stadium seating. The event will be absolutely free (otherwise I could get sued). The series will be in Japanese with subtitles — the dub isn’t bad, but I’m a real stickler when it comes to watching things as they were originally intended. Yes, the movie will be in English, so if enough people are crabby whiners, I could be persuaded to show the dubbed series. But you’re only cheating yourselves.
Another certainty is that eight hours isn’t enough time to watch the whole series. I’m tempted to leave out the last four episodes because the movie takes place chronologically before them. However, my purist instincts dictate watching the movie with full knowledge of how the series concludes — a knowledge that Watanabe would have expected viewers to bring to the film.
I apologize for the haphazard nature of this whole thing. But I’m doing it for the peoples, I swear. So get in on the ground floor and send me any suggestions. Stay with me, and I promise it’ll be cool.
See you, Space Cowboys.