WMG / Cowboy Bebop

Wild Mass Guessing for Cowboy Bebop.

Ed named herself the fourth because there were three Eds before her

• Duh.

Cowboy Bebop is the afterlife.

Each of the main characters, and many of the secondary characters like Vicious, have undergone near-death experiences. It could be that the 'verse of Cowboy Bebop is simply the afterlife. The reason Ed doesn't remember her death could be because whatever happened was too traumatic and she blocked it out.

• The Afterlife is awesome.
• I think it's fairly obvious that Spike is Jesus in Purgatory, he's even apparently Jewish.

Vicious is Spike's clone, made from Spike's missing eye

The syndicate wanted Spike's genes to be preserved because how awesome he is so they took an eye from him and made Vicious.In the episode when Spike dreams his operation, we see that the eye on which they operate is still whole. There was nothing wrong with it from the beginning - they just needed it for cloning. This would explain the similarities between Spike and Vicious, but also the stress the creators put on the differences between Spike's eyes and how his right eye sees the past. That eye literally sees the past because it is Vicious himself, who is still at the syndicate.And Spike's clone wasn't the only one - Shin was also cloned from Lin (or the other way around).

Vicious is primarily motivated by revenge against the syndicate - the syndicate forced him to become a drug addict

It is possible that Vicious was forced by the syndicate to use redeye because he wasn't as capable as Spike. Consequently, after years of use, his body deteriorated and he became even weaker than before (he certainly looks pretty worn out for a 27-year-old and has tiny irises, a side-effect of the drug, as we can see in episode 1). His taking over the syndicate is not motivated by a wish to rule, but by a wish to destroy those who destroyed him. He also wants his own destruction - for example, using a katana repeatably in gun fights is not a sign of great self-preservation (even though this could also be a sign of a problem with his sight). He wants Spike to kill him, because he feels he himself has "lost his fangs". But, it probably occurred to him that, if he were to rise to the top, his demise would also mean the demise of the whole syndicate. Also, for someone out for revenge because of a girl, he really doesn't mention Julia much (except when he wants to lure or provoke Spike).

• This would also explain Vicious' slicing the last Van's eyes and the words "You shall cry red tears."

Vicious didn't mind Spike and Julia having an affair, he minded them trying to leave him alone in the syndicate

Watch for the actual phrasing in the scene where Vicious puts a gun on Julia's head - he accuses her of wanting to "leave this world", not of her sleeping with Spike.

• There are a few circumstantial details that might arguably back this up. It's actually conceivable (but obviously not provable) that Vicious might have at least been on his way to accepting Spike and Julia being together until he found out Spike was planning to take her away and leave the Syndicate behind his back.
  • Whether in the flashbacks or the present, Vicious never says or does anything to suggest he actually cares about losing Julia. The only thing he actually expresses anger for is being betrayed by her and Spike. When he confronts her in the flashback, he obviously already knows about the affair - but both versions of the voice-over translate to him asking "You're going to betray me?" He can't be referring to the betrayal of an affair that's already happened. Only the fact that he knows they're planning to leave later.
  • Spike's flashbacks during Jupiter Jazz, Part II contains a vivid memory of Vicious telling him "Be careful when you're with that woman." In both versions of the voice-overs, this is the line translated word-for-word - and neither version of Vicious says this with any sort of anger or possessiveness.
    • The Cowboy Bebop Illustrations ~The Wind~ Artbook by Toshiro Kawamoto features an image captioned by the artist, "I assumed this to be just before the parting between Spike and Vicious when they were still young." The image shows Spike and Vicious at a gravesite on opposite ends of the panel not speaking or looking at each other - with Vicious sitting in the corner looking more dour than he ever looked in the flashback materials. It's possible (or at least not beyond reason) that this was supposed to be when that conversation about Julia actually takes place.

Vicious and Spike are actually fighting for Art/Music represented by the mysterious Julia

The music box that appears in a few episodes is there to show Spike's and Vicious' relationship with art, especially music.

• While in the face of art Spike is at his best, most caring self (like in the scene with Rocco's blind sister who gives Spike the music box), Vicious has, because of his need to dominate, a complete miscomprehension of art/music.
• It is notable that there is no music that is inspired by the presence of Vicious himself. All the music surrounding him comes from outward sources - as, for example "Ave Maria" in the opera house in Ballad of Fallen Angels (notice the special stress of the creators on the singer himself), or the music box in episodes 12 and 13. The only sound that identifies Vicious in almost all occasions, and that even distantly resembles music, is the croaking of his bird - we could presume that Vicious is too underdeveloped to have music accompany him, he is an animal, "a beast". And in scenes of him fighting Spike, there is only silence.
• Also, that he used a music box to frame somebody is very indicative of his frame of mind - a message that is not practical in the sense of enabling domination of its immediate surrounding, as a song from a music box, can be, by a sociopathic mind, only interpreted as a virus. It is in this manner precisely that Vicious uses the music box on Gren (framing him), and presumably on Julia (as Gren mentioned that she knew immediately that the music box was crooked (a "virus", in a way )) when she heard it was from Vicious.
• Also notable are Vicious' face expressions when dealing with music - for example, in the opera house in "Ballad of Fallen Angels", he looks angry while listening to the opera (and he also dragged a dead body in a literal "house of music" (maybe in a attempt to desecrate it)), while on the second occasion, with the music box, his expression is at first empty, as if he doesn't know what to do with it, then angry when Gren mentions he would like to play the tune on his saxophone.
• Julia represents art/music in this relationship because Spike's and Vicious' behavior towards art/music is exactly the same as with Julia. While Vicious presumably just tried to dominate Julia, Spike fell in love with her singing while he himself was completely at her mercy, being badly injured.
  • In addition, Vicious calls the aforementioned song from the music box "Julia". And when escaping he hears the music box, he immediately thinks of danger - Gren planting him the music box in the same "virus-like" way is something he understood immediately
• The fight between Vicous and Spike represents a fight between good and evil, defined by their relationship with art - the good sees art/music as essential to life, akin to love, while evil doesn't find any use for it, except as a tool for domination.
• Also supporting this claim is the overall importance and pervasion of music in the show, often not only defining the tone, but giving actual meaning

Cowboy Bebop is a history of the Firefly Universe.

The gate disaster would be what used Earth-That-Was up.

Joss Whedon got the "naked woman in a box" idea from Outlaw Star and almost everything else from Bebop.

• Needs citation. It's a common trope to depict China as a superpower that has serious influence on a future setting. Deus Ex did it, Starship Troopers did it. There are plenty of precedents in Western culture.

Cowboy Bebop is a history of the Dune Universe.

If the above is true, and if the wild mass guess for Firefly being a history of Dune is true, then this must be true too. (Don't you love logic?)

• Jossed according to the Dune prequel books. Earth was deliberately devastated in order to wipe out the thinking machines there in the Duneverse.

Cowboy Bebop is the future of the Tour Of The Universe Universe.

• TOTU took place in 2019, which would be about right for it to be the world as it was just before the gate explosion
• The ship in Faye's flashback has almost the same appearance as the Canadian Interplanetary passenger craft
• Gren and Vicious were comrades-in-arms on Titan, TOTU's "travel brochure" warns of a badly deteriorating political situation in the outer solar system
• The Helix Catapult is virtually identical in its operation to the gate system. The visual effect is also the same, both from a distance and from the viewpoint of the transiting ship. One is an elongated spiral, the other a series of loops, but the change could chalked up as one of Chessmaster Hex's breakthroughs in gate design, or some sort of safety alteration in light of the gate explosion.
• Isn't turning the CN Tower into a giant magnetic railgun exactly the sort of thing that the civilization in the Bebop universe would want to do?

Ed is the granddaughter (or some other descendant) of Kaolla Su from Love Hina.

Same skin-tone, same eccentricities, and both are brilliant at techie stuff, although one's a Playful Hacker and one's a Gadgeteer Genius.

• The rays of the sun got unmerciful after the disaster. You only have two options: tan, or leave Earth.
  • That doesn't explain the rest.
• Prosaic explanation: reading the Omake of the first tankobon of the Love Hina manga — Ed isn't explicitly cited by Ken Akamatsu, but it is clear that he was inspired by her in creating Kaolla and gave more characteristics of the former to the latter over time.
• Given that Su is the princess of a magical kingdom, this implies that Ed is also a magical princess, albeit likely a deposed one. Has she ever been planetside on the night of a crimson moon?
  • The moon is in pieces now, so it's probably physically impossible for her to have been.

Spike is Jewish.

He uses a Jericho 941, an Israeli-made handgun. He has a "Jewfro". And his last name is Spiegel. Sure, the creators said they picked the name because it sounded cool, and they based his appearance on Lupin III and Japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda.

• Spike is explicitly described as "Oriental" at least once.
  • Isn't Spike canonically half generic Asian? Or is that just the sheer plausibility of a partially Jewish heritage creeping into my perception of canon?
  • Possible, and there actually are Jews in both China and Japan as well as most of Asia. Jewish traders moved along The Silk Road much as Muslims later would, and there are ethnically Jewish or mixed communities in pretty much all of Asia.
• Come on, anyone REALLY think Spiegel was his real name?
  • Come on, is there even a single hint in the entire Space Opera that indicates it might not be?
• Whatever Spike is, his beliefs certainly differ a lot from a Jewish person.
  • That depends. Obviously he is not a Hasidic Jew or Ultra-Orthodox (Jewish fundamentalists), but then the great majority of Jewish people aren't that any more than the great majority of Christians are Pentecostals/Southern Baptists/similar fundies. In fact, it could be entirely arguable that Spike is culturally but not religiously Jewish, like a lot of the people who are the reason the Badass Israeli trope exists.

Jet is a miser.

The main cast is so constantly broke that they are sometimes unable to buy food. But when large scale expenses crop up (like repair bills), they are never mentioned again in the series, even if the series couldn't continue without the bills being paid. Therefore, Jet must have access to a healthy amount of money that he refuses to dip into for minor things like food.

• Given how the other team members mismanage their cash (especially Faye, who also "borrows" any cash she can grab and tends to make large "deposits" at racetracks), this makes perfect sense.
• About half their income must go towards keeping them in cigarettes...

Spike didn't die at the end of the series.

Apparently, the scene in the movie immediately after Spike gets fished out of the river (where he imagines Jet telling him that "he" almost killed Spike but didn't succeed). It's probable that this refers to Vincent, but it could be a flashback (or flashforward) to immediately after the final battle with Vicious.

• Furthermore, given what other characters in the series have survived — Faye apparently survived being on a space shuttle that suffered catastrophic structural failure, for example — it's possible that 2071-era medical technology was advanced enough to keep Spike alive following that battle. It's also possible that the Red Dragon would have made a point of it, since losing Spike, Vicious, and the three old men would have left them completely without leadership.
  • If Spike was, in the time between killing Vicious and collapsing, the highest-ranking member of the syndicate, then one would think it would behoove the underlings to save him if possible.
    • And then Ed and Ein come back and they stop Vincent!
    • Oh my God, that means "You're gonna carry that weight" makes sense! It refers to Spike carrying the weight of leading the syndicate, along with the grief due to all the death and possibly guilt for surviving when he may or may not have been intentionally looking to die.
    • Pretty much, it's basically a Godfather scenario for the sequels, he had the favor of any surviving "Old Guard" AND the "Young-guns" I.E. the Brothers were attached to him from his days leading the "Muscle" he's pretty much the best chance the Syndies have of staying together.
• Also, before anyone mentions Word of God: Shinichiro Watanabe has stated that he himself doesn't know whether Spike is alive or dead. He also refuses to make up his mind because he knows that, while the fans may lynch him if he says Spike is dead, they definitely will if he says Spike is alive.
  • ^Does this mean Spike is a true Schrödinger's Cat?
    • Exactly!
    • All right then, nobody eat him!
• A person can live a long, painful time with a stomach wound like Spike had (in the hours to days range) depending on their constitution, if they don't succumb to the shock and if they limit the blood loss (which Spike looks like he is doing in the end). It is extremely likely that, if he can survive a fall from a fucking church, this is peanuts for him (though he'll probably have to poop in a bag for a while...).
  • That depends on which exact anatomical structures were damaged. The result of a severe abdominal wound inflicted with an edged weapon can be anything from a long convalescence followed by a full recovery, to "hello Mr. Spiegel, say hello to your new best friend for the rest of your life, Mr. Colostomy Bag" to — if there was damage to the abdominal aorta or the inferior vena cava — death in a handful of minutes as the victim's entire blood volume basically falls out of him.
  • Of course, since this is Science Fiction, and since we've already seen Spike survive things he shouldn't, he could have made a full recovery from a severe stomach wound, which can be Hand Waved with the standard advanced medical technology excuse. The guy survived falling from a church, for God's sake.
    • Watch it in slow motion. They show every one of Spike's wounds except the one that was supposed to have killed him.
  • Should it be pointed out that in the same episode Annie also suffers a stomach wound and looks to have lasted a pretty long time bleeding out till Spike came around?
• We seem to be forgetting one very crucial hint: Laughing Bull's description of a falling star as the soul of a dying warrior being released. At the end of the final credits, one star falls. Just ONE. Given that Vicious is Spike's dark counterpart in near every way, it seems unlikely that he would not be considered a warrior as well; thus, either Spike died and Vicious lived, or vice versa. Given Watanabe's lightheartedness, along with the tone of the series itself, it seems far more likely that Spike would be that last man standing, rather than the insanely bleak possibility of Spike dying while Vicious lives.
  • Problem with that is that Vicious is less a character and more a force of nature (or evil). He doesn't have much of a personality, and what we do see of him is likely too monstrous to qualify as the traditional Japanese ideal of the "great warrior", given that he has no respect or regard for anything or anyone, including himself. The star going out has to have been Spike, who does fit the classic image of the warrior. It's more likely that Vicious' passing will have simply been unmarked, because at the end of the day, he's simply not worth the heaven's effort. Monsters don't count.
    • Furthermore, there's no indication of exactly when that star falls, in relation to the final battle. It could be that star did represent Vicious and a second star is going to fall in a few minutes, when Spike finishes bleeding to death... aww, I made myself sad...
    • Yes, but he's also a dark version of Spike. He may be a force of darkness, but he's one that reflects Spike. The star has to be him.
  • Laughing Bull's description of the falling star is in another episode, and the star is described "A pitiful soul" who couldn't find his way to heaven. If you could say that those words describe Spike, then believe what you want to believe. But if you can't, disregard this line of thinking.
    • Ok, lets say it is Vicious, and that only pitiful souls that can't find their way to heaven manifest as shooting stars. But what (if anything) do those who do find it to heaven manifest as? Spike could still be dead, and just made it to heaven.
• Confirmed. The work wouldn't go for Precursor Heroes, and Generation Xerox is impossible. That doesn't stop the creator from answering "Will there be any more Cowboy Bebop?" with "Someday... maybe someday."
• That fading star was almost obviously Spike's. After Spike kills Vicious, he immediately looks up into the sky. It is never shown what Spike was looking at, but it possibly could have been Vicious's falling star. Also, Spike does the same thing after Julia's death, looking at the sky and possibly at her own falling star. Remember, it is never shown to the audience what Spike was looking at after Julia and Vicious' deaths. However what the audience does see is only one star fading after Spike collapses (or dies). Now it would make much more sense and be more symbolic if this star was Spike's. After all, this show is about him. Let's not forget, after the star disappears at the end, the screen immediately fades into a black-and-white shot of Spike's smiling (possibly dead) face.
• See you someday space cowboy...

  • Laughing Bull actually said that "all people have their stars", and the quote of the "pitiful soul" was about Gren, whose incernariting spaceship could be mistaken for a star - the star that fell in the end of the show could be in fact Vicious', who wasn't more than Spike's past. Spike, on the other hand was, in the moment of their confrontation, more than his own past - he created, in the meantime, meaningful relationships with others, while Vicious spent the same time destroying his own ties. On this alone, it could be validly concluded that Spike indeed survives the confrontation because he is more than what could possibly die of him at the Red Dragon headquarters.

Spike's homeless now after the show.

Just like Jules in Pulp Fiction, Spike's tired of his life of meaningless violence. First he tried getting himself killed, now he's leaving the Bebop like he left the Syndicate. He found a nice park, and even renamed himself: "Utopia."

Jet and Faye hook up after Spike's death.

With Spike and Ed (and Ein) gone and Faye realizing that she has nowhere else to go, the two remaining residents of The Bebop take solace in each other. and make lots of teh babiez OMG!!

• That would make perfect sense, except that Spike didn't die! He didn't!

There is a character named Cowboy Bebop, and he's always at his computer.

However, he looks nothing like Ed and may not have appeared on-screen.

• Correction! Cowboy Bebop is Ed! See, Ed/Cowboy Bebop was controlling everything the whole time! Just like that dog from Silent Hill 2! Those times when Cowboy Bebop seemed to away from his computer was, in fact, a holographic clone he created by looping the Circle of Life Chain Consciousness. And now let me tell you about how Spike's "death" brings Cowboy Bebop into existence...

Tomato, Ed's childhood friend from the manga, is Cowboy Bebop and is remotely manipulating all of the events in the series.

No, man! Tomato is Cowboy Bebop too! They're both Cowboy Bebop! See, it all began with the Cycling at the heart of the universe...

• What if... I am one of the tomatoes...

Ed is a descendant of L from Death Note.

They're both highly eccentric geniuses who are among the best in their fields, and they both go barefoot.

• Between this and the Kaolla Su entry, Ed has an interesting family tree.
  • You'd have to have an interesting family tree to get someone as interesting as Ed. That level of quirkiness has to be genetic.
    • Su grew up, hooked up with L, had a girl, and this girl had a kid with Orihime and Ichigo's son... You know how it ends.
  • Wammy's House was full of highly eccentric geniuses, and Ed could be descended from any of them.
    • Are you only saying that because Death Note and Cowboy Bebop are considered by many people to be the two best anime ever made? If so, good for you!

Cowboy Bebop is the history past of GUN×SWORD.

Yes, in addition to being part of the same 'Verse as Dune and Firefly. But! The world of Cowboy Bebop is the past of both! Cowboy Bebop comes after the exodus from Earth but before the Alliance rises to power. The Alliance eventually managed to bring even most of the Rim under its control, expanding its sphere of influence until it eventually formed the Imperium. The Imperium lasted until it split under the weight of the competing Houses, falling apart and eventually isolating planets and systems until each is essentially back to pre-Bebop circumstances, lacking interplanetary contact.

This means that Spike is Van's (and possibly Mal's) past incarnation, Faye is reborn as Carmen 99, Vicious becomes Ray and Julia Shino, Lin can be Joshua, and Ed could be Wendy, with Ein becoming Kameo. Jet could somehow have become the Man With The Claw...

Vincent is Alan Moore

There is undoubtedly a moderate resemblance.

Vincent is V from V for Vendetta

Both wear similar clothing, are the results of experimental biology test that destroyed their minds, strike on holidays (Vincent on Halloween, V on Guy Fawkes Night,) and have names that begin with the letter V. By the end of their respective narratives, both allow themselves to be shot and killed by someone (Vincent by Electra, V by Eric Finch.) Both have a homicidal disrespect for law enforcement officers. Both kidnap a young woman with the intention of her being the start of a new world order (Vincent: by repopulating the planet in the wake of everyone dying except himself and Faye, and V: by having Evie take his place after he has toppled the powers that be.)

Ed is almost a hundred years old.

The same anti-aging process that affected Wen affected Ed many years ago. She's such a genius because she's had a lot of time to learn stuff. While Wen got creepy and spent time in research labs, Ed spent all those years watching post-gate-explosion society and its technology develop.

Her father is easily handwaved away because they're both insane. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that Applederry is someone Ed latched onto as a more benign version of what Wen did with the adults around him.

Ed is a direct homage to Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking.

Let's look at the similarities: Both are children forced into self-reliance due to absent or dead parents. Both do a good job at it because of their unique talent - hacking and super strength respectively. Both cheerfully ignore social norms and do their own thing. Both get along extremely well with animals. Both have a wild mop of red hair, albeit done in different styles. Both have ridiculously long full names - Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV vs. Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking. Both have absent fathers who are almost as eccentric as they are. Evidence enough?

• Furthermore, a working name for Pippi Longstocking was- get this- "Indian Jazz", and she was always at her computer.

Spike literally sees the past in one eye and the present in the other.

Spike's cyborg eye isn't just a replacement eye. Perhaps it's impossible to just graft a new mechanical organ onto his optic nerve, or maybe the nerve was damaged. Therefore, to complete his field of vision, the fake eye scans Spike's memory for images that are similar to what its camera sees.

• No need to invoke bizarre technology if that's all you're after. Just say it's some sort of weird variant of Anton-Babinski Syndrome.
• Therefore, when Spike wakes up after falling out of the window to hear Faye singing, he isn't just reminded of Julia. An image of Julia is in one eye, and Faye is in the other.
• A much simpler way of managing this: the cyborg eye takes a few processing cycles longer to decode the camera image and transmit it to his occipital lobe than a normal human eye. So, the image in his left eye is delayed, showing the world as it was a few instants before the image shown by his right. This delay is enough for Spike to notice it, though he's badass enough for it to not affect him much, and he's just excessively poetic in describing the symptom.
  • That could even help him get a second glance at something that happens too fast to properly observe, and thus help him be more aware of his surroundings.
  • This is the more likely scenario because there's another instance where we see from Spike's point of view (his first fight with Mad Pierrot) and his vision looks perfectly normal.

Ed is half-alien.

She's obviously very intelligent, but her way of thinking is odd. She can eat strange things. She appears able to communicate with Ein much better than the others. She looks quite different from most other characters. And just look at the way she moves. There's just something not quite human about it.

• We've seen her father, and he seems human. But he also appears crazy enough to make this possible.
  • He obviously nailed Washu Hakubi. Cloud Cuckoo Lander smexing red crab-haired Mad Scientist equals Cowboy BeBop at His Computer.
    • Look at this in combination with the above theories. L, Su, Orihime, Ichigo, and Washu combined is just crazy enough to actually produce Radical Edward.
• She's half-Betelgeusian. Meow was able to eat the same sort of fridge blob as her, and neither one was poisoned by it like humans. He's also able to understand dogs, so if one assumes animal communication is a racial thing for Betelgeusians it would explain her being able to communicate with Ein.
• I think she's just wacko. Literally.

Spike died in Episode 5. The rest of the series is his Dying Dream.

In episode 5, when Spike fights Vicious, he wears identical clothes to what he wears in the last episode — a bloodstained trenchcoat. (In fact, he wears it every time he fights Vicious.) There is a set of stairs outside the church similar to the one he dies on in the final episode. Also, throughout the series, Spike mostly does athletic maneuvers that can be done by anyone in good shape. But his surviving a fall like that is hard to swallow. A similar principle can be applied to Vicious — he takes a grenade to the face and shows up later without a scratch on him?!

• Hey, when you're friends with Cowboy Bebop and his computer, the impossible happens!
• "It's All Just a Dream"
• They where on Mars, with a noticeable weaker gravity, falling that high there is a lot more survivable than say, on Earth or Venus.

Cowboy Bebop takes place in the same universe as ARIA: the Animation.

No particular proof here, just Rule of Cool. Though that might make a good fanfic idea...

• Perhaps you mean IRIA?

Cowboy Bebop was right about the disaster that's coming.

When does the explosion happen in the timeline? Do the math: 2012.

• 2071 - 50 = 2012? Rather dyslexic sort of prophecy that...
  • Maybe 2012 will be just the beginning of the end. The process leading directly to the disaster will begin in December 2012 and then go on for a couple of years.
    • Makes more sense than my simply getting the date wrong.

Cowboy Andy from the session "Cowboy Funk" is the son of Isaac and Miria from Baccano!!

He looks and acts very similar to them and it's plausible since Isaac and Miria are immortal.

Raidou Kuzunoha is Ed's ancestor.

Working off of another WMG, L is an ancestor of Ed.

L, is a great detective and despite one massive freak out takes the existence of Shinigami fairly well implying he may have some subconscious familiarity with the surreal. Both of these traits he would have inherited from Raidou.

If Ed and L are related, and L is descended form Raidou, Ed would also be descended from Raidou as well.

• Why did you link a sequel instead of the original game...?

Maria is Ed's ancestor.

They're both Cloudcuckoolander characters who hate wearing shoes and get dizzy whenever they have to put them on. Also, they even look a bit alike. Here's Maria,◊ and here's Ed.◊

• Yes, but Maria is probably Filipina, and Ed is Turkish. Reincarnation, maybe.
  • Maria's nationality is never really stated and all we know about Ed's is that she was born on Earth and her father's name sounds Turkish. She could easily be part Filipino, part Turkish, part nobody really knows what.

Each major character's personality is tied to a genre of music.

• These are my guesses so far:
  • Jet, with his weary stubbornness and tragic backstory, is "blues."
  • Spike is early rock n' roll (carefree, simple on the surface, grooving with the rhythms of the universe).
  • Faye is tricky to pin down... I want to say jazz, though.
  • Ed is electronica, particularly of the more whimsical and ambient varieties.
  • Ein is hip-hop. Trust me.
  • Vicious is goth rock. What else could he be?
    • Alternatively, Vicious is no music at all. In some of the old Mystery Plays every character could sing except the Devil - because evil is inherently uncreative. Vicious is the same way, just brutal and cruel without any aesthetic or moral sense whatsoever.
  • Julia is country.
    • Julia is totally lullabies.

Jet Black is actually Captain Falcon.

• Both are ex cops, both are bounty hunters in space, and both have falcons on the back of their blue outfits. Most importantly, both are very badass. Captain Falcon changed his name and stopped wearing his helmet so that he would not have people chasing after him all the time.

Jet Black loses his memories and becomes Dan Dustin.

• Both look almost exactly alike, have similar personalities. Jet gets caught up in a simulated reality experiment and becomes Major Dan Dustin in Paradigm City.
  • And soon encounters a Badass who has little respect for authority and a rather familiar voice.

Cowboy Bebop is an allegory on reincarnation, Karma, and Dharma.

Much of Cowboy Bebop can be seen as a series of actions and consequences, somewhat like the cycle of samsara. Far from being an afterlife, it represents the "Dream" (see lyrics of "Blue" by "Seat Belts") of existence.

• The occupation of Spike and Jet is that of bounty hunter, representing themselves as the force of nature that exists to bring people not to justice, but to confront the actions they've taken in the past. Their function is not to mete out punishment but to connect action to consequence.

• Jet is a "reincarnation" of a former cop, Spike is a "reincarnation" of a former street thug, Faye is a "reincarnation" of a formerly very innocent person, Ein is literally taken from a coffin/grave (suitcase) after his former life as an experiment; Edward is perhaps the only true character with a Bhudda nature, capable of nearly supernatural feats and immunity to the violence and chaos of consequences surrounding the crew of Bebop.

• In the episode "Mushroom Samba" each character is confronted (with the exception of Edward, again) with some aspect of their own step on the journey through reincarnation. Spike is seen on an endless staircase, symbolic of the long, long road ahead of him due to his former profession. Faye is awash in an ocean realm symbolic of her loss of identity and simultaneously lack of baggage from her previous life. Jet confers with the plants he cares for, learning from them how to lead a guiltless life and escape samsara, something he's been loathe to do, paralleling what he does for them (pruning away that which does not belong).

• Spike creates Vicious, and while Spike "dies" initially, he "comes back" with baggage from his previous life. As an example, in the episode "Sympathy for the Devil" - the ageless youth had built up a lot of debt, seen as "weight," during his extended life. Upon dying, he finally feels this weight, asking Spike if he knows what he means. Spike replies "nope" and this is the first instance of the "bang" hand gesture.

The next time we see a reference to weight, and to the hand gesture, is after Spike has put Vicious, and therefore his own life debt, to rest - so he can finally die and actually move on - the reference not being "see you later, space cowboy" at the end, but "You're gonna carry that weight..." - again a reference to karmic debt that the ageless youth referenced.

• Spike as cat/nemesis of the Christian/immediately vengeful death (the grinning sadist Mad Pierrot), representing what the Christian death and punishment does not allow: redemption through action.

• When confronted with Dr. Londes, who advocates abandoning reality in favor of salvation through faith, Spike is quick to accuse him of living in a delusion.

• Additionally, the guiltless Ed and Ein are relatively unscathed throughout the series, Ed being the one that does not get bitten by the latent memories/reminders/unfinished past business in the refrigerator ("Toys in the attic" - another reference to a past or childhood of the soul, and what baggage remains in the form of sad reminders). Ed, actually, can thrive/consume this residue, further cementing her pure bhudda nature.

Roger Smith is Cowboy Bebop

And his computer is all that remains of The Big O!

Cowboy Bebop takes place in the same universe as Planetes

Faye's shuttle was damaged by one of the pieces of space debris that they didn't pick up. They missed it completely, couldn't get there in time, or the debris collection department hadn't yet been formed.

In addition to L, Su, Orihime, Ichigo, Raidou Kuzunoha, Maria and Washu Ed's ancestors also include.

• Pikachu: She appears human, but she still has her ability from her Pokémon ancestry lightning rod.
• Pinkie Pie: carrying on her randomness energy and possibly even the Pinkie Sense
• Naruto
• The Doctor
• Ed
• Ed

Fay is a Deconstruction of the Ms. Fanservice trope.

She flaunts herself as many anime characters do, but it's all a mask to hide her inner lack of security and trust. Eventually as the viewer you are filled with too much pity for her to find her very alluring. The fact that she is objectified with her body is more sad than anything especially when compared to her past self seen in the video.

• Pretty sure this is canon.

Vincent is a gestalt of the other bounties the Bebop crew has encountered.

Like Asimov, Vincent has been exposed to a dangerous substance that changes his outlook on the world. They also both seem to not see a need for combs. Both Vincent and Hakim leave a trail of destruction wherever they go, though while Hakim leaves upturned chessboards, busted up boats and punched out grooms, Vincent leaves behind a huge body count. Like the ordeal in Honkey Tonk Woman an important item is hidden within round items used in games, and as with the eco-terrorists in Gateway Shuffle, Vincent uses a microscopic bio-weapon to try to attack an entire planet/moon. Vincent's point blank execution of a security guard from his car is nearly identical to the way Wen executed the cab driver, showing both people have equal lack of regard for human life. Both Decker and Vincent were identified because of a tattoo they have, and both Vincent and Tongpu were test subjects. As with Gren and Vicious, Vincent is also a Titan war vet. Other comparisons to Vicious are obvious.

In the Shooting Star manga, the "Someone" in the syndicate wasn't Vicious; it was Julia

Just sayin'. Would have been an interesting take on Spike and Julia's relationship, at the very least.

Radical Edward is an incarnation of Delirium from the Sandman

13 year old girl with messy hair, completely insane yet with hidden talents and travels around with a dog much smarter than she is? Where have I heard that one before? Neil Gaiman's comic masterpiece of course.

Vicious' name isn't Vicious

• Assuming Mao Yenrai was the fatherly figure this troper thought him to be, I sincerely believe that he took miserable, out-of-luck, or desperate kids into his syndicate and made them the crime lords within it, as well as giving them new identities. Perhaps this gave the kids a chance to restart their lives psychologically, and so actively choosing a name for themselves with a well-developed mind as opposed to being given names without their consent, and the reality that their new occupation was one of self-appointment, a new name would either have given the individuals a personality for which to strive, or one that complemented their personalities better (in the eyes of that individual's - or Mao Yenrai's - opinion). That being the case, I'm not bothered to speculate on whether Mao Yenrai or "Vicious" himself gave him the name, but I am confident that he did receive one, and that he chose to live up the name with righteous fervour.
  • Also possible is that Spike Spiegel reverted to his original name once he left the syndicate, and that we don't discover what that name is within the series because of the severity of his Heel–Face Turn.
    • Don't we, "Swimming Bird"?
  • Julia really is a very common name, Faye . . . .

The shooting star at the end of the last episode was for Shin

It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Laughing Bull said in an earlier episode that a shooting star is the soul of a lost warrior, trying to make his way to Heaven, or something along those lines. Now, everyone assumes the shooting star was for either Spike or Vicious, because they both qualified as "lost warriors," Spike running from his past and Vicious being, well, a vicious psychopath. But Shin qualifies as a lost warrior just as much if not more. He's the one who helped Spike infiltrate the Red Dragon compound. I always thought it was weird that he was helping the guy who killed his brother, plus by helping Spike, he is effectively betraying the syndicate. Yet despite that, he gives up everything to help Spike, even taking a bullet for him, mirroring how Lin took a bullet for Vicious in Jupiter Jazz. I don't know about you, but that would make me hella conflicted, or should I say "lost?"

Spike doesn't have Aesop Amnesia in the movie.

He's faking the apathy at the convenience store because he's trying to get the goon to take a shot at him, so his gun won't be pointed at the hostage when Spike goes for his own shot. He waits for the exact moment the robber tries this to fire, which seems odd if he didn't care about the hostage, because it puts him much more at risk of being shot himself. If he didn't care, it's also odd that he spent so much time talking about how he didn't care instead of trying to shoot around the hostage right away. He's even polite to the hostage once the situation is resolved. Also note Jet's shocked response; he's not just trying to talk Spike out of it, he's shocked because it was completely unexpected. His conversation with Vincent at the end where he claims he doesn't care about stopping Vincent's plan and is obviously lying is a Meaningful Echo of this, not character development.[[Spike suffers from [1]]]

Vicious wanted to die at the end

It always struck me as weird that in their final duel, Vicious, who in every fight before established himself as a Combat Pragmatist who never played fair and used any advantage to win, tosses Spike his gun for their rather than just pick it up and shoot him then and there. But then remember the lead up to before Spike begins Storming the Castle. We see Vicious, at the top of building, literally at the top of the organization, sitting on a throne. He finally achieved what he wanted: He's head of the most powerful criminal organization on Mars, if not the entire solar system. He's head of an syndicate so powerful even the cops do not mess with him. Is he happy? No, he has the EXACT SAME glum, eternal dour expression on his face while he sits on his throne to overlook his empire. My guess is in that moment, Vicious realized that it was All for Nothing. He had all the powerful in the solar system, but it had not brought him any meaningful joy of happiness. Meanwhile, he had killed his mentor/father figure, the woman he had once loved was dead, and the man who had been his best, probably only friend, was on his way to kill him. Vicious realized, like Spike, that he had nothing left to live for, because his rise to the top still left him hollow and empty. Hence why he tosses Spike his gun back, he wanted to just die then and there.

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