Cowboy Bebop - The Movie

Only recently introduced to a wider Australian audience thanks to Madman’s series of region 4 DVD releases, the groundbreaking, 26-episode series Cowboy Bebop is one of the most popular franchises in the history of anime. Beloved both domestically and in the US, it was inevitable that a spin-off feature film would soon appear, and Cowboy Bebop – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, or Cowboy Bebop – The Movie as it was re-titled for US release, was the result. Sitting snuggly between episodes 22 and 23 of the television series, this newest Bebop adventure even enjoyed a limited run in Australian cinemas before being added to Columbia Tristar’s small, yet high-quality stable of DVD anime releases.

Providing a superb introduction to the Bebop universe, this feature length incarnation charts the continuing adventures of a bunch of rugged space adventurers; a motley group of Mars-based bounty hunters (or ‘cowboys’ to use the parlance of the time) who crisscross the galaxy in search of its human refuse. This merry band is led by the Jet, an ex-cop, a patchwork of cybernetic body parts, who has become a kind of father-figure to the rest. He is joined by Spike Spiegel - a wise-cracking, chain-smoking exponent of Jeet Kun-Do, Faye Valentine – a voluptuous, under-dressed, gun-toting chronic gambler, Edo (or Edward) – a hacker and all-round annoying little bastard, and Ein – a genius corgy.

As the film opens, things don’t look too good for our collected cowboys - but what else is new? Reduced to eating tasteless, protein-free titbits from self-heating Styrofoam cups, the Bebop’s crew are desperate to increase their dwindling cash-flow. While they wait for the über-score that will finally spell the end to their destitute existence, they continue to chase those small bounties that keep fuel in their ship and instant-noodles on the table. Trailing one such - a cockney hacker by the name of Lee Sampson - perky gun-maiden Faye follows a tanker into downtown Alba City. A moment later, the very same tanker explodes into a thousand fiery pieces; spreading what appears to be a lethal, virus-ridden cloud across several city blocks. In the pandemonium that ensues, Faye’s bounty escapes, but not before she catches a glimpse of his face; a long haired lothario bearing no resemblance to her intended quarry!

A mystery? Yes. But not a particular interesting one. Not, that is, until the Martian authorities post an unprecedented bounty of 300 million woolongs for the apprehension of the culprit; a bioterrorist known only as Vincent, and whose agenda is as yet unknown. Their appetites suitably whetted, the guys take to the seedy streets of Alba City to track him down. But this job may well be far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. For this particular madman has an ex-military, nanotech virus in his hot little hands, and he is not above the extinction of the entire Martian settlement…

"I love the kind of woman that can kick my arse..."

From the first frame to its breathless climax, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door delivers the superb action, wry dialogue and fantastic music that have made the original Bebop series so damn popular. And what with small-screen time and budgetary constraints swept away, the results easily eclipse the original episodes in terms of animation quality (more about this later) and the complexity of the action. The film’s numerous set pieces are highly elaborate and beautifully enacted, continuing at full throttle until, as director Watanabe himself confesses, he is good and ready to conclude them. The standard of writing too is also high, with a credible plot and nicely motivated antagonists who themselves chart satisfying character arcs; traits that are too often missing in your typical Hollywood action blockbuster. The real skill of the writers, and more importantly that of director Watanabe, is that the Bebop adventures are not over-burdened with the convoluted, exposition-heavy dialogue that plagues many anime productions. Instead, the production relies more on the animation itself - subtle facial expressions and body language – in addition to Yoko Kanno’s evocative score to tell the real story. Herein, of course, lies the secret of Bebop’s universal popularity - that the story is told largely independent of language - and a popularity that can only be enhanced still further by this fantastic film. For in Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, Bebop achieves that elusive quality of all truly great animation. After the first ten minutes the viewer forgets that they are watching an animated feature at all, and becomes totally immersed in the story and characters.

In terms of its animation quality, the television series weighed in at the more impressive end of product destined for the small screen. A combination of traditional cel animation and a few subtly placed CGI enhanced environments, it featured a reasonable amount of background detail in addition to a set of visually quite distinct lead characters. It was the wonderfully choreographed action sequences, in particular Spike’s beautifully fluid, hand-to-hand fighting style, however, that truly impressed.

OK, so the series was good, but this feature length version of Bebop is an order of magnitude more impressive; by no means state-of-the-art, cutting-edge or whatever, but beautiful to watch nonetheless. With Shinichiro Watanabe and his original animation team returning for this silver-screen outing, the characterisations you know and love are back; from the busty Faye, to the mechanical patchwork that is Jet and Spike in his fuzzy hair and weird jazz-club getup. While these much-loved characterisations remain, the quality of the animation itself is far superior, with more fluid animation – and not just the actions sequences - laid over some damned impressive backgrounds; especially the seedier, more cosmopolitan areas of the Martian capital. And as for that aforementioned action, true to form the quality steps up another notch, with some exciting and inventive sequences captured with flair and exquisite attention to detail. About the only aspect of the animation that fails to impress are the small number of space sequences in which the flying Bebop looks like a lifeless cardboard cutout. A carry-over from the series, this is definitely one area where improvement would have been most welcome.

To Columbia’s anamorphic transfer meanwhile - another fine product from Sony Imaging Labs - and a near perfect translation of the original material into the digital domain. Thus is Columbia’s impressive track record for its anime releases more than maintained! The colours, rather muted in keeping with Bebop’s quite destitute production design, are all beautifully rendered and complimented by deep solid blacks. While the sharp image makes available the depth of detail inherent in the source material - and replicated I must say without undue aliasing effects of any kind – it does make visible some very minor limitations in the print. Specifically, one or two white and black specks are visible throughout and a slight amount of background grain can be discerned from time to time. Compression-related artefacts, on the other hand, are nowhere to be seen and the layer change is so well positioned it was imperceptible on my trusty Toshiba.

All in all a great job from Columbia’s friends at Sony and a testament to the continuing quality of their anime releases!

Another area in which the cinematic Bebop eclipses the original series is in the sound department, swapping the reasonable Dolby Digital mix shipped with the episodes for pounding Dolby Digital 5.1. And right from the outset your attention is caught, and held, by the omnipresent LFE channel – goddamn is it loud! Even at lower than reference listening levels Bebop will have your windows rattling and your neighbours banging on the door. And man, is there ample opportunity for them to complain - with explosions, thundering spacecraft, the crack of arms fire and the sickly thud of foot on skull to keep those low frequencies coming.

The rest of the mix is also rather active. The surround channels are kept almost continuously on the hop, supplying a range of ambient sounds; be they the busy streets of Alba City, the echoing of footprints of a sterile military complex, flocks of birds, clanging noonday bells or the crash of falling debris. Directional effects are also in evidence, with dialogue, gunfire and other foley effects directed to the rear. At times the location of the sound does default to the centre-rear, making the surround mix appear occasionally rather flat, but at others we are treated to vehicles whooshing across the rear channels. So too Yoko Kanno’s sumptuous score, an integral part of any Bebop experience, gives the surround channels plenty to do; mixed beautifully between the front and rear channels to create a nicely immersive viewing experience.

And now to the obligatory English dub, which some fans have criticised for not featuring the same voice talent as for the dub of the series. Well, sorry chaps, but my preference is for the original Japanese anyway, so cry into your pillows all you want; the film is distributed by a different company, and that company commissioned a new cast – end of story. Basically, I can’t see what all the whinging is about. As serviceable a dub as you’re ever likely to hear, it sports clear dialogue throughout and features lip-synch that is far better even than the original Japanese version. Actually, this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine - why change the translated script so much just to match the mouth movements, when the original script doesn’t match in the first place?

Moving on, in addition to the English dub, Bebop also supplies, of all things a Russian 5.1 dub! In actual fact, the Russian dialogue is just recorded directly over the English version, with a little delay between the English and its Russian translation. It’s just like having a group of Russian translators sitting in your living room. Very dodgy indeed!

Providing nicely animated menus that display a 3D fly-through in and around Alba City, Columbia’s release provides a fairly comprehensive set of extras for an anime release; beginning with a collection of six featurettes:

• Featurette From the Small Screen to the Big Screen: (5:43) Interviews with Shinichiro Watanabe and a selection of the Japanese and English voice actors discuss the differences between the film and the episodes of the series; how they were able to expand on the characters, and how the limitations of TV production were lifted by more time and money.

• Featurette International Appeal – What’s not to Like?: (7:00) Shinichiro Watanabe, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, composer Yoko Kanno and a selection of Japanese and English voice actors talk about why they think Bebop is so popular with Western audiences.

• Featurette Spike – A Complex Soul: (7:20) Shinichiro Watanabe, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto and Spike’s voice actors talk about their influences in creating the various facets of Spikes character, his appearance, his background and his complex soul.

• Featurette Faye – Intellectual Vixen: (6:37) Same deal, different character. This time the voluptuous Ms Valentine is put under the microscope.

• Featurette Ed – Resident Eccentric: (6:48) Same deal, different... oh you get the picture…

• Featurette Jet – No Ordinary Dad: (5:03) Getting the picture?

Basically, these six featurettes have been culled from the same set of interviews and are interspersed with pertinent clips from the final film, plus behind-the-scenes footage from the dialogue recording sessions. What would have been infinitely better would have been one large featurette providing a comprehensive look at the production. Certainly, as it stands, having to select new menu items for each small instalment does become rather annoying.

• Storyboard Comparisons: Four scenes are here for our perusal, with the storyboard images presented side-by-side with the completed footage. Damned impressive storyboards I must say.

• Character Biographies: Some text information on the five main protagonists – the crew of the Bebop. Fairly scant, but may be of interest to those who have not seen the series.

• Conceptual Art Galleries: 112 conceptual sketches are provided for our perusal, covering the characters, their accessories and their machines that appear in the final film.

• Music Videos: Two videos are presented, both with nice Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes. Ask DNA is the opening title tune to the film and the music video replays an extended version of the opening black and white animated sequence. Some of the characters actually sing! The second, Gotta Knock a Little Harder, again plays over an extended version of the film’s closing sequence.

• Trailers: A stunning trailer for Cowboy Bebop is provided, along with Columbia stable mate Metropolis.

Unnecessarily held back from US (and Australian) release due to the September 11 attacks (Alba City bears a striking resemblance to New York), thankfully we need wait no longer. The equal of any of the very best feature-length anime releases you’ve seen to date, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door provides both first-timers with a superb introduction to the Cowboy Bebop universe, and even the most ardent Bebop junkies with everything they know and love about the original series. Featuring great animation and a soundtrack to match, this is one of 2003’s must-have anime titles for you fans out there. And even if you‘re undecided about this whole anime thing, Cowboy Bebop may well be the title that clinches it for you. Columbia sure think so. Highly recommended.