 Do not fear death. Death is always at our side. When we show fear, it jumps at us faster than light. But if we do not show fear, it casts its eye upon us gently and then guides us into infinity. The laid back, relaxed atmosphere in this neo-futurist world created by Shinichiro Watanabe was expected after watching samurai shampoo. I thought I knew what to expect yet it was so much different than shampoo. After watching shows with intricate plots, heavy stories, and magic systems, cowboy bebop was a welcome change of pace. It wasn't a plot heavy story. The action was minimal and these characters were for the most part regular people. So I wanted to know, what was the thing that gave this show its edge? The reason this show was timeless. And so I would watch until those words that echoed through countless AMVs and social media bios appeared on my screen. Before I begin however, I want to take note of the music, which serves so many different functions in the show. The music helps build the atmosphere and the setting of this world. And with such confidence and flamboyance, it almost became a character of its own. Yoko Kano did a masterful job. Cowboy Bebop focuses more on the characters in their journey and less on the plot. As the first few episodes flew by, the tone of the show, as stated, was relaxed. But as the sessions continued, the only way I could describe it was as a paradox. Cowboy Bebop has a laid back urgency to it. Behind the cool demeanor of Spike, Jet, and Faye, there was a looming darkness that they held, and this was their past. While the show throws us into the middle of the story, after the ballad of Fallen Angels, session 5, the pieces of Spike's story began to fall in line, followed by Jet, Faye, and later Edward and Ein. So I will break this video down into parts, starting with Jet, followed by Edward, Faye, and finally Spike, to look at how each of them faced their past or can't seem to let go of it. Beginning with Jet Black, he is the heartbeat of the Bebop, the owner of the ship, the cook, and the usually mature, wise, and plant loving brute. Jet has a prosthetic left arm used as a visual reminder of his past. He was a former investigator known as the Black Dog, the man who bites his prey and never lets go. Jet's past lies in two places, in Ganymede with his former partner, Alyssa, and as the Black Dog in the Black Dog Serenade. In the Ganymede Elegy, after meeting Alyssa after 10 years, she tells him why she left him. Jet's relationship with his past is grounded in tame, which is quite fitting considering his character. Alyssa and Jet approach this in a very mature manner. As she told him he was too controlling, Jet walked away having closure. But after Spike chased after Alyssa and her new boyfriend, Jet could have reverted to the Black Dog. Instead, Jet took it upon himself to let them go, as a demonstration of his growth. In the Black Dog Serenade, he faces his partner Fad and Uda, the man who was responsible for his arm, and this story was wrapped up without any loose ends. Jet is a simple man, he had no complicated relationships or issues facing his former life. Jet confidently lives in the present, taking pride in his arm and his ship, as well as taking responsibility for his actions. Jet's endearing heart serves for the bebop to be more of a family. He has faced his past and accepted it, and he is ready to move on, and to live a pretty simple life. Next series we bring you Calgirl, Ed! Ed is the main character! Hey, wait a minute! What kind of selfish thing is that? When Edward joined the crew, she quickly became my favorite character. I've always enjoyed happy-go-lucky characters, and Ed fit the mold perfectly. She was funny, eccentric, and breathed new life into the crew. Her youth and positive energy was contagious and lovable, compared to the heavy lives and stories of the crew. And not to mention her genius was useful to them. Ed's past lies with her reunion with her father in Hard Luck Woman. I believe Ed's father did love her, but they are very much alike. He is as forgetful and eccentric as she is. He left her at a daycare and forgot to pick her up, where he would spend the next few years looking for her. Ed spent the most of her time alone, which would help build this goofy and aloof personality, and would have her wander into an orphanage and later join the bebop crew. Later in the episode, Ed and her father reunited and gave her the option to join him. But before she could even give him an answer, he left shortly after, which left Edward sadded, an emotion that is not usually associated with her. But as Faye's words resonated with her, There's somewhere that you belong Edward, you should go and find out where. It's the best. Belonging is the very best thing there is. When she faced her father, she would find out that she did not belong with him or with the crew. Ed is a free spirit and where she belongs is out in the open, following the next adventure that awaits her. And she took Ayn along with her. I don't need any comrades. They're not worth it. I end up worrying about things I shouldn't. Why do you have to go? Where are you going? What are you going to do? Just throw your life away like it was nothing? Faye has a hard time trusting people. Unable to remember her past, she knows that she has debts to pay and she was taken advantage of. For that reason, she becomes opportunistic and mischievous. Faye has a unique past. In her 20s, she was in a spacecraft accident that nearly killed her. And she was cryogenically frozen for over 50 years. As Faye's cold demeanor began to melt around the crew, she tried to flee, but got involved with Spike's past, Julia and the Red Dragon, in rhythm folk blues and in Jupiter Jazz. But focusing on Faye herself brings us to speak like a child. A session that was equally heartbreaking as it was touching. Faye had received a tape from an unknown sender, and Spike and Jet would spend the entire session looking to find an outlet to play the footage. By the end of the session, they watched it. And the video shown is of a younger Faye sending a letter to her future self. This was a moment that was so surreal to Faye. Seeing the girl that she once was and not having any recollection of who that was on the screen other than her appearance. She didn't know how she was or why she was that way. She was essentially watching a woman who looked just like her. And that provoked a tremendous amount of emotion in her. As the tape continued, she would see herself as a girl who was excited to see the world. As someone who was so happy. And a little more open and softer than this hardened woman. To her, this was the real Faye Valentine. Faye's arc is later ended in Hard Luck Woman. And in that session, there are a few moments that sit out to me. After she meets the woman of her past, she seems a little drained by that encounter. And under the shower, Faye triggers memories of her past. When she exits the shower in a hurry, she runs into Spike. And it was like a piece of her former self was talking. She couldn't even get the words out and the words that she did say were an apology. Which is so unlike her. When she returns to Earth, she runs towards her past, towards those memories. Whatever that place was in her memory, would I assume to be her home? To be the place where she felt that she belonged. A place where she did belong. She ran so desperately. But instead she found nothing. Just remnants of her past. Because that's all her arc was. Broken shattered memories that she was trying to piece up. A past that she could never run back to. The tape she watched was someone she once was. But it was also someone she could never be again. And now Faye had to move forward with this new identity. By the end where she did belong was with Spike and Jed on the bebop. She spent her whole life searching for a place to belong. Searching for her past. Trying to discover who she was. And when she's finally able to put it to rest. And to return where she realizes she belongs. With the crew, Spike is going to die. But she can't get herself to beg him not to leave. Because that's just not who she is. So she fires her gun multiple times in the ship. As this was the last time she was going to see him. Whatever happens. Happens. I'm not going there to die. I'm going to find out if I'm really alive. And finally we get to Spike. Cool guy Spike. With his nonchalant attitude and smooth voice. Voiced by the legendary Steve Bloom. Spike is constantly getting into dangerous firefights in a chase for money. But as the show goes on there is much more to Spike than being a cool guy. We are never given a reason to care about Spike's morality. But when it comes down to it Spike is caring and he is compassionate. He showed this with Stella and Rocco. Maybe this was a way of trying to be better than he was in his past life. This is said because Spike always refers to himself as someone who died before. Annie in session 5 says he died 3 years prior. Spike was part of the criminal organization known as the Red Dragon. Where he worked alongside Vicious, Shin, Lin and the elusive Julia. Aside from that not much is known about the protagonist. I began to look at Spike's character as someone who had so many layers. Layers that we were given the opportunity to see. But so many that we weren't. So many missing events, missing moments. But that mystery is what makes him so interesting. What we do know is that this is a man who has been running away from his former life. Or at least he has been trying to. But every time he is presented with an opportunity to return to it. Or rather return to Julia. He does. Faye describes Julia as... And the effect she had on Spike was profound to say the least. How Spike became numb we will never know. But Spike carries the most depth regarding the series' theme of the past. I enjoyed Spike the character because he was a man who at least tried. But he knows exactly who he is and what he's searching for. A search to feel something. Anything. Julia was the last person to make him feel alive. But Julia was from his past. Spike once told Faye to forget the past. But Spike is a hypocrite. Maybe he said this so that she doesn't become like him. Someone who is obsessed with his past. From the beginning he knew he couldn't let go of it. Every dangerous gunfight and a thrill is all him searching for what he had lost. Or what he had thought he'd lost. When he gets the opportunity to run from it he doesn't. And in consequence and he gets killed. I don't know whether or not he was planning to run away with Julia or not. But to me it made the most sense. But with her dead he was simply going through the motions. With nothing to live for and with his vinyl encounter with Vicious. That would be the only thing that would make him feel alive. Even if it was just for a moment. Spike is the striped cat with 10 million lives. Who had just lost the person who he lived for. And Spike goes to face Vicious and he wins. Spike kills Vicious. But he was also fatally wounded in that short battle. And Spike turns back to see all of Vicious's entrant. And delivers the final line of the series. The line you're going to carry that weight appeared on screen after credits and an image of a fallen Spike. The words that I was waiting for. And this parting line I believe was meant to be interpreted in the way that you want. And my interpretations were as follows. To Faye and to Jet of the bebop crew. They were to carry the weight of Spike's absence. The weight that Spike carried. From all those people he encountered. They carry his presence, his energy and his failures are a teacher. But not only that, this message echoes the theme of their collective stories. They learn that they must let go of their past. Before they end up consumed by it. Like Spike. Jet's arm for example is a weight of his past that he will carry for the rest of his life. Though Faye on the other hand, the younger Faye was a kind hearted girl who had caught in a freak accident. This left her empty. Without her memory, her weight was one of absence. But what was gone was gone. Faye had to let go of the past to find where she truly belonged. The fact that there is no singular definition to that line defines Cowboy bebop as a whole. The entire journey is surrounded by ambiguity. We never get the full picture of anything. We never get why or how Spike came to be Spike. We don't know who Faye Valentine once was. We don't watch a younger Jet Black and we don't see Ed and Ein when they left the crew. And that's okay. To me this line means that the past no matter how good or how bad it was is a weight that we all carry every single day. It is weight that has formed you into the person that you are today. So carry that weight into the future and into everything you do. It also means that you have a duty and responsibility for your every action. You will continue to make mistakes and you will continue to make good decisions. So focus on right here and right now. And whatever way you need to carry it, carry it into the future. Often times there isn't a deeper meaning to things. Some art is created to be consumed and to be enjoyed for what it is. And the meaning might be for the creator of said art. With Cowboy Bebop I don't know what it's for but I know what I did feel. And that was a sense of camaraderie and connection to the Bebop crew. I felt sad that Spike didn't walk away from his past. It was a bittersweet goodbye when Ed left knowing that Spike was going to die. I had no time to feel that kind of sadness. And I felt sad for Jet and for Faye who are now left without the spark of the Bebop. And just when I was getting comfortable with the crew just like Faye, they broke apart. And now they all have to carry that weight.