‘Cowboy Bebop’ Manga Review: Like Reading a Few More Filler Episodes

In anime circles, the “Cowboy Bebop” name needs little introduction. A late 90s juggernaut that was instrumental in helping Japanese animation cross over to the West, the show soon spawned a manga series to give viewers even more adventures in that universe. Debuting in Monthly Asuka Fantasy DX magazine in 1998, writer Yutaka Nanten created 11 new stories for the Bebop crew spread across three volumes.

The “Cowboy Bebop” manga is a sleek and stylish trip across the solar system that assumes you are at least somewhat familiar with the anime, as it will do little to explain its world’s lore or backstory for newcomers. Each chapter is almost completely self-contained, varying wildly in both length and subject matter. Some stories get quite risqué or make rather questionable decisions, but the manga is an overall faithful and fun extension of the show for those looking for more time in the Bebop universe.

How to Buy the ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Manga Series: An Interesting, Frustrating and Expensive Consumer Journey

Editorial Note: Because he acquired the books for Freddy to review, Joseph Rauch wrote this section.

Like in our review of the other Bebop manga series, “Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star,” I decided to move this section to the top and write it differently than our usual format.

The “Cowboy Bebop” manga is different from “Shooting Star.” It has a different author, and it was published later. Of the two manga series, “Cowboy Bebop” is the one with the same art style as the anime. Both series have been out of print for decades.

Because this manga series has exactly the same name as the far more famous anime, finding and buying the books can be a confusing process. Once you do find listings for the correct series, the prices might scare you away.

I ultimately bought both series at once on eBay. After a bidding war that lasted a few days, the final cost reached $308.12.

Unless you are a collector, superfan or reviewer, don’t spend this much money. As I stated in our other review, this series is not the one that’s worth it for normal readers to buy.

If you’re determined to acquire all three volumes — with or without “Shooting Star” — here’s a breakdown of how you can compare listings and prices:

Amazon

• Volume 1 for $44.67, sold by Burlington, MA Used Book Superstore
• Volume 2 starting at $34.99 (several sellers to choose from, huge variations in price and book condition)
• Volume 3 for $112.42 sold by Love 2 Books

The price of volume 3 is the main reason I tried eBay. If you buy these three volumes on Amazon, you’ll pay $192.08 plus shipping, taxes and so on.

The Amazon pages for volume 1 and 3 have “Other Used, New, Collectible” options that are cheaper. Some of these prices, such as $5.58, seem too good to be true. This manga series is out of print and rare. Even if the volume was in horrible condition, it would be foolish to sell it for less than $10. There is a degree of risk in buying any out-of-print, used book, but I imagine the risk level jumps when trying these suspicious-looking sublistings.

eBay

The Carolina Manga Library was the eBay seller I bought from, and I was completely satisfied with the product quality and shipping time. I don’t know if they have any more copies of the series.

Search for “Cowboy Bebop manga” on eBay, and you’ll see many reputable sellers with reasonable prices. Remember to scroll. For whatever reason, the first listings at the top often have the worst prices.

‘Cowboy Bebop’ Manga Summary: Bounty Hunting in a Desperate Future

Like the eponymous anime that preceded it, the “Cowboy Bebop” manga follows the bounty hunting crew of an interplanetary spaceship called the Bebop. After an accident during the installation of a space travel gate ravages Earth, humanity is forced to scatter across the solar system. The galaxy soon becomes a lawless wasteland, and the police are forced to hire bounty hunters to help quell the crime and chaos on each planet.

The plot of “Cowboy Bebop” picks up several decades after the gate disaster that destroyed Earth. The ragtag crew of the Bebop is comprised of five members: the skilled but hotheaded Spike Spiegel, the coarsely paternal Jet Black, the femme fatale con artist Faye Valentine, the hyperactive kid hacker Ed, and their hyper intelligent data dog, Ein. Each chapter of the manga covers an individual mission the team undertakes, usually due to needing money in dire straits. What follows are comedic hijinks and intense action scenes, with the occasional glimpse into the pasts and motivations of our leads.

Manga Like ‘Cowboy Bebop’

The main characters in “Cowboy Bebop” are unique, but there are plenty of well-written manga series that are similar in terms of setting, plot and action. Here are some worth browsing. Feel free to suggest other titles, and we’ll consider adding them to the list.

‘Black Lagoon’

Set in modern day, this series also follows a crew: Rock, Revy, Dutch and Benny. Technically they are mercenaries, not bounty hunters, but their work involves the same amount of gun fighting. Instead of a spaceship, they are the crew of an old boat named the “Black Lagoon” or the “Lagoon” for short.

‘Dimension W’

Similar to how the hyperspace gates catalyzed the setting in Bebop, the world of “Dimension W” runs on “coils,” cross-dimensional electromagnetic pieces of technology. When Kyouma is out finding and dealing illegal coils, he finds a mysterious girl who could bring him closer to understanding the rumored fourth dimension.

Audience and Genre: A Sci-Fi Action Comedy and Noir Crime Thriller Manga

“Cowboy Bebop” is a noir crime thriller told in a science fiction setting. The core of solving mysteries and catching perpetrators is still there, but the updated milieu allows for significantly more creative locales and off-the-wall shenanigans.

Each chapter of the manga covers a separate heist or misadventure starring the Bebop crew, and the stories vary wildly in terms of content and length. Pretty much every chapter features the series’ trademark fast-paced action and quippy humor.

A few chapters, usually the ones touching on some aspect of a main character’s past, turn serious and grim. Things never get overly violent or cruel, but the drama expects a level of maturity from the reader that isn’t required from the rest of the manga.

The musical aspect of the anime has been preserved, with real songs and artists being referenced both metatextually and in-universe. With the exception of the random “Bebop Special Short” in the middle of the second volume, the name of every chapter is a musical allusion, usually the title of a classic rock or blues song such as “We Will Rock You” or “Like a Rolling Stone”. For readers familiar with those genres, most of these titles will point to the themes and narrative of the upcoming chapter, even if the connection is occasionally tenuous. Music knowledge even directly takes centerstage in one chapter, with the plot revolving around the lyrics to “Nowhere Man” by The Beatles.

There is also a strange trend of sudden and surprising sexuality throughout. It isn’t overly abundant, but, once or twice per volume, the reader turns the page to discover a crass or sexually suggestive scene that always feels out of place with what surrounds it. Whether it’s a woman flashing a man to help Spike win an arm-wrestling match or a villain’s shocking show of subservience to his boss, these moments never add much beyond lowbrow humor or cheap fanservice.

Perspective: A Day in the Life of the Bebop

Similarly to the anime, the “Cowboy Bebop” manga series exclusively follows the crew of the Bebop as they undertake various bounties and odd jobs for money. While the writing might occasionally shift focus to briefly show what some of the chapter’s side characters are up to, every story starts, ends and largely centers the main protagonists.

Considering the episodic nature of the manga, this choice is probably for the best. Because no one outside the core cast returns for a second chapter, the author uses our connection to the Bebop crew as the main and arguably only throughline connecting everything together. It’s almost as if we’re the sixth member of the team, observing our partners’ shenanigans from offscreen.

Three Cs: Compelling, Clear, Concise

Editorial Note: We believe these three factors are important for evaluating general writing quality across every aspect of the book. Before you get into further analysis, here’s a quick breakdown to clarify how we’re using these words:

• Compelling: Does the author consistently write in a way that would make most readers emotionally invested in the book’s content?
• Clear: Are most sentences and parts of the book easy enough to read and understand?
• Concise: Are there sections or many sentences that could be cut? Does the book have pacing problems?

Compelling: It Depends on How Invested You Are in the Chapter-Specific Characters and Stories

“Cowboy Bebop” is full of action and has a zany comedy style that keeps the story moving at a quick pace. It’s easy to get swept up in the movement of the artwork and the spark of the Bebop crew’s banter.

When the pace slows down, however, it can be more hit and miss. The slower scenes tend to involve a lot more dialogue and significantly less complex artwork and panel placement. It’s all still executed well, but the manga might fall victim to its own structure in these moments.

If the reader catches on to the fact that nothing narratively carries over from chapter to chapter, then their enjoyment of and investment in the writing — particularly in those slower scenes — will depend almost entirely on their interest in that specific chapter’s story and characters.

The exception would arguably be the moments of pathos that focus on our main characters, but those actually tend to be some of the shorter and quieter dramatic moments. The one-off characters and their arcs get much more spotlight.

Clear: Translation Troubles

One of the major issues with “Cowboy Bebop” in the early going is the translation. While it does improve in the second and third volumes, the first volume is rife with spelling and grammatical errors. Letters and full words are sometimes dropped, homophones are switched and punctuation and pronouns are misused.

There were also occasions where the text was seemingly put in the wrong bubbles. While the reader can still follow the overall plot, certain moments will likely require a few reads to fully grasp what’s happening.

In volumes two and three, clarity improves better. The occasional typo or malapropism does still slip through, but the writing becomes significantly more comprehensible overall. Though the plots were never overly complex or difficult to follow even with the messy translation, this improvement results in the reading experience getting smoother as you go deeper into the series.

Concise: Short and Snappy Until It’s Not

“Cowboy Bebop” favors a snarky and fast-paced writing style that usually keeps scenes snappy and moving. When the story does slow down, however, expect there to suddenly be a lot of text to get through. These text dumps usually occur when exposition needs to happen or when a character is having their big dramatic moment. While most of it is well done, the sudden blocks of dialogue can grind the pace to a halt, especially in the longer stories.

Relatedly, the longer stories don’t really justify their extended length by feeling any deeper, more complex or more grandiose than the shorter ones. It’s ultimately unclear why some chapters are two to four times as long as others.

Character Development: Doomed by the Format

“Cowboy Bebop” is an almost entirely episodic manga, which directly affects how much it can do with its characters and their arcs. The series starts almost in media res, not giving any of the characters or their overall situation a proper introduction.

Luckily, each member of the Bebop crew has a bold and immediately identifiable personality. Spike is good at what he does, but his brashness and stubbornness often get him into trouble. Jet is focused on making money to keep the ship repaired and the team fed. Faye is a trickster whose true allegiances are hard to pin down. Ed is a genius but acts so bizarre that people never know what she’s actually thinking. Finally, Ein is a super smart corgi that mostly exists to be cute and accompany Ed.

Unfortunately, the structure and brevity of the manga mean there isn’t much time for the author to deepen the characters. While all of the leads get at least one chapter each to flesh out their pasts and motivations a bit, there isn’t time to see how these revelations affect them moving forward. Almost all of the development is restricted to the past, and anything that happens in the present is never retained.

For example, one chapter involves the reappearance of Faye’s old friend who was something of a con artist mentor to her. While this person is presented as very important to Faye, and the end of the chapter implies that the events have had an impact on her, this new character is never referenced again. Faye’s behavior and personality remain unchanged. Any backstory actually explaining why the characters are how they are is reserved for the anime, with only the most integral plot points getting even a passing mention in the manga.

Story: New Episodes for Existing Viewers

Each chapter of “Cowboy Bebop” covers its own self-contained plotline, usually involving one or more of the main characters going after a bounty or participating in some moneymaking scheme. The chapters vary quite a lot in length, with the second volume containing five shorter stories and the third volume containing only two chapters with 80+ pages. The longer stories tend to be the ones that focus more on drama and characterization, with the shorter stories usually being more action and comedy oriented.

Every story gets its own plotline and set of side characters, none of whom are ever referred to again once their respective chapter is over. As such, each story has to stand on its own in terms of entertainment and engagement, with mixed results.

The first chapter, for example, sees Spike, Jet and Faye all tracking different bounties to the same restaurant without realizing it, and it serves as a charming and effective introduction to our main cast. Also strong is a later chapter that shows Faye reuniting with an old mentor. This story provides some of the best pathos and drama in this series. Unfortunately, other chapters aren’t as successful, such as the second chapter in which Spike infiltrates a prison to bust out an extremely annoying and arguably problematic bounty target.

The manga also makes the strange decision to end on one of the only stories in which the Bebop crew is arguably not the main focus. They are still present and play important roles, but the bulk of the plot follows a normal taxi driver who gets caught up in the middle of a heist and is desperately trying to find a way out. While one could argue that the end of this story does have thematic relevance to the manga as a whole, it feels hollow to hang the finale of the entire piece on the emotional arc of a character we just met. Even with the episodic structure stymieing character growth and constantly introducing new bit players and conflicts just to toss them aside, it’s hard to conceive of a reason why the final story wouldn’t center the protagonists.

Prose Style: All Talk

The writing of “Cowboy Bebop” is largely comprised of dialogue between the members of the Bebop crew and that chapter’s side characters. Whether it’s exposition, an inner monologue or just banter, everything is infused with a sense of wit, snark and cynicism that separates it from many stories of its kind, especially at the time. Though the writing lacks the depth and nuance of the anime, it still understands the show’s perspective and successfully captures its energy. It also possesses the original’s ability to make all of the high concept futuristic ideas relatable, grounding all of the events in a sense of reality that really makes this feel like an extension of our current world.

Dialogue: Bebop Banter

Because dialogue constitutes the crux and vast majority of “Cowboy Bebop” manga prose, it is important that the characters are defined, distinct and enjoyable to be around. Luckily, the crew of the Bebop is funny and charismatic. Granted, most of that charisam comes from the anime. The manga more or less just lifts their designs and personalities verbatim and replicates them here. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. It makes the conversations here feel like extensions of what the anime might have done with more episodes.

Each character brings their own flavor to every scene they’re in. Spike is the snarky and nonchalant id of the group, while Jet is often the voice of reason. Faye is a wild card that no one knows if they can trust, and Ed is generally an agent of chaos. Despite their wildly different personalities, the group comes together with a chemistry that’s vital to “Cowboy Bebop”’s DNA. If it’s not enjoyable to just sit in the Bebop and watch these characters interact, then your adaptation has failed, but this manga succeeds at matching the tone and style of the anime’s dialogue.

Setting: A Manmade Postapocalypse

“Cowboy Bebop” takes place in a future that has been destroyed by mankind. A gate designed to help with space travel ends up accidentally bringing a cataclysm down on Earth, scattering humanity to the farthest reaches of the solar system. The other planets are soon colonized and commodified, leaving few signs that the human race has actually learned from its mistakes. Chaos and crime are widespread, and the police that aren’t corrupt struggle to keep things under control.

The setting is key to the story, and it informs pretty much every action the characters take, even beyond the main protagonists. The desperation is palpable. Most stories stem from the Bebop team just trying to put food on the table. The cynicism and tension this poverty creates is ever present, from conversations with destitute civilians to chase scenes with bounties just doing what they need to survive or to “fix” the world. This borderline oppressive environment makes it even more impressive that the series is able to remain as entertaining and comedic as it is. It doesn’t ignore all of the major issues surrounding the characters, but it does often mine these situations for jokes and humor.

Rhetoric: Dystopian Discourse + Sexist and Anti-Trans Content?

As is common for stories about a dystopian society, “Cowboy Bebop” comes with some anti-capitalist and anti-establishment undertones. Our bounty hunting heroes live on the very edges of the law and society, and they make it clear at one point that they are in this line of work out of necessity and not for any glamour or prestige. The gate disaster has led to a solar system where most people are struggling just to scrape by, and the government and rich have the ability to do almost completely as they please. Several times throughout the series, the life of someone poor is put up for bounty simply because they’ve crossed or interfered with someone powerful, even if it was unwitting. Most of the bounties end up not even paying out because of an excuse or loophole. The system is taking advantage of the main characters, and they can do little to stop it.

Of note beyond that theme, however, is how the series approaches women. Faye has always been a character who uses her looks and sexuality to get ahead. That fact remains here, and she gets some additional shading to her character so that she’s not just fanservice. Other female characters, however, always seem to end up being objectified or used for crass humor. Perhaps the epitome is when Spike seems to grope a female reporter and guess at her measurements while she’s trying to interview him and Jet. The reporter is the focus of the chapter, and we’re meant to sympathize with her at least on some level, but the comic passes this exchange off as some kind of joke or silly character moment.

There’s also the case of Marilyn. In an early chapter, Spike gets himself arrested to find a bounty known for regularly changing their appearance. Spike is told that the mark’s name is Julio, but when he infiltrates the prison, the mark is dressed like a woman and insists on being called Marilyn. The writing never makes it clear whether Marilyn is meant to be trans or if this is just another disguise for her. However, she insists several times that Spike calls her Marilyn, not even wanting to respond to her “real” name of Cidne, and this pattern continues even when Spike isn’t around.

While Marilyn does get some moments of pathos and a surprisingly clever resolution to her story, the plot mostly treats her as a joke. She’s loud, annoying and delusional. Her antics often cause trouble for Spike. Not helping the optics is that Spike is immediately repulsed by Marilyn, but her unwanted advances and physical outbursts unfortunately don’t help her case. She’s clearly meant to be comedic relief, but it’s hard to tell by the end if we’re supposed to be laughing with her or at her.

Cultural and Political Significance: The Future as a Mirror

Taking place in the future, “Cowboy Bebop” is a reflection of our world taken to the extreme. Pushing for progress has led to the utter destruction of the planet, and the resulting chaos has plunged the galaxy into crime and chaos. With the uncaring government and incapable police force both infected with corruption, regular people are left to fend for themselves by doing whatever necessary to survive.

The manga never dwells on it, but it’s easy to see how the world of the gate accident parallels our own. If you remove the science fiction and futuristic elements, the plot of “Cowboy Bebop” can be boiled down to a group of outsiders struggling to make survive in a world that has destroyed itself. The bounties are only a means to an end. Sometimes the circumstances mean you have to betray even those you consider friends. It’s a dire world not unlike that of an extreme recession or war, and the characters that the Bebop crew come across on their adventures act in realistic and accordingly desperate ways.

Critiquing the Critics: Underdocumented and Mostly Forgotten

Despite the ubiquity of “Cowboy Bebop” in the anime community, there is very little information about the manga online. Most likely due to being old, obscure and out of print, many of the discussions are confined to fan forums and message boards. Generally, the consensus seems to be that the stories told here are solid bonus episodes for those wanting more after finishing the anime. However, fans mostly agreed that the quality of the manga couldn’t match up to the anime’s legendary run.

Book Aesthetic: Borrowing from the Best

The art of the “Cowboy Bebop” manga closely follows that of the anime, and the iconic designs translate well to the page. Despite the lack of audio, the visuals also pay tribute to the smooth musicality of the original with their stylish and creative page compositions. You can almost hear the background tracks from the show start playing as your eyes glide across the action scenes.

The manga maintains the intricately detailed and dilapidated aesthetic of the original show, giving the world a very lived-in if not run-down feeling. The oppressive vibe of the environment is counteracted by the enticing design of the characters and action. These are cool people you want to follow living in a world that you’d never want to exist in, and the books relish in alternating between seedy and exciting, off-putting and seductive.

‘Cowboy Bebop’ Manga vs. Anime: More But Less

The “Cowboy Bebop” manga plays like an extension of the anime series in pretty much every way. While the first half of the show is devoted to explaining the world and how these characters came together, the manga starts with the Bebop crew already assembled and on missions. Passing mentions are made to things like the gate accident and Faye’s cryogenic sleep, but these aspects never inform the characters and their actions the way they do in the show. It’s clear from the first chapter that the manga expects the reader to be at least somewhat familiar with the source material and its core premise and characters. This iteration will do little to catch up those who haven’t done their homework.

While the plot of each story is simple enough that a reader with no knowledge of the anime can still follow what’s happening, they each feel more like extra episodes of the show than their own standalone pieces. Even in the moments where the manga foregoes the action and comedy in favor of delving into the pasts of its leads, the execution feels deferential to the anime. None of the major character moments from the anime are shown here directly, but almost all of the major character moments from the manga seem to parallel moments from the show. Jet is confronted with another former coworker from the police force, and Ed reunites with more kids back on Earth.

The closest the manga comes to having its own original character moment is a plotline involving Faye’s former mentor reappearing. However, due to the episodic structure of the stories, the author is never able to follow up on anything, leaving even this more original spin on the characters feeling like a pale imitation of events that came before.

Reviewer’s Personal Opinion: Filler for Fans

Both as an anime and as a cultural touchstone, the “Cowboy Bebop” anime is an almost impossible legacy to live up to. As such, it seems borderline self-defeating to go into this manga adaptation expecting something of the same or greater quality, especially considering the vastly different medium and creative team.
However, it’s also difficult to view this manga as its own separate entity because of how closely it ties itself to the anime. While the manga mostly does a good job of accurately portraying the characters and their personalities from the show, it also doesn’t properly explain the backstories of any of the characters or the world. It expects that the reader either has some familiarity with the “Cowboy Bebop” brand or doesn’t care about the histories or motivations of the main cast. Considering that the pasts of the characters is a core driving force of the anime, this seems like a massive oversight. Pair that with the fact that the manga does little of its own work to develop the characters beyond where the anime starts them, and you end up with a manga that’s self-assured but goes nowhere.

The issue then becomes twofold. Taken on its own merits, the manga feels incomplete and shallow because it doesn’t do enough new to further develop these characters or this world in meaningful ways. It also doesn’t fully convey important details about its cast and setting, meaning that newcomers will be missing key pieces of information about core players and concepts.

Taken as an extension of the anime, however, you basically end up with what amounts to 11 extra filler episodes of variable quality. For diehard fans of “Cowboy Bebop,” a readthrough might be worth it just as a way to spend more time in this universe with these characters. Viewed as just extra content, the manga pretty much nails the vibe of the characters and aesthetic of the show.

For everyone else, though, this version of the series doesn’t do anything that the anime didn’t do bigger and better. The manga more or less removes the character development that defined the most memorable moments of the original and doesn’t replace it with anything. Apart from a few specific story choices, the episodic structure of these books is probably their biggest Achilles’ heel.

It’s difficult to recommend this manga to anyone who isn’t already a fan of “Cowboy Bebop.” While the stories themselves are fun enough, and the artwork and writing do match the style and verve of the show, there just isn’t much here that’s going to grab or stay with someone who’s going in blind. Perhaps one of the few moments of actual pathos will stick with a newcomer, but anyone who has seen the show before will probably be disappointed by the shifted focus and overall weaker execution of similar concepts. Fans have seen this premise firing on all cylinders, and this manga can sometimes just feel like reheated leftovers in comparison.

‘Cowboy Bebop’ Manga Review: Extra Adventures for Diehard Fans

“Cowboy Bebop” is a manga series based on the iconic 90’s anime of the same name. While it preserves the same characters and lore, the manga tells 11 new stories starring the Bebop crew. Unfortunately, the stories vary wildly in both length and quality, and even the best ones can’t compete with the impossibly good anime.

Nonetheless, the manga is overall still an entertaining read that effectively matches the style and energy of the show, even if it might not leave you with much to remember once you’re done. This manga series is probably best reserved for fans of the anime, especially because these stories will do little to catch up those unfamiliar with the lore. If you’ve already seen the show and film, and you’re just looking for some short bonus episodes as an excuse to squeeze some more time out of this universe and these characters, then this is likely your best bet.