Product Description

Enjoy true Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 and be immersed once again with Jet, Spike and the rest of the crew of the Bebop as they travel around the galaxy in search for the wanted criminals one bounty at a time! Longest Anime Broadcast Series on Toonami. Completely Re-mastered and Remixed and newly animated scenes with 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound! Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44700 in DVD
• Brand: Bandai
• Released on: 2005-09-13
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Tagalog
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.com
Each of these two snazzy 20-minute installments is a self-contained and satisfying adventure tale about a futuristic hipster bounty hunter, from the most popular Japanese animated TV series of 1998. This is elegant action-comedy anime, with smoothly integrated CGI space-flight elements, gorgeous graphics, blues harmonica and sax riffs on the soundtrack, and a no-sweat post-Tarantino attitude. Despite occasional eruptions of gun-fu Asian-action violence, and some intimations of heavy-duty drug use (one especially noxious narcotic is administered as an aerosol spray, straight onto the user's eyeballs), the tone is surprisingly convivial. None of the generic tough elements are grim or mean-spirited. Lanky antihero Spike Spiegel is a planet-hopping bounty hunter with a cyborg sidekick and a genetically enhanced Welsh Corgi assistant, and as many wisecracks as punches get thrown. The emphasis is on clever twists of plot in an episodic short-story format. --David Chute

DVD features
The reissue of the first episodes of Shinichiro Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop, the series that set a new standard for cool in anime, offers English and Japanese voice tracks in both stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1. Viewers with sophisticated sound equipment can savor composer Yoko Kanno's blues-inflected score, which evokes wounded, sardonic bounty hunter/"space cowboy" Spike Spiegel. In a commentary by Japanese actors Kouichi Yamadera and Unshou Ishizuka, the original voices of Spike and Jet, Yamadera confesses he really wasn't sure how to play Spike in the first episodes. But Wendee Lee, the English voice of Faye, says she always felt completely at home with her character. While the numerous commentaries, trailers, promos, and other extras, will please the series' many fans, what people really want are new episodes of Cowboy Bebop. (Rated 13 and older: violence, nudity, profanity, alcohol and tobacco use, occasional ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

REMIX-VIDEO QUALITY
This is (also) a review of the REMIX VERSIONS. I won't go into the awesomeness of Cowboy Bebop other than to say that it is the best anime series ever, I'd even call it one of the best television shows ever!

While it has been universally noted on various postings about the remix versions that the sound is significantly better than the original sessions, there are multiple varying reviews on the PICTURE QUALITY. Some say there is no difference at all, some say it's a bit better, some say it's a lot better, all say they have "checked" both versions. Well, I took it a step further. I watched both versions side by side on an Avid Nitris Professional video editing system with high definition high resolution (HDHR) monitors and here is the DEFINITIVE ANSWER. There is a difference, they lightened it and did a very slight color correction. Basically, the old versions were a bit dark and some of the detail went unnoticed while the remix versions are lighter and there is more visible detail and color. In terms of viewing expeirience this means that a majority of the scenes look noticibly (if marginally) better. There are certain scenes, however, where the lightness works against it. Some of the more noirish scenes look a bit bleedy. Overall I would say that there is a difference in video quality and that the difference is mostly an improvement. But, even to the die hard fan the difference is negligible.

If you don't own the originals, if they're scratched, if you're a huge fan, if you have an awesome theatre system with good surround, or if you have a crappy small tv and can't see the detail in the image, GET THE REMIX. If not, while they are cool, they're not worth the $30 a pop.

This is for the REMIX version
1st off, why do 100 people post that haven't bought the remix copy just to say that bebop rules? It makes looking for comments about the remix copy tedious. We all know bebop rules; but IS IT BETTER THAN GETTING THE SESSION 1 DVD???

I would have to say no. Before I give my reasons, I'd like to point out that I do not have an expensive sound system so the updated sound is lost on me. BUT...

- I thought that they remastered the anime itself, and they did not. It looks the same as the original sessions (that was the reason for MY purchase).

-They did throw in a few extras that weren't in the original(some commentaries), but hardly worth a purchase.

-They redid the packaging and it looks like a quick relayout from the old art. I liked the original packaging better. It had the character info on the back, and the dvd was made to look like a record. the new dvd just mimics the cover art.

-They didn't even bother to include a booklet/paper of any kind inside.

-Many animes(Rahxephon, Noir) have been released in boxsets, or on a signature series (Trigun, Lain) that are cheaper to give the people that can't shell out $30 a dvd a chance to get it. You have to wait a little while, and it doesn't usually have some of the goodies that the original had; but the money has already been made. Of course they are releasing this "remix" of bebop (which has been out for a good 7 years or so) for the full $30.

Basically in my opinion, if you are going to go through the trouble to re-release it, AND charge full price; GO ALL THE WAY!!! (Like the Calvin and Hobbes Collection coming out.) If you are going to charge $30 for a 1998 anime; make it worth my 30.(But it's not about the money; it's for the fans) (sarcasm).
HOORAY FOR BANDAI MARKETING!!

Cowboy Bebop Doesn't Fail to Impress
Cowboy Bebop is a very impressive example anime. It's got everything that I believe a good series should contain. While there's not much of a continuing plot this far into the series, the stories in each episode are very entertaining. The action in the series is top notch and the animation is some of the finest I've seen. The animation is mostly hand drawn, but on occasion it is mixed with computer generated elements. I've seen this done before and I didn't like it, but they've pulled it off very nicely and it only makes things better in this case. Also, one of the things that I truly love about this series is the music by Yoko Kanno. The soundtrack is a jazzy blues style that would be splendid to listen to by itself. However, the way that it is used in the show is simply amazing. The contrast of mellow jazz music and fast paced action is enough to send shivers down my spine. This is done especially well in the first and fifth episodes. All in all, I'd say that Cowboy Bebop: Session 1 DVD is definitely worth the money.