Cowboy Bebop back on Adult Swim

[General Zod]

I think this ties in to AS's most common joke in regards to them airing anime (with their newly acquired license to show Deathnote, they made a crack about only 12 people, not including AS employees, are actually going to watch it). Most people who watch anime already have the series on DVD/VHS/ripped to their computers.

Pretty much. By the time it makes it to AS the only reason to watch it is to see how badly they cock up the English dubs.

[Molyneux]

Ah Cowboy Bebop, the AS rotational anime when they don't have something for that time slot.

As much as I love the series, it amazes me how many times they slot it on the air. Still the ending always gets me.

Well, the CB fans aren't as rabid as the hordes of Inuyasha fans, and they've said repeatedly how much they enjoy taunting Inu fans. Not to mention, how many other really GOOD, semi-hard sci-fi anime series are there? All that comes to mind for me is Ghost in the Shell, and they're keeping that for their prime lineup.

[Seggybop]

Not to mention, how many other really GOOD, semi-hard sci-fi anime series are there? All that comes to mind for me is Ghost in the Shell, and they're keeping that for their prime lineup.

Planetes? Not that there's much chance of them showing something like that.

[Molyneux]

Not to mention, how many other really GOOD, semi-hard sci-fi anime series are there? All that comes to mind for me is Ghost in the Shell, and they're keeping that for their prime lineup.

Planetes? Not that there's much chance of them showing something like that.

What's Planetes?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Not to mention, how many other really GOOD, semi-hard sci-fi anime series are there? All that comes to mind for me is Ghost in the Shell, and they're keeping that for their prime lineup.

Planetes? Not that there's much chance of them showing something like that.

What's Planetes?

A really awesome series.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I recall when it was on CNX here at the end of 2002 and I finally managed to watch it all, then get the movie on DVD. Dalton and Zaia having CB avatars is also something I recall.

Such a great series. Too bad they at CN UK milked it and Outlaw Star to death before the channel got renamed barely a year later to Toonami, which meant they had a licence to show DBZ 23 hours a day and some lame original shit for the rest of the day, rather than action movies, decent anime and stuff when CNX was the name.

Least [adult swim] is on Bravo over here now (some legal mumbo jumbo about CN being legally a children's network, and unable to show adult content in the UK).

Man, this reminds me of uni so much now too.

[General Zod]

Not to mention, how many other really GOOD, semi-hard sci-fi anime series are there? All that comes to mind for me is Ghost in the Shell, and they're keeping that for their prime lineup.

Planetes? Not that there's much chance of them showing something like that.

Uh, Planetes was on Adult Swim some time ago iirc.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Talking about anime series that are licsensed for airing...

What ever happened with FOX acquiring airing rights for Slayers?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I heard Fox grabbed the broadcast rights for Slayers without taking that close of a look at it, then dropped it after finding out what kind of show it was.

That might just be the joke version of the story, though...

[Styphon]

Chalk me up under the "want" column.

Specifically, I never seem to have money for box sets (or a computer to download shows onto), and there are still episodes I haven't seen. Heavy Metal Queen was a prime example, until a couple days ago. And I'm sure I'll still get that massive cathartic release in the end.


Also, I approve of [as] showing anything that isn't more perfect hair/tom/tim/saul/squidbillies/shit.

[Ford Prefect]

I'm glad they're showing Cowboy Bebop again; it gives me something good to watch at a normally crappy time of night for TV, and it really never gets old.

It helps that when it comes down to it, Cowboy Bebop's animation is superb, through a mixture of fluidity, cel-detail and consistency. It's still one of the prime examples of how good animation can look; it was only until recently that Production IG's Le Chevalier D'Eon and Seirei no Moribito showed up and usurped the crown of 'ludicrously awesome animation in a television series'.

[Adrian Laguna]

While not exactly a bastion of accurate Newtonian physics in space, it should ben oted that Cowboy Bebop does make concessions to reality; all the monocraft appear to have gas based vernier thrusters discretely placed around them, though they're only actually noticeable in Heavy Metal Queen and Jamming With Edward (the later especially so, because Spike triggers one on his cockpit frame manually).

I mean, it's not super-accurate: I'm pretty sure they're getting far too much thrust out of them, but it's an actual concession to how stuff works in space, as opposed to a total ignoring.

Yeah, you're right. CB does try to strike a balance between "familiar cool" and "realistic". You can also see that most ships use retro-thrusters to come to a stop, and a few others including the Swordfish use thrust-vectoring. Also zero-g, airlocks, vac-suits, and space walks are portrayed fairly well. The only things that's kinda sketchy is the spinning part of various ships. Sure the concept is good, but I get the feeling the interiors don't quite match the exteriors.

It helps that when it comes down to it, Cowboy Bebop's animation is superb, through a mixture of fluidity, cel-detail and consistency. It's still one of the prime examples of how good animation can look; it was only until recently that Production IG's Le Chevalier D'Eon and Seirei no Moribito showed up and usurped the crown of 'ludicrously awesome animation in a television series'.

Gankutsuo beats all! That is, if after you get used to it and your head stops hurting. Elfen Lied is pretty-pretty too, well except for the blood and guts sprayed all over the place.

[Ford Prefect]

Yeah, you're right. CB does try to strike a balance between "familiar cool" and "realistic". You can also see that most ships use retro-thrusters to come to a stop, and a few others including the Swordfish use thrust-vectoring. Also zero-g, airlocks, vac-suits, and space walks are portrayed fairly well. The only things that's kinda sketchy is the spinning part of various ships. Sure the concept is good, but I get the feeling the interiors don't quite match the exteriors.

I've never been able to work out how the Bebop's centrifuge works, to be honest. Rather accurately, they don't have gravity on the bridge, however they do have gravity in the living spaces, which seem to be 'flat' as opposed to curved. So I don't know what's going on there.

Gankutsuo beats all! That is, if after you get used to it and your head stops hurting. Elfen Lied is pretty-pretty too, well except for the blood and guts sprayed all over the place.

While Gankutsuou is pretty much the most audacious and visually enticing piece of animation Ever Made By Man, the actual amount of cel deatail is quite low. The simple animation in this case is actually a boon, because the texture use would be otherwise disorientating.

Elfen Lied is also a pretty good looking series, along with series like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Eureka Seven, the latter of which is a triumph of hand-drawn cel animation over CG models, especially given it was a 52 episode series.

[Adrian Laguna]

Eureka Seven, the latter of which is a triumph of hand-drawn cel animation over CG models, especially given it was a 52 episode series.

Yeah, the only problem is that there's so many teenagers in kick-ass mecha I can take before it gets tiresome. The surfboards weren't even able to invoke the Rule of Cool for me, I couldn't shake the feeling in the back of my head that all of it was just too fucking stupid. Couldn't arse myself to watch anything after the first battle ended in a big boom, probably because the next episode was guaranteed plot development not involving the bad guys, the only characters I actually gave a shit about.

[Ford Prefect]

Yeah, the only problem is that there's so many teenagers in kick-ass mecha I can take before it gets tiresome. The surfboards weren't even able to invoke the Rule of Cool for me, I couldn't shake the feeling in the back of my head that all of it was just too fucking stupid. Couldn't arse myself to watch anything after the first battle ended in a big boom, probably because the next episode was guaranteed plot development not involving the bad guys, the only characters I actually gave a shit about.

That's a real pity, because for one, the third episode is gauranteed breaking through a military blockade. For another you're basically missing out on the best parts of the series; for example, there is a lot of focus on the 'bad guys' in Eureka Seven.

[Patrick Degan]

Yeah, I wish cable channels showed GOOD or UNUSUAL shit, so I could actually watch something new.

Adult Swim will play different anime shows on occasion. It's how I originally got into Paranoia Agent. That's certainly different an unusual. Though, lately, they might have gone to pot and started playing crap. I saw them playing Bleach the other night, as if they need another shonen fighting series. Urgh.

Not to mention Inuyasha which they will play 'til your eyes and ears start bleeding from it.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Yeah, you're right. CB does try to strike a balance between "familiar cool" and "realistic". You can also see that most ships use retro-thrusters to come to a stop, and a few others including the Swordfish use thrust-vectoring. Also zero-g, airlocks, vac-suits, and space walks are portrayed fairly well. The only things that's kinda sketchy is the spinning part of various ships. Sure the concept is good, but I get the feeling the interiors don't quite match the exteriors.

I've never been able to work out how the Bebop's centrifuge works, to be honest. Rather accurately, they don't have gravity on the bridge, however they do have gravity in the living spaces, which seem to be 'flat' as opposed to curved. So I don't know what's going on there.

I don't know how long I've flipped through and stared at pages in the art book just trying to figure out the finer details of the Bebop's internal layout. There's some kind of logic to it, and I've been able to determine some things, but I dunno...

[Ford Prefect]

I don't know how long I've flipped through and stared at pages in the art book just trying to figure out the finer details of the Bebop's internal layout. There's some kind of logic to it, and I've been able to determine some things, but I dunno...

My life became much easier when I realised that the Bebop is actually really very large. I mean, it should seem fairly obvious, but it wasn't really until Wild Horses, where we see the Swordfish caught by a Space Shuttle, that I said 'well, the ship is bigger than I thought'.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Yeah, I wish cable channels showed GOOD or UNUSUAL shit, so I could actually watch something new.

Adult Swim will play different anime shows on occasion. It's how I originally got into Paranoia Agent. That's certainly different an unusual. Though, lately, they might have gone to pot and started playing crap. I saw them playing Bleach the other night, as if they need another shonen fighting series. Urgh.

Not to mention Inuyasha which they will play 'til your eyes and ears start bleeding from it.

It's the same thing they did with Cowboy Bebop.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Yeah but with Inuyasha it was so much more pointless, because that series had simply no character development whatsoever!

[Ford Prefect]

Yeah but with Inuyasha it was so much more pointless, because that series had simply no character development whatsoever!

If the manga is any indication, you can string out Inuyasha's 'plot' to the heat death of the universe.

[Patrick Degan]

Adult Swim will play different anime shows on occasion. It's how I originally got into Paranoia Agent. That's certainly different an unusual. Though, lately, they might have gone to pot and started playing crap. I saw them playing Bleach the other night, as if they need another shonen fighting series. Urgh.

Not to mention Inuyasha which they will play 'til your eyes and ears start bleeding from it.

It's the same thing they did with Cowboy Bebop.

Inuyasha has gotten much more airtime than CB and they still won't give that damn waste-of-time a rest. Indeed, it's part of the Adult Swim lineup even as we speak and has been each and every time I've ever checked in on it.

[Guardsman Bass]

Yeah but with Inuyasha it was so much more pointless, because that series had simply no character development whatsoever!

If the manga is any indication, you can string out Inuyasha's 'plot' to the heat death of the universe.

That tends to be a common thing with Takahashi series; they last an eternity, both in manga and anime forms (assuming they don't just get dropped in the middle of randomness, like Inuyasha and Ranma).

Incidently, I don't mind Bebop (I kind of wish I owned it). It's a good 'chronicles' kind of series, where you can just pull one episode right out of the collection and watch it without having to fit it into the rest of a story arc. I do wish they would try some more stuff, or at least give "Paranoia Agent" another run.

[Uraniun235]

Call me nuts, but more shows = people might actually watch their lame channels. It'd be a marketable feature... but as Zod says, anime freaks will simply watch the same shit over and over, so why bother?

You know, I think Cowboy Bebop is really awesome, but it's not like I'd watch it on TV, because I already have it. You'd think that a real otaku would have just bought their favourite series and thus wouldn't be inclined to watch it on television.

Their target demographic is probably largely jobless.

[Molyneux]

I saw them playing Bleach the other night, as if they need another shonen fighting series. Urgh.

Because, of course, a network should never pick up different properties of a genre that gets good ratings. They should have, at most, one of every type of show - no overlap whatsoever!

On a slight side note, is it just me, or has the average quality of dubs been going steadily up, lately?