The potboilers continue, this time in anime and with bioterrorism.  I’m talking about 2002’s Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.

The place is Mars, the year 2071.  A “cowboy” is a bounty hunter, Bebop the name of the spaceship; hence we watch a team of said hunters fly the Bebop in pursuit of those bioterrorists.  This is my first taste of Cowboy Bebop, which is a dubbed Japanese TV series which used to be on the Cartoon Network.  Despite its imperfections the dubbed movie is cool and unassuming, far better than the ludicrous anime, Metropolis (2001).  At its best it is haunting, insidious, in one scene darkly erotic.

The plot is a mess but I didn’t care, having too much fun as I did with flavorous characters and animation.  The director is Shinichiro Watanabe, the animation director, a busy dude, is Toshihiro Kawamoto. Rated R, it is not a family film, but it should satisfy potboiler devotees if they don’t mind cartoon formats.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)