First We Take Manhattan Then We Take Akihabara - Anime Series for Adults: 1

Anime TV series for adults which you must watch before you die.

For the anime lovers like me, I will give you some great examples of seinen and josei animes. (and couple of shounen that is good for adults too). There is no particular order, yet I have to start somewhere and I wanted to start with the series that made me a big fan of anime series; Cowboy Bebop… 3…2…1…Let's Jam!

Before the story, we should focus on the genre and theme of Cowboy Bebop. It is blues. It is western and it is a space adventure. It has much inspiration from so many different films and icons, and it touches different genres too. But if I have to say what it is in nutshell, it is a "space western in blues". Yes in blues.

Creator of this masterpiece Shinichiro Watanabe, creates a theme for his tv series with music. He likes to combine unorthodox music and story genres. In Cowboy Bebop, it was blues. He made another epic series -which will be explained in another post later- Samurai Champloo that has combined hip hop and edo-era samurai journey. In the Sakamichi no Apollon -Kids on the Slope- the theme of the story was Jazz. Music is so important for Cowboy Bebop, every episode name either a sub genre of music, a song name or a cultural references. (i.e. asteroid blues, sympathy for the devil, brain scratch)

We follow the story of bounty hunters travels throughout the solar system on the spaceship Bebop -which was converted interplanetary fishing trawler-. Since it is a space western, they had to make a references to Clint Eastwood. In the very first episode of Cowboy Bebop, we see Spike Spiegel - explained in next paragraph- wearing a pancho just like Clint Eastwood. Also, there are some references for famous films like Point Break. (That famous scene, Keanu Reeves is shooting and screaming after Patrick Swayze's runaway. Btw Cowboy Bebop fans wanted Keanu Reeves to play the role in a live action adaptaion of the series but we weren't lucky)

Spike Spiegel is our main protagonist who is a bounty hunter -cowboy- and was a part of a crime syndicate named Red Dragon. To not give too much spoilers i will not talk about his past. He is an ultimate cool dude without trying to be one. he is lazy yet skillful. He is a martial artist, follows Jeet Kune Do -there is a Bruce Lee reference in an episode too- and use his gun like a part of his body. We don't know why - and he doesn't know either- his right eye replaced by a cybernetic one.

Of course, there is 'the one' for him. Her name is Julia, an elegant blonde that you want to save even though you don't know from what or why. And a villain from his past who was his best friend once, Vicious.

Jet is the owner of the spaceship Bebop. He is an old school father figure hero. He used to be a detective until some incidents he involves. His wife leaves him and he becomes a bounty hunter.

Faye is sexy badass girl without a past. She steals, cheats, basicaly whatever it takes to live the day - a girl gotta do what she gotta do-. She is also a gunslinger and a bounty hunter who loves money too much and tends to lose it on gambling.

Ed is hacker kid from Earth. She is intellogent, happy go lucky, eccentric genius who can solve every tech problem. She always keep Ein - the genius super dog, created by scientists- by her side. You may say, they make a genius duo to help Bebop crew to get through in their adventures.

What is so special about Cowboy Bebop? Everything. Animation style, great character development, perfectly crafted action scenes, well structured drama, fairly doze of comedy and of course music…

I strongly suggest this anime series to anime newbies. It will take you to a journey that you won't want it to be ended.