Cowboy Bebop/Episodes

Series Overview

Color	Season	Episodes	U.S. Season Premiere	U.S. Season Finale
	1	26	September 2, 2001	November 25, 2001
	Special	1	Unaired	Unaired
	Movie	1

Season 1 (1998-1999)

#	Episode Title	Japanese Airdate	English Airdate
1	"Asteroid Blues"	October 24, 1998	September 2, 2001
Fellow bounty hunters Spike Spiegel and Jet Black head to the Tijuana asteroid colony on their ship, the Bebop, to track down a bounty-head named Asimov Solensan, who is wanted for killing members of his own crime syndicate and for stealing a cache of a dangerous combat drug called Bloody-Eye. Asimov and his girlfriend, Katerina, are ambushed at a bar by his former syndicate while attempting to sell a vial of Bloody-Eye, but Asimov manages to fight his way out by using the drug himself. Later, Spike comes across Katerina and reveals to her that he is a bounty hunter searching for Asimov; Spike is promptly assaulted by Asimov and is nearly killed before Katerina intervenes, though he is able to steal Asimov's Bloody-Eye vial before the two leave. Spike confronts Asimov at a staged drug deal with the stolen vial, but Asimov escapes with Katerina in a ship when the two are interrupted by an attack from Asimov's former syndicate. With Spike giving chase in his own ship, Asimov attempts to take another dose of Bloody-Eye, but a horrified Katerina shoots him before he can. As Spike approaches Asimov's ship, it is destroyed by attacking police cruisers. The episode ends with Spike and Jet once again traveling through space on the Bebop.
2	"Stray Dog Strut"	April 3, 1998	September 2, 2001
Spike and Jet's next hunt takes them to Mars, where their target, a professional thief, has stolen a very valuable, genetically engineered "data dog" from a corporate research facility.
3	"Honky Tonk Women"	April 10, 1998	September 9, 2001
With Ein as a new companion, the crew of the Bebop cross paths with Faye Valentine, a wanted fugitive drowning in debt, who ends up being forced to act as a middle-woman for an illegal transaction at a space station casino.
4	"Gateway Shuffle"	November 14, 1998	September 9, 2001
After gambling away all the money she obtained, Faye ends up getting her hands on a mysterious suitcase while exploring the wreckage of a derelict spaceship. Meanwhile, Spike and Jet pursue a bounty on the leader of the Space Warriors, a group of eco-terrorists armed with a terrifying biological weapon.
5	"Ballad of Fallen Angels"	November 21, 1998	September 16, 2001
While pursuing the bounty on an executive of the Red Dragon Syndicate, Spike ends up confronting Vicious, an old enemy of his.
6	"Sympathy for the Devil"	November 28, 1998	December 16, 2001
Spike and Jet chase a dangerous enemy who, despite having the appearance of a little boy, is actually more than eighty years old. This episode was preempted on Adult Swim after the 9/11 attacks, because of the hyperspace gate crash in Wen's flashback.
7	"Heavy Metal Queen"	April 17, 1998	September 23, 2001
The crew of the Bebop chase a bounty named Decker, who is running a load of high explosives. While nursing a hangover at a diner, Spike meets a cargo hauler pilot named V.T., who hates bounty hunters, but ends up lending him a hand.
8	"Waltz for Venus"	April 24, 1998	December 23, 2001
While the crew hunts down a Venusian mobster, Spike meets Rocco Bonnaro, who is on the run from the same mobster the crew is tracking for stealing a very rare and valuable plant, which he plans to sell to pay for surgery to restore his sister's eyesight. This episode was preempted on Adult Swim after the 9/11 attacks, because a plane hijacking is depicted in the first few minutes.
9	"Jamming with Edward"	May 1, 1998	September 30, 2001
The crew enlists the help of an elite computer hacker nicknamed "Radical Edward" to help them track down a bounty-head who has been vandalizing Earth's surface with hacked laser satellites. However, when they finally meet Edward face-to-face, the hacker's true identity proves to be a surprise for everybody.
10	"Ganymede Elegy"	May 8, 1998	September 30, 2001
Jet is even more taciturn than usual as the Bebop lands on Ganymede, his last post before leaving the ISSP and the home of his ex-girlfriend, Alisa, whom he has never quite left behind. Meanwhile, Spike pursues bounty Rhint Celonias, who just happens to be Alisa's new boyfriend.
11	"Toys in the Attic"	May 15, 1998	October 7, 2001
A strange blob-like creature with a poisonous bite infiltrates the Bebop and incapacitates Jet, Faye and Ein. With half the crew out of action, it's up to Spike and Ed to destroy the creature and find out where it came from.
12	"Jupiter Jazz, Part 1"	May 22, 1998	October 7, 2001
Faye cleans out the crew's safe and leaves the Bebop for Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. While Jet chases after her, Spike decides to follow up on some clues about the location of his ex-girlfriend Julia, which leads him to another confrontation with Vicious.
13	"Jupiter Jazz, Part 2"	May 29, 1998	October 14, 2001
Faye is helped by Gren, a man who holds a grudge against Vicious. After explaining his story to Faye, he chases after Vicious, and when he and Spike end up reaching him at the same time, a three-way battle takes place.
14	"Bohemian Rhapsody"	June 5, 1998	October 14, 2001
The Bebop crew hunts for Chessmaster Hex, the rumored mastermind behind a series of robberies at hyperspace gate tollbooths. However, while trying to dig up dirt on their target, they unearth some very valuable data regarding the gate accident that devastated Earth fifty years earlier.
15	"My Funny Valentine"	June 12, 1998	October 21, 2001
Faye ends up meeting an important man from her past, and part of her origin is revealed, including the source of her massive debt.
16	"Black Dog Serenade"	February 13, 1999	October 21, 2001
An ISSP prison ship has undergone a mechanical malfunction, and has been taken over by the prisoners it was transporting, led by Udai Taxim, the Syndicate assassin who took Jet's arm. Jet's former partner, Fad, enlists him for the retrieval operation, but Fad's motivations might not be as noble as they seem.
17	"Mushroom Samba"	February 20, 1999	October 28, 2001
The Bebop, out of food and fuel, is sideswiped in a hit-and-run off of Europa and crash-lands on Io. Ed, with Ein by her side, is sent out to procure food, and ends up running across Domino Walker, a bounty-head who is smuggling hallucinogenic mushrooms.
18	"Speak Like a Child"	June 19, 1998	October 28, 2001
While Faye wastes money betting on horse racing, a package addressed to her arrives on the Bebop containing an old Betamax tape, prompting Spike and Jet to look for an appropriate device to view its contents.
19	"Wild Horses"	March 6, 1999	November 4, 2001
While Spike takes his mono-racer in for maintenance, Jet and Faye take on a group of pirates who use computer viruses to terrorize cargo ships. The Space Shuttle Columbia appears in this episode. The episode was pulled from U.S. syndication runs for some time following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
20	"Pierrot le Fou" (Requiem for a Clown)	March 13, 1999	November 4, 2001
Spike is targeted by an insane, seemingly indestructible assassin named Mad Pierrot after accidentally witnessing the killer in action.
21	"Boogie Woogie Feng Shui"	March 20, 1999	November 11, 2001
Jet, spurred on by a cryptic e-mail, tries to find an old acquaintance but discovers only his grave—he disappeared under mysterious circumstances. His daughter, Mei-Fa, an expert in feng shui, asks for his help finding a "sun stone" that can lead them to her father's location.
22	"Cowboy Funk"	March 27, 1999	November 11, 2002
A terrorist known as the "Teddy Bomber" has been using explosives hidden in teddy bears to bring down high-rise buildings in protest of humanity's excesses. Spike attempts to stop him, but constantly runs afoul of "Cowboy Andy", a fellow bounty hunter who is far more similar to Spike than either would care to admit.
23	"Brain Scratch"	April 3, 1999	November 18, 2001
Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, Faye goes undercover to infiltrate SCRATCH, a cult that believes in achieving eternal life by digitizing the soul and uploading it into the Internet, in order to collect the bounty on the cult's leader, Dr. Londes. Faye soon finds herself in danger, however, and while Spike goes looking for her, Jet and Ed try to track down Dr. Londes themselves.
24	"Hard Luck Woman"	April 10, 1999	November 18, 2001
While heading to Mars, the Bebop is diverted to Earth (unplanned, of course). After arriving, Faye decides to investigate her past by traveling to the landmarks she sees in the video she recorded as a child, taking Ed along with her. She and Ed manage to find what looks like an orphanage where Ed had stayed at previously, where it is revealed that Ed's father had been looking for her several months back. Faye and Ed manage to find one of the locations in the video, whereupon Faye is surprised by an old schoolmate. Jet and Spike notice a bounty on their computer which looks to be a lucrative payoff. After having returned to the Bebop and dwelling on what has happened, Faye leaves again. Jet and Spike find their bounty, but are interrupted by Ed maneuvering the Bebop by remote control, whereupon it's discovered that their bounty is not only just a measly fifty woolongs (instead of the fifty million they mistakenly thought it was), but is Ed's father. Ed's father asks if she wants to stay with him, but before Ed can answer, he and his assistant see another meteorite strike the Earth's surface in the distance and they hastily and absent-mindedly speed off, leaving Ed behind, dumbfounded. Faye manages to find herself at the bottom of the hill from her old house and runs to the top, like she did when she was younger, only to find ruins where her home used to be. After having briefly seen her father again, Ed decides to leave the Bebop, and Ein leaves with her.
25	"The Real Folk Blues, Part 1"	April 17, 1999	November 25, 2001
Left alone by the rest of the crew, Spike and Jet are ambushed by members of the Red Dragon syndicate. They are saved by Lin's brother, Shin, who explains that Vicious has tried to seize control of the organization and was sentenced to death. He also states that all people connected to him are also being hunted down, and Spike rushes to find Julia.
26	"The Real Folk Blues, Part 2"	April 24, 1999	November 25, 2001
Reunited, Spike and Julia pick up where they left off in their plans to escape the Red Dragon syndicate, but Julia ends up being shot and killed. Spike returns to the Bebop for a meal with Jet and Faye, and then storms the Red Dragon's headquarters to confront Vicious for one last battle. Shin helps him, but is killed, managing to reveal that if Vicious is killed, Spike will be the new leader of the syndicate. Spike fights his way to the top floor of the Red Dragon syndicate skyscraper, but is badly wounded, and then fights Vicious, getting wounded during the battle. The pair manages to get the other's weapons and they trade, with a brief struggle, in which Spike manages to shoot Vicious in the chest, killing him. It then cuts to Spike as he stumbles down a large set of stairs and faces the syndicate members that rushed to the scene. Making a gun with his fingers and saying "Bang", Spike collapses as the song Blue plays to the final credits.

Session XX: Mish-Mash Blues

This clip show was created as the final episode when the show was briefly canceled because of violence in Japanese schools after 13 episodes had aired. The episode was never released on DVD.

#	Episode Title	Japanese Airdate	English Airdate
XX	"Mish-Mash Blues"	June 26, 1998	N/A
Due to the violence portrayed in the series, and the violence occurring at the time in Japan, the series was briefly canceled and "Mish-Mash Blues" was created. The session was a clip show of the first 13 episodes. The characters provide a philosophical commentary and it ends with the words: "This Is Not The End. You Will See The Real 'Cowboy Bebop' Someday!"

Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door

Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, or Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, is a 2001 animated film directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. The screenplay was written by Keiko Nobumoto, based on the Cowboy Bebop anime series created by Sunrise.

The plot centers on bounty hunter Spike Spiegel and his crewmates aboard the vessel Bebop in their efforts to find a criminal who is planning to release an unknown pathogen on Mars. The title of the movie is taken from the Bob Dylan song of the same name.

The movie was released on Blu-ray disc in Japan on July 25, 2008 featuring remastered 1080p video, and Dolby True HD lossless 5.1 audio. The movie has a run time of 116 minutes.

Film	Episode Title	Japanese Airdate	Release Date
1	"Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door"	October 24, 1998	September 1, 2001
The year is 2071, a few days before Halloween. An unknown pathogen is being released in the capital city of Mars, and the government has issued a 300 million woolong reward, the largest bounty in history, for the capture of whoever is behind it. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop; Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed and Ein, take the case with hopes of cashing in the great bounty. But the mystery surrounding the man responsible, Vincent Volaju, goes deeper than they ever imagined, and they are not the only ones hunting him. The original creators of the pathogen have dispatched an agent named Elektra to deal with Vincent, as well as take out anyone who might uncover the truth behind his murderous crusade against the Martian government. As the hunt for the man with no past and no future continues to escalate, the fate of Mars rests with the Bebop crew, a responsibility they aren't so sure they can handle.