Cowboy Bebop Session 1

Session 1 - Asteroid Blues
The very first scene of the very first episode is a flashback.  A skinny guy with fuzzy hair drops a rose on the ground, then there's scenes of a shootout.  There seems to be a gun firing from inside a bouquet of roses, and the fuzzy-haired guy's face is lit up by the flash of his gun.  Then BOOM, without a chance to question a thing, that's over with and we're listening to one of the greatest themes in anime.  Du DUN duh DUN duh DUN du-duuuuuh... the moment I heard that it was burned into my mind and still hasn't faded.  On the subject of the music, if you don't know already, it's all very jazz and blues sounding, even bordering on country.  At first, this seemed a weird fit to me, but by the second or third episode, it felt so natural.  And the whole thing feels so damn natural, so effortless, so real, so confident in the universe it's contained in.  Without saying too much, we're introduced to Spike Spiegel, the fuzzy-haired guy from before, and his partner, Jet.  Let me tell you right now, if you've never seen this show and are expecting to learn all about Spike's (or any character's, for that matter) mysterious past by the end, stop it.  I'll go into the specifics as we get to them, but just know that all the answers aren't right there spelled out for you.  Which is something I was upset with immediately after watching an episode, but came to respect as time passed.  Basically, Spike and Jet, whatever they were before, are now bounty hunters.  The plot is pretty standard for this episode, but then it would have to be, this is only the first episode (and standard by no means means "not good").  Again, the look of this world surprised me.  I like how not very much has even changed from the then-present-day of 1998.  Yes, we've got spaceships, and holograms, and souls that  can be uploaded, and hyperspace gates, but that doesn't mean everything else suddenly becomes shiny and high-tech.  It's one of the most realistic interpretations of the future I've seen (which is funny, because nothing here is realistic, this IS a cartoon).  Ummm, wow, then without saying too much more, there's lots of great moments with creepy bad guy hopped-up on Red Eye, intrigue with Spike's past, tons of great badassery and an exhilarating fight, promising plenty of excellence to come.