D:
I don't know if I've been saying a lot about Cowboy Bebop lately. Well, I love the series. I just do. It's brilliant. The characters are well developed (not overdeveloped, either; you don't need supplements to watch the series), and there are a lot of issues that are left unanswered and problems unresolved. In many ways, at first glance, it ends on a worse note than it begins.
I mean, really. It starts off with some happy-go-lucky bounty hunters who, in the end, get broken up (Ed finds her Dad, Faye finds herself, and Spike goes to kill Vicious).
It ends with:
In my humble opinion, this is the closest thing to a flawless ending to any story I have exprienced that I can currently recall.
Too many stories try to keep a story perpetuating itself without end, like most comic books where, with few exceptions characters never age; or television series' that seem great but should've ended sooner, such as Prison Break (which I enjoy, but I would like to see it end soon) and Heroes (which is amazing, but I'm starting to lose interest in it because it appears to have no ending in sight). Cowboy Bebop begins, some people come and go, and eventually they part and the story is done and there's not much else to speak of.
Too many writers try to reconcile themselves with the endings of their stories in order to either make themselves feel better about it or to increase their film's earnings. Alternate endings to films, anyone? Quentin Tarantino changed the ending of Kill Bill because he said he had to give Beatrix a happy ending, but that he had other intentions in mind. But Cowboy Bebop wraps up and kills people and sends them off weeping without too much concern. Yeah, a movie after the fact to fill in some space from earlier in the story, but it's by no means a sequel.
Too many writers will end a story by having an antagonistic character repent, which just seems like a feel-good type of thing to do. Like a formula: In a story, you've got to have at least one antagonist who has a glimmer of good in him/her, who can be redeemed towards the end by the protagonist or some other entity (say a little girl or while dying in a church) in order to make said antagonist easier to relate to and to appear more human and defeatable. This might not be the case when characters are so evil that they appear animated even after apparent death, in which case they lie about repentence then do something evil, like pull a knife out of nowhere and totally stab you when you thought they were dead! But Cowboy Bebop doesn't quite do that. The bad guy's motivation remains the same, he's already been on the verge of death for so long that his personality is galvanized, and he's so close to Spike that he doesn't need to hear any explanations of forgiveness, because such feelings are non-existent.
And finally, too many stories would leave the protagonist alive at the end, or sacrificing himself/herself for a greater good or for the survival of another. Spike dies needlessly at the end; he could have walked away from his previous life, but instead severs his friendship with Jet and goes off to hunt down Vicious. See the above video to see how that goes for him.
I mean, really. It starts off with some happy-go-lucky bounty hunters who, in the end, get broken up (Ed finds her Dad, Faye finds herself, and Spike goes to kill Vicious).
It ends with:
Click to viewIn my humble opinion, this is the closest thing to a flawless ending to any story I have exprienced that I can currently recall.
Too many stories try to keep a story perpetuating itself without end, like most comic books where, with few exceptions characters never age; or television series' that seem great but should've ended sooner, such as Prison Break (which I enjoy, but I would like to see it end soon) and Heroes (which is amazing, but I'm starting to lose interest in it because it appears to have no ending in sight). Cowboy Bebop begins, some people come and go, and eventually they part and the story is done and there's not much else to speak of.
Too many writers try to reconcile themselves with the endings of their stories in order to either make themselves feel better about it or to increase their film's earnings. Alternate endings to films, anyone? Quentin Tarantino changed the ending of Kill Bill because he said he had to give Beatrix a happy ending, but that he had other intentions in mind. But Cowboy Bebop wraps up and kills people and sends them off weeping without too much concern. Yeah, a movie after the fact to fill in some space from earlier in the story, but it's by no means a sequel.
Too many writers will end a story by having an antagonistic character repent, which just seems like a feel-good type of thing to do. Like a formula: In a story, you've got to have at least one antagonist who has a glimmer of good in him/her, who can be redeemed towards the end by the protagonist or some other entity (say a little girl or while dying in a church) in order to make said antagonist easier to relate to and to appear more human and defeatable. This might not be the case when characters are so evil that they appear animated even after apparent death, in which case they lie about repentence then do something evil, like pull a knife out of nowhere and totally stab you when you thought they were dead! But Cowboy Bebop doesn't quite do that. The bad guy's motivation remains the same, he's already been on the verge of death for so long that his personality is galvanized, and he's so close to Spike that he doesn't need to hear any explanations of forgiveness, because such feelings are non-existent.
And finally, too many stories would leave the protagonist alive at the end, or sacrificing himself/herself for a greater good or for the survival of another. Spike dies needlessly at the end; he could have walked away from his previous life, but instead severs his friendship with Jet and goes off to hunt down Vicious. See the above video to see how that goes for him.