Cowboy Bebop-Volume 1 (1998)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Character Introductions Notes-Spike's Profile Gallery-Spike's Image Gallery Music Video-Tank! Trailer-Vampire Hunter D; Gundam Wing; Robotech; Love Hina Trailer-Rurouni Kenshin
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	123:07 (Case: 125)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (71:47)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Shinichiro Watanabe
Studio Distributor	Sunrise, Inc. Madman Entertainment	Starring	Yamadera Kouichi Megumi Hayashibara Ishizuka Unshou Wakamoto Norio Tada Aoi
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	Yoko Kanno

    Cowboy Bebop is a highly entertaining Japanese animated television series that follows the adventures of bounty hunters Spike and Jet as they travel in their spaceship the Bebop.

    Set in the year 2071, Cowboy Bebop follows two bounty hunters, Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, as they travel across space in search of the elusive big score. On their journey they are joined by unusual characters such as Ein, a Welsh corgi, and Faye Valentine, an attractive gambler. Spike is an ex-gang member with a shadowy past and Jet is a former police officer with the ISSP. Together they pursue a constant stream of fugitives and wanted criminals, but the elusive big score seems to always slip through their fingers.

    You should definitely check out this series if you are an anime fan. It has something that should appeal to everyone with a mixture of action sequences, comedy, spaceships, pretty girls, a fantastic soundtrack and a well-written script.

    This first release contains the first five episodes from the twenty-six part series. I have included a short description for each episode but as these may contain some minor spoilers you may wish to skip directly to the Transfer Quality section.

Session #1: Asteroid Blues
    Running low on funds, Spike and Jet travel to Tijuana to track down Asimov, a criminal on the run with a 2.5 million woolong price on his head. Asimov is wanted by a local syndicate as he has stolen a large quantity of drugs from the group and is attempting to sell them while using some himself.

Session #2: Stray Dog Strut
    A serial pet thief has stolen a valuable test animal from a research facility. Jet and Spike set off to find him and collect the 8 million woolong price on this head. Unfortunately they are not the only ones looking for him, as the stolen animal is not just an ordinary dog.

Session #3: Honky Tonk Woman
    Spike and Jet are broke as usual, but after Jet has a dream the pair travel to a casino ship to try their luck. Here they meet a blackjack dealer called Faye but a case of mistaken identity leads them into trouble.

Session #4: Gateway Shuffle
    A group of eco-terrorists is trying to protect the Ganymede sea rat and will stop at nothing to achieve their aims. When Spike and Jet manage to capture the group's leader they are expecting a large bounty, but this suddenly disappears when the group threatens the population of a whole planet.

Session #5: Ballad Of Fallen Angels
    Spike's troubled past returns to haunt him when a boss of a Mafia group is murdered. Spike is connected to the people involved and he returns to Mars to complete some previously unfinished business.

Video

    The transfer is presented at its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    The transfer is consistently sharp and clearly reveals the detailed animation. No low-level noise was detected at any stage during the transfer. The transfer displays excellent shadow detail and the animation shows a surprising level of detail in the dark backgrounds.

    The transfer utilizes a wide range of colours including many subtle shadings and these are cleanly and accurately portrayed throughout.

    A small number of MPEG artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these may be seen at 2:45, 8:31 and 29:35. Each of these artefacts are very minor and are only slightly distracting to the viewer.

    A number of obvious aliasing artefacts are visible during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 12:37, 12:55, 16:33, 32:11, 40:02 and 42:56. The majority of the artefacts are quite minor but due to their frequency they are moderately distracting.

    A number of minor film artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 16:29, 43:28, 67:32, 68:25 and 108:32. All of these artefacts are quite minor and are only minimally distracting.

    Some minor NTSC to PAL conversion artefacts may be seen during the episodes' opening credits and at 8:12 and 61:21. These artefacts are minor and only minimally distracting. A cross colouration artefact may be seen at 110:16 but this is not distracting.

    A single set of yellow English subtitles is included on this disc. These subtitles are always clear and easy to understand. A set of white burned-in subtitles is provided during the closing credits, alternating between English and Romanji for each episode.

    The layer change occurs at 71:47 during a black scene before the credits at the start of Chapter 17 and is unlikely to be detected by many viewers.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times during both soundtracks.

    As this is an animated feature there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for each soundtrack. A short dropout was detected in the left channel at 38:24 in the Japanese audio track.

    The series features a fantastic score by Yoko Kanno that has a strong jazz influence but also incorporates country and pop references. The tone for the series is set by the enjoyable episode opening track Tank! performed by Seat Belts.

    The surround and subwoofer channels were not utilized during the transfer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The minimally animated menus are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Character Introductions (1:18)

    This is a short clip entitled Chapter #0 that provides a short introduction for each of the series' major characters. This is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack and unfortunately has no English subtitles or overlays for the Japanese text displayed.

Spike Profile

    This is a short two-page profile for the character of Spike Spiegel. Also included in this section is a gallery of five images featuring Spike.

Music Video: Tank! (3:36)

    This is a full length music video for the opening title track Tank!. This video is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Vampire Hunter D (1:54)

    This trailer is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

Trailer: Gundam Wing (2:00)

    This trailer is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Trailer: Robotech (2:02)

    This trailer is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Trailer: Love Hina (1:40)

    This trailer is presented with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Trailer: Rurouni Kenshin (1:34)

    This trailer is presented with a Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Both versions of this disc appear to be nearly identical and I therefore would have no preference for either version.

    Cowboy Bebop is a highly enjoyable show that should appeal to a wide audience. If you are a fan of anime or want to experience Japanese animation for the first time, this is a series you should take a look at.

    The video transfer is acceptable but it does display a number of minor aliasing artefacts.

    The Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks should appeal to fans of both dubs and subs.

    The small collection of extras contains the enjoyable Tank! music video.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall