Cowboy Bebop - Knockin' on Heaven's Door
A Parent's Guide to Anime
Rated: M
Recommended for Mature Audiences
Reviewed by Steven Anteau:
It starts so perfectly with Spike and Jet collecting a bounty. The opening fight is beautifully choreographed and animated. Perfect to reintroduce the characters. I wish more of the episodes could've been like this. The movie theme follows. Now I love the theme but I really wish they'd played an extended version of Tank. It would have added to the feel.
This is Cowboy Bebop........
The animation is as beautiful as ever. Easily one of the most fluid animes ever. The fights especially; it amazes me how fluid every fight was, especially the gun fights and the one with the broom. The last fight was a bit jerky, that's my only complaint. Everything from rain to windows are drawn to perfection. The character designs are beautiful (especially the new girl) and everyone is themselves. One BIG goof though is in one scene Spike has his jacket around his waist and after a camera change it's on his shoulders then it's back around his waist. You'll also see more of Faye than normal.
The music is great. Someone said they didn't like the OST which I can understand since a lot of times if you just hear a song it's not good but when coupled with a scene it's great. All of the songs fit the movie and sounded great. There's everything from slightly operatic to jazzy to techno.
There's little Bebop perks to. The humor is dead on and there's some pop icon references to a John Wayne movie.
The directing is amazing, especially Vincent's past.
The story is very direct and good. It's about a terrorist trying to spread his own disease to Mars and the crew stopping him for a bounty. Also it really adds insight as to why Faye is in the cult in Brain Scratch. New characters are introduced and it is yet another installment in the Bebop legacy.
Overall it gets a 96%/A/****1/2
Parent's Guide Rating:
red (recommended for mature audiences)
Violence - It's pretty standard with the series. Only one scene of any blood spray actually. There's alot of gun fighting of course and some fist fighting which is somewhat brutal at times.
Language - The fansub has 2 F words and the standard hells and damns
Sex/nudity - Standard Faye fan service of course however later on there's a scene where a man cuts her shirt open. You don't see her breasts but it comes very close.