Cowboy Bebop - The Complete Series - Blu-ray

The best version of Bebop yet! As others have pointed out, it's not 16:9 because it was originally created for 4:3 television. It never existed in 16:9 widescreen, and never will. But who cares about widescreen! The conversion is excellent and well worth it. It sill looks fantastic and is quite an upgrade over what is currently being broadcasted. As is the remixed 5.1 audio. If you don't have a surround sound system, depending on your receiver it may sound worse - that's not the fault of these BlueRay's - other than perhaps lacking a pure stereo track. Since I think audio can be as, if not more, important than the video quality, I have a very nice 5.1 surround sound system with a fairly respectable sub woofer to go along with my very nice plasma display. This set takes full advantage of my sound system. It's pure auditory bliss. The soundtrack and musical score on Bebop was always superb - now it can really be shown off nicely! They didn't just do some post processing to the original mixes, these disks have a completely new 5.1 mix and it is very obvious to anyone who appreciates a good surround sound mix! Overall I'm very pleased with the set and I'm thrilled there are companies like Funimation who put obvious care and passion into re-issues like this. It's greatly appreciated by the fans, as the current rankings in Amazon's sales charts reflect! Hopefully this will encourage more companies to do quality re-issues that take full advantage of the latest technology as much as possible. I may have to pick up the reissue of Ghost in the Shell if it has been done to the same quality level as Bebop!

I double dipped and grabbed the Amazon Exclusive Bebop and sold my older version (ADV? Bandai? Can't recall). The Funimation treatment has been great. One lovely note for those fans of the excellent English cast - it is the SAME! So gladly, Funimation did not re-dub with new talent! But in the dozen plus times watching the series - I do actually prefer the Japanese cast. True, the English cast is very well matched - but Faye especially excels in the Japanese (that mix of silly, quirky, serious). For those who have been living in anime purgatory for the last 15 years: Cowboy Bebop is the story of four hard luck bounty hunters (plus their Welsh Corgi) and their adventures in the near future. Each episode is a stand alone story (except a few of the two part episodes), but there is a continuity of the story and a few major story arcs that run parallel to the individual stories. It is the perfect gateway anime and I have personally gotten several people into anime who had never seen a single anime before this. It's anime crack! And Funimation did us a solid with their limited editions (3 different versions!). I chose the Amazon edition because I wanted the art books. They are smaller than I had thought, but they are pretty excellent as far as content goes. Bottom line? If you are familiar with the series, it's a new, high def release (cleaned up a bit, especially backgrounds), great sound, and worth double dipping for true fans. If you don't have the series, then now is the time to buy it. You won't regret it. I have watched hundreds of anime series since the 80s and I count this in my top 3.

Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite Japanese anime. When I first watched Cowboy Bebop on Toonami on Cartoon Network when it was weekly. I fell in love with this show, and ever since then I've wanted the complete series on Blu Ray. When I saw the flash sale of this Amazon exclusive just before Christmas 2016. I jumped at the chance to buy it, and I haven't regretted it. The Show: Cowboy Bebop has some of the coolest lovable characters in an anime. The way the show introduces the characters also shows of the amazing writing that goes into the show. Each character has depth and their character interactions is written really well. The story follows a rag tag group of bounty hunters trying to make a living while traveling between Earth's solar system. They are always never successful in catching their bounty, and they do not agree with each other most of the time. However, they seem to get along very well even with their differences between them. Some of the best part of the story is the places they go to. However, the story is grounded in reality, meaning there is no aliens in this series. Cowboy Bebop is a human tale with believable and human characters. (I won't ruin the story for those who have not see the show.) Cowboy Bebop also showcases some great scientific concepts that follows the traditions of Star Trek. For example, when the Cowboy Bebop crew go to Mars. The way the creators of the show portrayed their Mars colonies makes me want to actually go there, and they do it in a way that is scientifically possible in the near future to have similar Mars colonies. Animation: Cowboy Bebop has some of the best animation that is not soaked in with allot of CG (Computer Graphics). This show is mostly old school animation and is at the very beginning when CG effects takes over. I really enjoyed the art style of this anime from the character design to the design of their ships. Cowboy Bebop is also old school pan and scan 4:3 aspect ratio, and this collection keeps the show in it's original 4:3 ratio. They could have gave it the cinematic 16:9 wide screen treatment, and I am glad they didn't. This collection is also remastered and clears this anime to HD standards. Audio and Soundtrack: The English voice cast of Cowboy Bebop is spot on, and one of the best in the industry. The Japanese dub is also equally amazing, and it is hard to find an anime that has both amazing English and Japanese dub. The music is the best soundtrack in anime in my opinion. From the "Tank" intro of the series. Yoko Kanno does an amazing job at blending jazz, and rock together making this soundtrack unforgettable. This Collection: This is an Amazon exclusive and comes with both Blu Ray and DVD version of Cowboy Bebop. It also comes with 2 collector books that showcase the animation of Cowboy Bebop. I really like that this collection comes with both Blu Ray and DVD version. Most shows only come with either Blu Ray or DVD. The box itself is really well built and the disk is held with in a decent Blu Ray jewel case. Pros: Great Story. Great Characters. Great Voice Acting. Great Music. Cons: No cons in my opinion Final Thoughts: I recommend Cowboy Bebop to fans and new comers. This collection may also be a little pricier then say just the Blu Ray edition. However, this collection does come with Blu Ray and DVD and some really cool art books and a really study collector's box. Also, I received my copy in mint condition. Which I am always happy about. I thought about posting photos but I think there is enough photos from other reviewers.

Few anime have aged as well as this one. The visuals are as crisp as anything you'll see in the new, mainstream animation, with gorgeous and diverse designs that really ground the stories. The characters -- Spike, Jet, Faye, Ein, Edward -- play with tropes and archetypes but become wholly visualized, funny, and real. The music, by Yoko Kanno, skips from baroque to jazz to pop to country; a few of the songs, especially "Blue" and "Tank," are in my playlists 15 years after I first watched the show. About that: I first drank in "Cowboy Bebop" as a college freshman, from a friend who'd paid probably $20 each for the six DVDs that collected the series. Anyone who loves sci-fi should leap at the chance to own this for the current price. My only caveat about the set (not enough of one to lower my rating) is that the special features are forgettable. The Blu-Ray keeps all of the series on three discs. The fourth collects a few scraps, including a strangely boring cast reunion that consists entirely of the old English voice actors eating dinner and finishing each other's reminiscences of what the job was like. This is shot from one camera, angled to the side of the table, like the secret tape of Mitt Romney talking about the 47%. I'd have loved more about the music and the development of the series, but you can find that elsewhere. All you really need are the episodes.

Funimation has done a stellar job bringing this Blu-ray set to North America, and while it is THE definitive way to watch the show in English, there are some nagging usability issues which should be noted. What you need to know is that every episode is here in its original aspect ratio (4:3) in glorious HD, as it should be, with both the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and an excellent English dub done by Funimation. That said, CG graphics in some scenes do look slightly blurry. As other reviewers have noted, this is because the show's CG graphics were originally generated in standard definition (in 1998!) and have been upscaled to HD for this release. To remedy this upscaling issue, these assets would have had to have been re-created in HD, which could have risked altering the style of the original (see Ghost in the Shell 2.0, Star Wars on Blu-ray, blegh!). Personally, I’m glad the original animations were used. Additionally, the original opening and closing sequences for each episode have been edited to replace the Japanese credits on-screen with English translations. While there is an option to watch the original sequences on their own on disc 3, and Funimation did a great job with the translated sequences (mostly matching the original's visual style), the Japanese sequences are memorable, and it would have been nice to have the option to watch each episode unaltered. Minor usability issues: - You can’t switch audio/subtitle options during playback, so you won’t be able to compare audio tracks on the fly. Kind of a bummer. You must back out to the main menu to make changes. - English subtitles are tied directly to the Japanese audio track, so your only viewing options are English audio with no subtitles, or Japanese audio with English subtitles. There are no other language options. - All episodes on each disc are combined into one long clip on the two Blu-ray players I tested, even when choosing a single episode from the main menu (for example, choosing the second episode on a disc will place you at around the 21-minute mark of a 3+ hour clip of all episodes combined). It would have been nice to have the option to watch one episode at a time. - As others have mentioned, the way selections are made in the Blu-ray menu is counterintuitive: the item that is greyed out is selected and the items that are highlighted in white are not. There are sections of the menu with only two options (when picking between Japanese and English audio, for example) where this can be confusing even if you know what to look for. I should also note that my Blu-ray copy of Bebop arrived with two of the nubs holding each disc in place broken off, which fell out of the box when I first opened it. Since it took me a few weeks to open my set after buying it, I wasn't able to exchange it for an un-broken version in time. I don’t hold this against Amazon, since I’m sure they would have honored an exchange if I had reported the issue in time. My full breakdown of the contents of each disc: DISC 1: • Sessions #1-9 Extras • Session #1 Audio Commentary with Koichi Yamadera (Spike) and Unsho Ishizuka (Jet) • Session #5 Audio Commentary with Wendee Lee (Faye) and ADR Producer Yutaka Maseba DISC 2: • Sessions #10-18 Extras • Session #10 Audio Commentary with Wendee Lee (Faye) and ADR Producer Yutaka Maseba • Session #17 Audio Commentary with Director Shinichiro Watanabe and Composer Yoko Kanno DISC 3: • Sessions #19-26 Extras • Session #24 Audio Commentary with Megumi Hayashibara (Faye) and Aoi Tada (Ed) • Cowboy Bebop Session #0 • Interview with Wendee Lee (English Voice of Faye Valentine) • Interview with Cartoon Network Producer Sean Atkins • Original Opening Song • Original Closing Song • Original Closing Song Ep. 13 • Original Closing Song Ep. 26 • Textless Opening Song • Textless Closing Song • Textless Closing Song Ep. 13 • Textless Closing Song Ep. 26 • U.S. Trailer • Trailers ' Michiko & Hatchin ' Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine ' Black Lagoon ' Attack on Titan ' Chaos;Head ' Code:Breaker ' Samurai Champloo ' Funimation.com DISC 4 (addl. extras): • Memo from the Bebop: Dub Sessions Remembered • Ein’s Summer Vacation • “Tank!” Full-size Music Clip • “Tank!” Club Remix Music Clip - UK Version • Dinner Aboard the Bebop

Yes, yes, yes, Cowboy Bebop is one of the greatest Anime of all time (in my top 3). However, I'm posting to inform you of the following 4 versions of this re-release of the Cowboy Bebop series: - Cowboy Bebop: Complete Series (DVD 5 disc set) - Cowboy Bebop: Complete Series (Blu-ray 4-disc set) - FUNimation.com Exclusive BD/DVD Premium Edition (Blu-ray/DVD Combo 9 disc set) - Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series - Amazon Exclusive Edition (Blu-ray/DVD Combo 9 disc set) What I've found so far is the following (thanks to Nicholas Gold for commenting on my original review) FUNimation Exclusive Premium Edition * Complete TV series on Blu-ray and DVD (combo pack) * Exclusive Limited Edition tri-fold packaging in the style of a vintage record cover * Display easel for packaging * Four exclusive art cards * One additional exclusive art card with foil-stamp autograph from series director Shinichiro Watanabe * As of 9/12/14 Market Price is $89.98 and pre-order price is $64.98 directly from FUNimation [and still $64.98 on 10/5/2014] Amazon Exclusive Premium Edition * Complete TV series on Blu-ray and DVD (combo pack) * Exclusive Limited Edition clamshell art box * 140 page black and white art book featuring concept sketches and designs that highlight Cowboy Bebop's origins * 48 page vibrant, full-color art book * As of 9/12/14 the Market Price is $99.98 and you can see the current Amazon Price above So, as far as I can find so far, the actual content is the same. In my opinion, the difference is that the Amazon exclusive has more interesting physical extras. However, at a $25 premium. So, if you're a collector and don't mind shelling out another $25, then get the Amazon version. If all you care about is watching the videos, then the FUNimation version may be for you or the Blu-Ray standard edition. If you're super hardcore, than you're gonna tear your hair out trying to decide if you should buy both LOL! I cannot confirm yet if the actual video (and on disc extra) content is any different between the standard and premium editions. If you find any other info regarding the differences to these edition, then please post in the comments and I'll update this post with those comments or any info I find as well! ------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding the FUNimation Exclusive, I've copy/pasted their info below: DETAILS Includes: Eps 1-26 Format: Blu-ray & DVD Language: English,Japanese Subtitles: English Closed Captioning: No Rating: TV-14 Aspect Ratio: 4x3 Main Feature Video: 1080p High Definition 4x3 (SD Remaster) Main Feature Audio: Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1,Dolby TrueHD: Japanese 5.1,English 5.1 Surround,Japanese 5.1 Surround Special Feature Audio: Dolby TrueHD: English 2.0,Dolby TrueHD: Japanese 2.0,English 2.0,Japanese 2.0 Main Feature Runtime: 650 Region: A|1 Number of Blu-ray Discs: 4 Number of DVDs: 5 Studio: FUNimation UPC: 704400090578 SPECIAL FEATURES Exclusive tri-fold packaging in the style of a vintage record cover Display easel Four exclusive art cards One additional exclusive art card with foil-stamp autograph from series director Shinichiro Watanabe On-disc extras TBA ------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding the standard edition: someone posts in the comments below that it is $36 elsewhere; as of 10/05/14 this is less than what is listed on Amazon. I'm not posting the site on my review cause I don't know if that's Kosher, but you can see the original comment below. ------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding the DVD and Blu-Ray extras, I want to thank BOOTA-san for finding this first and posting in the comments below. I can confirm that I've now found this list posted elsewhere on the interwebz, so here it is: DVD Extras (160 minutes): - Memo from Bebop: The Dub Sessions Remembered - a brand new 95-minute original extra, featuring the original English-language cast of Cowboy Bebop as they give you the behind-the-scenes stories about recording this seminal series. - Session #1 Audio Commentary with Koichi Yamadera (Spike) and Unshou Ishizuka (Jet) - Session #5 Audio Commentary with Wendee Lee (Faye) and ADR Producer Yutaka Maseba - Interview with Wendee Lee (English Voice of Faye Valentine) - Session #10 Audio Commentary with Wendee Lee (Faye) and ADR Producer Yutaka Maseba - Interview with Cartoon Network Producer Sean Akins - Session #17 Audio Commentary with Director Shinichiro Watanabe and Composer Yoko Kanno - "Tank!" Full-Size Music Clip - "Tank!" Club Remix Music Clip -UK Version- - Session #24 Audio Commentary with Megumi Hayashibara (Faye) and Aoi Tada (Ed) - Original Opening and Closing Songs - Textless Opening and Closing Songs - Ein's Summer Vacation - Cowboy Bebop Session #0 - U.S. Trailer Blu-ray Extras (227 minutes): - All of the DVD extras, plus - Dinner Aboard the Bebop, a brand new 68-minute original extra, featuring the original English-language cast of Cowboy Bebop reunited for dinner, drinks, and a very special script reading! ------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget, if you haven't already, add the Cowboy Bebop: The Movie [Special Edition ] to your order! Read the first review on that page; I agree to get the DVD version (unless you're a completest)

Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime and I'm ecstatic to finally have it on Blu Ray. This set isn't perfect, but it is the best this show is ever going to look. I'd like to address the negative reviews that have started to come in. Their complaints seem to be three-fold: - The show isn't really HD because it isn't widescreen. - The show isn't really HD because it is upscaled, and doesn't look better than the DVDs. - The sound is somehow worse than before. All of these claims are absolutely wrong. Firstly, the show was originally made in 4:3. That means that converting it to widescreen would require cropping, which would mean both loss of fidelity and loss of parts of the image. If this had happened, I would consider this transfer utterly ruined. Movies and shows should always be presented in their original aspect ratio, and cropping is unacceptable. They are still very much HD by definition. Secondly, only certain elements of the image are upscaled from SD: the computer animated ones. Anything that contains CG planets or spaceships is noticeably upscaled. While unfortunate, these elements were CREATED in SD, so no HD elements have ever existed for them. It's just something we're always going to have to live with when it comes to this show. That said, the entire rest of the show, all hand-drawn animation, is indeed in native HD and looks significantly better than before. If you can't see the difference, I don't know how to help you. I also think both the Japanese and English 5.1 mixes are excellent. If you find them inferior, I think you need to make some adjustments to you sound system. It might sound worse when played back in stereo, I don't know. It's unfortunate that stereo mixes weren't also included on the set, but the surround mixes are EXCELLENT. If you already own the DVDs, it might not be worth the upgrade for you, but if you think it's an inferior version you are wrong.

Coming from someone who isn't really an anime person, saying how great this series is speaks volume. It's a gem. I'm choosy about which TV shows I decide to invest my time in, especially when it comes to anime. I don't like anything too "weird" or "otaku," if you know what I mean. (Nothing against anime, just saying.) Cowboy Bebop has mostly Western influences and I feel anyone will love it--even people who aren't into anime. It has a perfect mix of fight scenes (hand-to-hand combat, gun showdowns, ship dogfights and more), suspense, humor, mystery, suaveness, sci-fi, romance and a great story line to boot. It's mature and cool, deep and resonating. Full of existentialism. The characters are well-developed and one cannot help but feel for all of them. I love shows like that. The protagonist is handsome and talented in about everything he does, and not in an off-putting way. His voice is also incredibly sexy and makes me swoon, which brings me to my next point. This is an anime where the English voice actors did a better job with the characters than the Japanese ones. The characters sound very natural and are seemingly brought to life. IMHO, this show is a needle in a haystack. Another important point: this series has such a memorable score. I love blues/jazz and the music itself is undeniably good. This DVD set is SUCH a great value. Normally one would have to buy all six DVDs for around $150, but this set is only about $30. One DVD in this set averages around $4.50 so you cannot beat the price. Buy this set if you are a Cowboy Bebop fan or want to get into the series. This is a great investment and I do not regret getting this. The CDs are all in perfect condition, and shipping was quick. I had a great experience with the seller. This show is truly an artistic masterpiece in its own right. I first heard about Cowboy Bebop when I watched Adult Swim in middle school, and I'll be honest in saying it has stuck with me since. I advise getting it before it isn't sold in this value bundle anymore!

Siento decir que tendré que devolver esta edición. No es por problemas de la caja. El problema es que se trata de una edición de USA que pone región A en la cubierta. Yo no sabía que a veces ocurre con este tipo de ediciones de USA que no se pueden reproducir con nuestros reproductores de DVD o BLUE - RAY. Agradezco al servicio de atención al cliente pero a pesar de mirar todas las opciones que pude de los menús del reproductor no se puede ver. La verdad es un chasco.

リアルタイムで見て以来だから実に22年ぶり。 内容はほとんど忘れていて新鮮な気持ちで見る事が出来た。 カッコよくて面白くて泣けるビバップは本当に最高！！ 配信で見るのが一番お手頃だけど、これは持っていても後悔はしない。 それどころか国内版まで欲しくなってくる始末。そういう作品である。 一番気になっていた字幕が消せるかどうかだが 手持ちのUBP-X800M2 だと字幕ＯＦＦにできずに移動しても字幕の1列目が見えてしまう。 しかしディーガのBZT710だと画面の外まで移動できたので一応字幕オフ状態で見る事が出来た。 ただBZT710だと画質が悪く古くさく見えてしまうので字幕はうざったいが もっぱらX800M2で見てる。

Amazing

Esta serie es para muy poca gente, no tuvo mucho exito en su tiempo pero con los años se ha convertido en una serie de culto, contiene el idioma original que es el japones en alta definicion, doblaje al ingles y los subtitulos en ingles aparecen automaticamente al seleccionar los capitulos en idioma japones, no contiene ningun subtitulo en español ni siquera por error, aun asi cualquier persona con un nivel intermedio de ingles entenderá perfectamente los subitulos en ingles, la imagen es en formato 1.33:1 lo cual quiere decir que veras una raya negra al lado izquierdo y derecho de tu tv full hd, la imagen en la pantalla podra por momentos no ser la mejor, pero toma en cuenta que asi se realizo la serie, para que se vea en modo panoramico y con mas detalle necesitarian volver a dibujarla. Si eres fan de la serie te recomiendo que compres esta edicion porque no se si salga algun dia en México, los subtitulos podrian desanimar a muchos pero la verdad es que para mi vale cada centavo de lo que cuesta. Comprala si te gusta Neon genesis evangelion, Death note, Ghost in the shell o Akira, no son del mismo genero pero sin te gustan quiere decir que tenemos desordenes mentales parecidos, je, je.

I absolutely love this boxset and would give it 5 stars if only it wasn’t region locked. I had to buy a region free bluray/DVD player so I could watch it which was very disappointing.