Spike | COWBOY BEBOP

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"Men only think about the past right before their death. As if they were searching frantically for proof that they were alive."

What a beautiful show this was... If you have never seen it, I hope you'll give it a chance because it's a masterpiece, trust me on this.

Thanks for watching the video!
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Cowboy Bebop Tribute
*Music:
1) Dust and Ashes by Audiomachine
2) A Rush of Blood To The Head by Coldplay

0:00 - Spike | COWBOY BEBOP
5:44 - Outro

[brucesnow]

One of the greatest characters ever made. Not an anime fan, but Shinichiro Watanabe's shows are glorious. This video shows why

[rajorshibanerjee]

A beast who has lost his place,
A swole man who has left behind his past,
A girl with Amnesia,
A hacker,
A dog,
A Spaceship,
26 Episodes .
BANG.
A Masterpiece.

[romailqazi]

"Whatever happens, happens"

[Januhlt]

After I finished Cowboy Bebop, I just felt empty. The show has such a specific Vibe that just takes you in. Thank you for making a Edit that is worthy of the Show!

[hensanglama]

One of the most visually satisfying anime.

[tsuki]

"I'm not going there to die, I'm going to find out if I'm really alive"

[DreamerFromBeyond]

When people lost sight of the future, they start to obsessed in their past and slowly lose themselves in the dream.

[MsKeziah]

"He hated that story"

But whatever happens, happens.

[svetxo]

"that star is the tear of a warrior"
*literal chills*

[OvertheHedge]

This video made me realize something. Cowboy Bebop was the third act of Spike's life.

This whole show was Spike traveling for galaxy with no purpose. It was just him and the crew scrapping by.

We never knew the first act on how he got into the Red Dragon and we only knew scraps of the second on why he left.

This makes the show more incredible. We managed to love and root for the main character without really knowing his history, his personality and motivation was enough for us to care for him.

[somebunny]

In Session 1, Laughing Bull foretells of Spike's death being brought on by a woman.

Laughing Bull: Swimming bird will meet a woman. The bird will be hunted by this woman. And then death.
Spike: One more time.
Laughing Bull: What's that?
Spike: I was killed once before by a woman.

Spike is speaking of Julia. To Spike losing her love was so painful as to be considered a form of death. He was left in a detached dream-like purgatory from that day on.

In Session 26, Julia is shot in front of Spike. White doves fly by in slow motion. Horror, shock, and agony are expressed in Spike's left eye. He screams her name, drops his weapon, and runs to her. He takes her in his arms. Hears her last words, which are inaudible to the audience.

Spike looks down at his lost love and then up to the sky. The camera is now focused on Spike's right eye, which is shaking in a disturbing manner. The camera zooms into Spike's pupil and everything fades to black.

The scene directly following Julia's death is a scene of Laughing Bull predicting Spike's imminent death.

Holding Julia's coat, Vicious speaks of Spike.
Vicious: A beast that has lost his place. He has nowhere to return to now. He will come.

Vicious is both right and wrong. Spike does have somewhere to return to one last time.

Two rose petals are shown blowing away in the wind.

Spike returns to the Bebop and tells Jet the tale of the tiger striped cat.
Spike: There once was a tiger striped cat. This cat died a million deaths, revived and lived a million lives, and he was owned by various people who he didn't really care for. The cat wasn't afraid to die. Then one day the cat became a stray cat, which meant he was free. He met a white female cat, and the two of them spent their days together happily. Well, years passed, and the white cat grew weak and died of old age. The tiger striped cat cried a million times, and then he died too. Except this time, he didn't come back to life.

Throughout the story Jet is keenly aware that Spike's death looms in the horizon. He is weary of the implications this tale suggests.

When Spike gets up to leave, he asks him one last question.
Jet: Is it for the girl?
Spike: [beat] She's dead. There's nothing I can do for her now.

This is true. Julia is dead. There is nothing Spike can do for her. This does not lessen the impact she has on the events that are about to unfold. Jet understands this. Upon hearing of Julia's death, he has a resigned if devastated reaction. He knows exactly what this means for Spike.

Faye confronts Spike while holding him at gunpoint. She knows that he is marching towards his death.

Faye: Where are you going? Why, are you going? You told me once, to forget the past, ‘cause it doesn’t matter, but you’re the one still tied to the past, Spike!

Spike does not deny this. Instead he explains the truth about his eyes. The camera spans from his left eye to his right eye.

Spike: Look at my eyes, Faye. One of them is a fake because I lost it in an accident. Since then, I've been seeing the past in one eye and the present in the other. So, I thought I could only see patches of reality, never the whole picture.

Faye: Don’t tell me things like that; you’ve never told me anything about yourself, so don’t tell me now!

Spike: I felt like I was watching a dream I could never wake up from. Before I knew it, the dream was all over.

This is not the first time Spike has expressed this sentiment. One of his most revelatory moments took place in the teaser for Ballad of Fallen Angels.

Spike: The music box is broken, or is it? It starts to play, and a haunting tune fills the air. I wake suddenly from my dream. There is no music box! And yet there it is. A tiny one nestled in my hand. And I awaken from my dream again. As if I were peeling an onion. It’s a dream no matter how far I go. I can never reach reality. Trapped in an endless nightmare.

Spike is so affected by the woman he loved and lost that even an item she once possessed haunts him. It is her death that has finally woken him.

Faye shares with Spike that her memory has returned. She explains that there was nowhere for her to go back to. She pleads with him to stay.

Spike last words to Faye:

Spike: I’m not going there to die; I’m going to find out if I’m really alive. I have to do it, Faye.

Faye is not comforted by this statement. She knows better. The audience should not be comforted either. Spike's words eerily echo what Jet said to him in session 25.

Jet: Men only think about the past right before their death, as if they were searching frantically for proof that they were alive.

Faye cries and shoots off her gun. An act reminiscent of the 21-gun salute that is used in the military to honor the recently fallen.

Spike walks away from Faye without looking back. He is never shown thinking about anyone from the Bebop again.

The song "See You Space Cowboy" plays as Spike leaves the Bebop. The camera zooms in on Spike's left eye. The lyrics begin as Spike is recalling romantic memories of Julia. He thinks of the first time he saw Julia and was captivated by her beauty.

Spike thinks of a time when he made love to Julia and she cradled him in her arms and stroked his hair.

Given that Spike confided to Jet just the previous session that Julia was a part of him, the image shows a moment in Spike's life where he felt whole.

Spike: She was a piece of me I had lost. She is my other half that I had longed for.

See You Space Cowboy

"Everything is already over",
You say with closed ears
The words only flow
Towards a tomorrow without peace
"There's nothing that won't change"
Even if my life ends
This love will not disappear
It's something that will live forever
Even if dreams are hidden in darkness
I got a rainbow
Rainbow in your hands...

The song continues to play as Spike attacks the syndicate. It is a ballad of undying love.

When Spike faces off against his hated rival, Vicious makes this proclamation:

Vicious: "So, you're finally awake. I told you before, Spike. I'm the only one who can kill you and set you free."

Spike does not deny this. But makes a proclamation of his own.

Spike: "Those words apply to you as well, Vicious."

During their fight Vicious gets Spike's gun and Spike gets Vicious's katana. Spike then makes this statement:

Dub: Julia is dead. Let's finish it now.
Sub: Julia passed away. Let's end it all.

The rivals return their weapons. Spike shoots Vicious but gets his stomach sliced open. Blood gushes out of Spike.

Vicious's death comes quickly, while Spike lingers as was foreshadowed. "A snake's venom poisons slowly after the bite."

Spike watches Vicious's body fall to the ground, spends but a couple of seconds looking at him then looks up to the night's sky. The camera is zoomed in on Spike's right eye. Now calm.

Spike sees Julia in his eye that sees the present.

In session 13, during an auditory flashback, Spike and Julia discuss his eyes.
Spike: My left eye sees the past.
Julia: What about your right eye?

We do not hear his response. In the penultimate scene of the series, we are specifically shown what Spike sees with his right eye. He sees her.

This is the first time in the series that Spike is shown seeing Julia with his right eye. The implication being that she is now his present.

Julia is shown to be covered in a white light. This light is reminiscent of the divine light that is cast upon a soul that is ready to ascend to heaven. She tells Spike that "It's all a dream." Spike is shown reflected back in Julia's eye. He glumly concurs with her. Spike is then completely engulfed by a blinding white light. The scene fades to white.

From white we transition to the final scene of the series. It is now day and Spike is smiling. It appears as if the white light continues to shine over the syndicate.

Spike points a finger gun at the remaining syndicate goons and says "bang".

This is a callback to Wen from session 6. As Wen was dying he asked Spike if he understood the relief that came with one's own death. In response, Spike threw Wen's harmonica up in the air, pretended to shoot it while saying "bang", but then said "as if". When Spike says "bang" this time he is acknowledging that he now understands that relief.

Spike falls to the ground. He is never shown moving again. White doves are shown flying over Spike's motionless body. White doves also flew by Julia when she died.

The camera follows an ascensions into the heavens, while the song "Blue" plays. The song's lyrics allude to a soul ascending into heaven.

Blue

Free
Wanna be free
Gonna be free
And move among the stars
You know, they really aren't so far
Feels so free
Gotta know free
Please
Don't wake me from the dream
It's really everything it seems
I'm so free
No black and white in the blue
Everything is clearer now
Life is just a dream, you know
That's never-ending
I'm ascending

At the end of the credits a star goes out but never falls.

In session 13, Laughing Bull informs the audience as to what a falling star is.
Laughing Bull: A pitiful soul who could not find his way to the lofty realm where the great spirit awaits us all.

Since the star we are shown does not fall, this indicates that the soul the star belonged to did make its way to the great spirit that awaits us all.

That soul has broken away from the cycle of death and rebirth and is never coming back. This was foreshadowed to happen to Spike in the fable of the tiger striped cat, who followed his love into death and never returned.

[kazuhasgloves]

I miss the hell out of this show, man. you captured it perfectly here.

[marapuiu]

I just noticed that in the last scene his left eye, the one that sees the past, is covered in blood and almost, if not completely, closed. Doesn't that mean he was finally able to let go of his past after facing it by killing all those syndicate guys?

[mbilalnadeem]

Never though in a million years that you of will make one on Spike the most aesthetic anime of all time....

[marcspector]

"You gonna carry that weight?"

[mero]

This show is beautiful and amazing in almost every aspect, from the music to the characters to the world building. One of those once in a lifetime pieces of art that can’t be replicated artificially. I’ll probably enjoy the Netflix version but it will almost certainly not meet the original by a mile.

[honeymoonwithanxiety]

I've just been thinking about watching cowboy bebop; this convinced me

[kenanKTV]

"It's just...
He was all alone
Always by himself
Never anyone to share the game...

A man who lived in dreams, thats who he was. " 🎆

[JustaThing]

Cowboy Bebop left a hole in my heart that will never be filled
And I mean this with honesty
This show is just so damn good

[hahahasan]

Seriously dude, you have incredible eyes. They capture the essence of things so well.