"Bad Dog No Biscuit"

I've been re-watching Cowboy Bebop the past week or two. It's still one of my favorite anime series ever. The style and humor in that show are simply outstanding.

I'm down to the last two episodes, which are connected to each other (for those of you out there who haven't seen the series...and shame on you if this is the case). The last three episodes always sorta choke me up--#24 because of the stuff with Ed finding her father and Faye finding her memory (only to discover it was all in vain and there's nothing left); #25 and #26 are just heartbreaking for reasons I don't fully understand. Faye's realization of where she belongs and what is important, Spike losing everything because of what he tried to walk away from years earlier, Jet's inability to prevent the storm from coming...these elements add up to an amazingly emotional climax. The end of episode 26 always gets me a little misty-eyed. I think part of it is the song, "Blue." The lyrics are pretty straightforward--it's a song about how blue the sky is and how it reminds the singer of the past and of freedom. It's not so much the words that get to me, as it is the music and the singing. The vocalist is powerful--she brings emotion and energy to the words, stretching them out and working them over, building alongside the music to a dazzling cressendo. That in conjunction with watching my favorite character die (I won't say who it is for the two of you out there who haven't seen the damn series) just gets to me every time.

So I'll probably watch the last two episodes tomorrow in between work shifts. I'll tear up at the end, like I always do, and then I'll go about my life. Cartoons shouldn't have this much emotional impact, I don't think.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts, "Walk in the Rain"