The Cowboy Bebop Drinking Game

 

Hellooo all you fine weekend warriors! Today starts the adventure of a new weekend… and of course a new little drinking game for your imbibing pleasure. I’ve decided to bring you something new and under the radar [unless you’ve watched Adult Swim in the past four years or have nerdy friends that are into Asian-ness]. Before we begin, I have a few questions for you! So keep an open mind after you answer these to see if you are fit for a different kind of viewing pleasure:

Do you like bounty hunters?

Do you like space?

Did you like the action in Serenity/Firefly?

Do you like this video and its’ animation?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, please, follow me down the rabbit hole and do everything I say immediately. If you answered yes to all but the last question… I want you to consider watching the first episode of Cowboy Bebop. It is not your typical anime craziness. There aren’t tentacles raping women or out of this world existential plot lines. In fact, there aren’t even aliens in this show. It is an action packed comedy that explores the world of Spike and Jet, two bounty hunters who are exceptionally awful at their job. They have an abundance of misfortunes that seem to find them all around the galaxy.

In Cowboy Bebop, Earth is constantly being rammed in the face by space debris caused by a man made explosion near the moon. This forced humans out to the surrounding planets in order to avoid random fiery balls of moon flying towards their faces and causing immediate death. Travelling is done through hyperspace and various different kinds of spaceships are utilized. This version of our potential future is pretty accurate with how our world currently is today. There is obviously going to be a big gap in the distribution of wealth. Science will continue to progress, mistakes will be made, and humanity will have to adjust to the repercussions of it. The show isn’t entirely out of reality. The only exaggeration comes within the fight scenes. But you can’t get mad at elaborate and awesome fighting; everyone likes an intense battle and bloodshed.

if you don’t like dubbed animation, skip to 1:07. Also- spoiler alert!

Did you happen to enjoy the musical scoring in the video? THE WHOLE SERIES IS LIKE THAT! Animation is fused with a jazzy blues soundtrack specifically tailor made for the show. Each episode has music centered around a popular song [ei Bohemian Rhapsody or My Funny Valentine] and rerecords it with the band that came together for Cowboy Bebop. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuAzPR0ACVw&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLD551D1F4DAA8D1FA you can just put this playlist down as the background music to mostly anything and you will thank me later.

ok fine, I’ll apologize to all of you… here:

The series is a quick fix. It isn’t an ever running anime production that continues just because of its’ popularity. There were only 26 episodes in the entire series and there are no plans to make anymore. There was supposed to be a movie, starring Keanu Reeves as Spike, that genuinely terrified the fans and film makers. At least that’s what I tell myself because the movie never got made. There is no way Keanu can pull off the suave and playful Spike Spiegel. The movie was slated to cost half a billion dollars. HALF A BILLION DOLLARS. Unreal! JJ Abrams Star Trek only cost 150 million. Sure, after you watch a few episodes you can understand that the production in creating an outer space fight scene may be deemed difficult… but it’s probably a good thing the writers made such an elaborate and awesome screenplay. Unfortunately, the script has been in the reworks for so long now it is probably buried.

Each character is conveniently flawed, making their group of a honky tonk space team fairly ridiculous. Spike, Jet, Faye, and Ed are all running from their past and seeking new familiarities. What I like the most about this series is you can essentially watch each episode out of order and still get the general understanding of the cast. The sessions are well enough developed that each of them could be expanded into their own movies; they are that creative! It is hard to believe that the episodes are only thirty minutes long and can cram so much funny and action. Adult swim is currently playing the series [and has been for the past four years] so if you are flipping through the channels, don’t hesitate to pause on and watch. Although I always recommend buying/downloading the subtitled episodes for optimal intended voice acting.

Raise those beer cans to the new adventures of quests unchartered in this wonderful series and take a drink every time:

1-      Spike goes rogue

2-      Spike, Jet, and Faye are all smoking at the same time

3-      Jet yells out Spikes name [It’s particularly fun because phonetically it looks like SPYYYY-GAH]

4-      Something blows up

5-      A gun is pulled out

6-      Ed throws her feet into the air [x2 if it’s in front of a computer

7-      Faye wears something other than her typical yellow shorts and red shirt [x2 if it’s uber sluttastic]

8-      Three old men are complaining

9-      Bonsai trees are shown [x2 if they are being carefully attended to]

10-   Big Shot is playing

11-   Anytime anyone has a flashback- you must take a long sip/drink/chug at the groups timed discretion. And yes, I do give you permission to finish your drinks, oh you alcoholics.