| How can Cowboy Bebop be one of the best anime ever made when it has such a poorly written villain. Even the guy's name, Vicious, is generic as hell. And when we look at his motivation it's nothing more than "I will be the strongest mob boss there is since I am such an evil guy, MUAHAHA". This could have been easily remedied by making an episode that focuses on Vicious's past and his relation with Spike but all we get it is some short fllashback scenes and some expositional dialagoue. People criticize Marvel films for having poorly written villains, with the exception opf Thanos and Loki, all the time yet beloved franchises liek Cowboy Bebop get a free pass for some reason. I just find this a bit hypocritical honestly. |
| I guess the show would still be great even without a villain, so having a generic one is just a little nuisance. |
| Vicious does what he needs to do for the show. He's not ment to be some deep and complex character. Bebop isn't really about the any of the villains. |
Brans94Mar 13, 11:53 AM
 |
| I think that it depends on how you define "best." I liked it a lot because the protagonists were interesting, the setting was interesting, and the ending made me feel something. Yeah Vicious could be cooler but it's a story about loser weirdos so he fits in with the rest of them at least to me |
| I've always felt that Cowboy Bebop was a bit overrated tbh. The only things I remember are the main characters, the OST, and a few one-off eps. But then again, I love Samurai Champloo but can't remember a lot from that show either lol. I think my brain is just clapped. |
  𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝓂𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝑜𝓇 𝒷𝑒𝒽𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊. - 𝑅𝑒𝒾 𝒦𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓎𝒶𝓂𝒶   |
| Thank you for your interest. Short Answer: the story isn’t about Vicious, and because sometimes, less is more. Long Answer: The less we know about Spike’s past, the more we can focus on enjoying what most of the show is: an episodic bounty hunting romp. Bebop excels at exploring its main characters’ personalities and trauma through these individual missions, rather than through a common hero vs. villain plot that ties all of its events together. Also, when the “main plot” does show itself in key episodes (5, 12/13, 25/26) the significance of these details arising is doubly as meaningful. If you want to see a poorly written Vicious (and show), watch the live-action Bebop on Netflix. Vicious has multiple long segments dedicated to him, so much so that he has a similar amount of screen time as the Bebop crew. All of the backstory and characterization that they invented for him and Julia fundamentally misunderstands the their roles in the original show and ruins the ambiguous nature of the Syndicate. (It also failed to do anything new with the character, whether it be humanize him, highlight his “viciousness” or make him interesting enough to justify his inclusion as a full-fledged main character). Hope this explains more clearly the opinion that many fans have on Vicious. Cheers! |
fitzthefastMar 13, 4:19 PM
Reply to mccreepyy
well it was written almost 30 years ago
| @mccreepyy Gundam was written in 1979 and has the best villain of all time. LOGH was written decades before Bebop, DB was written decades before Bebop, JOJO was written decades before Bebop, Berserk was written decades before Bebop, and so on ! |
This post has been fact checked by peer reviewed sources!  |
| It's what I've always been saying: We have no reason to care about the mafia, and the mafia means nothing to us, therefore he taking over the mafia means nothing to us. And I've always HATED those vague flashback sequences. Couldn't the anime simply tell us what happened instead of just pandering to people that want to feel smart by making theories? |
| Yeah, many people like to look at their favorite anime through rose-tinted glasses, ignoring obvious flaws or giving cheap excuses, or even being defensive. A lackluster main story doesn't invalidate the anime's overall quality, just as mediocre episodes don't diminish the impact of great ones. Nostalgia is not something negative as long as it does not cloud someone's mind. I agree that it wouldn't hurt to dedicate one, or even a half episode to Vicious, or to Spike's past. This anime uses a lot of "show, not tell" stuff, so I can see revealing a little more info while preserving the overall mysterious atmosphere and things that the viewers need to find out by themselves while staring at their screen. Exposition and flashbacks in this regard were done well from the artistic point of view, but so what, if the only information conveyed was "this scene looks good!"? Sometimes I think that this anime would've worked better in a different format. Shorter (less episodes than 26, even if tiny bit), but with more story-driven plot (it could still have episodic stuff in it), with some standalone stories released later in the OVA format. The final bit of Spike's story could be adapted either into a movie or OVA. |
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