ANI-MOVIES, *Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Since the original TV series was a such a phenomenon, even for non-anime fans, there just had to be a movie follow-up to it. Although like most films based on a TV anime, this one is a midquel taking place between Episodes #22 and 23 of the series. Usually, a movie like this is either a sequel, or it doesn't happen in the context of the series at all. This is a little rare to have a movie be like a "lost episode" to the TV series.

Set mostly on Mars, Spike and the Bebop crew are hunting for a terrorist named Vincent who plans to use a deadly nano-virus to wipe out everyone on the planet. Vincent was part of a team of soldiers from a previous war on Jupiter's moon of Titan that were subjected to military experiments in nanomachine warfare. This technology was later reused by a pharmaceutical company done in secret for the Martian government. Vincent got a hold of the virus, and is going to spread it all over the planet during a Halloween parade. Spike makes a reluctant alliance with the sexy Electra who is Vincent's old lover and an agent of the shifty pharmaceutical company. Electra conveniently happens to have the vaccine to the virus that Vincent gave her without her knowledge. Together along with Jet, Faye, and some retired pilots, they manage to stop Vincent's plan. After all, Spike couldn't possibly die...yet!

The movie employs the same badass animation that made the series so enduring. Truthfully, it's only a little above the quality that the series had, which proves it's greatness to begin with. Everyone of the regulars gets some screentime, including the three old farts who frequently showed up in every other episode. Edward and Ein have a few magic moments too(beware of angry transvestites!). The climax is awesome too, even more so than Spike's final battle with Vicious. The soundtrack by Yoko Kanno is exemplary, with some hip opening and closing themes. This film also sports some of the best aerial dogfighting in an anime since Macross Plus. If you have the series box set, then you've gotta get this to complete your collection. See you, Space Cowboys!