By Alison L. Roberts

Spike & Jet

"You make me cool."

The series' distinctiveness lies in great part with its visuals and musical score, attributes used effectively to enhance and set the stage for the drama, comedy and action that are now a Cowboy Bebop trademark. The opening credits are a case in point.

Most of the episodes start with a propulsive blast of brass-driven jazz, the composition "Tank!," over 1970s-style, split-screen, opening animation that features colors and quick edits as eye-opening as the music. This contradictory, "future-retro" sensibility permeates the entire world of Bebop, contributing to an overall feeling that the future of 2071, as portrayed in the anime, is not all that far-fetched.

Faye Valentine

This results in unique visual choices that distinguish the series from its contemporaries. The Yamane-designed ships have an aged, slightly beat-up look with lines that echo present-day cars and aircraft. Cities look much like today's with logical "advancements" in architecture. (Similar, but . . . different.) And computer-generated effects add extra dazzle to sequences involving the futuristic technology that allows mankind's migration into space.

Kawamoto's array of character designs throughout the series is both striking and memorable. Tall and lanky, with a "slacker" demeanor, and unruly, greenish hair, Cowboy Bebop's lead, Spike Spiegel, does not appear to be the typical anime protagonist. His partner, Jet, looks as solid and true blue as he is. Faye Valentine is a thoroughly modern femme fatale. Hacker-extraordinaire Ed is, well, memorably Ed. The supporting characters are similarly detailed. While the designs are very much indicative of the characters' respective personalities, the dichotomy of "outward appearance versus inner nature" does play an important role in the series.

Ed & Ein

From both storytelling and atmospheric points of view, Yoko Kanno's diverse music adds another impressive dimension to the production. By this point, those who have followed her career through Macross Plus and Escaflowne know that she is a virtuoso — one of the few composers and arrangers that excels equally at a variety of genres, from classical to j-pop. But with Cowboy Bebop, she manages to pull even more surprises out of her bag of tricks. To say the music of Bebop is eclectic is an understatement: her compositions cover ground from classical and hymn-inspired pieces to heavy metal, rock and, finally, incredible jazz and blues-inspired work. Inventive and entertaining, Kanno's Bebop compositions and the finely-wrought performances of her collaborating artists will be hard-pressed to ever sound dated.

It is impressive to have a strong soundtrack, especially one that fills four-plus, top-selling CDs. It is another thing entirely to fully integrate the soundtrack's music into the series as Watanabe and company have done. The organic relationship between the music, the images on the screen and the story makes Cowboy Bebop stand out in the way its "style" is an extension of the series' overall "substance."