Cowboy Bebop Remastered Sessions Collection One is the high definition (1080p) re-release of the show Cowboy Bebop.  The show itself is about a guy who is ex-mafia named Spike Spiegel and his partner Jet Black who is an ex-cop and they live with each other on a big old spaceship called "The Bebop".  The two make a living by being bounty hunters and catch criminals for reward money but they always find themselves in much bigger situations that get them into all-sorts of crazy trouble.  Some examples include: Chasing down environmental terrorist, chasing down what they think is a contaminated rat, Spike fighting old friends from his mafia days, Jet catching up with old friends from his days as a police officer, and Spike teaching a stranger martial-arts. Later on they are joined up with a Welsh Corgi named Ein, femme-fatal Faye Valentine, and genius computer hacker Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV... or Edward for short.  So strap yourselves in space cowboys, it's going to be a wild ride full of sex, drugs, rock 'n roll (or Jazz rather), and a whole load of bad-ass action.  (Click "Read More" to read the full review).  



This show is episodic most of the time but there are some ongoing story arcs when they involve the backstories of the main characters.  Don't let that hurt your curiosity of the show as all episodes tell very great stories and they don't hold back just because it may be a filler episode or not.  This is great as every episode is very satisfying to watch and ranks up with sci-fi shows like "Dr.Who" and "Star Trek".  This show is more than just your typical science fiction action show as it can also be a serious mafia drama, romance story, comedy, heck it even does horror.  You'd expect all the genre clashing to make this show a major headache but it actually does all of them really well and won't throw you off one bit.  This show is also very down to Earth (minus a very few things) and is good for showing off to some of your friends and/or family who aren't really into anime due to how crazy it can be.  If you are also a younger viewer who is growing out of shows like "Naruto" and "Pokémon" you are in luck as this is the perfect show to help you to transcend from "anime kid" to an "anime man", "anime woman" or even the rare "anime hermaphrodite" (not to be offensive as I don't want to exclude any body).

Action scenes also go beyond typical science fiction action as not only do you get great space battles but you also get many other types of action scenes like Bruce Lee styled martial arts and western (cowboy) fighting that feels straight from a Clint Eastwood film.  All the action in this show is really well done and will get you very excited and I especially loved the John Woo styled gun fights as those scenes were just plain brilliantly done. Characters in this show are absolutely amazing and you will care about every single one of them and that includes all the side and background characters as every one of them helps add to the story and are all very memorable. 

The remastered artwork for this Blu-ray release isn't much different from the "Remix" box-set but it does look really crisp and clean in 1080p.  Characters are really beautiful and unique looking with no two characters that look alike which is very impressive and still after all these years I still wonder how Faye Valentine manages to put up with that very uncomfortable looking outfit.  Background sets are very beautiful and the detailing on them still to this very day will absolutely take your breath away.  Animation is really great with tons of movement that is animated really smoothly and will blow your mind.  This show does also use computer generated models and they have aged the most but they aren't bad looking by any means.  The English dub is spectacular with some great voice acting that is very memorable.  This may actually be the greatest English dub in anime or if not best it's defiantly in the top three.  Japanese dub is okay but it did sound a little stiff.  The voices do suit the characters but I'm so used to the English dub that the Japanese dub doesn't do anything for me.

A very healthy amount of special features like audio commentaries with the Japanese cast on episode one and commentaries with the American cast on episodes five and ten.  There are a two music videos for the song "Tank" (the song used in the opening credits) with one for the original and one for a remix of the song.  You also get text-less closing credits yet there is no text-less opening credits even though it was stated on the packaging.  While these features are phenomenal they did come out on the "Remix" box set back in 2008.  Not everything is recycled as you do get some new features that include the commercials for the Japanese DVDs, video tapes, laserdiscs, and Blu-ray discs.  One really neat thing about this set is that it comes with a art-book full of sketches of the main characters and other characters that appear in this volume.  This is no thin book either so you will get quite a lot of satisfaction while looking at it.  The downside with the book is that due to its size it will get caught in the case and dog-ear quite easily so you may want to keep it in another place if you want to keep it in good condition.

Overall this is a really great show and if you haven't seen it yet you need to go out and find a way to watch it right now.  Although if you have seen this show and are looking to replace the "Remix Collection" you might as well keep that as there isn't that much difference between this and that release although I doubt that will stop you from picking this up.  Great release and looking forward to the next volume.

Title: Cowboy Bebop Remastered Sessions Collection 1
Animation Studio: Sunrise
Genre: Animation/Anime, Action, Sci-Fi
Running Time: 325 minutes (13 Episodes)
Distributor: Madman Entertainment (www.madman.com.au)
Rating: M15+ (Moderate violence, Drug use)
Price: $39.95
Recommended: Yes