Someone is Always Substituting for Someone Else--The Matured Drama of "Cowboy Bebop" [Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No. 43

Ninja Batman" starring Koichi Yamadera is now in theaters. Koichi Yamadera's other starring role is in "Cowboy Bebop," which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. This stylish sci-fi action film depicts a space bounty hunter "cowboy" who chases down criminals in a future where habitable space has expanded to every planet in the solar system.
Each episode is a complete episode, but the hard-hitting episodes about the main character, Spike, and his nemesis, Bicious, are interspersed from time to time, and it is gradually revealed that the reason for Spike and Bicious' rivalry is a woman named Julia. Episodes 12 "Jupiter Jazz (Part 1)" and 13 "Jupiter Jazz (Part 2)" begin with Spike jumping out of the Bebop when he hears Julia's name.

The "pointing a gun" action synchronizes at the same time and in separate locations.

However, Julia, the key character, does not appear in "Jupiter Jazz," Part 2 and Part 3. She appears only briefly in a reminiscence scene. Despite this, there is always a strong sense of the presence of Julia, a woman who is not present in the film. Let us explore the reason for this.
The film takes place in a town called Blue Claw, located on Callisto, a moon of Jupiter. It is an extremely cold town hit by recession, and for some reason, there is not a single woman there. In Blue Claw, a female bounty hunter, Faye, from the Bebop, comes to visit on a whim. When Faye is attacked by thugs, she is rescued by Glenn, a saxophone player at the bar, and goes to his house.
While Glenn is taking a shower, a phone rings addressed to him. It is Spike's nemesis, Vicious. Faye, who knows Bicious, runs into the shower room and points a gun at Glenn.

Spike, on the other hand, looks around for Julia and finds Bicious calling Glenn. Spike asks Bicious, "Are you going on a date with Julia without telling me?" Spike points a gun at Bicious. Bicious tells Spike, "Julia was here, in town. Spike is shocked, but Bicious' men shoot Spike.
This is the first part of "Jupiter Jazz" so far.

Bishas's phone call to Glenn is the kicker,
Faye points a gun at Glenn.
Spike points a gun at Bicious.
These two plays are synchronized and cut back to create a sense of tension. Is the tension created simply because the actions of "pointing guns" at different places overlap?　Let's dig a little deeper.

Faye, the "Flesh and Blood," is a stand-in for Julia, the "Superb Woman."

While walking around the streets of Blue Claw asking for Julia's name, Spike is told by a male prostitute, "Glenn might know something. I've seen him with a woman before." Incorporating this information leads to a different interpretation of the above scene.

Faye points the gun at Glenn, who "knows Julia.
Spike points the gun at Vicious, who "knows Julia was in Blue Claw.

In other words, since Julia herself does not show up, the characters have no choice but to point their guns at those who "know Julia. Such a sense of frustration and emptiness is in the air in this scene.

And when we see "Jupiter Jazz (Part 2)," we can read a little deeper.
Spike's partner, Jet, goes down to Blue Claw in pursuit of Faye. At the bar where Faye and Glenn met, Jett gets information from the bartender. It's been six months since I've seen a woman in the flesh, and if you're talking about a woman of the finest quality, it's been two years. There's no way I could have mistaken her. She was sitting right there, talking to Glenn. Julia was always in that seat, too.
In other words, Faye and Julia were both sitting in the same seat.
Immediately afterwards, a scene in which Spike recalls being shot with an anesthetic gun is inserted. This recollection is from a time when Spike, Vicious, and Julia were close friends, and is depicted in sepia tones. However, only one cut of a much more recent recollection is shown in color. It is of Faye, who was at Spike's bedside in episode 5, watching over him after he was badly injured.

Let's look at the scene in question in episode 5. Faye is taken hostage by Bishas, and Spike goes to Faye to settle the score with Bishas. Spike is badly injured in the fight with Bishas and hears Julia singing in his dream. However, it was actually Faye at his bedside who was singing.
Faye sings the song Julia was singing, and Faye sits in the seat where Julia was sitting. Faye may be unconsciously playing the role of Julia's understudy.
To begin with, this episode began with Faye's disappearance and the code name "Julia" that surfaced during the search for her whereabouts. While searching for Faye, he stumbles upon Julia. Spike is mistaken for Vicious by thugs, and Jet is mistaken for a bounty hunter. The play, with its multiple misunderstandings and miscommunications, and the fact that everyone is forced to take someone else's place, makes Julia's absence clearly apparent.


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)
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