Idk if anyone in the chat told you guys, but those two are well known mascots from a really old children's show in Japan (think Barney I guess). There's a bunch of memes about them, particularly about Mukku being hella jealous about Gachapin's relative popularity lol
I don't think Spike was necessarily "wanting to die." His past life with Julia, what could have been and what might be possible if he finds her again, was the comfortable dream that haunted his present self - He was forced to be awakened from the dream that never ends when he saw Julia die. And now that he was snapped out of it, he needs to see if he's worth anything in the future by tying up the loose ends that still hang from the leftover scraps of the dream. Was he "dead" in his past all along? Can he feel alive again when everything is cleaned up? There's no way he can move on unless he really makes sure - he needs to know if he is alive (he says so himself).
I think that's the reason why the end is left unclear. He found out - but which way is up to how you felt about this whole thing. It poses the question for the viewer themselves. You're gonna carry that weight.
Just a note: The scene with Spike's eyes being lit up by the parade floats reminds Pierrot about the cat because Spike has one prosthetic eye, which has an ever so slightly different hue of brown (not because the light only hits one eye or something).
The prosthetic eye being there is heavily suggested during a flashback scene in Ep.6 Sympathy for the Devil, just in case there's some fuss about a character detail popping out of nowhere lol
Fun fact! The ending theme song for the show, The Real Folk Blues, contains a reference to this prosthetic eye in its lyrics. (translation mine)
"I see tomorrow with one eye, and I stare at yesterday with the other"
@thedrumkid92: That argument would work if you ignore the fact that the JP voice is still Akio Otsuka for MGSV Snake. I'm not complaining since Otsuka is THE definitive voice for Snake for JP players like myself, but it's pretty hard to deny that Kojima was just horny for star actors when he booted Hayter lol. The whole "he isn't the real Big Boss" was just a convenient excuse to make the change.
I love these episodes! It's a great pair that shows off the two very different faces of Bebop; the delicate, somber, and beautiful emotional delivery of the Venus episode, straight into the absurd and whacky carnival ride that is Ed (both with fantastic action!). I really can't think of too many shows that have so much range, delivered so well.
I wonder if the crew is trying to hit a specific time limit on the show length? I think it would be a lot of fun if y'all can talk a little more about the episodes and go a little deeper on what your thoughts are about specific scenes and the themes in each episode. Just the recap and reactions are nice, but I think this show holds up to a lot more discussion too. Looking forward to the next show! Ganymede Elegy and Toys in the Attic are both great episodes.
I think you kind of touched on it a bit @jeffgrubb, but the reason why this game isn't a roguelike is precisely because there's so much information attached to each component, rather than "one number that tells you which one is better." Basically, it's a game where you're kind of expected to get really deep into the minutiae of all the stats (and hidden stats) and basically make YOUR mech. It's the ultimate mecha fantasy of owning your own giant mecha that is finely tuned to be yours and only yours. Of course, there's going to be a lot of different situations in the missions that will force you to adapt by changing up your build, but that's exactly this game. Build your mechs, overcome challenges. With this level of detail in the building process, it'd be way too time consuming and restrictive in a roguelike setting.
oo Jeff's initial take on Ballad of Fallen Angels is precisely one of my issues with the "western interpretation" via subs and dubs of this show. I think one of the core developments of this show is the relationship that builds between the crew, and the JP script and acting definitely makes it clear that, while Jet and Spike are indeed comfortable with each other, they aren't super close friends yet. That tension that they introduce at the beginning of the episode definitely feels earned; there's a lot that they aren't showing each other, and more so from Spike's side. This gets emphasized later when Jet offers to talk about his arm, and Spike deflects.
Adding to that bit about "equally great anime Jeff can watch after Bebop".
Another great thing about getting people started with Bebop is that you can now basically run them through the director Shinichiro Watanabe's other works, and the hit rate is going to be pretty high. Like get him on Samurai Champloo y'all. Or for a choice with much more personal bias, the movie version of Macross Plus (after explaining the series backdrop, or better yet watching Do You Remember Love). He mentioned he loved the mechanical details on the Swordfish II in episode 1 of Bebop... Macross Plus is like an anime mecha love letter.
To provide an alternate opinion on the subs vs. dubs debate for Bebop: I think the Bebop dub is fantastic, or at least what I've heard of it. The voices match the character appearances and personalities, and you don't really get the screechy or snotty insufferable "anime child" voices too much (think Silver Wolf from Honkai Star Rail for a recent example of what I mean). That being said, which audio track you gravitate towards ultimately depends on which language you're more comfortable with in an anime setting. This itself is already an achievement to some degree, with the quality of anime dubs from this era in general (i.e. it's usually not even a question).
As for me, you'll never find me saying the English dub is better than the subs. You'll find many people, including multiple comments above, saying Spike's voice as Steve Blum is iconic and Spike basically belongs to said actor. But as a Japanese native, this take strikes as peculiar, mere inches from the realm of absurdity. Yamadera Koichi, who is one of the all time greats of voice acting as a profession as a whole, voices Spike in the JP dub. This is a man that can voice an easygoing cowboy like in this show, or goddam Mew in pokemon, or a hippo-child and a fucking dog in the same children's show. A particularly interesting anecdote I've heard about him is that when being cast as Donald Duck in Japan, the casting director claimed that the only negative thing he can say about Yamadera is that nobody knows his "true" voice. The fact that this man brings out basically his coolest sexy man voice for his role as Spike is reason enough for me to never consider anything other than the original JP audio. Mind you, it's not the monotone "a man should be nothing but gruff" boringness like Geralt or something. The Yamadera Spike is chill, smooth, humorous, energetic, and charming, all at once and when the situation calls for it. Besides that, I didn't even get to how this show is pretty much chock-full of legendary voice actors literally all over the cast. Megumi Hayashibara, Unshou Ishizuka (RIP), Norio Wakamoto... people that you'll find in main roles in countless shows before and after. I can just never get over how good this show sounds to me.
Way late, but a small insignificant correction: The vending machine SuzyQ was filming was not a used underwear vending machine, but a condom vending machine lol. Makes it a little less weird? Maybe?
Also they touched on Silver Chariot's nudge, but I can't believe they didn't comment on Pol's absolutely badass delivery of that ice-cold (ha) "Go to hell". He's always been the hot headed one, but he turns it right on the previously calm Vanilla in a fantastic moment of character growth.
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