The most mature character of all was , surprisingly, Ed. At the end of the series when she knew it was over , she wrote "goodbye' on the floor and walked away clean. She knew how to let go; a skill none of the "adults " on the Bebop had.
Well she kinda was searching for her dad, who didn’t want her. So in a way she didn’t really move on but I see what you mean. Of course she’s mature, Ed is a hyper genius.
This is one of my favorite episodes of Cowboy Bebop and really exlemplifies what I wish the show followed up on more consistently. The most interesting thing about the show is that unlike many shows where the characters live their "best life" during or by the end, Cowboy Bebop follows characters after their best moments have passed, and as they all try to figure out what comes next.
@@SkweedTV Yeah same. It made me re-think about my life in a good way. Currently doing it again so it was fun seeing this get recommended to me since i just finished watching the episode
One thing I love about the church set piece is how it was built up. For the entire first 4 episodes, there’s a heavy emphasis on broken spaceships, hyper speed gates and lots of shots off-world. Episode 1 even has a space chase leaving a planet. For episode 5, we get the absolute opposite of all of that. A medieval church with stained glass windows, seemingly untouched by the future since it’s conception many 100s of years ago. While it’s easy to point out the parallel to Spike being stuck in his own past, standing strong until Spike himself decides it’s no longer worth holding on to, I just think the set piece itself is ironically otherworldly. There’s a beauty that heavily reflects Vicious’ entire demeanour and personality, especially with the presence of the metallic gold edged cross. A symbol of wealth, but also an inner darkness, standing strong in a vast of gothic purple. The song and the way it accompanies Spike’s entrance with the beautiful dark purple landscape somehow perfectly captures a time when I used to listen to Queen Bohemian Rhapsody on a drive home on a dark motorway. There was an otherworldliness to that, a sense of being moved along a sort of relaxing dark abyss, soothing in its distance from anything familiar. This is more my opinion for the most part, I’m not oblivious to the presence of the whole ‘blue curtain’ meme here, but I just find there is a lot of value in the subjective analysis of these sort of moments devoid of any plot threads or specific lore knowledge/interpretations of a piece of media that has those things.
TLDR: Most impactful fiction scene that changed my life. The church fight scene legit helped me turn my life around in 2017. I had gotten kicked out of college and was a pure drifter at one point. Loner, no contact with family/friends, working ridiculous hours for lil pay, often staying at bars with my only friend or this girl’s house where we were just wasting time/coping from exes. And I must’ve watched this fight scene after finding it everyday for 2-3 months before deciding to finish school (which I HATED), work hard in a skill I developed that year, and still keep that drifter in me… Don’t think it’s ever left for better or worse. It pushed me to my idea of success, but tbh I miss those real drifter days even tho they hurt. I’m actually going through a similar deciding phase in my life rn so we’ll see how it goes lmao. Anyways, I love the attention it’s getting. My all time favorite scene ❤️
Damm, crazy to see how much of an impact certain art can have on our lives. I’m sorry you had to go through such a rough time, I hope things will start looking up for you soon! I believe in you
Your story sounds like mine right now. Sept I can not drift as much as I want to because I have a kid who relies on me. She is the only one that keeps me going. My ex of 3 years left when I needed her most. Sucks man life feels like a bad dream
Wow, crazy to see how similar you can be with someone else. Your story is eerily similar to mine at the same time in 2017. Sometimes I truly have to ask, am I living in the real world? But after both watching bebop and hearing your story, I have to say I feel for you man. God speed space cowboy
Funny how you're still so correct! I've watched so many animes, read more than 40 books, so many mangas, watched some classic TV shows and yet nothing comes close to "ballad of fallen angels!"
I started watching Bebop after a breakup with somebody I was with for two years. The hold that Spike and the crew had on me was so strong not only because I felt like I knew them as I watched, but because I felt like I was on the same path as Spike, lying about being okay and appearing to be fine but realistically not telling anybody what I was feeling. This episode, the Jupiter Jazz two parter, and finale all are able to do something to me and touch me in such a deep place emotionally that I don't think I'll ever feel the same connection and understanding to another show again. It's like Spike says, "whatever happens, happens".
As someone who grew up with this anime, it is so reassuring that this anime is still hitting people the same way as it hit me. Just don't go the way of Spike, make sure you learn and move on from your past!
The first time I saw this episode I was in something I can only explain as a trance. When spike fell out of the window and that music starts playing, I swear I was thinking “Anime can be this good? No this is better than anything I’ve seen.” The word perfect gets thrown around too much but damn this is one of the VERY FEW scenes in cinema, anime, hell just art in general, where I would say is perfect.
Man I’ve always tried watching cowboy bb but could never get myself to sit down and watch. But after watching this video, I gotta try again. Great video! Don’t think I’d want to try to watch the show again if you didn’t make this video
It’s the first episode that really brings the overarching plot. Most episodes follow the western format and have a mostly self contained story. It gives you context to who Spike really is
The episode where most of us realised that Cowboy Bebop was going to be something unique and unusual compared to the majority of anime. The cinematic approach and the unique soundtrack involved in certain scenes provided a mesmerizing result
I was channel surfing one night and stumbled across this episode. In fact, I came in just as Spike is approaching the catherdral. The music, animation, action, and dialog pulled me instantly. Frome that point on, i was hooked on Cowboy Bebop.
I've got many new shows in my watch later list but I'm always compelled to watch Bebop again instead. Such a perfect amalgamation of ideas and themes and art. Never really seen any other Anime that hits me as hard as Bebop. Great video
Thank you. I’m in the same boat as you. I have an endless list of anime recommendations from fans but I always find myself coming back to Bebop instead so you’re not alone in that regard
So beautifully done and explained, just like cowboy bebop. People can't explain a show in a 30 mins video but my man did it in a 5 mins video! My man really has learnt a lot from the writer of cowboy bebop. ❤️❤️ *This is really the single greatest episode in history of television. Out of so many animes I've watched nothing will ever come close to this masterpiece!*
Really well made video. Glad this popped up on my recommended and happy to see cowboy bebop and even fallen angels get some love. I wish I could watch that church fight scene for the first time again.
When I first saw this episode when I was about 14/15 in high school it changed my entire perspective on what animation could do. The dialogue during the final scene with Spike and Vicious is some of the most memorable sequences ever. That scene changed my life too. I would take the DVDs on family trips just to watch this episode when I was bored, stuck in a room doing nothing or something. Got me to think about things in a different, more existential way. This episode is what made me truly get into anime, and I've never seen anything that can quite top it, it truly is a perfect episode of television. It's a travesty what the live show did in attempting to adapt parts of this episode.
The music, cinematography, animation, attention to details on the guns. This is the perfect episode of a perfect anime! Been watching Bebop since 2001, still hasn't been beat imo.
keeping it real with you guys, everytime I see this episode I cry, now Im in tears and I can't explain the reason why, but is the purest thing of media I've ever watched
This episode created a core memory when I watched it at 15 y/o. It solidified Cowboy Bebop as one of my favorite anime's ever similar to the eclipse episode in Berserk.
This is what my first exposure to anime really was outside of Pokémon, just flicked onto toonami and caught this episode and have it engrained in my memory
I’ve recommended this show to so many of my friend and I make it point to tell them this: if you’re not sold by episode 5 than it’s not meant to be. Very few have stopped there.
I love the fact that Cowboy Bebop generally doesn't even try to show that there is always a path to a happy ending escaping the past events/traumas and that there isn't always a healthy way to deal with it. The show has helped me a lot to feel loneliness and sadness about past events without letting me fall into depression because it takes the pressure away of having to deal with stuff in a healthy way, if that makes sense... "You're gonna carry that weight" has weirdly become one of my motivational phrases to just get on with life. Not that there is better to expect and there is gonna be a happy ending, but in the end the only thing to do is to move forward and feel the emotions of the past in order to be able to carry the pasts weight. Reading many comments here shows that many people get a similar vibe from Cowboy Bebop, this show is a treasure and a true work of art imo.
The entire show is pretty perfect but it would’ve been a lot of work on me to talk about the entire show. I think it’s best to just stick with my favorite episode lol. I’ll probably return to Bebop and make another video on it tho
When i first saw this episode it woke up a nostalgic feeling inside of me. I wanted to be in a place where no one knew me but at the same time i wanted everyone to know who i am. And, when i saw Julia, i was like damn!!! Yeah, she has written the “ men die for her” all over.
Couldn't have said this better myself. The greatness of the writing is evident in my favorite lines that you included "I've bled all that kind of blood away...." It so artfully conveys the root of what makes vicious and spike hate each other so much.
This is one of my absolute all-time favorite episodes of television bottom line. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a single episode of a show more than I’ve watched this.
How I know this episode is fire is back in the day my baby brother saw it on Toonami from start to finish. He was completely silent. The entire time he had his eyes glued to the screen, and he only looked at me once during commercial. He went from being hyperactive, to totally invested in that episode- and he was just a child in elementary school. Later he told me about how good it was too.
Nice video! This episode really is a masterpiece. The whole church scene, in particular, is just a perfect blend of action, characterization, and music.
Hell yeah. Cowboy Bebop really is a wonderment of fiction in how it goes so deep with its characters and the overall plot of their lives fitting them all together
This aired on cartoon network toonami when I was eleven. Year 2000. Winter. I'd never even heard of anything other than dragon ball. I had no context. No investment. I was surfing to kill time. I stopped and watched, completely drawn in. I couldn't believe or really understand the meanings or nuance. But I knew right then that this was something like art. And I still feel that way now.
This one with both The Real Folk Blues Pt1, Pt2 and Cowboy Funk are for me the best episodes of the entire show, especially the last ones, they are so heartbreaking and brings a perfect end for a perfect show
This anime is too damn good. The drama, intensity, character development, art style, soundtrack all come together to make a show with no equal. Obviously id love to have more cowboy bebop I know it will never be matched.
Couldn’t agree with you more. Cowboy bebop is one of the best anime’s ever made and this episode is perfection!!! Love the video and respect to a fellow bebop aficionado. See you space cowboy.
In my opinion, every episode is amazing, they are all different and tell these short interesting stories, however in the end they all intertwine and everything makes sense. For me personally, Cowboy Bebop is a depiction of all the things that life has to offer, the good and the bad. It is a unpredictable journey that can end either way. This will forever be one of my favorite works of Shinichiro Watanabe.
my daughter loves what Spike said to Faye at the end. lol this was our 2020 lockdown binge when she was 12. this anime is very close to my heart. thank you for this thoughtful review of the episode. subbed yo!
Appreciate it! I’m so happy that you and your daughter bonded with the show. This is an anime that means a lot to me as well so I just had to make a video on it
Fantastic review! Your video literally just popped up in my feed! Ballad of Fallen Angels IS such a great episode. You nailed a lot of points in my mind, but out of curiosity I wanted to hear what you had to say about this episode. The scene of Spike falling out of the church, and then flashing back in time is a classic scene!!!! Definitely up there for me as well as a favorite Bebop episode!
Thank you! I’m happy you took the time to watch my video. This episode is for sure my favorite episode of the series and I just loved it so much I had to make this video
I have watched this show so many times. I will continue to watch it throughout my life. Such an amazing and relatable anime. With an amazing soundtrack.
Just finished the show a few hours ago. Quite a few things circled in my head after trying to process what I witnessed, and it all centred around Vicious’ one line… “Why are you still alive?!” That. That question messed up the whole show for me, in a good way. It got me questioning the entire story I just witnessed. Why did Spike still care? Why did he wait till life ended him? What did he want to achieve? What did anything in the show mean? Funny how a single line so early in a show at a point where the story has basically just begun can fundamentally change the way the show can be interpreted.
This made me want to rewatch the show 😄 Why is Cowboy Bebop so good? No matter how many times I watch it, it doesn't get old, I don't get fed up with it.
Aight I’m not denying you at all homie but personally I just enjoy the real folk blues pt 2 because just seeing spike go out in a full barrage single handily like that was just FIRE but I love every episode at the end of the thing and I think everybody can’t take away at least one thing from one of these masterpieces but amazing video and I love the breakdown you did really made me think about episode 5 more and now I wanna watch it again
This episode changed my view about Cowboy Bebop as the whole. Before that, the show was great, but something definitely was missing. The Ballad of Fallen Angels was this missing part and got me hooked for the rest episodes. By the way, one of my favourite episodes is also the one with Pierrot Le Fou. Inspired by Batman Animated Series.
I never understood the hype or emotional impact about this particular episode, nor the song 'Blue'. For me, all of the dandier "Day-In-The-Life" episodes with Ed, Ein, Jet, Faye, and all the cool SUPPORTING Characters are the episodes that felt the most "Real" and "Alive" to me. I guess i never understood why Spike switches between aimlessly bopping around on the Bebop after the Julia split-up, rather than, say... *Aggressively* looking for Julia, or *Actively* plotting to assassinate or challenge Vicious... and yet at seemingly random times (Jupiter Jazz, BoFA, etc.) he acts like he just "Suddenly"Remembered" Julia or Vicious out of nowhere, and jumps up in a crazed, very un-Spike-like, un-cool craze to go searching for them. Like... does he care, or not? LOVE the in-between episodes, love Jupiter Jazz (because of the Gren sub-storyline), and Love the showdown at the end, but Bebop for me strikes my emotions the hardest when it's the slice-of-life episodes... the Misfit Family counting Woolongs, taking care of the Ship, and Solving Capers, all together on the Bebop... not this plodding 'Vicious' storyline
I get where you’re coming from. I do love the slice of life stuff as well. Those episodes are all very good but this particular episode had the most emotional resonance with me. Although I’d say the reason Spike never searched for Julia and Vicious is because he’s trying to leave his past behind. His best days have passed so now he’s just going with the flow
One interesting thing is that not many people know about cowboy bebop. I think we know why. It's different. It doesn't have a typical happy ending where everything is magically fixed and everyone lives happily ever after. It's slow and gloomy. The characters have their personal battles which are never explicitly told. Makes me love it all the more. It's different from the trending anime. We are lucky to have this anomaly really.
Cowboy Bebop was recommended to me by one of my best friends and I’m forever thankful. The show feels like a tribute to a lot of classic films while still maintaining its own style. I think more film fans should look into the show
I don't know if it can top real folk blues part 1 and 2 for me. In a lot of ways, they are a re-tread of session 5 but finally wrapped up. But it definitely stands out as a highlight of what is already a phenomenal show.
To be fair most reviews on this site don’t have any new ideas to contribute. After a while they all start to sound the same. I understand that I could’ve elaborated more and gone into detail but I like the video being short, sweet, and to the point
I would love to see a live action that isnt tainted by pretentious directors wanting to add their own flair to the story. They do it all the time with every property.
