You're Gonna Carry That Weight: A Cowboy Bebop Video Essay 

That's a rad point

@@Ladyknightthebrave oh my god you pinned my comment heuwueejhfueh I confess that I'm new to your channel with this video being my introduction, but I can absolutely say you've gained a fan. Your analysis was so incredibly well crafted and you showcase a lot of interesting information most others don't. I'm excited to look into what other video essays you've made! You're awesome!

@@ruralgoblin yea that last episode of bebop hits really hard especially since you know this is the end to something so amazing and unique. and it still to this day hurts me that Bebop ended period its got a very special place in my heart

@@ruralgoblin ...Can you carry the weight of that pinned comment..

That's not true, the phrase on the end cards changes quite a bit: "See you space cowboy" "Easy come, easy go" "The End" "To be continued" "Do you have a comrade?" "Sleeping beast" "Life is but a dream" "See you space samurai" "See you cowgirl, someday, somewhere" "You're gonna carry that weight"

this is by far the best analysis of cowboy bebop I've ever seen

love this

I actually agree with you on all counts. And Julia being such a mystery, helps us feel the situation from Faye's perspective. She knows Julia is important for Spike, but it all feels beyond understanding. He's dying for something that doesn't even exist anymore, that maybe didn't even exist to begin with. We aren't supposed to love Julia, or understand Spike's decision in the finale. It's SUPPOSED to feel like a senseless waste of life. Usually when the hero defeats the villain, even if they die in the end there is a sense of catharsis, completion and satisfaction, because they died accomplishing their goal and 'saving the world'. But Cowboy Bebop is a tragedy. Spike's goal was never to defeat the villain, he couldn't rescue the girl, and killing Vicious didn't really save anyone he knew or cared about or have any impact on the world at large. Vicious and Julia don't need fleshed out, because ultimately who they are doesn't matter, they are people who left Spike's life long ago. The fact that he chose his empty past over his colorful life on the bebop with a true friend and a romantic future is his tragedy.

@@M00nSlippers and it's not just Julia that points to it. Spike literally treats everything in his life as not real. He says he always sees the past with one eye - and I think it's significant it's the real eye that makes him see what is really there, but it's the fake eye that makes him stuck in the past. It's not realistic, but it makes a clear point that fits the themes of the story. Presumably, the eye should be functional, just like Jet's artificial arm works just fine. Spike is technically *able* to see the world as it is, but he refuses to do it, because his memories are more true to him than the "dream" of the present. Out of the three main characters, each has a different relationship with their past. Jet is a mix of nostalgic and bitter of his, Faye has lost hers and pretends it's not there, and Spike never let go of his. Julia is a stand-in for Spike's past, so while she's a real person in the context of the world, she's not a real person as far as the show is concerned. She's just an image in Spike's memory that has long since lost any connection to the real Julia. She's a mental crutch for him. And out of the three main characters, Spike has by far the most destructive relationship with his past. It's significant that it's what ends up killing him, while Jet and Faye manage to go on.

Beautiful. Concise and very astute. I love the ending too! This is my new reality

Is this just the phrase making the rounds at the moment? Keep seeing it everywhere.

It's from a Beatles song?

It's Phineas and Ferb. Dr. Doofienshmirtz said it and it became a sound on TikTok a while ago.

I assumed it was an intentional response but 25 minutes in and nothing yet.

@@riellehein7024 It got on TikTok? I was just pulling it from P&F. Sheesh.

I mean, she studied music composition and got introduced to jazz way before she started scoring.

and the character interaction throughout the series kind of supports this we start with just spike and jet on the bebop but their interactions while friendly and familiar have a certain distance about them, and there's not really a sense of how long they've known each other it could be 6 months could b 6 years then you get to the episodes where their pasts start catching up with them, they have to explain it, its not something the other person knows, its something both of them would rather forget than too talk about then you add in fay and ed for all intents and purposes a literal person out of time and an orphan(I know ed ain't one but they may as well be for most of the show) these aren't people who want to be together, these are people who are together because where else would they go? the verse ain't got nothing for them that travelling together in the bebop doesn't already have, the entire ship is listless and without rudder just going though the motions of saying alive rather than actually doing anything, sure there bounty hunters but that's just a paycheck not there goal in life

It's also rather wonderful for a show so in love with music, in particular western 20th century popular music, to end with a quote from some of the last music ever recorded by The Beatles, by many reckonings the center of that entire field. When Lennon and McCartney were figuring out how to end their own great artistic experiment, they chose to part with the sentiment "You're gonna carry that weight a long time" as well.

I would assume due to shinchiro Watanabes infatuation with music, it is a beatles homage to a degree.

@@jeffpalaganas7404 Absolutely. Many of the episode titles (Honkey Tonk Woman, Sympathy for the Devil, Toys in the Attic, Bohemian Rhapsody, Wild Horses, etc.) are 60’s and 70’s song titles. It’s obviously a Beatles reference as well.

Yeah that's a pretty standard thing to say.

Space dandy is like when you take Cowboy Bebob, add free jazz, and remove plot continuity. Its like cowboy bebop pre-vicious upscaled

Same took me a years of anime delving to go back and Immerse myself in the craziness

Aw snap! You're in for a good time! If you've watched it by now, hope ya liked it! Maybe report back on what you thought when ya get a little time later, eh?

Well it would be apparent from the criticisms of chapter 3 that it wouldn't be her type. I would say she lacks an appreciation of jazz as well but I love jazz and am bias for Kids on a Slope as jazz is chaotic and generally has an abrupt end. Though the whole anime has largely been pale criticism rubs me the wrong way as anime is largely marketed towards Japanese people with Japanese stories so I don't get the need for "representation" from an Asian person's viewpoint considering japan is a largely homogenous nation.

I couldn't get into it. Seemed super obnoxious and the boobies jokes got so old so fast... The whole show seemed like a fanservice weeb fever dream... I don't watch shows that are weeb fever dreams. I can't imagine what redeems the show. Only got halfway thru.

Same here. Julia represents the life that Spike wanted, but could never have, and a last chance at that life is taken away from him with Julia's death. Does this count as fridging? Probably. But it's still effective at conveying the tragedy of Spike: he's doomed to die a cowboy's death, gunned down and bleeding out in a defiant last stand, taking his enemy with him.

Yeah, because it's supposed to be sad when the past is REALLY the past. This whole show is a meditation on loss...it can't leave you fulfilled, not by design. One must mourn, because you don't move on if you can't mourn.

Wow, that's a really interesting perspective, never thought about it in that way before

My thoughts exactly.

I agree, the mystery surrounding her leaves it up to our imagination. However I imagine its somewhat different for viewers who are looking for female characters they can relate to.

You’re definitely correct.

Yeah I definetly think Julia being this vague figure is a feature not a bug. It adds to the poignancy of the end. The innevatiblity of Spike and the absurdism of it in the end. He was hung up in a past half seen, half remembered and could only half see his present, that even with its flaws was a good place. If Julia, and even Vicious and the sindicate, were explored more, the dreamlike quality of that past, of how it is only half there but always present, would deminish. And you can either accept it like Jet, not knowing the details but knowing that he had no choice, because he is the man that he is, or reject it like Faye, who cannot see why that past already lost is worth dying for.

Yeah, but for someone looking for women characters to relate to, "it made me feel emotions for the male lead" probably isn't the best response.

The moment you think you're ready for FLCL, FLCL hits you with a South Park parody

What Julia lacks in air time, she made up for it in impact. She's "unseen awesomeness" tag

To be fair, it's not difficult to be smarter than the Bebop crew. I think the whole outfit has only two brain cells, and they belong to Ed and Ein. I say this with absolute affection.

Yes. I understand where people get the idea that Spike’s love for Julia is meant to be superficial because she is described in such idealized terms, but I always felt there’s something else going on because *everyone* talks about her that way. Julia leaves such a strong impression on people who meet her that the barkeep at the Rester House still leaves the barstool where she sat apart from the others past closing time. She’s portrayed as so mysterious, elusive, and impossible to forget because she functions more as a symbol of something unattainable than a character, I think. Spike doesn’t necessarily die because he can’t do the healthy thing and let go of her, but because he can’t escape his past and there are consequences for the life he lived before. He has felt caught between two worlds, never fully present in the present, because his past is a part of him and he tried to be free of it. The show mirrors him and Vicious with similar images and they loved the same woman because Vicious is his shadow self and a part of him. In similar ways, Julia and Spike are shown to be inescapably linked. Her dying words echo Spike’s, showing she understands his experience of life while Spike has always been unable to truly connect to Jet and Faye and as heartbreaking as it is to think about, they’ve never been able to *really* know him. Julia comes across as similarly hardened by life, cool and composed in the face of danger, never showing much emotion. In these subtle ways they just *feel* like soul mates, even as we know so little about their relationship. I think there’s hope for Jet and Faye to confront and process their pasts and baggage in a way that’s constructive, and in that way the ending isn’t a complete tragedy to me, but Spike and Vicious and Julia all have to die together to be at peace.

​@@sarachapman969 Spike was very aware that he couldn't escape the consequences of his past, yet he also had no intention of ever letting Julia go. He pretty much admitted to Elektra that Julia was his reason for living. _Spike: Years ago, back when I was much younger, I was afraid of nothing. I had not the slightest fear of death. I was ready to die anytime. But then I met a special woman. She made me want to go on living. For the first time, I was afraid of death. A feeling I’d never had before._ Spike’s relationship with Julia is paralleled with the tale of the tiger striped cat. _Spike: There once was a tiger striped cat. This cat died a million deaths, revived and lived a million lives, and he was owned by various people who he didn't really care for. The cat wasn't afraid to die. Then one day the cat became a stray cat, which meant he was free. He met a white female cat, and the two of them spent their days together happily. Well, years passed, and the white cat grew weak and died of old age. The tiger striped cat cried a million times, and then he died too. Except this time, he didn't come back to life._ The tiger striped cat was reborn after each death. A metaphor for how Spike faced multiple deadly situations and managed to cheat death every time. Yet, once the white female cat (Julia) died, the tiger striped cat (Spike) ceased to cheat death. He followed his love in death and never returned. This point is emphasized when Spike casts down his weapon the moment he sees that Julia has been shot. Spike also confided in Jet that Julia is his other half. Spike: She was a piece of me I had lost Aitsu wa ore ga naku shita ore no kataware sa あいつは俺がなくした俺のかたわれさ Spike: She is my other half that I had longed for ore ga hoshikatta ore no kakera nanda 俺が欲しかった　俺のかけらなんだ Julia is framed as being the part of Spike that he lost, as Spike lost a red rose when he lost Julia, and found a red rose just before he found her again. Spike walks away from the Bebop without looking back. A ballad of undying love plays as he thinks of Julia. He thinks of being in Julia's arms, their bodies joined as one. The lyrics explain that his love is eternal and that death itself cannot erase it, nor cause it to fade away. It's ultimately a song about reuniting with Julia in the afterlife. _"Everything is already over", You say with closed ears The words only flow Towards a tomorrow without peace "There's nothing that won't change" Even if my life ends This love will not disappear It's something that will live forever Even if dreams are hidden in darkness I got a rainbow Rainbow in your hands_ In the official Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide book, which Sunrise commissioned and released in 1998 to accompany the anime it says: _After a long time apart, Spike and Julia reunite. But their happiness is short lived at best. That which Spike has longed for slips through his fingers as easily as it came into his embrace. This is one man's fate converging on to death, as it were a predestine circumstance of his young life. Having lost his future, Spike is left only with his past. He confronts Vicious in a battle that should have taken place long ago. What does the right eye, left in a wounded body see at the very end?_ In the penultimate scene of the anime, Spike is shown finally seeing Julia with his eye that sees his present. He dies with a smile on his lips.

In the little time we have with Julia, she is shown to be intelligent, beautiful, deeply caring and a total badass. Just as Spike remembered her. She is described as a real woman. Jet: What kind of girl was she? Bartender: She was a real woman. Julia is the only thing that ever felt real to Spike and this point is emphasized multiple times. Early in the series Spike describes his present as an endless nightmare. It is no accident that Julia's face is shown on screen when Spike states that he can never reach reality. Spike: The music box is broken, or is it? It starts to play, and a haunting tune fills the air. I wake suddenly from my dream. There is no music box! And yet there it is. A tiny one nestled in my hand. And I awaken from my dream again. As if I were peeling an onion. It’s a dream no matter how far I go. I can never reach reality. Trapped in an endless nightmare. The music box belonged to Julia. Spike desperately wishes to return to her because she is the person who made life worth living for him. Spike: Years ago, back when I was much younger, I was afraid of nothing. I had not the slightest fear of death. I was ready to die anytime. But then I met a special woman. She made me want to go on living. For the first time, I was afraid of death. A feeling I’d never had before. Elektra: Where is she now? Spike: She went away. Laughing Bull tells Spike that he must open the eye of truth. That he must see beyond reality and touch the truth. Laughing Bull: Know this Swimming Bird, this blue eye perceives all things conjoined. The past, the future, and the present. Everything flows and all is connected. This eye is not merely seeing reality. It is touching the truth. Open the eye of truth... There is nothing to fear. Spike: Yeah... I know what you mean. In the finale Spike sees Julia and her blue eye with his eye that sees his present. Julia is thus framed as being what Spike sees when he finally looks with the eye that sees the truth. She is his truth. His past, his present and his future all at once. The parallels with Spike/Julia and Vincent/Elektra also frame Julia as the only thing that ever felt real to Spike. Spike says that he and Vincent have similar souls. Vincent says these words to Elektra before he dies. Vincent: Of the days that I have lived only those I spent with you seem real. Now that it's over I can see your face so clearly.” And of course Spike sees Julia's face before he dies. She is the woman Spike loves. He needs her. He considers her a part of his own being. Spike: She was a piece of me I had lost Aitsu wa ore ga naku shita ore no kataware sa あいつは俺がなくした俺のかたわれさ_ Spike: She is my other half that I had longed for ore ga hoshikatta ore no kakera nanda 俺が欲しかった　俺のかけらなんだ_ Visual symbolism is used to convey the truth of this to the audience. As Spike lost a red rose when he lost Julia and found a red rose when he found her again. A red rose is the universal symbol of true love. It is no accident that the final in-frame image we are shown of the couple is of them joined as one, giving weight to Spike’s assertion that Julia made him whole. Even the final song, which is about Spike's soul ascending to heaven states that his dream is really everything it seemed. Spike's good dream was always to be with Julia. Free Wanna be free Gonna be free And move among the stars You know, they really aren't so far Feels so free Gotta know free Please Don't wake me from the dream It's really everything it seemed I'm so free No black and white in the blue Everything is clearer now Life is just a dream, you know That's never-ending I'm ascending Julia was the person Spike needed. Faye and Jet never gave him what she did and they never could.

Yes I absolutely do

You sure he died? 😉

Ok we’ll just reschedule this old person’s brain surgery for next week 😜

Ngl Point Break caught me off guard with how good it was. When I heard the plot was "Keanu Reeves infiltrates a surfer gang" I thought I was in for a weird but fun cop movie. Boy was I wrong.

Source? Never seen anything about that scene being inspired by point break.

Spike wasn't trying to move on. He tells Jet that Julia IS his other half the same day she died. And this is where only listening to the dub is a problem, because the dub uses "was" when he is clearly speaking in present tense in Japanese. “She is my other half that I had longed for” → ore ga hoshikatta ore no kakera nanda 俺が欲しかった　俺のかけらなんだ Also, Julia is literally what was keeping Spike tethered to life in the first place. Spike: Years ago, back when I was much younger, I was afraid of nothing. I had not the slightest fear of death*. I was ready to die anytime. *But then I met a special woman. She made me want to go on living. For the first time, I was afraid of death. A feeling I’d never had before. Spike: There once was a tiger striped cat. This cat died a million deaths, revived and lived a million lives, and he was owned by various people who he didn't really care for. The cat wasn't afraid to die. Then one day the cat became a stray cat, which meant he was free. He met a white female cat, and the two of them spent their days together happily. Well, years passed, and the white cat grew weak and died of old age. The tiger striped cat cried a million times, and then he died too. Except this time, he didn't come back to life. If it wasn't for her, Spike would have died three years prior to when the series began, and she is actively been protecting him the entire time they've been apart.

I think that Spike isn't really trying to move on and the tragedy is that he finds himself unable to. He's got this new life that's presented as better for him in almost every way. Spike is wrestling with whether he should even be in his new life all the way through the ending and that uncertainty is reflected through the "is it/is it not a dream" dynamic. The moment of Julia dying being Spike's real breaking point of "I'm not going to move on from the past, even though I should" and the point where someone explicitly says "It is all a dream" even though that's not really true.

​@@jayknox8072 Spike's new life isn't even presented as better for him given he is miserable and literally describes it as an endless nightmare. “The music box is broken, or is it? It starts to play, and a haunting tune fills the air. I wake suddenly from my dream. There is no music box! And yet there it is. A tiny one nestled in my hand. And I awaken from my dream again. As if I were peeling an onion. It’s a dream no matter how far I go. I can never reach reality. Trapped in an endless nightmare.” -Spike Spiegel And the song that plays after he leaves the Bebop explains his feelings fully. "Everything is already over", You say with closed ears The words only flow Towards a tomorrow without peace "There's nothing that won't change" Even if my life ends This love will not disappear It's something that will live forever Even if dreams are hidden in darkness I got a rainbow In my hands... The voice that crosses the inside of my chest Tells me that there are also things that won't change or disappear On the morning when we pray before the truth Love will return here once more Love never dies Love never fails Love never ever fades away If someday my life ends This love will not disappear It's a thing that will live forever Escaping the darkness When we've passed the illusion Frozen in time On the other side of the rainbow, love will be waiting Thousands of lights will be waiting You got a rainbow Rainbow in your hands...

I can't recall which episode it is off the top of my head, but Spike lays out pretty clearly why he goes to the tower. Julia isn't the reason. She's a catalyst, yes, but, given what else is going on, he'd end up in that confrontation anyway. It's also worth bearing in mind the influence Yakuza and Ronin stories have on Spike's characterization and the overall arc of his story. To whit; Spike considers Vicious to be everything Spike himself would have become had he not found Julia. Circumstance separated them and, now, Vicious is the monster Spike created. The literal embodiment of his past come to destroy him. He knows he's going to have to deal with it, permanently, sooner or later. The events of the last two episodes of the series can be summed up rather neatly as Vicious cleaning house on their shared past. Taking anything and everything Spike once cared for from him in order to flush him out. Force him to take a stand or lose everything. It's a fight he knows he can't win [edit: and survive], but honour and love demand he take up the gauntlet. Given all this, Spike's swan song is a triumph. He sacrifices himself and his present to his past to ensure his friends have a chance at a future that doesn't have Vicious hanging over it like a blood red shadow. He can't tell them that, though, so he explains the only way he can. With arguably tortured metaphors. Even that shows he does care quite deeply about the people he's leaving behind. He's demonstrated quite clearly that if he didn't, he wouldn't have bothered. He'd have just upped stakes and gone. But he does, and that's why he goes.

@@nathanrandall7003 Wrong. Even the Official Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide (1998) says he goes because of Julia. "After a long time apart, Spike and Julia reunite. But their happiness is short lived at best. That which Spike has longed for slips through his fingers as easily as it came into his embrace. This is one man's fate converging on to death, as it were a predestine circumstance of his young life. Having lost his future, Spike is left only with his past. He confronts Vicious in a battle that should have taken place long ago. What does the right eye, left in a wounded body see at the very end?" Spike is explicitly shown walking away from Jet and Faye and is never shown thinking about either after he leaves the Bebop. The last images that are shown of Spike with either character are of him with his back turned to them as he walks out of their lives. Yet Spike is shown having romantic and sexual thoughts of Julia almost immediately after he leaves. In the prior episode, Spike confided in Jet that Julia was his other half. It is no accident that the last in-frame image of Spike and Julia is of them joined as one. The song that plays as Spike is headed to the syndicate and while he is attacking the syndicate is a ballad of undying love for Julia. When Spike is fighting Vicious, he uses Julia's death as the justification to end it all. Spike: "Julia passed away. Let's end it all." Vicious: If that is your wish. [Spike does not deny it.] Seconds after Spike has killed Vicious, Spike looks up to the sky and sees Julia. The scenes of Julia's death and Spike killing Vicious are visually linked. Showing the causal relationship between the two. The triggering event and the resolution. In the penultimate scene of the series, Spike finally sees Julia with his eye that sees his present. An event that had been foreshadowed all series long. Yet the last time Spike ever looked at Faye, the eye that sees his past was featured. Julia is ever present is Spike's final scenes, while there is not one single mention of Jet or Faye.

Exactly what I was thinking this whole time and his character in the live action was completely butchered

TBH I don't really get why gender is such an important part when it's meant to be about you and not your gender right? I guess if it changes anything Gren was also implied to be either gay or asexual.

Haven't gotten to Gren yet in this video, but I'm already put off by referring to Ed as "they." Beyond the very quirky adopted name she took on, there's no indication Ed is nonbinary. I really dislike this trend of assuming women/girls who aren't typically feminine have some kind of atypical gender identity. I'm going to watch the rest of this video, but this comment about Gren makes me think the content creator is going to insert her ideological bent where it isn't reasonable to do so.

@@gayvinmcginnes2508 I agree, if anything the live action was a BAD example of nonbinary since Gren was very clearly a male, and the live action only made Gren a stereotype of what a trans is

Not just forced by it was put onto him by vicious if I remember correctly someone he thought he could trust

I laughed doubly hard because I'm on the other side of this now. My own teen was morose for days over a sad anime, and I had turned into the adult who said "but... it's' just a show?"

I honestly hoping this analysis would’ve been more focused on this theme. The humanity rather than politics, which were interesting and glad I could learn about it. But yea I think the show just connects with ppl on a very primal emotional level . Like Faye’s past and the analysis is wow it’s heartbreaking just rather underwhelming. Rather than making a point of feminism, then like just make it a feminist analysis and title it that. I do appreciate the breadth of the analysis and it was amazing, but I feel like it lacked a thesis or depth to the ideas and themes

Imagine both of us in the room. Squeakies in stereo. Facts.

​@@thesister3606 Yep, LK told me about it(I may or may not have also done some squeakies when we were watching)

@@Aranock Welcome to the family lol

I was just going to leave a comment saying something very similar. You said it much better than I could’ve though!

But I can understand why some women would not care much for a character that more than occasionally disparages most women, regardless of his reasons for doing so. Her main gripe with his episodes are that she finds them to be oddly boring. She can't really explain why she finds them to be boring, she just does. I think that it's more because she never really got to care about Jet from the beginning. it's hard to like character episodes if you just don't like the character.

"Blue" is an insta-cry track for me...ditto for "Voices" (especially the cello version) from Macross Plus. She really does nail the emotional gut-punch, yeah?

whats your number 1?

@@atideva3385 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Ooh, never thought of it like that. That's gonna be in my brain forever now. And tbh Blue starts out melancholy like we're carrying a weight and ends uplifted like we're gonna be fine.

This is such a clever way of thinking about it omg!

100% agreed

"These are fully developed characters" We wouldn't even be having this conversation if that was the case. You can't just have a character spend most of their time off screen, not develop them, and then insist they were actually super complex and well developed and we just didn't get to see it.

1:00:41 Watanabe and Kanno were actually playing jazz while creating the show 🤯 her instrument is music, and his instrument is showrunning 10:08 Nakamura was another player, an animation virtuoso

you phrased that so incredibly well

Or maybe underdeveloped women is a problem regardless of artistic intent.

you know the subtitles say "Gorgio" but I googled gadje and yeah so maybe everybody butchered the word??

I interpreted it as the mispronunciation being in-character. Like, Faye doesn’t know what her past is. How the hell would she know that she’s Romani or not? I’d bet that she used to give a different description of her origins to everybody she met, and that she just happened to have read about the Romani in a magazine that week, so she stuck with it, not knowing how it’s even pronounced.