Is Cowboy Bebop: The Movie a sequel?

Shinichiro Watanabe created Cowboy Bebop, a Japanese animated TV series. It also features movies and other media. The story is set in 2071 and centers on the adventures of a bounty hunter gang in space. 

It explores concepts like existentialism and boredom, loneliness, and the influence of their past.

Sunrise produced The Sessions. It aired in Japan for the first time on TV Tokyo, April 3, 1998, to June 26, 1998. However, only 12 of 26 episodes were aired due to the controversy surrounding the series. 

A special was also aired. From October 24, 1998, to April 24, 1999, the total number of episodes aired on satellite channel WOWOW.

Cowboy Bebop is a popular series that has enjoyed widespread commercial and critical success in Japan as well as internationally. It has won many awards in animation and science fiction for its characters, plot, voice acting, animation, sound effects, and style. 

The series has been acclaimed as one of the greatest examples of Japanese animation and is considered by many to be the best.

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Cowboy Bebop Watch Order by Release Date

Cowboy Bebop Chronological Watch Order

Cowboy Bebop (Episode 1 – 13)

Cowboy Bebop (Episodes 14 – 22)

Cowboy Bebop (Episode 23 – 26)

Do you need to watch Cowboy Bebop anime in order?

Will there be more Cowboy Bebop?

Cowboy Bebop Watch Order by Release Date

TV Series

• Cowboy Bebop (1998)

Movies

• Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)

Specials

• Cowboy Bebop: Yose Atsume Blues (1998)
• Cowboy Bebop: Ein no Natsuyasumi (2012)

Cowboy Bebop Chronological Watch Order

In this part, we will focus on the chronological watch order of Cowboy Bebop anime, and if you like to find out how many episodes and seasons Cowboy Bebop has, check out the link to our other article.

Cowboy Bebop (Episode 1 – 13)

Episode 1: Asteroid Blues

Spike Spiegel, a bounty hunter, and Jet Black, his partner, head to Tijuana on their ship, The Bebop to find Asimov Solensan, a bounty-head. Asimov is wanted by the FBI for killing members of his crime syndicate. Also, in the crime of stealing a cache containing Bloody-Eye, a deadly combat drug. 

Asimov and Katerina are attacked by their former crime syndicate as they attempt to sell Bloody-Eye. However, Asimov manages to fight his way out using the drug himself. Spike meets Katerina later and tells her he’s a bounty hunter looking for Asimov. 

Spike is attacked by Asimov and almost killed before Katerina intervenes. Spike takes Asimov’s Bloody Eye vial in the chaos. Spike confronts Asimov later at a fake drug deal. Asimov and Katerina escape in a ship after they are stopped by the syndicate. As Spike chases Asimov in his ship, Asimov consumes another dose of Bloody Eye as they race towards a police blockade. 

As Spike approaches their ship, Katerina realizes that they won’t be able to escape and shoots Asimov. Spike is about to approach Asimov’s ship when it is attacked by police cruisers. Spike has to get away.

Episode 2: Stray Dog Strut

Spike and Jet are taken to Mars by a bounty. Abdul Hakim is wanted for stealing valuable lab animals for a bad purpose. Hakim underwent plastic surgery to improve his appearance to avoid being captured. Hakim’s briefcase with the animal is taken by a bartender. 

Spike finds the thief trying to sell the animal at an animal store. He assumes he is Hakim and holds him at gunpoint. The case also contains a Welsh Corgi, a small type of herding dog. Spike is seen leaving the store. Hakim attempts to get the dog back but the Welsh corgi escapes. 

Spike takes Hakim’s dog but loses him. Jet attaches a collar to the dog with a tracking device so that he can track Hakim’s movements once he takes the dog back. Spike went on a walk with a dog to find Hakim. Spike is evicted by scientists who activate a dog whistle to locate their “data dog”. 

Hakim notices that all the dogs, including the corgis, are following the scientists’ truck. Hakim takes a car and follows him, while Spike, Spike, and the scientists follow him. The dog manages to open the car door and leaps out. Spike reluctantly allows Hakim to go, for Spike to catch the dog with his ship. To shoot Hakim’s truck, the scientists use a stick to cause him and his vehicle to lose control. 

They then crash into a bridge, landing on a station where they are arrested. Big Shot, a bounty hunter program, announces that Hakim has surrendered and provides more information about the “data dog”, which has a genetically enhanced intelligence. Jet brings the dog, whom he calls Ein, to the Bebop to Spike’s dismay.

Episode 3: Honky Tonk Women

The crew of the Bebop finds Ein as a new companion. Faye Valentine is a wanted fugitive and drowning in debt. Faye must act as an intermediary for an illegal transaction that took place at a space station Casino.

Episode 4: Gateway Shuffle

Faye, who had spent all her money gambling, finds a mysterious suitcase aboard a spaceship. Spike and Jet meet Twinkle Maria Murdoch of the Space Warriors. They are a group made up of eco-terrorists who have a biological weapon that transforms humans into apes. 

The threat from Murdoch’s followers that they would release the virus onto Ganymede, which is heavily populated, prompts the Ganymede government to cancel the bounty and force the Bebop crew members to release her. Spike and Faye chase Murdoch and her crew through the hyperspace portal after they renege on their deal and launch the virus. 

RELATED: Is the Cowboy Bebop Anime Worth Watching?

Two of the three virus-laden rockets are destroyed, but they miss the third. This prompts the Ganymede government, who shut down the space gate and traps the missile in hyperspace. Spike and Faye manage to escape the gate just in time, but Murdoch and her associates are trapped. 

Faye found a container of the virus in her suitcase, which she later discovered and which Spike then slipped into Murdoch’s pocket. This shattered Faye and her sons and turned them into monkeys. Faye, with the bounty gone, decides to remain on the Bebop along with Spike and Jet.

Episode 5: Ballad of Fallen Angels

Spike is pursuing a bounty on an executive from the Red Dragon crime syndicate but Vicious, an old enemy, confronts him.

Episode 6: Sympathy for the Devil 

Jet and Spike chase a dangerous enemy. Who, despite appearing to be a little boy at first glance, is over eighty years old.

Episode 7: Heavy Metal Queen

The Bebop crew chase Decker, a bounty hunter who is carrying high explosives. Spike, who is recovering from a hangover at a diner meets V.T., a cargo hauler pilot. He hates bounty hunters but ends up helping him.

Episode 8: Waltz for Venus

Spike meets Rocco Bonnaro while the crew chases down a Venusian mob. He is on the run from Rocco’s mob for stealing a rare and valuable plant that he intends to sell to help pay for his sister’s eye surgery.

Episode 9: Jamming with Edward

To track down the bounty-head responsible for vandalizing Earth’s surface using hacked laser satellites, the crew hires “Radical Edward”, an elite computer hacker.

Episode 10: Ganymede Elegy

Jet is more reserved than usual when the Bebop lands at Ganymede. This is his last post before leaving ISSP and the home of Alisa, who he has never forgiven. Jet is informed by an old friend that Rhint Celonias, Alisa’s new boyfriend, has a bounty.

Episode 11: Toys in the Attic

A venomous blob infiltrates Bebop, incapacitating Jet, Faye, and Ein. Spike and Ed are left to find its origin and destroy it.

Episode 12: Jupiter Jazz (Part 1)

Faye clears out the safety of the crew and then leaves the Bop for Callisto. Jet follows her and Spike continues to search for Julia. This leads to another confrontation between Vicious.

Episode 13: Jupiter Jazz (Part 2)

Gren, a man with a grudge against Vicious, helps Faye. Faye listens to his story and follows Vicious. Spike and Gren reach Vicious at the same moment, initiating a three-way fight.

Cowboy Bebop: Yose Atsume Blues

The violence depicted in Cowboy Bebop’s world and Japanese schools led to the series being briefly canceled. An extra episode was added to the first thirteen episodes. It was titled “Session XX, Mish-Mash Blues”, a compilation of clips taken from previous episodes. 

It aired on TV Tokyo on June 26, 1998. This episode was never made available on DVD. It features characters offering a philosophical commentary and ending with the words: This Is Not The End. One day, you will see the real “Cowboy Bebop”.

Cowboy Bebop (Episodes 14 – 22)

Episode 14: Bohemian Rhapsody

The Bebop crew searches for Chessmaster Hex. Hex is rumored to be the mastermind behind several robberies at hyperspace gates tollbooths. They uncover valuable information about the gate accident fifty years ago while trying to find dirt on their target.

Episode 15: My Funny Valentine

Faye meets a man important to her past and learns the truth about her huge debt.

Episode 16: Black Dog Serenade

An ISSP prison ship is damaged by a mechanical problem and is overthrown by inmates led by Udai Taxim, the Syndicate assassin. Fad, Jet’s ex-partner, recruits him to assist with the retrieval operation.

Episode 17: Mushroom Samba

The Bebop is starving and runs out of fuel and food. Ed is sent to get food with Ein. Domino Walker, a bounty-head, is helping her find hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Episode 18: Speak Like a Child

Faye is losing money on horse racing betting when a package arrives on her Bebop. It contains an old Betamax cassette. Spike and Jet look for the right device to view its contents. Faye discovers that the tape is a time capsule recording made in teenage Faye’s memory, but she cannot recognize her pre-amnesia self.

Episode 19: Wild Horses

Spike brings his mono-racer in to be maintained, while Jet and Faye battle a group of a pirate who uses computer viruses as a means of terrorizing cargo ships.

Episode 20: Pierrot le Fou

After accidentally seeing the killer in action, Mad Pierrot targets Spike as an insane and seemingly indestructible assassin.

Episode 21: Boogie Woogie Feng Shui

Jet is motivated by a mysterious e-mail and sets out to find an old friend. However, Jet discovers only his grave, as he has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Mei-Fa, a feng shui expert, asks Jet for help in finding a “sunstone” that will lead them to their father’s location.

Episode 22: Cowboy Funk  

The terrorist was known as “Teddy Bomber”. The terrorist hides bombs in a teddy bear to bring down high-rise buildings. He is protesting the excesses of humanity. Spike tries to stop him but is constantly accosted by “Cowboy Andy”, another bounty hunter. Cowboy Andy is much more like Spike than either of them would like to admit.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Cocky Spike Spiegel with his crew aboard Bebop’s spaceship, an adventurous band of bounty hunters, arrive on Mars in 2071 to seek a large cash reward. Vincent is the ex-military soldier that the four-person group includes, among others, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, and Edward. 

If Vincent doesn’t meet his demands, the ex-military officer has turned into a biological terrorist who owns a large arsenal of nanobots.

Cowboy Bebop (Episode 23 – 26)

Episode 23: Brain Scratch

Faye, who is not known to the rest, goes undercover to steal the bounty on Dr. Londes’ leader SCRATCH. Jet and Ed attempt to find Londes while Spike is out looking for her.

Episode 24: Hard Luck Woman

Ed puts a fake bounty on her father in the hope that Jet and Spike will find him. They do and, despite a joyful reunion, her father abandons her to continue his work. Ed and Ein decide that they will leave the group.

Episode 25: The Real Folk Blues (Part 1)

Faye briefly joins Julia as she helps her escape from Red Dragon’s hit squad. Spike and Julia finally reunite.

Episode 26: The Real Folk Blues (Part 2) 

Vicious claims to have been the leader of Red Dragon Syndicate. Julia and Spike want to run. But Spike still harbors the desire for revenge. This leads to a final confrontation between Vicious and the Syndicate.

Cowboy Bebop: Ein no Natsuyasumi

The Corgi is a dreamer! Bebop crewmate Ein imagines himself enjoying a tropical drink on the beach with Edward while scuba diving in a barrier reef. Ein imagines his perfect summer vacation in this “picture drama”.

Do you need to watch Cowboy Bebop anime in order?

You should watch Cowboy Bebop anime in order. Every episode is a continuation of the story, and even the movie is a crucial part of it.

Will there be more Cowboy Bebop?

There is currently an ongoing Netflix live-action TV show and if it fares well with the audience there will certainly be more TV shows and movies from Cowboy Bebop world.

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  Hrvoje Milakovic

  Hrvoje Milakovic

  Hrvoje Milakovic is co-owner of Fiction Horizon and a big cinephile. Apart from that, he likes to read comics, play games and collect action figures. He has been featured on LifeWire, Yahoo and IMDb, to name a few.

  Do you need to watch Cowboy Bebop before the movie?

  Should I watch Cowboy Bebop anime first? Truthfully, you do not need to watch the anime series Cowboy Bebop before watching the new live-action series on Netflix.

  Does the Cowboy Bebop movie come first?

  Save this question. Show activity on this post. According to Wikipedia, the movie is a midquel that takes place between episodes 22 and 23 of the anime.

  Is Cowboy Bebop movie canon?

  The prospect of a Cowboy Bebop greatly excited audiences and Knockin' on Heaven's Door works its way into the series' canon by taking place before the anime's last episode.

  Is there a sequel to Cowboy Bebop?

  'Cowboy Bebop' is among the most successful anime series of all time, both critically and commercially. However, it never had a follow-up season.