More than 20 years ago, Cowboy Bebop landed on screens on cable television and enthralled Western audiences for its unique storytelling, animation and ambitions. Cowboy Bebop was action and drama, mystery and romance, attitude and edge, comedy and carnage, and just incredibly cool.
Now, Funimation, the market leader in anime, invites fans old and new to join the streaming service to celebrate the iconic series with all 26 episodes available to Funimation in the United States and Canada. And now in Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru), the entire series is available on Funimation in both subtitles or dubbed, in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Cowboy Bebop is the jazz-inspired, genre-bending story of Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, and Radical Ed: a ragtag crew of bounty hunters on the run from their pasts as they hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous. With a renowned soundtrack by Yoko Kanno and captivating visionary direction by Shinichiro Watanabe, Cowboy Bebop has been a cultural inspiration and juggernaut for audiences around the world, including celebrity fans like Keanu Reeves and the late Robin Williams.
In addition to inviting fans for a retro rewatch, Funimation will be honoring the legendary anime series with a variety of online/social media, home entertainment, collectibles and licensing tributes, including:
On the Funimation Blog, fans can celebrate the legacy of the series with one another, get creator insight, and more, whether it’s your first time aboard the Bebop or your 100th!
The complete series box set on Blu-ray is available on Funimation.
For fans who want to further their Cowboy experience, Funimation has a full licensing program around the series, including:
- Exciting new offerings from Funko later this year
- A new apparel line from Chalk Line in time for the holidays.
- New posters from Trends International coming this year
- Resin statue figurines from First4Figures, including Jet Black, with more to be added at Funimation
- Pick your favorite Cowboy Bebop design and customize your debit/credit cards with CUCU Covers
- Bioworld has launched customized apparel and accessory products unique to retailers Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Spencer’s, Atsuko and more
- More apparel, wall scroll, plush, and small accessory releases from Great Eastern Entertainment
- Removable and reusable wall decals from Fathead
- Six limited edition vinyl figures from Youtooz
In the spirit of Halloween, Hot Topic will be hosting some Halloween Watch-A-Longs of some spooky episodes of anime on their Anime and Beyond Discord server! Cowboy Bebop will be a part of this with Session 20, Pierre Le Fou, on 10/8.
“Cowboy Bebop helped legitimize anime as a varied, sophisticated, cinematic medium for a generation of fans,” said Asa Suehira, Chief Content Officer at Funimation Global Group. “The series isn’t driven by sci-fi spectacle but by the characters and relationships on display. That’s what made it an instant hit in Japan and in the United States. And the music is just off-the-hook cool.”
You can check out a special trailer which was released by Funimation below:
Source: Press Release