10 Best Quotes From Cowboy Bebop, Ranked

A philosophical and existential series, here are 10 of the most memorable quotes and dialogue excahnges from the beloved anime series Cowboy Bebop.

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Shinichiro Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop can safely be referred to as one of the best animes from the 90s. The series is resplendent with themes of liberating the self from the past, discarding monotony, finding the meaning to life, realizing something’s importance until it’s gone, and, in Watanabe’s words, the overall transience of “things that cannot last.”

There are myriad metaphors that find prominence in every scene of Cowboy Bebop, as each of the main characters tries in their own way to free themselves from the shackles of the past. The dystopian future, as well as the fundamental flaws of the characters and their cynical outlook of life, is further accentuated through the masterful dialogues by screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto. These dialogues not only deliver deep insight into what life is but also provide a meaningful perspective of the core characters.

10 Forgetting The Past

Being stuck to the past is hardly productive, as it prohibits people from moving on. Regardless, it is easier said than done, since the past is cemented in time and some people find it hard to let go. This theme is recurrent in Cowboy Bebop, and the main characters in the series are not exempt from it.

While Spike initially advises Faye to let go of her past as it will bring nothing but hurt, he himself seems to never have dissociated from the painful baggage of his own past. Before going to face Vicious one final time after Julia’s death, Faye confronts him realizing that this might be the last time she sees Spike. Her reminding Spike of his own words of wisdom is one of the most moving dialogues in the series, which further provides insight into Faye’s actual feelings for Spike. Feelings she never really confessed, even to herself—albeit many debate Faye was not really in love with Spike.

9 Going There To Find Out If I’m Really Alive

Spike had been living the life of a nomadic bounty hunter, moving on from one bounty to another. He had left his life as a member of the crime syndicate Red Dragon, and, as he explains to Vicious in ‘Ballad of Fallen Angels,’ he has bled “all that kind of blood away.” He had spent years thinking that his beloved Julia was dead—the only person who seemed to provide meaning to Spike’s life of violence and pain. When he finally finds out that she is actually alive, she dies for real.

As Faye confronts him saying she cannot understand why Spike would risk his life like that, Spike explains that he is not going to die, but rather to find out if he really feels anything anymore—if he is even alive. This elucidates the pointlessness to life that Spike might have been experiencing for all these years without Julia and how it has reestablished itself with Julia dying.

8 Being Alone In Your Solitude

Faye Valentine likes to flee her emotions. As Glen explains in ‘Jupiter Jazz,’ she is afraid of losing her comrades, so she deliberately distanced herself instead by robbing them and running away. Faye tries to justify her actions by saying that she is rarely rewarded on the Bebop and only gets in trouble with them. She explains that surviving in her solitude is better than feeling alone in a group where she is uncared for and underappreciated.

This is extremely ironic since, by the last episode of the anime, she ends up confessing that it is indeed the Bebop and its crew that feels like home to her.

7 Frantically Searching For Proof Of Being Alive

A major theme in Cowboy Bebop is finding the meaning of life. However, the tragic reality is that very few actually realize that meaning before their death. Jet Black, the most practical crew member of the Bebop, expands on this by telling Spike the story of a dying man who was about to climb the Kilimanjaro.

He explains that he hates stories like these because men do not give importance to the present and then pathetically think about the past as they are about to die in hopes of finding proof of them having lived a full life. He urges Spike to abandon his suicidal mission and give attention to the life he has made on the Bebop. This is a lesson everybody can hope to learn.

6 Patches Of Reality

Dreams have been used as an important metaphor for life throughout Cowboy Bebop. Julia asks Spike before dying whether it had all been a dream, and Spike reiterates this notion through this dialogue where he explains that he has simultaneously been looking at the past and the present, never realizing what reality was.

He has been unsure whether it was his time with Julia that constituted his life or his adventures on the Bebop. It all seemed like a dream, till that dream finally shattered with Julia dying. Having heavy influences from Taoism, a religion which time and again philosophizes the existential question of life being a spiritual reality, such as a dream, Spike heartbreakingly reiterates the futility of his existence in the last few years.

5 All It Means To Be Human

Jet can safely be regarded as the most practical amongst the crew members of the Bebop, an aspect hopefully included in the upcoming Netflix adaptation, and it is dialogues like these that further establish the fact.

He provides a realistic synopsis of what it means to be human. There are beginnings in life and there are ends. Nothing is eternal. Sometimes these ends are not according to a person’s liking, but to sit back and lament is foolhardy. These are obstacles that need to be overcome, only then can a human being grow in life.

4 But This Time He Didn’t Come Back

Spike is someone who repeatedly hides his pain with humor, and there are many nostalgic memes to prove the same. It is the same with this story where he talks about a tiger-striped cat and then remarks that he never liked the story because he has always hated cats. However, the story is quite ironic since it sums up Spike’s life while foreboding the anime’s ending.

Previously in ‘The Real Folk Blues,’ Spike had explained that Julia was the missing piece he always needed, similar to the white female cat. A warrior, who has survived great dangers, Spike supposedly dies at the end after having lost Julia for real, much like the tiger-striped cat in Spike’s story.

3 Do Not Fear Death

There are many forebodings in Cowboy Bebop that predict Spike’s death at the end of the series. One of them is Laughing Bull saying that he has dreamt Spike’s guardian star fading. He further asks Jet Black to not be afraid of Death, because Death comes for all.

It should be treated as a friend rather than an enemy. If treated as an enemy, Death will pounce and kill, but, as a friend, it behaves like an escort guiding the belated to become one with Nature. He refers to oneness with Nature as walking into infinity, which can further be interpreted as another Taoist reference.

2 Angels And Devils

A biblical allusion, Vicious delivers these lines in one of the best episodes of Cowboy Bebop, ‘Ballad of Fallen Angels.’

Symbolizing how Vicious and Spike are both fallen warriors who fell from grace, one after having killed his former mentor Mao Yenrai, and the other after having betrayed his calling, Vicious compares himself with Lucifer, God’s first fallen angel. He says that angels banished from heaven have no other option but to become devils, and asks if Spike agrees.

1 Whatever Happens Happens

Spike, although quite practical, also has a spiritual side to him. Therefore, when things go awry, he always has a casual attitude and a grin on his face. He believes that too much worrying never solves anything and that things will happen as they would.

While Spike’s belief in the fatalistic nature of events seems odd, it actually isn’t given he often seeks out Laughing Bull, a shaman, whenever faced with problems he can’t solve. This dialogue roughly translates to the 16th-century Spanish motto “Que sera sera.”

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