Cowboy Bebop: A Perfect Short Story

Action, character, and heartbreak.

There are a lot of sci-fi shows out there. From The Mandalorian and Doctor Who to Firefly and Star Trek, there’s something for everyone. But there’s nothing with the same feel and look as Cowboy Bebop.

Cowboy Bebop is an anime about a rag-tag group of bounty hunters capturing criminals and taking different jobs. The writing is fast-paced and filled with action, but also authentic and heartfelt. The characters all feel real, each with their own backstories and motivations, and the world has a unique feel to it, mixing space operas, Westerns, film noir, and jazz.

I’m going through the show for the first time, and I’ve fallen in love with its perfect storytelling style. The perfect example of this show’s structure is episode eight: Waltz for Venus.

The Plot

For context, let’s go over the story of the episode. Spoilers for those who haven’t seen it yet.

The episode opens with Spike and the gang bagging yet another bounty on their way to Venus. When they land on the planet, Spike runs into a young man who watched his martial arts skills while taking down his target. The young man, Roco Bonnaro, begs Spike to teach him how to fight. He’s persistent, so Spike teaches him a little.

But it’s not long before a group of men begin chasing Roco. Roco hands Spike a package he was holding and tells Spike to meet him tomorrow. Roco escapes, and Spike heads back to his ship, the Bebop.

On the ship, Jet complains about Faye constantly going off without notice and tells Spike that he’s been researching their next bounty: Piccaro Calvino. Piccaro’s crew stole a Gray Ash plant, and Spike is surprised to see that Roco is part of that crew, and the package Roco handed Spike before running away is the stolen Gray Ash plant. Jet explains that the Gray Ash plant is worth tens of millions, and it’s used to cure a blindness disease called Venus Sickness. Faye volunteers to go after Piccaro, and Spike flies off to investigate some ruins in the desert that might be connected to the whole thing.

While investigating the ruins, Spike encounters a young woman living alone inside them. She tries to threaten Spike, but Spike quickly realizes that she’s blind. When Spike explains that he’s looking for Roco, the young woman is suddenly warm and welcoming. She reveals herself as Stella Bonnaro, Roco’s sister, and she’s suffering from Venus Sickness, which is why Roco stole the Gray Ash. Stella shows Spike a music box Roco sent her, and Spike finds Gray Ash seeds hidden inside.

While Spike and Stella meet, Piccaro catches up to Roco. He beats him and interrogates him, but he doesn’t give up the location of the Gray Ash. But once Piccaro brings up Stella, Roco betrays Spike and tells Piccaro where his meeting place with the bounty hunter is planned.

Spike shows up at the location. He tells Roco that he plans to help him cure Stella’s blindness. Then Piccaro and his men reveal themselves and ambush Spike. Roco runs with the Gray Ash plant to buy Spike time. Spike reaches cover and gets himself into a shootout, but the odds aren’t good. That’s when Faye and Jet swoop in on their ships to level the playing field.

During the fight. One of the gang members tries to stop Roco using hand-to-hand combat, but Roco manages to use the moves Spike taught him earlier in the episode to bring the gang member down. Roco is excited about his achievement and looks to see if Spike saw everything, but a bullet rips through his back, tossing him to the ground. Faye manages to force Piccaro to surrender and stop the shooting. Spike rushes over to Roco, but it’s too late, and the young man dies in his arms.

Later, Spike visits Stella in the hospital before she has her surgery to restore her sight. She thinks the surgery was arranged by Roco and that he’ll come to visit her soon, but Spike’s silence on the matter informs her of the truth. Stella asks what Roco was really like, and Spike says he was everything Stella thought he was.

Story Structure

This episode is obviously very fast-paced, filled with action, a little bit of mystery, and a lot of character development, all crammed into a short space due to the restrictions of half-hour TV episodes. But the story doesn’t feel rushed at all. It still has enough time to breathe despite needing to move quickly to pack everything into a small time slot. The pauses are in all the right places and last long enough to give the story room to breathe, but not so long that the story freezes in place.

What really helps is how clear-cut everything is. We have our protagonist (in this instance, it would be Roco, while Spike serves as the perspective character) with a clear goal of saving his sister; we know exactly what he needs to help his sister, and we have clear obstacles and antagonists that impede his journey.

Having everything laid out in a clear, simple way makes it much easier to establish the boring exposition and quickly get to the meat of the story. We don’t need to know all the little details of how Roco joined Piccaro’s gang, what exactly Venus Sickness is, or why Gray Ash plants are so rare. All we need to know is what’s established in the episode, and it’s done efficiently so as not to spend too much time away from our characters.

Character Development and Theme

The core of this episode is easily the characters. The episode quickly got the audience to sympathize with Roco by having him look up to Spike and want to defend himself from the thugs chasing him. We further sympathize with him when we learn that all he wants to do is help his sister.

This sympathy gets the audience to root for Roco, which, when combined with the lighthearted tone throughout the episode, makes Roco’s death hit all the harder. It’s shocking, it’s unfair, and it hurts. That’s the point. It leaves the audience in shock, but that’s not the reason it’s in the episode.

Roco’s death reveals how far he was willing to go for his sister. It showed how much he loved and cared for her. He was willing to give up his life so that she could see again. That’s a special kind of love, and it makes us care for Roco and his sister even more, making the ending bittersweet.

Conclusion

This episode is a textbook example of a pulp-style story. It’s got a fast-paced and tight plot filled to the brim with action, colorful and distinct characters, each with their own motivations, clear-cut and personal stakes that couldn’t be higher, and heroes we can sympathize with. If you’re looking for a structure to learn from, this is your blueprint.

Cowboy Bebop has a lot of fantastic episodes. It’s a phenomenal show with incredible writing, and I encourage you to watch it yourself and see what you can learn from it. Maybe it’ll even inspire your next work!

What do you think? Was this helpful? What stood out to you about the episode’s structure or themes? Let me know in the comments! I love getting to talk to you.

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