Cowboy Bebop: Lessons from Radical Edward

When I was in my mid-teens, I stumbled upon something that would change my outlook on anime forever. Up until this point, most of the series that I had seen had not reached me with a deeper meaning. That was until I accidentally set my VCR (yes, I am dating myself a bit here) to record the wrong timeslot on Cartoon Network. Instead of taping Toonami's Midnight Run, I had taped Episode 20 of Cowboy Bebop - "Pierrot le Fou". At first, I didn't think that I would like it. I had never heard of Cowboy Bebop before, but after giving this erroneously taped episode, I never once had a single regret. Cowboy Bebop is such a great series and in fact has had a huge influence on me.

If you know me in real life, you know that I love computers. So much in fact that I work in the computer field. There is actually a pretty interesting story behind my career choice though. To be honest, most of my influence to go into this field came from watching Cowboy Bebop and admire Ed's hacking skills. Looking back, they were pretty weird and super visual, but as a kind this was a great source of inspiration. I went to college with the desire to learn how to hack. Yup, I wanted to be a hacker. Still do...just whitehat though.

Why is Ed so inspirational? Well when you are a kid genius living with a three bounty hunters, you have to be able to carry your own weight. Ed did this in the form of using her hacking skills to breach information systems to gather info on bounties and leads. Not to mention that she was the most eccentric of the team. She was a perfect mix of genius and insanity. This is probably what drew me to her character. I mean...her name is Edward lol.

This is one of my favorite clips from Cowboy Bebop. If you haven't seen the series and don't like spoilers, it may be best to skip this video.


Is there an anime character that you feel that you can relate to, or draw inspiration from? Share your stories and opinions in the comments!

SEE YOU SPACE OTAKU