Does The Beginning of Cowboy Bebop Suck?

gamerant.com:

Spoilers Ahead for the early episodes of Cowboy Bebop.

Cowboy Bebop is a certified classic and like with any huge series that people talk about with particular reverence, there is a high standard set for those who hear about it. But a lot has to happen in a story for audiences to feel that level of love for a story by the end of the road, and it doesn't always grip like a vice in the beginning.

Bebop aired in 1998 when Director Shinichiro Watanabe was told by publishers he could make anything he wanted to so long as there were ships they could sell toys of. The result was a noir drama with elements of western cinema and jazz combined to make one of the classiest animated character ensembles in history.

The Woman Who Made Bebop A Jam

Those who hear about Bebop — and especially those who aren't particularly large anime fans — are often surprised by how short the series is, at just 26 episodes and a movie. For a show that gets so much praise, some audiences would expect it to be a story spanning multiple seasons, like the most acclaimed American dramas.

26 episodes, each one 24 minutes in length, most of which are standalone stories that don't hinge much on previous stories. The story isn't a serialized narrative, but an episodic adventure with no real goal in sight. It's actually a very simple story, but it's through that simple framing that a much more poignant narrative can nest in the mind of the viewer, though it might not be apparent at first.

«Asteroid Blues» is the first episode of Cowboy Bebop, where the party of bounty hunters aboard the Bebop is just two: Spike Spiegel and Jet Black. They hunt Asimov Solensan, a wanted killer, who is traveling with his partner Katerina. Spike clashes with Asimov a few times before