Bounty hunters in space

Cowboy Bebop is one of those animated series (anime) that makes me wish I was good at animating because the team that made Cowboy Bebop have something special (i.e likeable and memorable characters, good plot development, dramatic music, and solid animation). Cowboy Bebop, which was directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (Samurai Champloo, Macross Plus, Kids Story, and A Detective's Story), is a tale set in the future where humans have colonized the solar system and the Earth is a vast wasteland; the Earth's Moon is destroyed by an accident from testing a new technology, involving using gates to open a tear in hyperspace to be used as a means of quick transport in space travel. Cowboy Bebop follows the adventures of Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed Wong, and Ein the Welsh Corgi, as they hunt for bounty heads in space on-board their (really, Jet's) ship, the "Bebop".

Spike is the main character in the series, who has a mysterious and seedy past, especially involving a woman named Julia and a nemesis named Vicious. He is also very good at martial arts and practices Jeet Kune Do (the style made famous by Bruce Lee). Spike is somewhat laid back and generally accepts situations with calmness or humour. Jet Black is the owner of the "Bebop" and is a former police officer. He has a cybernetic arm and is referred to as the "Black Dog" in the series by his friends in the police force because of his determination and inability to give up on a case.

Faye Valentine (see picture below) is the main female character in the series and enjoys gambling, smoking, and pampering herself.  She also packs a lot of heat (i.e. either a Glock or a submachine gun can be found on her) and is typically lazy and self-centered. Faye's past is a mystery to her for most of the series and occasionally a few clues come her way. Ed Wong (who's really a girl) is the "Bebop's" residential genius computer hacker with a very quirky personality. She enjoys hacking computers, chess, playing with Ein, and getting presents. Ed has developed an infamous reputation as a computer hacker on Earth and she is referred to as "Radical Edward" because of her computer hacking abilities. Ein is a Welsh Corgi and is primarily, the "Bebop's" cute, yet super intelligent mascot.

Cowboy Bebop has many wonderful episodes that highlight the excellent quality in animation, character development, and storytelling. The episode or session that I selected is an episode,  I would normally not recommend to someone, who has not seen any of the early episodes because this particular episode (session) is somewhat strange and disturbing, but it has, in my opinion, one of the best opening few minutes (i.e. CGI and shadow effects) in any animated series, I ever seen. The episode (session), which is entitled Pierrot le Fou (session 20), is about an seemingly unstoppable experimental killing machine with a mind of a child named "Mad Pierrot" who targets and kills high-ranking police officials. Spike, unfortunately gets caught in the crossfire, as he finds himself, the next target of Pierrot, after stumbling upon one of Pierrot's killings.

Pierrot attacks Spike by trying to shoot him with his weapon, which happens to be a cane, and to Spike' s shock and horror, the bullets that he returns fire with, bounce off Pierrot because of his defense mechanism, which is a green force field. Spike even uses a barrel full of gasoline as a weapon against him, but that fails and Spike barely escapes. Because Spike escapes Pierrot's attack, Pierrot invites him to a theme park (if you look closely, the theme park is a homage to Disney Land or Disney World) to face off and see who is victorious. Meanwhile, Jet has Ed hack into the police records to discover Pierrot's true identity and possibly a way to defeat him.

In the end, Spike is able to overcome Pierrot without Jet's discovery and Faye's futile attempt to aide him by blasting Pierrot with her rockets; Spike's victory only happens because of dumb luck. This happens only because Pierrot hesitates for a second (this is due to light reflecting off of Spike's glass eye and Pierrot becomes afraid because the different colors in Spike's eye reminds him of a cat that had two different eye colors who would always watch him when he was a lab rat for the government). With Pierrot hesitating, Spike is able to throw a knife into his knee cap and Pierrot begins to cry like a baby, which unfortunately for him leads to his death because he is crushed by a parade of animatronic animals.

Overall, Cowboy Bebop has likeable and memorable characters, a good plot, dramatic music, and solid animation. If you look closely in Pierrot le Fou (session 20), you should be able to see the wonderful use of CGI on the city buildings, especially in the beginning where you see Pierrot flying up and hovering in the sky; this also applies to when he comes down and lands on his feet. The use of shadow is also good in this episode (session) because it amplifies the already dark atmosphere of the story by making "Pierrot" seem almost more psychotic and violent. In the end, as stated earlier, I probably would not recommend someone who has not seen a few episodes of the series to watch this episode (session) because of its dark and strange nature, but I decided to post it anyway, for it has some of the best animation in the series, especially the opening sequences.

Having fun with a giant pink cat

I remember when I was a kid I used to watch the Pink Panther cartoon series on Cartoon Network. The Pink Panther (see above) has always been an appealing cartoon to me because of the music and the humorous situations the big pink cat gets into. In fact, I believe that without the music and sound effects to illustrate the Pink Panther's many moods  or the situations he gets into, the audience would not fully grasp what is going on and thus, lose out on getting the humor of the Pink Panther.

Believe me, I tried watching a Pink Panther cartoon short without any sound and it was not as fun as it was when I watched it with sound. The Pink Panther cartoon short (see below) I watched was an episode called GI Pink where the Pink Panther enlists in the United States Army. The episode starts out with the Pink Panther walking down the city sidewalk, when suddenly he spots an advertisement for the United States Army. Seeing the advertisement and feeling a sense of patriotic duty, he decides to join the army.

Right a way, the Pink Panther gets into trouble with his drill sergeant because he is put on sweeping duty; this happens after he lines up to get his rifle, but the drill sergeant gives him a push broom instead. The drill sergeant gives the Pink Panther a push broom because he is annoyed with the fact that the Pink Panther's uniform is too big. Giving,the Pink Panther a push broom results in something that the drill sergeant does not expect, when the Pink Panther turns around and marches off with the broom resting on his shoulder, the broom goes off and hits the drill sergeant in the face, as if it was a rifle going off.

The drill sergeant tries his best to make the Pink Panther miserable, but instead ends up either getting shot in the face by a rifle blast or getting chase by a big dog. The drill sergeant also gets into trouble with the MPs or military police because they are seen twice in the cartoon beating the drill sergeant for getting a general shot in the face and for trying to hit the general's big dog. The episode culminates with the drill sergeant trying to ship the Pink Panther to the United States Navy, but fails because the Pink Panther returns on a ship that pulls onto the base and the drill sergeant chases after the ship when the ship departs. The Pink Panther simply shrugs and returns to duty.

While, I must admit that anybody can figure out what is going on without the sound or music, I believe that people would lose out on the humor and charm that is exhibited by the characters because these effects enhances the characters expressions and personalities. For instance, when the Pink Panther sees the advertisement for the United States Army, patriotic music is played for a few seconds to show his patriotism and when the drill sergeant keeps getting shot in the face or beaten up by the MPs, a gun shot sound  and a beating sound effect are used to enhance the comedic effects of the story. Without, these music and sound effects, the story would be too bland in my opinion. In the end, I think the Pink Panther is one of those cartoon series that uses both music and sound effects pretty effectively.

Avatar: the future of animation?

James Cameron has done it again with his hit movie Avatar (see movie poster above), which uses motion capturing technology to animate his characters and bring to life the world of Pandora; the setting of Avatar. When I first saw the preview for Avatar, I was curious but also a little bit skeptical towards liking the film because in the past I have seen movie trailers that look good, but the film turns out to be a total dud. However, despite my reservations, after seeing the film, I believe that Cameron's use of motion capturing technology to capture human mannerisms and expressions and a very typical Hollywood-est plot about war and romance helped the film to be more believable and enjoyable.

Avatar, itself, is about a marine named Jake Scully (see picture below) who is recruited by the government to take the place of his dead brother on a mission to the planet (Pandora) to control an avatar or simulation of a Na'vi, the local inhabitants of Pandora who the Marines are in a conflict with. Once Scully arrives, his world changes, as he questions his loyalty to his military brethren (humanity) or his love for Neytiri the Na'vi (see picture below) who he meets in avatar form (see picture  of both his avatar form and Neytiri below) when separated from the scientists he is protecting. In the end, Scully chooses his love for Neytiri and to protect Pandora from death and destruction. Scully's struggle with staying loyal to his mission and his growing love and appreciation for Neytiri and Pandora is the heart and soul of the film, though the big battle scenes add to the drama.

Cameron's use of motion capturing technology is the reason, in my opinion, why the film was a success because without it, the relationship between Jake Scully and Neytiri would look awkward or forced; the battles with the human actors and the animated Na'vi would also look awkward or forced. In other words, the motion capturing technology is not only able to map out the movements of the actress who plays Neytiri very realistically, but also the other actors who play Na'vi and the creatures as well. In the end, I do not know if Avatar is the future of animation or film making in general, but according to CBS News, "Avatar has surpassed Titanic at the box office, topping $1.8 billion worldwide." With money like that, who am I to judge whether it is the future of animation or film making in general.