Sitting in muddy water, Isn't such a bad life

If it ends after the first time

In the year 2021, ring-shaped hyperspace gateways (also referred to as "astral gates") were constructed across the solar system, allowing easy interplanetary travel. Unfortunately, the gate network contained a fatal instability that was ignored by the contractors who built the system. The instability grew until a gateway near Earth exploded, releasing a powerful burst of energy that cracked the Moon. In a cataclysmic disaster referred to as "The Gate Accident", meteoric debris from the devastated Moon rained down on the planet, destroying much of Earth's surface. The death toll was by far the most catastrophic in recorded history; around 4.7 billion lives were lost in the initial incident alone. Decades later, debris from the disaster still falls on Earth with the same frequency as rainstorms ("rock showers" are a part of daily weather forecasts), forcing those remaining on Earth to live mostly underground.

It is in the year 2071, with the advent of space travel, the bounty system of the Old West has been reinstated by the government to help curb the growing crime levels. Bounty hunters are encouraged to capture criminals and return them (alive and relatively unharmed) to the authorities for monetary rewards.

This is where we find the cast of Cowboy Bebop, perhaps the greatest Animated series ever produced.

It has been said, by Louis Lamour, that there are only a limited number of stories to be told. It is in the setting, and in the characterization then that an Author sells their story. I've outlined the setting, and so I will now proceed to the cast, and close with the questions they ask us to consider.

ED: Every team needs its Computer Hack, and this is the role that she fulfills. She is as brilliant, as she is mad. In a revealing episode, she plays a single chess game, with the designer of the Gate System, the infamous Chess-Master, for three weeks. When we finally meet her father, (She is a teen-age orphan) he is the one man able to defeat Spike in battle. He is, of course, on a quest to restore Order to Chaos, by making a topographical map of the Earth. An Impossible task, since it changes with every asteroid storm.

Faye Valentine: A survivor of the Gate accident. She has been awakened from cryogenic stasis, after 54 years in a coma. As such, she is on a quest to discover who she really is, since she has no memory of her past life. A habitual gambler, she is in a never ending cycle of debt.

Spike Spiegel: A former member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, he demonstrates fluidity in motion. A master of Martial Arts, and pilot, he is like the Ocean, flowing to and fro within the ebb and tide of the moment, until with a burst of finality, he crashes like a wave on the beach, destroying all resistance in his path. He is considered the most relentless Cowboy in the Galaxy, he always gets his man. For this reason, he serves as the teams point-man. Yet, the passion that drives him, is also his fatal flaw.

Jet Black: Someone has to look after this team of misfits. The Bebop is his Spacecraft, he supplies the food, he buys the fuel. A constant provider, he is a former Police detective, and uses his bureaucratic knowledge to find the inside information. And yet, it is his strength, we find that is also his weakness. In the episode, Ganymede Elegy, he chases after a bounty on his one true loves current boyfriend. As the episode draws to its climax, they have their final confrontation. She tells him "You were always there for me, you did everything for me. You would never let me make my own mistakes, thats why I left. Jet answers, "I could let you go, what then, you'll be on the run. Other bounty hunters will come, and they will find you. Turn yourself in, we can work through this, and when its over, you will be together again." They agree, and he gets them off on self-defense. As the episode ends, he tosses his one keepsake of her, an old watch into the ocean, and walks away.

Questions

Faye Valentine shows us that every life is a closed book. She asks us, in the end, do we even know ourselves?

Spike asks us if we are forever chained to our past? Do we live in a saga of episodes, that brings us at last to the confrontation of self, that shows us our greatest fears? Is it in this that we are at last reborn?Jet teaches us the value of friendship and loyalty. He asks us, is it in this that we find love?

Ed shows us the path of enlightenment. She lives completely in the moment, and for this, she alone is free. Is this madness, or wisdom?