Spike Spiegel: Great Character - Terrible Backstory

[@TimBitten]

Spike was a victim of the world, who was plucked from the gutter by those wishing to use him. He wasn’t allowed a true “self” until he made his choice to run. (But he always knew the running was not going to work forever, and was forced to end things before the syndicate killed the Bebop crew.)

[@chillreview636]

That all sounds great and I wish they focused more on that aspect of his backstory. Instead we just kind of got a vague overview of everything that felt bland and poorly explained to me. It's hard to write a successful ending to a show when your main character is known for hiding his emotions and his past and then the entire core of the climax is about his emotions and his past lol still a great series and Spike is still a great character despite that though

[@_stealth_313]

You’re definitely not supposed to want to be like Spike. He’s extremely dysfunctional as a person, and only puts on the cool, no care in the world gig on as a facade. Otherwise Spike can’t (or won’t) move on from his past, and is so disconnected from life where the only way he can feel alive and awake is to be in near death scenarios.

[@mallyjames6770]

In my opinion Cowboy bebop wasn't about exploring the past, it was about letting it go but no one can until they face what they are running from

[@chillreview636]

@@mallyjames6770 well said. That's definitely a central theme of the story. I just think Faye's story was a more interesting and less generic example of that than Spikes.

[@omEon]

I think the biggest disappointment of Cowboy Bebop is how little Spike's and Faye's backstories are delved into. It would be killer to see more into how the world functioned when Faye was a child and how she adjusted when she realized she was in the future. Actually makes me sad thinking about all the potential for both of them that just wasn't used. That being said, the vibes of every one of their backstory episodes are just great imo. (Also thank you for getting me into Samurai Champloo, great show)

[@chillreview636]

I completely agree. I feel like there was so much more bebop could have gone into as a story, but I guess the 26 episodes and the movie is all we'll get unfortunately 😔 But happy to hear you liked Champloo 👍

[@zemox2534]

Sometimes you need to fill in the gaps yourself. Besides the whole point of Spike's character is to Try and forget his past which proved fatal later on. I got enough from so little that I do not need a whole backstory to understand Spike. So no his backstory was not terrible

[@isaacchamplain7970]

I think Spike and Faye should’ve ended up together. But if that happened, the show would be less tragic and therefore less memorable

[@_stealth_313]

I think thats the thing I love the most about these shows. Its not a story about what these characters have gone through, they’ve already all gone through their character development and give us just enough information to fill in the gaps. Its a story about how people cope with their past

[@ilogreen6835]

Episode 5 made me fall in love with the series

[@deandredukes95]

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

[@LogosSteve]

Probably the best video about the themes of Cowboy Bebop I have seen just because of the last few minutes that show you get it.

[@kachinboyz3826]

breh I like his backstory. It was better kept secret than make it into short anime they should had made his backstory into another anime where he might or may not be main character. But too bad it didn't happen still I think his backstory is perfect in the context of the "short anime" they should had made like a separate movie

[@chillreview636]

I think the vagueness of his backstory is another reason I'm not crazy about it. They found the time to give Jet and Faye interesting and well explained backstories, but it's so weird they didn't also do that for Spike. And yeah the fact that they made a Bebop movie that wasn't about Spike's past is kinda crazy lol

[@kachinboyz3826]

@@chillreview636 facts

[@takumifujiwara7160]

how in the hell does this have only 150 view?!?!?

[@randomiser2267]

Because it’s a terrible opinion by a stupid person

[@j_go.]

I think the less a character is shown, like Julia, makes the viewer feel the short amount of time they spent with the main character. I got that sense most from the first few minutes of the movie "Changeling" (2008). I wasn't that impressed by Spike's backstory, but it gave something to be resolved as the finale of the story. I saw Spike and Vicious as being two sides of the same person that were battling each other. Vicious was evil and Spike was imperfect but trying to do right.

[@chillreview636]

Interesting opinion. I've never seen changeling but I heard it's pretty good. I agree that it needs to be there for the story to have some kind of emotional ending, but I just wish it was... better written lol

[@zemox2534]

Did you even watch tge bloody ending!!! It was beyond emotional now you are just complaining about shit that is not true. Sorry but I do not agree.

[@jorgegarifunajr.4443]

BANGERR VIDEO

[@lightspaceman5064]

That is a very interesting perspective. Bebop does have a lot of classical tropes and archetypes. It's totally fair see them as cliques. But with I would argue that everything about Spike that makes him the king of ex criminals with a heart of gold is in the execution.

[@chillreview636]

I agree. Spike is a great character despite his generic backstory because he's really well written otherwise

[@JT-nd6qp]

Yeah, I largely agree with this. When you look at Bebop without the nostalgia glasses, it's got a few filler episodes and some characters/relationships are definitely underdeveloped. I actually have to give credit to the Netflix series for trying (however unsuccessfully) to explore Spike/Vicious/Julia's history with the Syndicate and make sense of it. The loose lynchpin in their backstory IMO (in the anime, at least) is simply that we never got an adequate explanation for why Vicious was evil, beyond the fact that Julia left him for Spike. It's hard to imagine how a cold, ruthless bastard like him could ever have been in a relationship, or even had friends. It's just not a very convincing love triangle. In the live action, they reimagined him as a rich kid with daddy issues who's also jealous of his adopted brother Spike. Which DOES work, and makes him more three dimensional, but that also turned him from an ice-cold badass into an unhinged, pop-eyed pantomime villain. Also, what was up with his redesign? They NAILED Spike's blue suit, but they couldn't give Vicious a simple black trenchcoat, shirt&tie? I mean, I can understand if they would've gone overbudget adding a CGI bird on his shoulder, but at least dress him like a corporate hood and not some goofy Harry Potter villain. Sorry, went on a tangent there. Good video man

[@chillreview636]

Unfortunately I couldn't get past the first few episodes of the live action show, but based on what you said, I can respect them trying to fill in the holes the anime left. You can probably tell from the video, but I'm not a big fan of Vicuous in general. He's just a typical and generic evil rival, ut maybe if they had delved deeper into his past specifically, it could have made him feel more enthralling as a character Thanks for watching homie 🤙🏾

[@ilogreen6835]

I personally think it just supposed to be more symbolic and phylisophical. And there is just enough in the ending song and flash backs to understand.

[@chillreview636]

I think I understand it, I just didn't really get shown enough to care about it. I understand why other people like it, but it just didn't really hit me the same.

[@Ultra247]

Interesting vid but I don't think you really explain your points well enough so that we can understand where you are coming from

[@chillreview636]

Sorry about that. My main point was that the different elements of Spike's backstory (the syndicate, the love interest, the edgy rival etc.) It all felt uncharacteristically plain and bland for a show that was otherwise super creative and interesting. And despite me thinking Spike's backstory was boring, the real part that I hate about it is that his backstory is the focus of the climax of the entire story. But poor backstory or not, Spike is still an amazing character