From the original release of the first disc: "Jazz Agers, flower children, lost generation, beatniks, rockers, punks, nerds, hackers, lovers, generation X - whatever the designation, there have always been outlaws in our society who live in pursuit of autonomy. At times they are revered for their roles as pioneers, challenging the unknown; other times people consider them lawless desperadoes and a dangerous presence. Yet, really, it is only their exuberant music and an autonomy founded to express opinions different from those of others that set them apart from the rest of society.

The year 2071 A.D. That future is now. Driven out of their terrestrial eden, humanity chose the stars as the final frontier. With the section-by-section of collapse of the former nations a mixed jumble of races and peoples came. They spread to the stars, taking with them the now confused concepts of freedom, violence, illegality and love, where new rules and a new generation of outlaws came into being. People referred to them as Cowboy Bebops…"

As I said before, "like the aforementioned Firefly, society has its share of lost souls trying to scrape by using any means possible. Set much closer than that show to our own time though, it looks at the logical end result of many trends started in the 1980's (in particular, privatization, environmental concerns, and a general distrust of government). As the new frontier of space is opened up by virtue of various colonies and jumpgates, societal means of control have all but broken down. The vast expanses of space have opened up far more opportunities for the criminal element to do as they please with unprecedented impunity, with the crooks knowing the governments are too thinly spread to do much outside their boundaries. As a result, a formalized structure of bounty hunters, known as "cowboys", travels the limits of known (and sometimes unknown) space to capture these crooks much as was used in the Old West in the USA (popularized by a multitude of movies like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly starring Clint Eastwood). The bounties are measured in millions of Mulons, the standardized currency of the time.

Cowboy Bebop Remix focuses not on the entire system but on a small group that use it to pay their bills. Set on the spaceship Bebop, the lead character is Spike Spiegel; a former Mafioso from Mars. His fighting skill, luck, and overall cool in any situation serves him well as he seeks out those who'll bring in the best rewards (broadcast by means of a silly western style television show that lists the top bounties of the week). His partner, Jet Black, is his polar opposite; an ex-cop with tremendous investigative skill, a sense of morals about doing the right thing (unlike Spike's view of flexible morality), and a cyborg enhanced body as the result of his past service to humanity (when he was more inclined to protect and serve for the public good)."

The episodes this time were 6) Sympathy For The Devil, 7) Heavy Metal Queen, 8) Waltz For Venus, 9) Jamming With Edward, and 10) Ganymede Elegy. The crew picked up their final regular member Ed (a superior computer hacker with an absurd personality that belies her youthful exuberance) in Jamming With Edward, Jet's past gets a look in Ganymede Elegy but all of the shows making mention of the universe the series is set in (from colonization of the planets and moons to the way the local systems were set up to whatever happened to Earth, home of the human race). Like the last set of episodes, the nuances and details were what made the show so superior to many other contemporary releases. The darker aspects of the series, never far from the surface to begin with, were laced throughout the episodes but never more in evidence than Sympathy For The Devil where Spike shows his human side while the big picture doesn't provide a pleasant ending. The continuation of the episode titles relating to popular music albums continued as did the homage's to various other science fiction shows. Overall, the timeless quality of the show continued although with fewer extras on hand and only a remastered audio track, I feel a rating of Highly Recommended was fair (if you already have the series on DVD, only the audio appeared upgraded, and a lot of fans were hoping for more visual enhancement).

Picture: Cowboy Bebop Remix 2 was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was made in back in the late 1990's. It looks like a product of the time and doesn't compare to the rich complexities of a show like Samurai 7 that has all the benefits of a huge budget and modern techniques but the sheer style alone was enough to win it awards and accolades. While the anime style didn't have as high a frame rate as some of you are used to, it used a lot of camera angles and techniques from film to convey a sense of the story (and stories in the sense that each episode was like a movie onto itself). There was some minor pattern noise on occasion but the overall look of the movie was extremely fitting of the material (a rundown future where making ends meet sometimes trumps individual moralities). For the record, the visual aspects of the remixed volume did not appear to be different to me so this was not a selling point if you already have the previous volumes.

Sound: The audio this time was presented in both the original 2.0 Dolby Digital tracks (Japanese and English with optional English subtitles) as expected but also the newly remixed 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround version of the tracks. I know that a lot of older movies have been manhandled this way, often resulting in weakening the quality of the audio (purists would possibly argue that the original is always better) but this was definitely an exception to the rule. The dialogue was enhanced in terms of separation, the sound effects sounded cleaner and better placed, and the music score (an important part of the show mind you) benefited the most. Both language tracks were exceptionally well done, using silence as much as talking and music to tell the story. I blind tested the audio with a few friends and each of them, even the nearly tone deaf one, heard a difference. I also spent some time listening to the show without watching it (but paying close attention) and it really seemed a lot better (also adding some background details I missed previously at that). Was it worth buying another copy of the show? That's a personal matter for you to decide but due to the nature of this release and its importance to anime; it was worth it to me (along with the extras that is). < Extras: The best extra for me was the commentary with ADR Producer Yutaka Maseba and Wendee Lee (English language vocalist for Faye Valentine) on episode 10, Ganymede Elegy. They spent more time focused on the series as a whole on top of their personal involvement and it came off as another reason to appreciate the English language dub (even now it stands out as one of the best dubs of an anime). Otherwise, there were some trailers and a cardboard protective sleeve for the DVD case but that's it.

Final Thoughts: Cowboy Bebop Remix 2 was another solid offering that will appeal to hardcore fans of the series and perhaps convince others to join in on what many have called the best series in anime to date. I've seen some mighty good series since this came out that challenge it in terms of the complexities of the details, the interesting characters, and the premise of the show but it will always be worth a look when some improved version comes out. That said, Bandai has released the show in several versions so there may well be a limit to the amount of double dipping fans will put up with in the future. In all though, I can't deny the appeal of the show and the new audio track was worth upgrading for this anime fan. Check it out and I think you'll figure out what I mean.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk