In contrast to the earlier showing of Summer Wars, the Cowboy Bebop movie was evidently from a traditional film reel rather than high-definition digital – grain and all it seemed somewhat more fitting, especially when the film itself pokes fun at the low quality, black and white westerns of old. Without any fanfare, there was a brief introduction by Andrew Partridge, one of the festival organisers, and then after a brief wait, straight into the feature. The only other element of note was the translation which unfortunately seemed a little slapdash, continually calling “Ed” “Edo” for instance, or completely ignoring the on-screen descriptions of companies such as “Tortoise Cleaning”.
Regardless, Shinichiro Watanabe's crowning glory is still as enthralling as ever and even though I'd watched the movie not two months prior, seeing Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed and Ein is always a treat. Much can be said for the film's technical achievements, an unholy triumvirate of Bandai, Sunrise and BONES makes for a production that stands well above the already highly accomplished series. Scenes such as Spike's dogfight with the military jets or his tussles with Vincent are benchmarks of their kind – choreographing animated fights hard enough without achieving the level of finesse on display here.
Mostly though it's just good to have a well constructed antagonist driving events. Anime has never seemed to fully embrace the antagonist; perhaps a reflection of the culture it comes from but the only stand out villains that spring to mind are Bradley from the recent Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Vicious and Vincent from Cowboy Bebop and, at a push, Knives from Trigun and Berserk's Godhand.
Vincent sits apart from Vicious when it comes to the Bebop storyline, mostly through necessity being a standalone film, but also because Vicious and Spike were always fated to collide; right from the opening scenes of the first episode it was clear the denouement would be a clash between those two. The TV series does incredibly well for what it doesn't show, making it clear that Spike's mind is never far from Vicious and Julia but rarely gifting them with screentime. Vincent on the other hand was entirely optional for Spike and the two battle only because of Spike's sheer bloody mindedness.
Like all good antagonists though, Vincent reflects the protagonist and shows what could have been were different choices made. The glimmer of humanity, so ephemeral, that it's only in his dying moments that it's made manifest. As Spike infers after his catastrophic encounter on the monorail: the terror Vincent instils is immense: unstoppable, unflappable and completely focused it's that feeling of futility, that no matter what you do, the villain is going to get his way and if just one thing yields, everything goes awry.
Neither Vicious or Vincent are defeated through zeal or hubris, they are bested because their opponent was better and not because of some deus ex machina or trite lapse in judgement. And even in their deaths there is a feeling of regret, bittersweet victory for the villain has fallen but no black-and-white routing of evil. These antagonists which stick in the mind - Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2, Chigurh from No Country For Old Men, The Joker from The Dark Knight and Vincent from Cowboy Bebop - because they may all be just one part of an accomplished whole but their presence contributes so much.
The tonal and emotional shift from Summer Wars to Cowboy Bebop is stark but mirrors the two-film per day format the festival has taken on with Professor Layton and Trigun: Badlands Rumble providing Saturday's entertainment, only the latter of the pair I'm attending. At first it seems like an odd choice to show Bebop, a 2001 release that has, without being unfair, long since passed into memory compared to the other modern powerhouses. It becomes all the more fitting though when comparing the old noir trappings of Bebop to the colourful, family frolic that was Summer Wars, echoing its themes of old and new, young and old.
Images will be added as soon as I am no longer using a spotty mobile connection to access the internet