Cowboy Bebop Session #12: Jupiter Jazz Part 1

Has there ever been a more picture perfect slice of cel animation? Ay karumba! That is gorgeous.

Vicious is back! We revisit the continuing Vicious thread and probably the most engaging portion of the series with the legacy of Spike's past returning to haunt him. This is Cowboy Bebop, Session #12, Jupiter Jazz Part 1.

Vicious is really quite an evil, unpleasant fellow.

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Lord give us strength! Faye has left a note ditching the crew of the BeBop and emptying their safe in the process. They'll be hunting her down next. Ed is attempting to find Faye via cyberspace but stumbles upon codename: Julia. He intercepts from The Blue Crow on Calisto. Spike gets excited. He should because Julia would excite anyone.

Spike heads out in the Swordfish to find Julia. Jet, mildly pissed, tells him not to come back. Jet's angry he's not seeking out Faye who has left them high and dry. Spike shrugs it off. "That's your call pal." We learn Jet and Spike have been teamed together for three years. There is quite the dysfunctional family aboard the BeBop.
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Faye is ironically drinking and smoking in a place that appears to be The Blue Crow. Spike is looking for Julia.
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Back at The Blue Crow Mr. Saxophone tells Faye there are no women in the town. Faye reckons she'll be very popular there.
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Spike gets followed into a back alley. They suspect he is Vicious. Needless to say Spike is not pleased with being mistaken for the scumbag and opens up a ripe old can of whoop ass on several men. He cleans the alley up with them. He gives the leader a good, old-fashioned knuckle sandwich when he refers to the name Julia as a "sleazy wench's name." That's not a very good idea- WHAMMO!

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Next, Faye runs into the back alley scum, puts her gloves on and begins to kick their asses when she's suddenly rescued by Mr. Saxophone [not that she needed rescuing]. Too bad, I was really looking forward to Faye kicking their asses. Some of the animation of Faye running through the snow reminded me of the lovely anime film Millennium Actress by Director Satoshi Kon.


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Back at Mr. Saxophone's place he takes a shower. Faye is perusing his wall photos when she notices what appears to be Vicious in a cloak standing next to him in the image. The phone rings and the voice of Vicious startles Faye into recognition.
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Spike finds Vicious and calls him out on his using Julia's name to handle his drug deals and other sordid affairs. Spike won't have it. He has Vicious at gunpoint, but one of Vicious' minions steps in front of him.

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Meanwhile, Julia pulls open the shower curtain at Mr. Saxophone's place with her pistola drawn.

In a strange turn, Mr. Saxophone is both a mister and a miss as we are greeted with the sight of him, or rather her, naked with boobs. Faye is more or less shocked and does not fire.
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Elsewhere, Linn pulls his gun on Spike and for whatever reason he will not fire upon Linn. To his detriment Linn fires upon Spike leaving him laying in the snow.
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To be continued...

Jupiter Jazz Part 1: A