Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Funk (E22)

“You don’t even deserve to be called a cowboy.”

When I first started watching Cowboy Bebop, I literally knew nothing about it apart from it was supposed to be “really good”. After locking into the first couple of episodes, I understood the hype. Cowboy Bebop is a funky blend of genres - there are genuinely too many to name, but the main ones are sci-fi, westerns, and film noir. In that spirit, episode 22, “Cowboy Funk” best captures the spirit of the anime, both in titling and plot.

Before diving into the title review, the episode’s credits are: Shin'ichirô Watanabe (creator), Keiko Nobumoto (writer), and Kunihiro Mori (director).

You can’t talk about Cowboy Bebop without mentioning the music. The anime is well-known for its strong soundtrack composed mainly of jazz - as well as having influences from blues, hip hop, country, and funk. In fact, all of Cowboy Bebop's episode titles are a play on popular songs, albums, and music genres -  e.g. “Ballad of Fallen Angels”, “Honky Tonk Women”, and “Asteroid Blues”. 

Episode 22, “Cowboy Funk” is no different - of course “Funk” being the key, musical word here. “Funk” suggests a groovy, upbeat rhythm. I think this is personified well within the episode and aligns with its light, comedic, and energetic tone.

The title is quite pointed when you consider funk music blends other genres; namely soul, R&B, and jazz. In that same breadth, “Cowboy Funk” is a blend (or more of a clash) between techy sci-fi and the traditional wild west. In this sense the episode title feels apt.

“Um, sir, your horse is an inconvenience…” 

“Funk” also describes the series’ main character, Spike’s (Kōichi Yamadera), attitude within the episode. “Cowboy Funk” sees Spike - a quote, unquote “space cowboy” - comedically duke it out with Andy Von De Oniyate (Masashi Ebara), a flamboyant, horse-riding parody of the classic Western cowboy, as they both aim to take down their latest bounty, a serial bomber intent on blowing up skyscrapers, the Teddy Bomber (Takaya Hoshi). 

Sadly for Spike, even despite steering his high-speed, flying spacejet at full force, he can’t quite get the best of Andy and his galloping, trusty steed. On each encounter, Spike is left face in the dirt, and bounty-less. This puts him in an emotional “funk” of sorts. To rid his embarrassment, Spike ends up abandoning the bounty in order to defeat his carefree, whistling nemesis.

“See you space samurai…”

I don’t think there’s a lot wrong with the title “Cowboy Funk”. It fits well within the series’ musical titling theme, and the themes of the episode itself. I don’t think you need to work hard to understand its meaning, which is also good. 

In comparison, I think it does stand out from the other titles in the series by being similar to the title of the anime. Even without watching the episode, it was obvious there would be some sort of satirical commentary on the western trope. Overall, a good episode title with some fun symbolism and layers.

Overall - 4/5