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Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star #1
Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star, Volume 1
When the population of Earth abandoned its home for other planets, the Solar System became a playground for tricksters, mobsters and criminals galore. The police alone can't chase them all down... enter the bounty hunters, the best of the best of which make their home on the spaceship Bebop—the ex-mafioso Spike Spiegel, the ex-cop Jet Black, the amnesiac Faye Valentine, Ed the Hacker and their data dog, Ein. Now, with more scruples than the rest of their ilk, the gang often find themselves without the cash, and consequentially without food on their plates. And when they get caught in the crossfire of a mafia grudge match, they may all reconsider their line of work. Made in tandem with the hit TV show, this two-manga series offers an alternative look at the quirky crew of the Bebop.
183 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1998
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1186 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 2, 2013
Recently, I finished watching Cowboy Bebop for the millionth time. I love that anime. It is one I will never grow tired of. The animation, music, story, characters, and setting just flow so smoothly together. I even love the movie and video games they created to go along with the anime so, naturally, I was looking forward to reading the manga. When I picked this up, I was beyond ecstatic! I mean, this is Cowboy Bebop for crying out loud! Of course it's going to be epic! Well... I read it... and I was left a bit underwhelmed. It wasn't bad... however, it was good either. It was just... there. Nothing really exciting happened until the last two chapters and even then it was a bit overshadowed by the... bizarre art style. I was expecting something amazing to happen in the manga and that did not happen.
I don't doubt that Cain Kuga has talent. It's obvious. However, I don't feel her artwork nor her story-telling fits with the Cowboy Bebop universe. The artwork just did absolutely nothing to complement its anime counterpart. Spike looked like a completely different character. Ed looked nothing like herself nor acted like herself (more on that later). The only one that looked much like himself was Jet. Faye looked a bit like herself. All of the spaceships seemed... off... and the background was nothing to drool over. I feel like Kuga's artstyle is more for bishounen type characters... or buffy characters. There's no middle ground with her. Her story-telling was a bit... bland. It was towards the end where I was actually interested in where the story was going. I wanted to know more about Scorpion and how he was going to run the Dragon Syndicate. However, that's where my intrigue ends. Everything else was rather mediocre.
Characters were NOT the characters we came to know and love. I suppose Spike and Jet's personalities were in tact... but Ed? No! That was NOT Ed. I don't know who that was but that was NOT Ed. She acted spoiled, bratty, annoying, stupid, and pathetic. I'm sorry but the Ed I know would not go around acting like an imbecile. Strange though she was in the anime, she was never one to lower herself in order to get what she wanted. That was just... insulting to her character. She never made careless mistakes and she never said things more than once! (Except for Faye's name, which was cute and endearing in the anime... not so much here.) The other characters I have some complaints on (like how Spike forgot about getting food. What the hell?) but none compare to how I feel about the portrayal of Edward's character.
In short, it's a a manga that you should read if you really enjoy the anime and you want to see another take on it... but only read it once. It's not worth going through so much headaches twice. Well, since it ended on a pretty good high note, maybe the second volume won't be so bad. As I said, the ending of this volume was pretty interesting so I will be reading the next one to see where it goes. Hopefully, Kuga had enough time to improve the story and not kill the characters anymore than she already did. Still, I recommend reading it at least once. Take it out of the library if possible first before you decide on buying it.
I don't doubt that Cain Kuga has talent. It's obvious. However, I don't feel her artwork nor her story-telling fits with the Cowboy Bebop universe. The artwork just did absolutely nothing to complement its anime counterpart. Spike looked like a completely different character. Ed looked nothing like herself nor acted like herself (more on that later). The only one that looked much like himself was Jet. Faye looked a bit like herself. All of the spaceships seemed... off... and the background was nothing to drool over. I feel like Kuga's artstyle is more for bishounen type characters... or buffy characters. There's no middle ground with her. Her story-telling was a bit... bland. It was towards the end where I was actually interested in where the story was going. I wanted to know more about Scorpion and how he was going to run the Dragon Syndicate. However, that's where my intrigue ends. Everything else was rather mediocre.
Characters were NOT the characters we came to know and love. I suppose Spike and Jet's personalities were in tact... but Ed? No! That was NOT Ed. I don't know who that was but that was NOT Ed. She acted spoiled, bratty, annoying, stupid, and pathetic. I'm sorry but the Ed I know would not go around acting like an imbecile. Strange though she was in the anime, she was never one to lower herself in order to get what she wanted. That was just... insulting to her character. She never made careless mistakes and she never said things more than once! (Except for Faye's name, which was cute and endearing in the anime... not so much here.) The other characters I have some complaints on (like how Spike forgot about getting food. What the hell?) but none compare to how I feel about the portrayal of Edward's character.
In short, it's a a manga that you should read if you really enjoy the anime and you want to see another take on it... but only read it once. It's not worth going through so much headaches twice. Well, since it ended on a pretty good high note, maybe the second volume won't be so bad. As I said, the ending of this volume was pretty interesting so I will be reading the next one to see where it goes. Hopefully, Kuga had enough time to improve the story and not kill the characters anymore than she already did. Still, I recommend reading it at least once. Take it out of the library if possible first before you decide on buying it.
April 9, 2010
I absolutely loved the anime of Cowboy Bebop. This book is set in the same universe with the same characters. Their stories, however, have changed. The way we meet Ed, Faye, Ein, and the history of Spike and Jet are different based on the author's take on the characters. Some might not like this, but I like the new twist on their relationships. Plus the author has added a whole new badguy! Since the TV series is over, it is also like getting all new Bebop stories. I haven't read the rest in this manga series so I don't know how they continue, but if you are dying for more Spike and don't mind the alternate reality, I highly recommend the book!
If you don't want the stories to change, consider picking up the Cowboy Bebop series by Hajime Yadate and Yutaka Nanten, ISBN#1931514917, simply called Cowboy Bebop Book 1 etc. These are more like continuing adventures that take place in between what would have been a TV episode.
If you don't want the stories to change, consider picking up the Cowboy Bebop series by Hajime Yadate and Yutaka Nanten, ISBN#1931514917, simply called Cowboy Bebop Book 1 etc. These are more like continuing adventures that take place in between what would have been a TV episode.
December 28, 2021
This isn't the Cowboy Bebop I've known and loved since it went live in the United States over two decades ago. The characters have the same names, but only two have similar faces - Spike in particular is changed in ways I find less appealing than the original design - and the personalities are different enough to feel uncanny while still being similar enough to feel familiar yet wrong.
This, apparently, is an alternate-origin version of Cowboy Bebop where the hows and whys of the Bebop crew coming together have been changed along with most of their backstories. I can understand the appeal of AUs, so long as they maintain the essence of the original material. But this didn't. Much like the Netflix version, instead of just putting a little spin on the characters it completely changes them to the point only the names are the same.
Faye is no longer an amnesiac con woman but rather some pity-poor-her syndicate woman or whatever. Ed is no longer a loveable and quirky genius but rather an obnoxious, spoiled brat who put her allies at serious risk just to get her way. Jet and Spike are a little closer to their original selves, but just off enough to feel a bit awkward.
It's basically just a ripoff instead of a spinoff - a mediocre and confusing fanfic which doesn't suit the source material one bit. There were a couple of entertaining moments, but more often than not I was either annoyed or bored. Were it a fanfic, I'd have clicked off instead of skim-reading.
And to top it all off, the art isn't particularly appealing, either. Every page seems to have a hideous 'chibi' moment or two, destroying what may have otherwise been a generally acceptable aesthetic. I mean, imagine if the "Ed...ward..." scene in Fullmetal Alchemist (if you know, you know, and also hate me now) were done in chibi style. Imagine if a laugh track played over the "leaf in the wind" scene of Serenity (ditto). Or imagine if the moment Scar let go of Mufasa's paw in Lion King cut to a chibi-fied Simba with exaggeratedly large mouth yelling swear words (you all know and now even I hate me). If you can picture any or all of those examples, you now understand why the art style of this manga does not at all work for the overall tone of Cowboy Bebop.
In the end, there's a little "behind the story" mini-comic from the artist which says something about them being bad at drawing spaceships and overwhelmed by all the data they had to use as character research and getting nearly free reign on the comic. Apparently, that's why it's nothing like the anime and "anime is anime, this is manga." No way, you don't say! All that does is convince me that Sunrise picked the wrong person to hand this project to, someone who recognizes their work is so far off-base that they have to jump in and make excuses instead of letting it stand on its own.
This was a waste of my time, and I refuse to do to myself what I did with the live action. I won't be forcing myself to continue with this spinoff just to 'see how it goes,' but rather I shall be tossing in the towel and going to watch some of my favourite episodes of the anime as a palette cleanser.
This, apparently, is an alternate-origin version of Cowboy Bebop where the hows and whys of the Bebop crew coming together have been changed along with most of their backstories. I can understand the appeal of AUs, so long as they maintain the essence of the original material. But this didn't. Much like the Netflix version, instead of just putting a little spin on the characters it completely changes them to the point only the names are the same.
Faye is no longer an amnesiac con woman but rather some pity-poor-her syndicate woman or whatever. Ed is no longer a loveable and quirky genius but rather an obnoxious, spoiled brat who put her allies at serious risk just to get her way. Jet and Spike are a little closer to their original selves, but just off enough to feel a bit awkward.
It's basically just a ripoff instead of a spinoff - a mediocre and confusing fanfic which doesn't suit the source material one bit. There were a couple of entertaining moments, but more often than not I was either annoyed or bored. Were it a fanfic, I'd have clicked off instead of skim-reading.
And to top it all off, the art isn't particularly appealing, either. Every page seems to have a hideous 'chibi' moment or two, destroying what may have otherwise been a generally acceptable aesthetic. I mean, imagine if the "Ed...ward..." scene in Fullmetal Alchemist (if you know, you know, and also hate me now) were done in chibi style. Imagine if a laugh track played over the "leaf in the wind" scene of Serenity (ditto). Or imagine if the moment Scar let go of Mufasa's paw in Lion King cut to a chibi-fied Simba with exaggeratedly large mouth yelling swear words (you all know and now even I hate me). If you can picture any or all of those examples, you now understand why the art style of this manga does not at all work for the overall tone of Cowboy Bebop.
In the end, there's a little "behind the story" mini-comic from the artist which says something about them being bad at drawing spaceships and overwhelmed by all the data they had to use as character research and getting nearly free reign on the comic. Apparently, that's why it's nothing like the anime and "anime is anime, this is manga." No way, you don't say! All that does is convince me that Sunrise picked the wrong person to hand this project to, someone who recognizes their work is so far off-base that they have to jump in and make excuses instead of letting it stand on its own.
This was a waste of my time, and I refuse to do to myself what I did with the live action. I won't be forcing myself to continue with this spinoff just to 'see how it goes,' but rather I shall be tossing in the towel and going to watch some of my favourite episodes of the anime as a palette cleanser.
May 2, 2008
Enh. Drawing's mediocre, storylines less than mediocre. I would applaud almost any manga adaptation of Cowboy Bebop; however, when "Spike" doesn't even look like Spike and the characters overall are reduced to one-dimensional aspects of their rich anime counterparts...a disappointing, wooden rendition of a great series.
April 30, 2022
Actually really liked this one. Lots of funny moments and while the characters come close to being cliché they mostly dodge that bullet. The layout here is a little confusing, especially in the beginning, but you get used to it after a while. Definitely will be checking more of these out.
Want to read
August 24, 2015The art is awkward compared to the other volumes? What going on here? Must investigate...
August 22, 2022
I've watched Cowboy Bebop several times and love it. This is a reimaging of the classic manga/anime by Cain Kuga. The stories here--with each chapter a movie title--offer a new take on how the crew of the Bebop (Spike, Faye, Jet, and Ed) get together.
The character's personalities are about the same, except Spike seems more irritable. Ed is a little off, but that's not new. Faye doesn't appear until near the end but the difference isn't noticeable. The storylines, like an action movie, move really fast and there's a lot of action (some of which isn't drawn that well). It's good but not great in the way the classic series was. Nothing in particular about the character designs or plot really stand out.
If the fans can tolerate a live action movie on Netflix, they can and should check this series out as well.
The character's personalities are about the same, except Spike seems more irritable. Ed is a little off, but that's not new. Faye doesn't appear until near the end but the difference isn't noticeable. The storylines, like an action movie, move really fast and there's a lot of action (some of which isn't drawn that well). It's good but not great in the way the classic series was. Nothing in particular about the character designs or plot really stand out.
If the fans can tolerate a live action movie on Netflix, they can and should check this series out as well.
January 3, 2019
I wanted this to be better than it was, sadly.
This title is fine as a new introduction to the world of Cowboy Bebop, and does a serviceable job explaining why things are the way they are in that world. However, it felt just a bit "off" to me. It didn't flow easily, and lacked that slow-burn "cool" factor of the anime and movie.
The pacing felt off and the characters didn't feel like themselves. More like reductions of their narrative parts in the hands of a fan, if that makes sense? The only person I can't say that for is Ed, but they were never wide in narrative scope anyway.
It's still a 'Bebop story, so I still found it entertaining, definitely, but I'd be quicker to point people towards the actual show itself rather than this.
This title is fine as a new introduction to the world of Cowboy Bebop, and does a serviceable job explaining why things are the way they are in that world. However, it felt just a bit "off" to me. It didn't flow easily, and lacked that slow-burn "cool" factor of the anime and movie.
The pacing felt off and the characters didn't feel like themselves. More like reductions of their narrative parts in the hands of a fan, if that makes sense? The only person I can't say that for is Ed, but they were never wide in narrative scope anyway.
It's still a 'Bebop story, so I still found it entertaining, definitely, but I'd be quicker to point people towards the actual show itself rather than this.
February 4, 2023
(review for entire series)
"Life's too short to worry about the details."
This is an alternative version of the Bebop, I guess... So we get 10 chapters, some of them are familiar meetings for the same characters, sometimes they're a little different. Some of them I didn't recognize at all.
You Only Live Twice: Kai Lucas (LT in Dragon Head mafia) hires them to catch his doppelganger
The Kid Stays in the Picture: Sleeping Venus hacker & Ed
Dog Day Afternoon: Ein
The Sting: Scorpion Naigle, taken in by Dragon Head after Kai died
Funny Girl: Faye
The Man Who Would Be King: Chess Pieces - Robin Hood thieves
Midnight Cowboy: Belusa, bounty
Great Escape: Carlos, Scorpion
In Cold Blood: Dragon Head out for Bebop, Ed doctors some photos
The Hustler: mystery money and a massacre
"Life's too short to worry about the details."
This is an alternative version of the Bebop, I guess... So we get 10 chapters, some of them are familiar meetings for the same characters, sometimes they're a little different. Some of them I didn't recognize at all.
You Only Live Twice: Kai Lucas (LT in Dragon Head mafia) hires them to catch his doppelganger
The Kid Stays in the Picture: Sleeping Venus hacker & Ed
Dog Day Afternoon: Ein
The Sting: Scorpion Naigle, taken in by Dragon Head after Kai died
Funny Girl: Faye
The Man Who Would Be King: Chess Pieces - Robin Hood thieves
Midnight Cowboy: Belusa, bounty
Great Escape: Carlos, Scorpion
In Cold Blood: Dragon Head out for Bebop, Ed doctors some photos
The Hustler: mystery money and a massacre
February 25, 2020
The crew of the Bebop return in a stand-alone series based on the original anime/manga but with a slightly different story line.
Spike, Jet, Ed, Faye & Ein are all introduced in this first book of the (short) series of manga, and are the same loveable rogues they are in the other Cowboy Bebop series. The stories in this collection are generic and despite small differences, similar to the original. The artwork is pretty, and the English book (the one I read) is read from back to front as in the original Japanese version so there is no mirroring of the panes.
A good fun addition to the story of the crew of the Bebop.
Spike, Jet, Ed, Faye & Ein are all introduced in this first book of the (short) series of manga, and are the same loveable rogues they are in the other Cowboy Bebop series. The stories in this collection are generic and despite small differences, similar to the original. The artwork is pretty, and the English book (the one I read) is read from back to front as in the original Japanese version so there is no mirroring of the panes.
A good fun addition to the story of the crew of the Bebop.
January 8, 2022
I’ve seen the runaway-hit anime series, and I do enjoy the music and style of it. This manga intrigued me. It’s a different take on the story and characters. Yes, it’s a good stand-alone intro to the characters, the BeBop, and the general backstory.
The art is good and solid, some action panels get a bit mixed up and hard to decipher quickly, but overall it looks great. The characters are all recognizable and yet subtly different than they appear in the anime.
This is definitely more about the people and their interactions, while the ships and flashy action sequences are played down to allow the story to shine.
The art is good and solid, some action panels get a bit mixed up and hard to decipher quickly, but overall it looks great. The characters are all recognizable and yet subtly different than they appear in the anime.
This is definitely more about the people and their interactions, while the ships and flashy action sequences are played down to allow the story to shine.
December 29, 2021
Shooting star opens with a disclaimer about how this is technically an alternate universe with a change of dynamic for the style and characters.
I don’t necessarily understand the change, or how this would be better for the series? The art style is pretty generic, even though the original was kind of dated and sexist. But this art style is very anthropomorphic and it has nothing new to bring to the table.
In all honesty I didn’t read it, the style was just so off putting. The chibi reactions, The teen-titans level of generic facial reactions, just ugh.
I don’t necessarily understand the change, or how this would be better for the series? The art style is pretty generic, even though the original was kind of dated and sexist. But this art style is very anthropomorphic and it has nothing new to bring to the table.
In all honesty I didn’t read it, the style was just so off putting. The chibi reactions, The teen-titans level of generic facial reactions, just ugh.
December 30, 2021
I picked it up at the library thinking that it was the first in the manga series. Well yes, it's the first in the manga series but it's an offshoot of the original manga series and obviously connected to the anime series which is why I had name recognition to want to pick it up.
The concept is fun and interesting however there was a lot that I needed to be able to better appreciate it, and I will seek it out.
Bebop is the spaceship and there are bounty hunters- space opera, I'm here for it, I just need the original first.
The concept is fun and interesting however there was a lot that I needed to be able to better appreciate it, and I will seek it out.
Bebop is the spaceship and there are bounty hunters- space opera, I'm here for it, I just need the original first.
Read
February 11, 2025I read this for a very specific challenge prompt, not having seen any of Cowboy Bebop. Though I did watch the first episode during the time I was reading this, and the manga seems to match the vibe of the show pretty well. Unfortunately, not really for me and I often found the action confusing.
April 18, 2020
I enjoyed reading this book and seeing art that brought back nostalgia from the show. Overall an interesting story worth reading for fans of the anime.
January 20, 2021
I really loved the anime version but the manga wasn’t all that great 😭👌❤️
September 20, 2021
a fun continuation and interpretation of the series. simple english syntax, but very fun. great airplane read!
December 12, 2021
I remember reading this so long ago but I forgot just how different it was from the show. I enjoyed seeing a different spin on this classic.
July 29, 2016
A few months ago, I read the Cowboy Bebop series by Yutaka Nanten and loved it. When I learned there was another series, consisting of just two books, I was very interested in checking it out. I stumbled upon book 1 at a used book shop and snapped it up. This is a review of that book.
A great read, and an interesting take on the story, my only complaint was that sometimes the art style (which was excellent) got a bit too cartoon-y for the series, and while Bebop can be funny, this lacked the melancholy nostalgia of the anime that I had loved so much.
Also my dear Ed, who was so friggin' funny in the original series, was a bit obnoxious here, which was disappointing. As I had watched the anime, I kept expecting to find her irritating, but she was fine all the way through. Not so here. Just a few chapters in and I wanted to kill her. Interestingly, while she's still childish, I felt that there was a certain edge to Ed's character which I had not seen in other versions of the story, and I'm not sure that I like it.
A great read, and an interesting take on the story, my only complaint was that sometimes the art style (which was excellent) got a bit too cartoon-y for the series, and while Bebop can be funny, this lacked the melancholy nostalgia of the anime that I had loved so much.
Also my dear Ed, who was so friggin' funny in the original series, was a bit obnoxious here, which was disappointing. As I had watched the anime, I kept expecting to find her irritating, but she was fine all the way through. Not so here. Just a few chapters in and I wanted to kill her. Interestingly, while she's still childish, I felt that there was a certain edge to Ed's character which I had not seen in other versions of the story, and I'm not sure that I like it.
February 15, 2015
I bought this one when I saw it sitting on the shelve at the New Bern Books-A-Million (I can remember that because it was the same time I first watched the anime, and the original receipt is working as my bookmark). At the time, I didn't know it was a reimagining of the story, so reading it the first time was a bit confusing.
An interesting concept, a manga that takes the basic information of the Cowboy Bebop anime, but tells its own original story. The characters are the same, but the way they came to work aboard the Bebop together is completely different. This is the first of two volumes, and I haven't ever seen the second anywhere. The five stories in this one put the famous Bebop crew together and put them at odds with the biggest crime syndicate in the system.
An interesting concept, a manga that takes the basic information of the Cowboy Bebop anime, but tells its own original story. The characters are the same, but the way they came to work aboard the Bebop together is completely different. This is the first of two volumes, and I haven't ever seen the second anywhere. The five stories in this one put the famous Bebop crew together and put them at odds with the biggest crime syndicate in the system.
February 21, 2011
Ok this is a tricky one. Different story line, different artistry, different feel. Now i first opened this book not expecting to like it, after all I have the anime and love it, to take that and change it - hmmm not sure if its a travesty or a liberty but now i am not so sure. its just as much fun and yes those once familiar story lines are now all changed but not so much that i cannot face reading the next page. Ok we shall see. One more to go and then its again on to something totally different.
January 17, 2016
Yes, this series of Cowboy Bebop is still better than the original series. More clean and dynamic and with better flow. I feel like I know more about the characters. And the art is better too, even if it's different from the anime. It has a good split from the original plot into something the writer wanted to claim.
August 6, 2009
This was a bit confusing. The editors assume anybody reading this has watching the show/read the other manga/etc., etc., so even though it's a No. 1 and a relaunch of the origin story, I was a bit lost among all the inside jokes.
November 20, 2015
This was an absolutely amazing series!!! It had everything in it, romance, mystery, and action. I loved all of the characters and the different personalities that had to clash in one location. It was a survival of all of them relying on each other and being able to get through any situation.
July 25, 2015
Same characters, different story. Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star is a retelling of the classic anime.
August 17, 2011
A fun "remix", new and diverging stories with the same awesome cast. Plus, you can't not love Spike.
March 17, 2016
I was super stoked to pick up Bebop manga with new story lines, but the translation was poor and the art unimpressive. Maybe next time Space Cowboys...
October 31, 2014
Another rating: 5/10
December 1, 2013
This is an alternate version of the crew, & don't like them ax much as the anime versions, especially Spike who is too much of a pretty boy.
Decent stories though.
Decent stories though.
February 29, 2016
A.J. liked "all of it; it was very good" and recommends the book to "anyone."
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews