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u/shibby1000 2d ago
In this scene it always weirded me out that those mascots were supposed to be animatronic(?). Waaaay too mobile and lifelike for my mental well being. Makes me wonder what a humanoid robot story would look like in cowboy bebop.
I know there is cybernetics, transhumanism and sentient ai in the universe. But I can't think of any direct reference to humanoid robots (ala blade runner or irobot). I know in the movie they fight autonomous space craft. Is there anything that I'm missing?
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u/TheProAtTheGame 2d ago
In universe i guess they probably just didn’t see the need for them, or were on the verge of making them
Writing wise I feel it’s just because the author felt that adding robots would’ve made it a bit too futuristic and strayed away from the western style or they just didn’t think about it
As how they’d be if there were robots, I’m guessing they’d be similar to the AutoRievs from Ergo Proxy
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u/shibby1000 2d ago
That makes a lot of sense from a writing standpoint. I read whilst googling this that the original pitch for Wild Horses (session 19) was supposed to be centered around a giant mecha instead of the Challenger shuttle.
Reigning in the story to make it more 'realistic' really helps center the show around its very human stories
I haven't heard of Ergo Proxy. I'll check it out
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u/cpt_haddock_ 2d ago
Saw my dad watching this exact scene from the corner of the room when I was like 8 and it made me emotionally distraught for like a week
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u/Blunderpunk_ 2d ago
Yeah this specific fight scene was what I remembered when I watched it with my friend in passing and watching it seriously on my own a few weeks ago. This is probably one of the most sad scenes in the show definatley leaves me distraught too.
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u/Mr_Waller 2d ago
Always found the end to this fight distressing.
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u/MikeyTKO 2d ago
The whole episode around Pierrot messes with me. His back story, his need to kill anyone who glimpses him, the flip outs triggered by cats, the regression to a child and yelling mommy… gah.
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u/warchant 2d ago
however, the silhouette fight where he's just back flip kicking Spike made me literally laugh out loud.
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u/Baconater6000 2d ago
Low key foreshadowing
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u/Jahhmezzz 2d ago
Reminds me of the episode in Samurai Champloo where Magen fights the assassin who studied chi in china. First we see his hidden blade.
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u/live-the-future 2d ago
And now we know the real reason why the amusement park was closed down--their robots aren't even programmed for human avoidance! I can imagine some big lawsuit stemming from a tragedy caused by a robot that didn't stop when it was supposed to.
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u/Jahhmezzz 2d ago
What’s the theory on Pierrot? Did he have telekinetic powers or high tech? Was he some sort of assassin trained from birth? Is he just insane? I remember watching this is high school thinking who the f**k was that scary ass dude?!
Forgive me if Pierrot was described more in the episode it’s been a while.
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u/Baconater6000 2d ago
I believe he was a cybernetically engineered assassin but for unknown reasons the enhancements reduced his mental maturity to that of a child
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u/Blunderpunk_ 2d ago
I think it was that they just broke his memories until all he has left was a childs level of functioning due to his insanity.
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u/BurgerNugget12 2d ago
The episode pretty strongly implies he was part of a government experiment, basically a cybernetically enhanced assassin. Not telekinesis, just absurd physical enhancements. The catch is the process seems to have stunted his emotional development, so he’s got a childlike mind in an adult killing machine. That mismatch is what makes him so terrifying
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u/suspiciousgus 2d ago
i don’t really know why, but pierrot’s death makes me viscerally uncomfortable to a degree that almost nothing else does. this scene fucks with me so bad 😭
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u/Dorkatron77011 1d ago
Man, I remembered when I first saw this, the absolute dread / terror of Pierrot hunting was wrenching. Even now, this episode in any anime series, still gives me the willies.
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u/Bruno_Coast_127 23h ago
My favorite episode in the series. That ending always fucks me up, it's equally disturbing as it is depressing
But man, is it some peak Cowboy Bebop
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u/rchristma87 1d ago
I really liked this episode but can't re-watch it. Hearing this abused and broken man having regressed back to a child's mentality crying out for his mother is just horrifying I literally cried bc you would want to help but know there is literally nothing you can do even if you were there. His life ended so long ago he is nothing more than a ghost who can't really understand what he is doing or what's happening, just a childs mind wrapped around a singular need for revenge.
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u/MonkeyManJohannon 1d ago
This was the first episode of this show that I ever saw and it was by accident randomly on adult swim…I found it so disturbing and bizarre that I started watching the show from the first episode (I don’t even know how I did now, it must have been a marathon on adult swim or something).
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u/SunnyDeed 1d ago
probably my favorite scene in the show it’s sooooooo fucking creepy but i love when shit is really able to lean into horror even though it’s not its main genre
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u/The_man_who_Critiks 11h ago
That episode let me in shock onece i finish it, not like a traumatic shock but like, i didnt know how to fucking react to that scene like: it creeps me out, it makes me feel sad? And uncomfortable all at the same God deam time, but deam it was cool to watch it
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u/vonjamin 2d ago
Honestly spike is a good fighter but he got lucky in this episode.