The opening sequence of Cowboy Bebop incorporates many conventions of the film noir genre. It introduces the main protagonist, an anti-hero detective, who is shown lighting a cigar with another person assisting him, similar to the detective characters in film noir. Subsequent shots introduce a potential femme fatale and hints of a mysterious past through her smoking and avoiding eye contact. Further shots depict gunfire and fighting, emphasizing the action and danger common in film noir stories. The opening concludes by re-showing the title to firmly establish for the audience that they are watching Cowboy Bebop.

1. Cowboy Bebop Opening Analysis
Cowboy Bebop is a famous anime movie and series that fit into the film noir
genre with the two sub-genres, anime and science.
The opening starts with another person lighting a cigar for main protagonist
(who is also an anti-hero and detective). This has common conventions of the
film noir genre, as there tends to be a lot of links to smoking and other
addictions. The fact that there is another person lighting the cigar for him proves
that he has a helper that could likely be the Deadpan Snarker who is also
normally found in the film noir genre. There’s also text in the background that is
in a similar style as to that of a newspaper which is another common convention
found in a film noir and will tend to have the detective reading it, this could likely
be the reason why Spike Speigal (the main protagonist) is framed by the
newspaper text.

2. The next shot has the main protagonist facing forwards with a direct mode of
address. This emphasises to the audience that he is the main protagonist but the
cocky smile on his face suggests that this character is an anti-hero.
The shot after is incredibly effective at subtly introducing a new character to the
audience.
This shot alludes to a woman that could possibly be a femme fatale or a
mysterious woman. The way that she is walking suggests that she is the femme
fatale.
This shot helps to emphasise the fact that this new character is the femme fatale
as she is smoking a cigarette and looking below the camera to add mystery to her
personality.

3. The next shot connotes the film noir genre.
The guns firing tell the audience that during the movie there is going to be a lot
of action, which are primarily gunfights. This is effective as film noir had the
main protagonist getting into a lot of gunfights and put into very dangerous
situations.
The next shot introduces yet another new character being introduced.
This character is on a similar background to the first shot. This suggests that he
is the helper/deadpan snarker that I mentioned earlier in the first shot. He
seems to be smoking a cigarette instead of a cigar which could imply to the
audience that he is not as important as the other character seen at the start of the
opening.

4. The next shot re-emphasises a character.
This shot again hints toward this character as being the main character of the
film. He still has his cigar which could emphasise again that he is an anti-hero as
well as the main protagonist.
This shot also re-emphasises a character.
This shot has the girl, whom we predicted as the femme fatale, looking away
from the camera with her hair covering her face on a red background. The fact
that we can’t see her face express to the audience that she has something to hide
and could well be the mysterious woman. On the other hand, she has been place
on a red background. This leads the audience to believe that she is the femme
fatale.

5. The final shot is similar to one of the shots in my previous analysis.
In my previous analysis, one of the final shots was ‘007’ to tell the audience again
exactly what they are watching. In the ending of the ‘Cowboy Bebop’ opening it
also shows the title again so that it emphasises to the audience exactly what it is
that they are watching.
By Mathew Bray