Spike’s past catches back up to him for the first time, but definitely not the last. “The Ballad of Fallen Angels” is less world-building and more character establishing. It’s also a marvel of animated editing. (Head’s up, this is filled with spoilers for this session and the previous ones.)
1. Enter Vicious
Cowboy Bebop has only the slightest modicum of an overarching plot, something to do with control of a crime syndicate on Mars and a past relationship between Spike and a mysterious woman. As we’ve touched on in the previous installments, the show mostly deals with the Bebop crew drifting in and out of other plots, of different lives. With “The Ballad of Fallen Angels,” we’re given the closest thing to a full-on antagonist with Vicious. Complete with an enormous sword, elaborate suits, a ridiculous name, and long spiky hair, he’s like a Square Enix character transported into this star system.
2. Cutting Edge
Usually I reserve a spot for talking about the coolest beats in Cowboy Bebop, but I want to take a moment in this session to talk about the editing. The cuts. The rhythm. The tempo of this series. Just take a look at that opening scene, after the ship with the White Tigers explodes. Suddenly there’s a sword at Mao Yenrai’s throat, and before we can fully register that, Watanabe cuts to a man stepping over a puddle of blood. Gangsters are diced up and lying dead against the walls while Vicious walks slowly away from us, with a raven on his shoulder. Even the attack on Mao Yenrai is delivered with some Hitchcock swiftness — a short breath on a shot with wide eyes, a trail of blood hitting the ground, a POV shot of someone falling over.
Or Spike’s plummet out the window! His fall is delivered in slow motion, interspersed with shots of his life among the Red Dragons. Sunrise builds momentum and the scene literally ends with a massive explosion.
These more showy sequences in “The Ballad of Fallen Angels” do draw attention to themselves, but it’s also worth noting the control, the holding back, in scenes like when Spike approaches the cathedral. Or how casually the team Watanabe reveals the dead Mao Yenrai in Faye’s box and then Vicious standing over her.
Anime is usually animated at eight to twelve frames per second (Western TV animation is similar), so it doesn’t always have a fluid motion to it. Watanabe has said on numerous occasions he wanted each session of Cowboy Bebop to feel cinematic. And episode after episode shows he found that in how he and the team at Sunrise put these together. The climatic fight is delivered in full shots and close ups as Spike and Vicious take their hits, but the reason the scene has such an impact is because it cuts to the wide shot of them in front of the stained glass window, weapons poised.
3. A Tale of Two Foils
Watanabe gives us an interesting dynamic between Spike and Vicious, especially since both of them are so dominated by their past.. There’s Vicious, who lives in the past, who wants to take the crime syndicates and keep them at war with each other. “”This won’t do you any good, the time have changed. The syndicates can’t survive like this any longer!” Mao Yenrai says right before Vicious slices him. “This endless bloodletting is tearing us apart.”
Spike, on the other hand, wants to forget about his past, even though it tends to take over his life whenever it comes up. This, of course, causes suspicion on the Bebop, which Spike skirts around and shrugs off.
“What are you trying to hide from me?” Jet asks Spike after they find a fake bounty for Mao Yenrai.
“So, how’d you mess up your arm, Jet?” Spike replies.
“What does that have anything to do with it?”
“Nothing at all.”
But Spike’s still reactionary, still fully unable to separate himself from his past and from having to take out his aggression on Vicious.
4. What Happened Back Then
“The Ballad of Fallen Angels” also gives us a deeper look at what Spike’s running away from. After yet another ridiculously cool shootout (which starts with the most iconic entrance into a scene for Spike), Spike finds himself being hurled out a window. Watanabe and his crew flash a series of disjointed images at us, where we gather Vicious and Spike used to be like a team, that Vicious and Julie used to be an item, but that Spike sort of upset the balance. Nothing is stated outright, but we understand what happened and where Spike is coming from. We’re also given a ton more questions, but it’s a start and it helps round out Spike’s character.
Continued below5. Sub vs. Dub
This is a session where the sub works a lot better for me. And it’s mostly because the characters have some ridiculous statements. Like:
VICIOUS: When angels are forced out of heaven, they become devils.
SPIKE: I’m just watching a bad dream I never wake up from.
VICIOUS: The same blood runs in you and me. The blood of a beast who wanders, desiring the blood of others.
SPIKE: I’ve bled all that blood away.
ANNIE: What’s bad for my health is seeing you come back to life. It’s a shock to the system.
Now there’s nothing against the English performances in this one, but I think these things work better when you’re reading them than listening to them. Like, you’re reading them and going, “Oh shit. This just got real.” Yet when they’re said aloud, you’re just going, “What. What?”
Anyway, Spike gets away, Vicious gets away. Jet decides to help out in the end. “The Ballad of Fallen Angels” tells us a little bit more, but it also poses a lot more questions.
What parts of this session stick out to you in particular? How have you been watching this — subtitled or dubbed? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll see you next time, space cowboys, for “Sympathy for the Devil.”
