Composed and arranged by Yoko Kanno, the music was an iconic feature that reeled many Black anime lovers in. You can see the influence of Black music right from the title which references bebop, described by Yonn - a fan and cosplayer - as “a form of jazz that’s very high tempo and ‘scattered,’” that was known for musicians’ improvisational “jam sessions.” The historical essence of bebop and its extensions are also manifested in the titles of each of the episodes, known as sessions, which are named after songs and other cultural references. Cities on Earth look a lot like they do now, though far more dilapidated in many places.” Although they are in the future in outer space, many of the terrestrial places are in various stages of history. In Cowboy Bebop, the past, present, and future are all experienced at once. “Ytasha Womack explains how Afrofuturism seamlessly meshes past, present, and future, so that they occur all at the same time. “While many people tend to view time as linear or spiralling, many Afrofuturists posit that time is in fact an intricate web, marked by spirals and spokes with no singular direction,” she says. While a major component of Afrofuturism rests on the intersections of the African diaspora and science, there is a deeper connective tissue that transcends all space and time - the creation of a future that is established by and for all Black people.Īccording to Iwani Mawocha, a voice actor and model who majored in Afrofuturism, the parallels between Afrofuturism and Cowboy Bebop can be understood through examining the concept of time. Du Bois and Octavia Butler penned works that intentionally centered Blackness and characters in science fiction, and musicians like Herbie Hancock and Sun Ra blended the sounds of rock, jazz, and funk into the soundtrack for these stories. As an adult, I realized that Cowboy Bebop was heavily influenced by the intersections of science fiction and Black culture, or Afrofuturism.Īlthough the concept has a plethora of definitions, according to Susana Morris, an associate professor of literature, media, and communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Afrofuturism is “a cultural movement, an epistemology that centers Blackness and African diasporic culture and technology.” Its US origins date back to the late 19th century and extend well into the 20th century, where important figures such as W.E.B. Looking back on my roots, I not only recognize how crucial Cowboy Bebop was in strengthening my interest and appreciation for anime, but it also bridged the gap between honoring Black music, my budding interest in space, and deepening my relationship with anime and Japanese culture.Įven though the main characters of this series are not Black, the music, style, and themes of it resonate with me and feel reminiscent of, and even parallel to, my experience as a Black person. I instantly fell in love with the anime’s aesthetic and tone, a love that would extend well into my adulthood, inspiring me to get a tattoo and sing praises of this great body of work time and time again. The series, which is directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, follows Spike Spiegel and his “crew” of bounty hunters, who are colloquially referred to as cowboys, while simultaneously giving us snapshots of each principal character’s storyline over a backdrop of jazz music. The one that stuck with me the most was Cowboy Bebop, a 1998 neo-noir space Western that takes place in 2071. My father fed my imaginative spirit by giving me books on the Solar System and inspiring me to foster a deep love for the futuristic sounds of George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic, and jazz music.Īround this time, my cousin Elliott and I would play video games and stay up late to watch anime. I wanted to be an astronaut, and despite living in a world that constantly reinforced that Black femmes would hardly walk the moon, my family encouraged me to be driven and reach for the stars - literally.
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