11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not essential for most, but great material., June 22, 2004
This Best Sessions collection of Cowboy Bebop contains 6 episodes of the series, with remastered video and a new remixed soundtrack. Most people will not feel justified in buying this set when there really is nothing new besides the soundtrack quality. For me though, I want everything Bebop I can get my greedy hands on, so when I saw it for 12 bucks I grabbed it. Yes, I have these episodes already on DVD, but to hear these great episodes on surround takes it up a notch. I feel like Bebop fans that have a good system should get this. The sound is the only reason though, as there is nothing here we haven't seen before on the other Bebop releases. The episodes contained here are "arguably" the best sessions, but each of them are still great. In my opinion "Ballad of Fallen Angels" is the best session there is, and to hear the great music to it in a remixed soundtrack is amazing. But I will only recommend this collection to die-hard Bebop fans that are as obsessive as I am about watching these episodes in the best possible audio/visual quality. For those who pass on this release don't worry, you aren't missing anything new.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent place to start., November 21, 2002
This review is from: Cowboy Bebop - Best Sessions (DVD)
This set is excellent. I haven't watched all 6 eps yet, but I am really digging it. Love that opening music!
I disagree with a previous reviewer saying how the eps lose coherence when not seen in relation to each other, I am having no problem getting into it, and I had only seen a part of 1 episode prior to getting this set.
Needless to say I am hooked and found this a great way to introduce myself to the Bebop universe.
Highly recommended to all freshman to this class of Bebop!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Compilation of Episodes, but not for Everyone, December 13, 2002
This review is from: Cowboy Bebop - Best Sessions (DVD)
This is my favorite anime series of all time. It is a combination of many genres. Sure, you could say it was sci-fi because it all takes place in space; but all of the episodes have different themes. The characters are very real and very human, the story is emotional, and even the dubbed voices are excellent (almost a rarity in dubbed anime).
The only real point of this DVD collection was to put out a little extra something for the die-hard fans (such as myself) and re-master the sound. If you have a Dolby system, it is actually quite amazing. In fact, in an interview with director Shinichiro Watanabe, he said that he chose the episodes on the first disc for the sound.
"If my selection was based solely on personal taste, I probably would have selected bizarre stories such as episode 20 ("Pierrotm Le Fou") and episode 6 ("Sympathy for the Devil"). But since my emphasis was on the sound, I chose episode 1 with its gun sequences and human interactions; episode 5 for the music being played; and episode 19 for its mecha action. I handled the storyboard for two of them, so I'm sure my color shows up the most in them."
The episodes on the first disc are still some of the best in the series (though I'd rank episodes 6 and 20 above 19, personally), regardless of what influenced his decision.
The episodes on the second disc (chosen by the fans) are also the best, exactly what I would have chosen. It starts with episode 8, Waltz for Venus (featuring the voice of Maaya Sakamoto as Stella), which is my personal favorite. Then it goes to episode 17, Mushroom Samba, probably the funniest of the series, followed up with episode 24, Hard Luck Woman, one of the more emotion-provoking episodes.
If you are a fan of the series (suppose you saw it on Cartoon Network, or something) but do not have the [$$$] for the Perfect Sessions, this is an excellent alternative. If you want to get a friend of yours into the series, this is a good place to start, and if you just want some good episodes with better sound (and some awesome trailers on the second disc) then this is for you. However, it doesn't really have any extras (beyond the trailers) and if you plan on getting the whole series anyway, there's no point, which is why it's got three stars from me instead of five. It's really not for everyone. The case sure looks cool, though.
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