Rare example of an anime far more beloved outside of Japan than inside of it, still don't know why exactly. Probably the best example. I've hung out with Japanese anime fans a bunch of times and never once met one who's seen it, only met a single person who had heard about it. It's like a complete blind spot in there anime canon, whereas in North America the show revived interest in anime, which had been declining in the west since the late 80s. It was the first anime shown on Adult Swim, back in an era where you'd really only see stuff on TV directed at kids like Dragonball or Sailor Moon.

Telling them about Bebop is like revealing a lost treasure, like "Hey did you know the Macross Plus guy did another space show back in 1998?" Always nice.

The show rules and there's never gonna be anything else like it. It's so timeless yet also a perfect symbol of its era. It's gorgeously animated, the music slaps, it takes the viewer seriously and yet also knows when it can play around. Good show. Only problem is some episodes are clearly filler that don't go anywhere.

Watanabe is a great director and you should check out his other stuff. Samurai Champloo is good too, and Carole & Tuesday is good if you wanna cry.