The community’s members grew to 50,000 in 2019, likely thanks to these changes by the mods.
“I think after I joined, we tried to give it some life again with some small redesign, a new series rewatch discussion, and creating our Discord server, which gave a new breath of life into the community,” said -WakaJawaka.
These numbers improved after some of the mods attempted to revitalize the community, led by -WakaJawaka- and MarshallBanana_. “In 2018, the sub was barely stepping above 20,000 subs it was pretty much dead at that point,” said -WakaJawaka-, one of the subreddit’s other moderators. “It is still a really relevant show with a quality of animation that is still unmatched to this day.” SonicFrost, another moderator of the subreddit, explains that has simply become necessary viewing for any prospective anime viewer.”Ĭurrently, the member count of r/cowboybebop sits at 225,000, but this was not always the case. “I think that the unique way that Bebop blends genres while still being so consistent lets it feel so fresh to this day,” Alwaqas says.
The show pulls from so many influences that it’s able to attract an international audience.
One day, the Bebop movie came up on TV, and I had heard about Bebop before but never seen it it was so different from what I have seen before, and I instantly got hooked.” Image: Sunrise Entertainment “Being from the Middle East, the anime that I watched as a kid were very different than what is popular in the US. Alwaqas is from the Middle East and joined the subreddit two years ago but has been a fan of Cowboy Bebop since he was a kid. That includes one of the subreddit’s own moderators. It only had 26 episodes and a movie but managed to maintain a huge online fanbase in the two decades following its release, thanks to communities like r/cowboybebop.īoth the community, and the show it’s based on, have been able to reach and connect fans across the world. It followed the adventures of Spike Spiegel, Jett Black, and Faye Valentine, bounty hunters who travel the galaxy searching for their targets. The show made its debut on September 2nd, 2001, one day after the first broadcast of Adult Swim. The first anime to ever air on Adult Swim was Cowboy Bebop. Anime gained popularity in America during the 1990s and the 2000s with the introduction of Toonami and Adult Swim, programming blocks on Cartoon Network dedicated to airing anime and mature shows. MarshallBanana_ became a fan during the series’ original run on Adult Swim. “I created the subreddit in 2012, so a little over nine years now,” said MarshallBanana_, head moderator and creator of the subreddit. For nearly a decade, fans have flocked to this community to post their thoughts on Spike Spiegel and his past, funny memes, cosplay pics, and fantastic fan art.
That popularity can be seen on Reddit in the r/cowboybebop subreddit. The original Cowboy Bebop anime ended in 2001, but it’s seeing a surge in popularity thanks to the new Netflix show. The next anime to receive the live-action treatment is Cowboy Bebop, a show considered to be one of the greatest anime ever made. So far, the streaming service has released film adaptations such as Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Rurouni Kenshin. In recent years, Netflix has started to specialize in live-action adaptations of anime.