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''Cowboy Bebop: The Movie'', known in Japan as , is a 2001 Japanese animated space Western action film based on the 1998 anime series ''Cowboy Bebop'' created by Hajime Yatate. Multiple staff from the original series worked on the film, including director Shinichirō Watanabe, writer Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, and animation director Hiroshi Osaka, and composer Yoko Kanno. The original English and Japanese voice cast also reprised their roles. ''Cowboy Bebop: The Movie'' is set between episodes 22 and 23 of the original series. The plot centers on a mysterious terrorist planning to destroy the human population on Mars using an unknown pathogen. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship ''Bebop'' work to find the terrorist and discover the source of the pathogen before the attack can take place. The film was conceived by Watanabe as an extension of his work on the television series, which he treated as a series of miniature films. So as not to alienate fans of the series, a large amount of aesthetic material was incorporated, while also adjusting it to make it accessible to newcomers. Increased budget and production facilities enabled the use of filming styles associated with live-action films and a higher animation quality than the series. Arabic thematic elements were incorporated to contrast against the series, which entailed Watanabe traveling to Morocco for research. The Arabic atmosphere was also used in Kanno's music. The film was produced by studios Sunrise, which had previously developed the original series, Bones, a later studio founded by former Sunrise staff, and Bandai Visual. ''Cowboy Bebop: The Movie'' was released to theaters in Japan on September 1, 2001 and in the United States on August 11, 2002. It went on to gross over $3 million worldwide, and when released on DVD, it ranked high on Japanese and US charts. The film received generally positive reviews from mainstream and anime critics and was nominated for the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Animated Film. ==Plot== ''Cowboy Bebop: The Movie'' is set on Mars in the year 2071, forty-nine years after Earth was mostly abandoned after a catastrophe. Humanity has settled on other planets and moons in the solar system. The film's protagonists are legalized bounty hunters who travel together on the spaceship ''Bebop''. They are Spike Spiegel, a former associate of the Red Dragon crime syndicate; Jet Black, a former police officer and owner of the ''Bebop''; Faye Valentine, a woman who was once a fugitive from bounty hunters; Edward Wong (Ed for short), a girl with genius computer skills; and Ein, an artificial dog with human level intelligence. Days before Halloween, a man explodes a truck in Mars' capital city, spreading what is assumed to be a new pathogen that kills or sickens over three hundred people. In response, the Mars government issues a record bounty of 300 million woolong for the culprit's capture. Faye, who was pursuing Lee Sampson, a hacker that was apparently driving the truck, sees the terrorist and the ''Bebop'' crew decide to take on the bounty. Each follows different lines of inquiry. Ed, using a tattoo on the attacker's wrist, manages to identify him as Vincent Volaju, a former member of a military squad apparently killed in the Titan War. In reality, Vincent was the only survivor of a test involving the pathogen, having been immunized with a test vaccine: made an amnesic, he suffers from hallucinations, and his inability to tell dreams from reality eventually drove him insane. Jet learns that the truck was the property of Cherious Medical Pharmaceutical Company, who illegally manufactured the pathogen as a biological weapon. Looking for information on the pathogen, Spike is given a sample by a man named Rashid, who was the former lead on its development. Spike also encounters Elektra Ovirowa, an agent of Cherious Medical. Upon examination, the "pathogen" proves to be a type of protein-based nanomachine that mimic human lymphocytes then break down into protein after death, making them undetectable. Attempting to infiltrate Cherious Medical, Spike fights with Elektra, planting a listening device on her. Elektra, who is sent by Cherious Medical to kill Vincent, is tailed by Spike, who attempts to take down Vincent on a train. Vincent easily defeats Spike, severely wounding him and throwing him from the train before releasing another cloud of the nanomachines: everyone in the train dies except Elektra, who had been in a relationship with Vincent prior to the test on Titan and was accidentally immunized. She secretly gives a friend in the company a sample of her blood to prepare a stock of vaccine. During this time, Faye relocates Sampson, who has been working with Vincent, but fails to catch him. Ein and Ed manage to find him again, but the two run off before Faye can get there. She arrives just as Vincent breaks one of the nanomachine containers with him, killing Sampson. Although Faye is also infected, Vincent gives her some of his blood through a kiss, immunizing her. After Spike recovers and has a final talk with Rashid, he and Elektra are captured by Cherious Medical, who want to suppress all knowledge of the nanomachines' existence. The two escape from Cherious Medical, grabbing the newly produced vaccine on the way. In turn, Faye escapes after Vincent goes to trigger an attack on the city that will eventually kill everyone on Mars. After the group reunites, it is determined that Vincent will spread the nanomachines by exploding the giant jack-o'-lantern balloons used in the Halloween parade: Jet has a troop of old aircraft spread the antibodies over the city while Faye heads for the weather control center and causes it to rain on the city, aiding the spread of the vaccine. Spike and Elektra separately head to confront Vincent. Spike arrives first and the two battle to a standstill, then the nanomachines are released and Spike is temporarily weakened by them. As Vincent prepares to kill him, Elektra arrives and shoots Vincent. Having wanted to die since Titan, Vincent does not defend himself and thanks Elektra for their time together before dying. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cowboy Bebop: The Movie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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