10 Anime Like Cowboy Bebop You Must See

‘Cowboy Bebop’ is one of the best anime ever. The series makes you challenge your views and opinions. It makes you question the existence of human beings. No anime had ever made me feel so much philosophical as ‘Cowboy Bebop’. The series follows the adventure of Spike and his buddy Jet Black who are cowboys and travel on their spaceship named Bebop. Throughout 26 episodes, the duo is joined by Faye Valentine, a con artist, and Edward Wong, a hacker. The series develops beautifully and makes the viewers deeply invested in the characters. You start relating to them. With that said, here is the list of anime similar to Cowboy Bebop that is our recommendations. You can watch some of these anime like Cowboy Bebop on Netflix or Amazon Prime or Hulu.

1. Space Dandy (2014)

Let’s start with an anime which is quite similar to ‘Cowboy Bebop’ setting wise. The series ‘Space Dandy’ deals with an Alien hunter named Dandy, whose work is to locate new alien species. With every new species discovered Dandy earns a lot of money. His companions are a robot named QT and a feline looking alien named Meow. The series is really funny and entertaining seasoned with nice action scenes. Be sure to check it out.

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2. Trigun (1998)

Another space/western themed anime is ‘Trigun’. This is similar to ‘Cowboy Bebop’ in terms of setting of the story and bounties and both aired around the same time. Despite certain similarities, the main character of ‘Trigun’ is much different from Spike. Vash the Stampede is a gunfighter who is despised by many as a maniac who destroys every city he lands on. Cities are evacuated even if there is a rumour of him arriving there. He has a bounty of $60 billion on his head. The plot of the series follows his misadventures as he is chased by two insurance agents who want to stop him from destroying any more stuff.

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3. Coyote Ragtime Show (2006)

Mister is an outlaw in an alternate galaxy and is locked up in a prison. But he decides to escape the prison and is successful. He is helped by his friends Bishop and Katana. Mister is then determined to find Franka, a girl who is to be taken care of by Mister as per her father’s wishes. They also seek to find a treasure left by her father. But Mister is being hunted down by federal agents Chelsea and Angelica. To add more trouble a group of android assassins is following them too. Will they be successful in their endeavours?

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4. Samurai Champloo (2004)

This is an entertaining anime filled with intense samurai sword fights and occasional humour. ‘Samurai Champloo’ deals with the adventures of three people whom fate have wound up together. They are in search of a mysterious samurai whom Fuu, a waitress and one of the three individuals, describes as a samurai who smells like a sunflower. The other two individuals are samurai swordsmen who don’t get along very well. Are they capable of finding the samurai or will they fail? Whatever it be the series is a great watch.

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5. Black Lagoon (2006)

This anime is strong stuff. It deals with falling morality of human race, violence, corruption, and crime. The series is set in Thailand in a place called Roananpur which is a crime-ridden and corrupted city run by crime syndicates. Rokurou Okajima is a businessman from Japan. He sent for a business trip to south-east Asia only to be later captured by mercenaries in Roanapur who go by the name of Black Lagoon. They see Okajima as some bargaining chip for cash and stuff. But Rokurou’s boss abandons him and doesn’t negotiate. So, he is left alone among the mercenaries. He then decides to become a mercenary himself to survive in this hostile place.

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6. Michiko to Hatchin (2008)

This is another outlaw centred anime and this time it is set in South America. Michiko Malandro is a career criminal who has been put behind bars. But she breaks out of prison and begins a journey to find a man from her past. She later finds a girl Hannah who might have a clue. The only problem is that she is trapped with her foster parents. Michiko successfully frees her from the clutches of her family and both set out on the journey together.

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7. Baccano! (2007)

This series uses a different approach to storytelling. The plot dances around a few themes namely immortality, alchemy, war, mafia etc. The anime follows different stories which are spread across different time in the United States. At first, it seems as though they are just random incidents as the place and time don’t add up. But slowly we begin to see the bigger picture where all these incidents form one single plot. The direction is clever and the anime is entertaining. ‘Baccano!’ is based on award-winning novels of the same name by Ryohgo Narita.

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8. Outlaw Star (1998)

Yes, there is another anime with a similar setting and theme as ‘Cowboy Bebop’ and ‘Trigun’ that released in the same year as these two. Man, they sure love their space wars and cowboys way too much. This plot deals with the adventures of two cowboys named Gene Starwind and Jim Hawking who live in a planet named Sentinel III. Their lives take a deep plunge into trouble when they are hired by some women as bodyguards. Soon they find themselves being chased by cops, aliens, assassin and bounty hunters. The source of the name of the series is similar to that of ‘Cowboy Bebop’ as it is the name of their ship, ‘Outlaw Star’.

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9. Gun x Sword (2005)

What theme goes best with a western-style anime? Revenge! Of course Revenge. ‘Gun x Sword’ is just that, a western anime with an underlying theme of revenge. Here we see our main character Van who has sworn revenge on a man named Claw man because he has a claw for one of his hand (very creative I know). Claw man killed Van’s wife on their wedding day. Van’s current companion is Wendy. Her brother has been kidnapped by Claw man. This is an action-heavy, masculine and entertaining anime.