SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE MAIN SERIES AND THIS MOVIE...DUH The Story Characters: Given this movie takes place between Episodes 22 23 of the series this film is set before a lot of the major things have happened towards the end of the series so Faye and Ed are still around Spikes not stuck in purgatory on whether hes alive or dead after his fight with Vicious etc. The story itself is certainly the most layered compared to the main series and its episodes. To break it down in simple terms a soldier who was experimented on named Vincent ends up trying to essentially exact his revenge on the world through the usage of a bioterrorist act with a nanomachine pathogen thats made out of blood specifically tied in with bone marrow to wipe out the world and wants to take Faye along with him into his new world. Its pretty wellpaced especially well given the fact its roughly a little under two hours long and has a pretty cool conspiracy to it especially thanks to the large scale with the Mars Military ISSP Cherious Medical and the Bebop Crew all trying to figure out what exactly theyre up against and what they can do to stop it. It still keeps the theming of a character having some deeperrooted reasons for doing what theyve done and while the writers hold your hand here more than they do in the main series to explain whats happening I personally didnt mind it and found the way they presented it in this movie to be interesting and not too unnatural. Characterwise this is still 100 Cowboy Bebop at its finest. Youve got the crew all coming together and contributing their own work to the story too I GOT WHAT I ASKED FOR HOORAY Everyones still their usual selves from the main series and I didnt get any out of character vibes from any of them at all. Vincent Elektra Lee Hoffman Shadkins and Rashid are the newcomers here and theyre all pretty great and utilized well with the time theyre given especially Elektra. I wouldve loved to see her pop in the main series if she were able to be. Hoffman and Shadkins were just there for basically comic relief and to add some more scale to the story with their presence but Ill admit they gave me a couple of chuckles with their banter. Its once again really solid stuff and Im glad they still had the talent in them to keep the same consistency in quality like they did with the original series. Id honestly give this an A+ for this department if only because the writing here feels a little more refined than in the original series and because the themes and story are genuinely really interesting and kept me really engaged all throughout the runtime. The Visual Sound Design: Having been released a few years after the original series the visuals received a significant boost. The CGI is still a little dated but not nearly as much as it is in the original series and the blend of traditional and CGI actually looks really good especially for its time. The visual effects and especially the animation and detail throughout this movie are astounding not even in a fangirly way just in a Damn this movie looks so clean sort of way. Theres a lot more shown environmentally and the varied locations and the new Middle Eastern ones are super great and give this film just a little more of its identity. The gunfights handtohand and dogfights got a huge boost in fidelity for sure. The fight scenes with Spike and Vincent are BRUTAL man you can see and practically feel how hard theyre whooping each other. Those amazing shots that were seen in the original series look even more amazing here with the refined visuals. If the original series looked this good people would be gushing about it way more. Theres also just a lot of experimentation with the visuals i.e. the first person views of the characters whenever theyre affected by the Pathogen and how the butterflies come into their visions to signify the virus is affecting them and I think it gives this film its own flare on the original already trippy mixedmedia style that the original series had going for it. Soundwise its also peak The English Dub and Japanese subs are both phenomenal and everyone was able to come back and once again absolutely rock their roles. Yoko Kanno also returns with the Seatbelts and absolutely knocks it out of the park with a mixture of Rock Ambient Cultural Jazz and Western musical styles that perfectly capture the series original identity while giving us even more new amazing music. Sound designwise too man those fight scenes and explosions hit even harder than they did in the original series feels like they have a little more oomph to them. Its hard to go wrong when youve got the best of the best here. Probably my favorite aspect of this film and Ill definitely be gushing at it all for a while. Its just...gorgeous man. A+ grade work here as well. The Verdict: Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heavens Door is an amazing addition to the Bebop franchise and helps in expanding the world more giving us a little more screentime for all of the characters from the main series we all know and love while giving us some new ones that are also pretty interesting even if we sadly dont get to see them again and looks stellar while doing all of that. You can really tell they went all out on this film and it paid off cause this is probably if not legitimately my favorite anime movie Ive seen and thats a very bold statement coming from someone whos seen nearly every Ghibli film under the sun. Theres just something about this film that...hits the right chords in a very specific...sensual sort of way? Its hard to describe but its brilliant. I think it goes without saying but I can only recommend it to those who are already invested in Cowboy Bebop and want more. And yes I like many other people will say you should watch this probably between Episodes 22 and 23 when watching the series since thats where it takes place. I will say though if you loved the series youll get an absolute kick out of this film its...Dare I say...a nearperfect masterpiece. Also make it a Halloween movie because why not have an excuse to watch it every year?