So, you're wondering what cool DVD to buy for that fly PS2? If you're a gamer, it's a safe bet you're into japanimation, anime, manga...the works. If so, one DVD you should be tracking down is Cowboy Bebop 1.

The thing I noticed right away was the buzz on this series. The popularity of Cowboy Bebop is growing steadily, and it is easy to see why. It's the kind of production that anyone can get into, even if they never thought of themselves as anime fans. The characters pull their own weight, have individual stories and backgrounds, and resist falling into typical patterns we've seen so many times before in slipshod anime. Volume 1, the first of six DVDs, introduces the main characters, Spike Spiegel and Jet Black. They're rough around the edges, both contract bounty hunters cruising from job to job in a run-down spaceship, trying to make ends meet. What they meet in the first five episodes on this DVD, and for most of the series, is a mix of bizarre circumstance and weighty drama, blended with a jolt of battles in space and hand-to-hand combat. It's just so fantastic and weird that it works, especially when you throw a trouble-prone beauty named Faye Valentine into the stew. Faye - like Spike and Jet - has a dark past, and I love that you don't have it all thrown at you in the first 30 minutes. In fact, the series tells you everything about everybody, but in a slow, calculated way that feels more like a well paced novel than anime.

Not to sound dated, but I haven't been this attached to a piece of Japanese animation since Akira. Of course, we're all individuals, but Cowboy Bebop has so much going for it that I'd challenge anyone not to have a good time watching these 30-minute episodes. The music is unreal. Yoko Kanno is a genius, and manages to put aside electronica and metal to make way for beautifully orchestrated pieces of jazz, blues and what reminds me of the old Peter Gunn theme from Spy Hunter. The voice acting is good on both sides, with a solid Japanese cast that catches every nuance and subtlety and an English cast that sounds equally good. Every DVD has previews for other BANDAI titles, along with cast and crew interviews, music videos and various settings of the title music. What's really shocking about Cowboy Bebop is that it was made originally and shown on TV in Japan! All jealousy aside, we're privileged to have such a quality series brought over, so at least try the first volume of Bebop on your PS2. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Cowboy Bebop 1st Session

Episode 1 [Asteroid Blues]:

Jet and Spike must track down a dealer of a dangerous, very addictive drug which induces berseker rages. Has Spike been swayed by the charms of a mother-to-be? Can even Jet's strength stand up to the power of "Red Eyes?"

Episode 2 [Stray Dog Strut]:

Spike and Jet are hired to recover an item stolen from a research scientist's laboratory. Spike is led on a wild chase first by the thief and then by the item itself! But this dog is more than it appears to be, and is the product of some unusual research.

Episode 3 [Honky Tonk Women]:

As luck would have it, Spike and Jet stumble across Faye Valentine, a wanted criminal, in a casino on Mars. But Faye is more than a handful and she holds her own against them and her other would-be pursuers. She's in the middle of a very shady deal, but whose side is she really on?

Episode 4 [Gateway Shuffle]:

The eco-terrorist group, the "Space Warriors" stage a hit on a casino. They intend to hold a world hostage with an experimental virus, but Spike and Jet, lured by the 25-million bounty on the leader's head, aren't going to let them get away with it.

Episode 5 [Ballad of Fallen Angels]:

Spike's past comes back to haunt him as he goes after a bounty on a member of the Red Dragon syundicate. But, it's a set-up, and if Spike is going to survive - and rescue the impetuous Faye as well - he will have to face his old friend and comrade, Vicious, alone.