Cattle herder Bebop‘s large bad guy, Vicious, has actually been contrasted to a lot of his contemporaries in Japanese media, yet it ends up his genuine ideas was reasoned a timeless space hero, not a villain.
Ferocious is actually Spike’s nemesis throughout Cowboy Bebop, although he simply seems in a handful of episodes. Dangerous as well as Spike were the moment good friends while in the syndicate, yet when Spike tried to leave, the two became at odds. Vicious additionally seems to be in a bit of an affection triangular with Spike and Julia, whom Spike was trying to run away along with, although exactly that feels what concerning who is never ever completely clear. Vicious is also shown to have performed in a war that occurred on Saturn’s moon Titan, where he complied with Gren. Vicious stick out through being the only personality throughout the series to use a blade instead of a gun, holding a katana along with him whatsoever opportunities, as well as an unusual bird that is actually forever set down on his shoulder.
The creativity for Vicious’s concept is said to be the personality of Captain Harlock from the series Space Pirate Captain Harlock, a manga and anime coming from the late 1970s. Matching up the two personalities makes the resemblance apparent: each are actually males of couple of terms, possess shaggy, long hair, and put on a hefty, elegant dark coat/cloak with a higher collar. Having said that, easily the most significant resemblance is actually the bird, as Harlock also has a huge dark bird which regularly sits on his shoulders. Savage even often rests on a power similar to Harlock’s. While Harlock is actually the protagonist of his collection, he is still a pirate as well as hoodlum, so the motivation isn’t quite as far from its resource as it could look. One of the most regular Vicious contrast that followers appear to make is actually to Final Fantasy 7‘s Sephiroth, yet another silver-haired, sword-wielding bad guy coming from about the exact same amount of time. Nonetheless, Final Fantasy 7 was released in 1997, and also Bebop was actually well along in creation already, with a Bebop manga debuting in September 1997 to promote the release of the series proper in 1998.
Various other Ties Between Bebop and also Harlock

Cowboy Bebop has another significant connection to Captain Harlock that likewise reinforces the Vicious connection. In the activity Super Robot Wars T, a crossover set in between several cartoons homes (though largely mecha series), Faye, Spike, and also Jet seem, hunting the biggest bounty there’s ever been actually: the prize on Captain Harlock. This, obviously, pits Spike as well as co. versus the epic room pirate, putting Harlock in the role typically occupied through Vicious. Spike is able to realize Harlock’s skill enough that he is actually afraid to engage him in a match, yet as constantly, the team of the Bebop truly require some money. The good news is, Harlock manages to entice Spike to interact to take down an also much bigger hazard just before it comes to strikes. While Spike does not comment on the similarity, they do end up gun-to-sword, much like Spike and also Vicious perform in their very own match from the series.
Vicious might not be among Cowboy Bebop‘s very most engaging characters, but every good hero needs a villain– and also for a morally grey character like Spike, a villain based upon a hero appears very most appropriate.