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50 free Cowboy Bebop trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Cowboy Bebop ran for just 26 sessions in 1998 and 1999, yet it is still the show people hand to friends who say they don't like anime. Shinichiro Watanabe's space Western follows Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Radical Edward and the corgi Ein as they chase bounties across a Solar System that looks a lot like New York and Hong Kong, while Spike's past with the Red Dragon Syndicate and his old partner Vicious closes in. This quiz digs into all of it: the crew's backstories, ships and weapons, the Vicious and Julia arc, Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, the botched toy deal that nearly killed the show, its Adult Swim debut and the short-lived Netflix live-action series. There are easy questions for anyone who has watched it once and genuinely hard ones about production, awards and voice casts for people who have seen it five times. Every answer is checked against a reference source and each question links to where the fact was confirmed, so you can settle arguments as well as start them.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year is Cowboy Bebop set?
2071
It is roughly fifty years after a hyperspace-gate accident left Earth nearly uninhabitable and pushed humanity out to the rest of the Solar System.
Q 02How many episodes, or 'sessions,' does the original Cowboy Bebop series have?
26
Watanabe planned the ending from the start and refused to let the show become a Star Trek-style long-runner he would be tied to for years.
Q 03Which crime organization was Spike Spiegel a hitman for before he faked his death?
The Red Dragon Syndicate
Vicious later stages a coup and takes the syndicate over, which is what sets up the final confrontation on its top floor.
Q 04What does the ISSP, the authority that licenses the show's bounty hunters, stand for?
Inter Solar System Police
The ISSP's contract system pays registered 'Cowboys' to bring criminals in alive, which is why the Bebop crew so often ends up broke when a bounty dies.
Q 05What breed of dog is Ein?
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto based Ein on a friend's corgi and then bought one himself to use as a motion model.
Q 06How did Faye Valentine end up in her situation, decades out of her own time?
She was cryogenically frozen after an accident
She spent 54 years in suspended animation, woke with total amnesia and a crushing debt, and is really about 77 years old despite looking 22.
Q 07Which of Jet Black's body parts is cybernetic?
His left arm
It is later revealed the metal arm was his own choice; biological replacements existed, but Jet kept it as a reminder of his past.
Q 08Which of Spike's body parts is artificial, a flaw Watanabe insisted on giving him?
His right eye
Watanabe originally wanted Spike in an eyepatch, but the producers vetoed it. Spike claims he lost the eye in an accident and may not remember the surgery.
Q 09Jet Black is a former cop from which moon?
Ganymede
He was known there as the 'Black Dog' for his tenacity, and the streets of Ganymede in the show were modeled on a modern port city.
Q 10What is the name of Spike's personal ship, a converted asteroid racer?
Swordfish II
Mecha designer Kimitoshi Yamane named it after the Fairey Swordfish, a British biplane torpedo bomber he admired.
Q 11What is Faye Valentine's ship called?
Red Tail
Faye can hold her own against Spike in a dogfight in it, though the show makes clear Spike is ultimately the better pilot.
Q 12The Bebop itself is a converted version of what kind of vessel?
An interplanetary fishing trawler
Both the Bebop and Jet's smaller Hammerhead can land on water and share a fishing theme; Jet named the ship after the jazz style he loves.
Q 13Which real martial art, and which real martial artist's philosophy, does Spike follow?
Jeet Kune Do and Bruce Lee
Q 21Which British band's song 'Space Cowboy' inspired co-writer Keiko Nobumoto?
Jamiroquai
The acid-jazz connection fits: the show's opening title card promised 'a new genre unto itself,' a tagline Watanabe later admitted was an exaggeration.
Q 22Which company's toy division was the original sponsor of Cowboy Bebop, before it pulled out?
Bandai
Watanabe's only instruction was 'so long as there's a spaceship in it, you can do whatever you want.' Sister company Bandai Visual rescued the show from development hell.
Q 23Which two real cities mainly inspired the look of the show's urban settings?
New York and Hong Kong
Spike's 'be like water' speech in 'Waltz for Venus' is lifted straight from Lee, and the show also pastiches John Woo films.
Q 14What is Spike's handgun of choice throughout the series?
Jericho 941
Watanabe chose the show's guns himself with the mechanical designers, specifically avoiding common firearms because they 'wouldn't be very interesting.'
Q 15What is Radical Ed's full name?
Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV
Ed is a girl, a hacker prodigy from Earth, and her behavior was modeled on someone the director had just met.
Q 16Which real person's behavior was the model for Edward's eccentric antics?
Composer Yoko Kanno
Ed and Ein were the only two main characters with real-life models; Watanabe based Ed on Kanno's behavior when he first met her.
Q 17What kind of animal is usually perched on Vicious's shoulder?
A black, cormorant-like bird
The bird's croak is one of the show's creepiest recurring sounds; Vicious himself carries a katana in a world full of guns.
Q 18How did Vicious try to get rid of Spike when Spike planned to leave the syndicate with his lover?
He blackmailed Julia into killing him
Julia went into hiding instead, and Spike faked his own death, which is why the two do not reunite until the final sessions.
Q 19In the finale, what does Spike see when he looks up at the sky after killing Vicious?
A vision of Julia
He then walks down the syndicate's staircase into the sunrise and collapses in front of the remaining gangsters, presumably dead — an ending Watanabe planned from the start.
Q 20Which classic anime did Watanabe cite as his main inspiration for Cowboy Bebop?
Lupin III
Specifically the first Lupin III series; critics have noted the Bebop crew superficially mirror Lupin's gang, only with far more troubled pasts.
Watanabe wanted a world that was 'multinational rather than stateless,' and he deliberately had the United States destroyed decades before the story begins.
Q 24Which planet was used most for the show's storylines because the others were 'unexpectedly difficult'?
Mars
Setting producer Satoshi Toba said even the finale's rooftop scene could not be staged on Venus, so the staff 'ended up normally falling back to Mars.'
Q 25What is the name of the band Yoko Kanno formed to perform the Cowboy Bebop music?
Seatbelts
Kanno's music was written before most of the story or animation was finalized, and Watanabe said her tracks inspired him to create new scenes.
Q 26What is the title of the show's big-band opening theme?
Tank!
It is mostly instrumental with a spoken intro by Tim Jensen; figure skater Kevin Reynolds once skated to it at Canadian nationals dressed as Spike.
Q 27Who sings 'The Real Folk Blues,' the show's ending theme?
Mai Yamane
The title nods to a series of 1960s Chess Records blues albums; a charity remake featuring cameos from the English voice cast raised money for COVID relief in 2020.
Q 28Who voices Spike Spiegel in the original Japanese version?
Koichi Yamadera
Yamadera is also Togusa in Ghost in the Shell and Kaji in Evangelion; Unsho Ishizuka voices Jet.
Q 29Which American voice actor plays Spike in the celebrated English dub?
Steve Blum
Blum's deep voice also belongs to Amon in The Legend of Korra, Starscream in Transformers: Prime and Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat.
Q 30Which voice actress won the Anime Grand Prix voice award two years running as Faye Valentine?
Megumi Hayashibara
Hayashibara described Faye as initially an 'ugly' woman defined by liveliness and sensuality; the show also won best male character for Spike both years.