![]() ![]() Even Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood’s Father has his own arc as the former dwarf homunculus, a creature incapable of performing alchemy himself, aspires to Godhood in his dogged quest for absolute knowledge and self-empowerment. My Hero Academia’s Tomura Shigaraki essentially begins the series as the lackey apprentice of All Might’s nemesis All For One before gradually growing into a formidable and cunning adversary himself. I’ve come to expect more now when it comes to characterization in the anime that I watch.įor example, there’s Mereum, the main antagonist of Hunter x Hunter’s Chimera Ant arc, who’s arguably more ruthless and violent than Vicious ever was his evolution over the course of the arc finds the audience understanding and even sympathizing with him as he struggles to reconcile the human and half-insect aspects of his own nature. All I’m just saying is that it’s been a long time since I was 13. And there are arguably way edgier and more thinly characterized anime villains than Vicious - just look at Raditz from Dragon Ball Z, or Shogo Makishima from Psycho-Pass. So I’m not saying I never thought Vicious was cool back when I watched the series during its original Adult Swim run. He amounts to a character who’s exclusively cool to 13-year-olds. In contrast to Spike, a likeable and multifaceted protagonist with depths of personality and nuance, Vicious just pales in comparison. His dialogue consists almost entirely of terse, ominous quips like, “When Angels are thrown out from Heaven, they become Devils,” or, “Cold climates do not concern me.” He’s a one-note anime antagonist without any discernible arc or motivation other than being an asshole. Despite this, he’s more a vague antagonistic presence than a character himself. He appears in a total of five out of the series’ 26 episodes. Vicious is the primary foil to Spike and the closest thing the series has to a major recurring character, apart from the core cast of Spike, Faye, Jet, and Ed. Also, he wields a katana and has a big crane-like bird for a pet that’s filled with explosives. Vicious is a sadistic, cold, bloodthirsty, and unambiguously “vicious” man (it’s even his name!) who wants power and will stop at nothing to get it. ![]() In “Jupiter Jazz Part 1 & 2,” it’s revealed that at some point in Vicious’ life, likely after Spike left the Red Dragon syndicate and faked his own death, he served as a soldier in a war on the moon of Titan alongside Gren, a former comrade whom he accused of serving as a spy and testified against in military court. A rift formed between the pair when Spike fell in love with Julia, Vicious’ girlfriend at the time. Vicious and Spike were former partners and friends when they were younger, both mentored by a senior Red Dragon member named Mao Yenrai. The 8 best Cowboy Bebop episodes to watch before Netflix’s live-action showĬowboy Bebop creator Shinichirō Watanabe first introduces Vicious using silent flashbacks and context clues in the fifth episode, “Ballad of Fallen Angels.” He’s a high-ranking member of the Red Dragon syndicate, a criminal organization to which Spike previously belonged before he became a bounty hunter. It’s impossible for Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop to “ruin” Vicious because, truthfully, the character of Vicious in Cowboy Bebop was already terrible to begin with. ![]() In fact, I would go so far as to argue that Alex Hassell’s take on Vicious is right in line with the character from the 1998 series. That isn’t necessarily the creators of the Netflix show getting it wrong. He looks like a Spirit Halloween knock-off costume of Rhaegar Targaryen. He looks like Lurch from The Addams Family cosplaying as Alucard from Castlevania. He looks like a guest judge on Iron Chef who’s about to reveal the secret ingredient. And to be honest, he does look ridiculous. These criticisms have been directed at everything from the editing of the trailers, the look of stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda in their costumes, to even the appearance of supporting characters like Vicious, Spike Spiegel’s nemesis, played by Alex Hassell ( Suburbicon). Reception is split between those who think the series looks like an entertaining, fresh take on a beloved anime classic, and those who think it looks like a cloyingly self-aware fan video - albeit one with an admittedly huge budget. Since Netflix’s reveal of the Cowboy Bebop opening titles last month, fans of the original sci-fi anime seem polarized in their opinion in the lead-up to the premiere of the upcoming live-action adaptation. ![]()
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