![]() Faye falls for him (not too hard, not too quickly, but by the end of the series she’s in love with him), but he leaves her behind to go to his death. Jet is big enough to break Spike in half, but Jet always yields to Spike. He’s clearly the strongest personality of the Bebob crew, the alpha male of their herd. Notice the trend here: he’s really attractive but flawed. He makes crazy risks for financial rewards that don’t pay off, so they are always broke, and he never figures it out. It implies certain holes in his mental processing and specifically his ability to judge risk and reward. In the first episode Spike seems to be unaware that while he’s earned a substantial bounty, he’s used it all up destroying property. Did you ever notice that neither Spike nor Jet nor Faye ever figures out that Ein is a data dog worth millions of woolongs? Despite the fact that they regularly watch that TV show that says he’s worth millions of woolongs? He’s witty and articulate, quick on the uptake, and has decent analytic skills.Īt the same time he’s clearly dumber than a rock in certain ways. When we get to the brains dimension, well, Spike’s clearly not stupid. The flaws create a narrative tension inside his portrayal as a physical hero.Īnd a physical hero he is. And one of his eyes is slightly different in color from the other: he lost one in a fight and has an artificial eye. He gets his ass kicked by Mas Pierrot in episode 20. As smartass and self-confident as he is, in episode five he meets Vicious and ends up in the hospital. He smartmouths his opponents, taunting them as he whups their asses, Muhammed Ali with Jeet Kune Do moves.Īt the same time his physical nature is flawed. And he’s not just good…he knows he’s good. We see him practicing martial arts numerous times, plus he fights in a number of episodes. Whoever designed him needs a prize for something. He has classic features, piercing eyes, great hair, and great clothes. (In the movie it turns out that her clothing defies physics to protect her modesty.) No, not just handsome: he’s drop dead gorgeous, and I say that as a straight guy who watched the series once just to see if Faye’s costume ever slipped. That may be superficial and an easy road to take, but at the same time you have to start somewhere. When we look at characters, a quick way to start is by looking at three basic characteristics: looks, brains, and personality. As a character he’s extraordinarily well constructed, in ways that give him real depth that resonates with viewers, and with history (or at least film history). Can you listen to the opening theme (“Tank”) and not reach for the air bass guitar? And what is that crazed freaking instrument at the end? (A soprano saxophone.)Īnd one strength is the main character, Spike Spiegel. It’s brilliant and you know it’s brilliant. He is a spectacular director with amazing visual sense. One strength is Shinichiro Watanabe’s direction. So, the facts that the ending is incomplete and some of the characters are not developed well (and those are facts) are drowned out, deluged, by the strengths of the series. What it says is that the strengths are so strong that they make the flaws easy to overlook. Those beliefs don’t have to be inconsistent. Paulkemner on Jumping the Tracks III: Throw… The Overage Otaku on Jumping the Tracks III: Throw… Momomanamu on Jumping the Tracks IV: Change… The Overage Otaku on Jumping the Tracks IV: Change… Jumping the Tracks II: Streeeeetching the ploooootttttt.Jumping the Tracks III: Throw in more characters. ![]()
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