Cowboy Bebop, the movie, definitely lives up to the reputation of the anime. The plot follows the Bebop crew as they foil the plans of a biological terrorist using nano technology developed in secret by the martian government.
The terrorist (Vincent) was an ex-military member used as a Guinea pig for anti-nano technology. The particular nanotechnology that he got infected with completely wiped out his memories. This led Vincent down a dangerous path where he questioned his very nature of being believed that he was trapped in a dream. Vincent believed that the only way to escape this dream would be to be the last one standing: ie kill everyone else with nanotechnology.
The very notion of being in a dream and not “living” is reminiscent of the themes in the rest of the anime. In fact, during the show, Spike said that he and Vincent aren’t all that different since they have both died before — in this case, a spiritual death rather than a physical one. For Spike, he died when he fled the crime Syndicate, leaving behind the love of his life.
More recently, Mugen Train explored dreams in an Inception fashion way. But, all this begs the question of what happens when you can’t trust the very nature of your reality? Do we use dreams as a fantasy, a way of escaping reality since the world is too cruel to accept?
