"Zen Cool"- love it!
My husband and I watched Cowboy Bebop for the first time a few weeks back and I chose it because I loved Samurai Champloo(by same creator) so much. I love adventure, abstract histories, and friends fated to be together type of animes.
Cowboy Bebop was certainly good, but I think I liked Ed's story as well. She was a genius child but her past and future remains a mystery to me. Of course I adored Spike. I've heard people compare many animes to Cowboy Bebop because it's the "anime for those who don't watch anime". My anime watching began with Escaflowne though, and Inuyasha so I am a little biased, lol. Great article though.