Cowboy Bebop

Original Air Date: 1998-1999

Network: Cartoon Network

This unique series combines various genres and musical styles, producing a very original -- and arguably one of the best -- anime. Set in the late 21st century, Cowboy Bebop follows a group of bounty hunters as they travel in their spaceship, the Bebop. The series' wonderfully animated action sequences -- from space battles to martial arts fighting scenes -- are set to mostly American music, including rock, jazz, and heavy metal.

Most episodes follow the Bebop's crew as they hunt down criminals wanted by authorities, but the series smartly inter-mixes flashbacks and details of the crew's pasts, providing a strong, overarching storyline for the series. The main character, Spike Spiegel, is a bounty hunter with a dark past, as he formerly worked for a violent crime syndicate. Each episode pulls equally from such disparate genres as spaghetti Westerns, film noir and 1970s cop shows, complete with cowboy slang, femmes fatales, and chase scenes that are perfectly mixed together in a way to make a completely fresh and unique series.