In the movie Cowboy Bebop, it is very obvious that the main character or protagonist is Spike Spiegel. Although he is the main character and is always surrounded by many different people, there is a feeling that he is constantly alone. Spike seems to have a tendency to distance himself from people around him, to keep himself from getting himself betrayed or hurt. Even though he acts like an abused puppy, Spike is a very caring and tender person. For example, while in the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, he cared for the new recruits. This shows that, although he may have a cold and untrusting exterior, Spike has a warm, kind center. To reflect further upon his seemingly unlikely kind side, there is a scene where Spike comes across an old woman held at gunpoint by a convenience store robber. Spike had never seen (let alone ever met) this woman before in his life, but he quickly responds to the situation by shooting and killing the robber before the robber can kill the old woman. Spike said that he did not care about the woman at all in the least. But, if he didn’t care, then why did he save her life? That’s one scene where his kindness peeks through his veil of hardass-ness. Another part from the movie that illustrates the depth of Spike’s “self conflicting” character is his hunt for Vincent. Spike has been told that he doesn’t need to go after the bounty set on Vincent and that there are better bounties to hunt down, but that is not Spike’s concern. Spike is worried about the safety of the citizens on the planet Mars, as well as keeping Elektra from aiding Vincent to regain his memories. Vincent and Elektra’s relationship was romantic, so it hurts Elektra’s feelings that Vincent has basically forgotten their past together. Elektra feels as though she should be the one to destroy Vincent, not Spike. Elektra achieves her goal by shooting the man she once loved and restoring his old state of mind. Spike was able to save the planet of Mars, with the help of his BeBop Crew and Rashid the scientist. Even though Spike doesn’t want to admit it (for it would be a damper on his lone ranger act), he relies on the help from those who surround him.I got that lovely picture of Spike right here.
I agree that spike relies on his crew to help him out in his bounties and such. I even think that without his crew spike would be a much more evil character. I think this because spike hates being bitched at by his crew like anyone else would be. I don’t think spike is as soft and caring as you perceive him to be, I think the reason spike doesn’t kill the old lady is for the same reason that I or maybe you would not kill her, because killing people and watching people die sucks and he doesn’t want to get bitched at by his crew when he gets back to the bebop. In the series spike has to leave his crew for many bounties because they disagreed on how to go about it. spikes crew definitely keeps him in keep by having valuable resources like Ed’s easy of getting classified information, Faye’s ability to seduce men for bounties, and of course Jet because he owns the bebop.
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