Cowboy Bebop & Their John Wick Counterparts

One of the biggest, best, and most beloved animes of all time remains the king, Cowboy Bebop. With its excellent blend of darkness, action, and comedy along with a space opera meets Western setting, the late ’90s series has inspired a generation of storytelling around the world. One franchise where the impact of Cowboy Bebop is felt, either intentionally or not, is in John Wick. 

Both John Wick and Cowboy Bebop follow former hitmen who turn to other means for their livelihood and get dragged back into their dark pasts. Surrounding them is a group of colorful and memorable characters that stick with audiences long after the end of the proceedings in the stories. Considering that, the similarities between the characters definitely get starker in comparison.

7 Spike Spiegel and John Wick

The main characters of their respective series, Spike Spiegel and John Wick are both former and still feared criminals, who either try to or have retired from their violent lives after falling in love. Despite their differing circumstances, both Spike and John are unable to fully leave their past lives behind them. In addition to being utter demons at fighting, the characters also show their own moral code.

Also, a fun fact, Keanu Reeves, who plays John Wick, was considered to play Spike Spiegel in a live-action Cowboy Bebop movie.

6 Jet Black and Winston

While Winston in John Wick isn’t a main character like Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop, both characters have some very interesting similarities. Both are allies to the protagonist of the respective series with a clear history in their pasts together. Jet and Winston are renaissance men with an appreciation for the finer things in life, who created the safe harbor (the Bebop and the Continental) for the main character.

More importantly, Jet and Winston will do anything to make sure that said harbor, along with the protagonist, is taken care of.

5 Faye Valentine and Sofia Al-Azwar

Both Faye Valentine and Sofia Al-Azwar are latecomers to their respective stories. Faye doesn’t join the crew of Cowboy Bebop until later in the series while Sofia doesn’t appear in John Wick until John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Despite this, both women are shown as being highly capable combatants with a wide range of skills.

Though, helping the protagonists ends up getting both women in some very serious trouble with very powerful people.

4 Ed and The Bowery King

This isn’t an obvious one-to-one comparison, but it does work. Due to the lack of child characters in the John Wick franchise, Ed’s cleverness and eccentricities in Cowboy Bebop can only be matched by the mysterious and enigmatic Bowery King. Both Ed and the Bowery King can be underestimated at first glance, but that doesn’t last long when people cross them or try to harm those under their protection. They are much smarter than people would believe.

In addition, both Ed and the Bowery King want to change the system and have their own ways of going about it.

3 Ein and Dog

Both Cowboy Bebop and John Wick are franchises that absolutely love dogs. Due to the nature of the anime, Ein is shown to be smarter than the average dog. Meanwhile, Dog in John Wick is shown to be exceptionally loyal to John upon the first time that he meets the hitman. In the anime, Spike doesn’t like dogs and keeps his distance from Ein. In John Wick, John’s own reluctance is due to his previous dog, Daisy, being murdered by gangsters, which starts off the whole series.

Although to be clear, both Ein and Dog are very good boys.

2 Julia and Helen

The love interests for Spike and John respectively, Julia and Helen are the women whose love inspires the two to leave their previous lives of crime behind. Due to circumstances outside of their control, however, they are unable to be with their loves, dying in pretty tragic ways.

The main difference, however, is that Julia was involved with the Syndicate when she met Spike. Helen, meanwhile, just seems to be a nice person who loved John. Unfortunately, however, both women do fall victim to “fridging,” which is when a female character is killed in order to further the narrative of the male character.

1 Vicious and Santino

Both Vicious and Santino are characters with a connection to the mysterious past of the protagonist. In Cowboy Bebop, Vicious is the childhood friend of Spike and the pair of them ascended the ranks of the Syndicate together. Now, however, Vicious is determined to hunt his former friend down for committing the cardinal sin of leaving the Syndicate. Santino, however, doesn’t think things through before making his grab for power and only succeeds in making John mad.

Ultimately, the characters’ deaths are key points in both franchises and have big impacts on Spike and John. However, Vicious’ death leaves Spike’s own fate on an uncertain note while Santino’s death sends John Wick off into the world with a huge bounty on his head for breaking Continental rules.