Stewardess #1: Works on a Venus-bound passenger shuttle. She is seemingly modeled after singer and actress Tomoe Shinohara. A similar-looking girl appears in Session 23, but it's unknown if they're the same person.
Stewardess #2: Works on a Venus-bound passenger shuttle. In addition to serving drinks and whatnot, she also delivers the announcements regarding Venus Sickness. During the hijacking incident, she is seen trembling in the galley.
Huey: Age: 28. One of the shuttle hijackers. Because he tries to wake up Spike, who is pretending to be asleep, he is the first one knocked out.
Dewey: Age: 24. A man who resembles an Indian woman. Hijacks a shuttle with Louie and Huey and is knocked out by Faye's hypnotic spray.
Louie: Age: 32. The leader of the shuttle hijackers, whose bounties add up to 1,500,000 Woolongs. He seems to be the smartest of the three and is defeated by Spike after Huey.
Rocco Bonero: A 21-year old thug. Though he works for Piccaro, he ends up stealing the Grey Ash in order to cure Stella. He wants Spike to teach him self-defense.
Stella Bonero: Age: 17. Rocco's younger sister, who has gone blind due to Venus Sickness. She's the only person who knows how kind Rocco is. Her model seems to be Ryoko Hirosue.
Piccaro Calvino: Inexplicably, he is 28 years old. He has a bounty of 500,000 Woolongs. He manages to steal a Grey Ash, though it's later stolen by his comrade, Rocco.
Piccaro's Henchmen: Members of Piccaro's gang who are sent to chase after Rocco. For some reason, all members wear sunglasses. While they're a small-time criminals worth only 100,000 Woolongs each, there's a bonus for catching the entire gang that brings their total bounty up to 1,200,000 Woolongs.
Passenger Shuttle: A craft designed for interstellar travel. It's a common form of travel, mirror the jumbo jets of the space age. Passengers' MONO machines can be stacked. Also appears in Session 25.
Money Card and Handheld Card Reader: Most transactions in 2071 are using money cards instead of physical currency. Using a handheld reader, these digital transactions can be done by individuals.
Stella's Music Box: A music box that Roco picked up at the airport to deliver to Stella. In a hidden compartment in the top portion, Roco hid seeds of the Grey Ash plant, which can cure Stella's disease.
Grey Ash: A plant which can be used to cure to Venusian endemic disease, Cryptofeltdt. Because it's difficult to cultivate, one plant is worth tens of thousands of Woolongs.
"I can tell. There’s something within both you and Rocco that’s hard to understand, but beautiful.”
Something beautiful, huh? That’s something I lost long ago in the past…”
This is the exchange that Spike has with Stella, the sister of a thug named Rocco who he’d met by chance earlier. While Stella can’t see, perhaps what she’s sensing is the friendship that formed between Spike and Rocco.
Someone like Rocco would normally be a lost cause. He’s excitable, clumsy and overall untalented. While he’s working as a thug for a criminal organization in order to cure his sister’s illness, you also get the sense that he isn’t someone who can hold down a job long-term. What could it have been that convinced Spike to teach self defense to someone like him? When he first met him, Spike didn’t know that Rocco was trying to learn martial arts to protect his sister. He must have seen him as an annoying and overly-familiar guy.
While it looks at first glance like Rocco’s persistence caused Spike to give in, it seems as if he was motivated more than pity. Perhaps Spike too was able to sense “something beautiful” within Rocco. What could this “something beautiful” that Spike has lost and Rocco still possesses be?
At first, it seems like “gentleness” is the answer, but I don’t think that’s quite right. Spike clearly hasn’t lost his gentleness. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taught Rocco martial arts, visited Stella before arresting Rocco, or delivered the Grey Ash plant that Stella needs to be cured.
Spike must have felt like Rocco was someone who he couldn’t ignore. While Rocco’s actions were reckless, perhaps Spike could tell that he wasn’t simply acting out of malice. Stella may have been able to feel how Rocco’s “something beautiful” was able to touch Spike’s heart. While not totally clear, there seems to be truth to that idea. Rocco understood that competence doesn’t guarantee an easy life. In order to give his sister a better life, Rocco joined a criminal organization and eventually stole the Grey Ash plant from them. He also sought out someone who could teach him to defend himself.
While it’s hard to tell Rocco’s sense of right and wrong from his reckless actions, his desire to save his sister is clearly conveyed. Perhaps this encounter with Rocco reminded Spike of some feeling that he’d lost in the past, causing him to get involved with Rocco’s business more than he would have otherwise. Spike may have felt something similar back when he was working for the Red Dragon. After meeting Julia, he gradually began to develop feelings similar to Rocco’s, a similarity that wasn’t lost on Spike.
After Rocco’s death, Spike delivers a bouquet to Stella and she wonders what kind of person Rocco really was. Realizing that Rocco lost his life doing something bad without hearing a word from Spike, the Rocco she thought she knew begins to fade. However, Spike responds by telling her that, just as she always knew, Rocco was a good guy. Rocco’s pure-hearted desire to help his sister can’t be expressed in such a simple way.
While he may not have felt it when he met Rocco, those sentiments are confirmed for Spike when he meets Stella.
The theme of this Session is inextricably linked to the purity that others sense in Rocco. While that’s never explicitly stated, I believe that is what is being conveyed.
The invisible sensations that we experience may not actually exist, and yet we’re able to feel and express them as if they are. While “purity” is just a word, it’s undeniable that the word evokes certain feelings.
Keeping that in mind, let’s consider how this Session’s final scene, in which Spike sees spores dancing in the air over Venus. Just as the Venus spores are white, so too is the purity that embodies will to do right by others. Rocco’s actions and heart contained both good things and bad things. Perhaps the Venus spores, which normally cause slight damage to the human body, are much the same.
“Even if you can’t see, you already know. He was a good guy. Just like you thought he was.”
If anything was going to make you cry in Session 8, it wasn’t this exchange. “Good guy” is such a stale phrase. Given the situation, these words may seem inappropriate, but Stella seems to have realized the deeper meaning behind them when she touched a silent Spike's cheek. Even Rocco should have understood. What else could he have said to her?
Words carry more than just meanings. Surely Spike wanted to tell Stella about the real Rocco, the one they both knew. And therefore, perhaps there was nothing else Spike could say. There’s beauty in his attempt to find the right words to encapsulate his feelings and ultimately deciding on “Good guy.” The simplicity of these words is perhaps why they resonate so much.
Spike was unable to say that Rocco had died. No doubt it was because of how overwhelming the feelings were at the time.
Spike silently faces forward and pays his respects, emphasizing that something has been lost.
Without shedding a tear, Stella silently stares out the Window. Perhaps this silence was the best gift that Spike could have given her.
It’s often said that Spike resembles Shunsaku Kudo, the main character of 1979’s “Detective Story.”
Looking at Spike’s slightly goofy personality, ability to buckle down when in a pinch, and general lack of respect for decorum all resemble Kudo. His lanky build and poofy hair like a bird’s nest further the similarities between the two.
Within the story, there are many small similarities between the characters as well. Let’s take a moment to spotlight some of them.
The round sunglasses that Spike wears in Session 6 resemble the ones that that Kudo’s favorite sunglasses in “Detective Story.” When combined with his haircut and body style, there’s certainly a resemblance.
In Session 8, When Spike is sleeping on the space shuttle, the eye mask he wears, which is black and features two eyes drawn on it, resembles one Kudo wore in “Detective Story.” By the way, the eye mask Kudo wore featured pupils that would move as a gimmick.
In Sessions 12 and 13, the down jacket that Spike wears during this session is the same style as Kudo’s, although Spike’s is pink while Kudo’s is beige. They also both wear scarves.
The level of influence that “Detective Story” had on “Cowboy Bebop” demonstrates a profound respect for the former work by the production staff.
In addition to these and other homages, the concept of a “half-assed adult’s charm” embodied by Kudo is infused throughout “Cowboy Bebop.”
Spike's trademark poofy hair makes him resemble Shunsaku Kudo. The same can be said for his light-hearted way of speaking
The sunglasses Spike wears during his search match his poofy-haired style, but do they remind you of Shunsaku Kudo?
The eyemask with eyes drawn on it that Spike wears while sleeping feels both bizarre and foolish.
While the color is different, the style of down jacket Spike wears invokes the image of Shunsaku Kudo.
Even the final episode of "Detective Story" mirrors the ending battle between Spike and Vicious.
Does Spike's bizarre vertical trunks and necktie combination invoke the image of Shunsaku Kudo?