Man From the Gate Corporation: Age: 48. Head of the Complaint Department at the Gate Corporation. He knows about Hex and issues the bounty for the Gate Hacking. Dislikes doing paperwork.
Jonathan: Age: 38. An acquaintance of Jet and fellow bounty hunter. This poor guy isn't just chasing the bounty, he was also a victim of the scam and had all of his money stolen.
Chessmaster Hex: Presumed Age: 98. A former genius programmer and chess champion. He invented the Gate technology, but grew bitter when he was pushed out for trying to expose a flaw in the system's safety. He waited for 50 years for his revenge to be carried out, but...
Jonathan's Space Ship: A ship belonging to Jonathan, who is chasing the same bounty as Spike and co. Roughly the same size as the Bebop, this ship seems to be Jonathan's last asset after everything else was stolen by Chessmaster Hex. He follows the Bebop to Hex's location.
Net Battle Memory Cartridge: A mysterious chess piece carried by all of the Gateway scammers. In actuality, it's a memory cartridge used by an online chess game.
Aum: Chessmaster Hex's pet. At the end of the episode, it flies off after confirming that Hex has is asleep (Or dead).
In the end, I really think this episode was a story about Hex.
The Gate hacking was a pretty massive crime and there was enough mystery around it to make for a pretty enjoyable episode. But if you really think about it, there are a lot of holes, especially around the Gate scam. The scam promised easy money, but not one of the criminals received anything (If only the first person was going to profit, it wouldn’t have become a boom). Why the criminals were carrying chess pieces (It had nothing to do with the scam)? Why did Hex have to wait 50 years to pull off his scam, and how was someone in Hex’s state able to circulate the scam in the first place? These things all go basically unexplained. All of the gimmicks in this episode really only work because Hex is there.
When we focus our analysis on Hex, a deeper theme emerges.
The most interesting detail about Hex is that he “went senile and forgot his past.” It’s not hard to imagine him being someone who would devote his life to revenge against the Gate Corporation in the past. And let’s not forget that he was renowned for his historic intellect. And if he were to want to start his life over, there’s no reason he should have ended up living in that run-down Gate Community. Conversely, if he really did choose to escape from the worries of the world, then why is his revenge still being carried out 50 years later?
There's no doubt that Hex was a vindictive man before he went senile. In many ways, he was scarier than Vicious and more bound to his past than Spike, though 50 years seems to have caused much of that to be washed away. It seems like the company he kept in that Gate Community might have also had something to do with his senility. Either way, the man who appears before Spike and company is not Hex, a demon of revenge, but rather a chess-loving old man.
In the end, was Hex happy in his senility or not?
Having forgotten his master scheme, he is undoubtedly a tragic figure. But had he not gone senile and actually succeeded in his plan, would he have been happy? Even though he was able to finally show the world a massive flaw in the Gates and amassed a giant fortune at over 90 years old, it seems like chess is what he really cared about. After he went senile, his enjoyment of chess seemed to come from such a pure place. As he beat Ed, his final worthy opponent, at the game he loved so much, he seemed to finally be able to rest peacefully. Whether this was his decision or not is not known, but that much is undeniable.
Looking at Hex’s seemingly-lifeless body in the last scene, I was struck by the feeling that this was something of a cruel fable. In the end, the only way to live life is fleetingly. No matter what happiness you might attain or accomplishments you can boast, in the end, the only reality is the cycle of birth and death. Looking at it from that perspective, I was reminded of Spike, who died unable to let go of his past, when thinking about Hex.
Much like Hex, there was another road Spike could have chosen. Whether it was a wise or foolish path and whether it would have led him to happiness will of course remain unknown. Maybe Spike himself wouldn’t have known until he died.
The only thing that remains however, is how someone lived and how they died. It might sound pretentious to say so, but this is a last minute truth that someone learns about the nature of life and death.
As Chessmaster Hex closed his eyes for the last time, he had a peaceful expression on his face. Come to think of it, Spike’s face as he died seemed quite peaceful for some reason. Perhaps it’s because they were able to embrace the truth at the end.
If we look at it that way, perhaps Spike was actually following Hex’s lead.
“Net Chess,” the key to Session 14, is one of the many forms of recreation that appear in the world of Bebop. Let’s take a look at how they differ from their modern forms:
Cards: Appearing in the casino in Session 3 and in Session 5, card games have not changed at all. It seems like there wasn’t much improvement.
Chess: Featuring a display with 3D pieces, even when playing with someone over long distances, this net game features a sense of authenticity.
Shogi: Appearing in the movie, this version of Shogi features larger pieces and has a slightly different feeling from the modern game. Perhaps this change was made to make it more enjoyable for Westerners.
Video Games: In Session 23 and in the movie, various video games appear. In addition to new technologies like brainwave controllers, shooting games appear basically unchanged. Perhaps there’s some greater meaning behind the existence of these two styles.
These holographic, 3D chess pieces make for an immersive experience, even when your opponent isn't in the same room.
"Brain Dream" is a game that uses the player's eye movements. It seems to be a fun VR game.
An endless number of games can be played with a standard 53-card deck of playing cards. They're also often used for giving hints.