Cowboy Bebop’s live-action remake makes a variety of large and small changes to the original anime, but perhaps the most shocking one was having Julia (Elena Satine) shoot Spike Spiegel (John Cho) during the season 1 finale.
The twist was as confusing to Spike as it must have been for many viewers, and with Spike now an obstacle to Julia’s ambitions, the two have gone from lovers to enemies. In the original anime, Spike’s abandonment of Julia and his former life left him a broken man.
Spike forms the main focus on the series, with the central theme being his past and its karmic effect on him. Spike was portrayed as a "typical old-style Japanese man", who would simply do what he wanted and expect others to follow his lead and watch him from the sidelines.
― Spike Spiegel [src] Julia was an affiliate of the Red Dragon crime syndicate who had relationships with Vicious and Spike Spiegel . Julia, Vicious and Spike Spiegel were comrades in the Red Dragon Syndicate and she had a relationship with Vicious in the 2060s.
In addition to the series, Spike has been featured in two manga adaptations and has been the protagonist of two video game adaptations. His character was subject to much critical acclaim in Japan and the West, with multiple reviewers praising his portrayal.
In a twist, Julia reveals that she does not want to leave her life of crime. Not when she's so close to ruling the Syndicate! Julia asks Spike to kill Vicious for her so they can bring his head to the Temple and rule together.
Spike pulls a gun on Vicious, but is blocked by Lin, a former underling of Spike's during his Red Dragon days. Vicious delights in telling Spike that Julia had in fact been in Callisto, two years prior. Spike reacts with dismay, having long since missed her. Lin shoots Spike who refuses to back down.
The store is ambushed by the Syndicate while Spike and Julia are there, and Julia is shot and killed as she and Spike try to escape across the rooftops.
Unfortunately, Spike and Julia's cursed fate has yet to be undone because the two do not end up together by the end of the season. Rather, one of the two has grown to immensely dislike the other.
The live-action Cowboy Bebop ends not only with Julia betraying Spike and nearly killing him but with her becoming the end of the Red Dragon Syndicate, the very criminal organization that gunned her down in the anime series.
Faye eventually fell in love with him. One night, a ship approached them, with Haggis claiming it was Faye's creditors looking for her.
Whatever Spike's real name was is still unknown, but he went by a nickname during his time as a Red Dragon enforcer. Before he was Spike, he was known as “Fearless,” a fitting name for obvious reasons that also further connects him to his former friend, Vicious.
They became friends and so she told Gren about Spike, and he told her about Vicious and the music box he gave him. Immediately, she told him to check inside the music box, revealing a solar transmitter which signaled Vicious had betrayed Gren. After about a month, Julia left.
In 2069, Julia went to Callisto and met Gren at the Rester House. They became friends and so she told Gren about Spike, and he told her about Vicious and the music box he gave him. Immediately, she told him to check inside the music box, revealing a solar transmitter which signaled Vicious had betrayed Gren. After about a month, Julia left.
She held her gun as she was supposed to the last time, but couldn't shoot him. She wanted to run away with him, together, and Spike left with her. They went to get supplies at Annie 's store; however, they found the syndicate has also paid her a visit, as she was dying of a gunshot wound.
In 2071, Julia, living in Tharsis, was tipped off by Shin that the syndicate was coming after her. The Van wanted to eliminate any connections to Vicious. She was soon pursued by syndicate men by car and headed for the airport. By chance, she drove by Faye Valentine there.
After Spike and Jet part ways—due largely to the fact that the latter is unable to forgive his partner—Spike is seen heading out of a bar, calm as ever despite sustaining fatal wounds.
In a surprising turn of events, Julia arrives at the church at which Vicious and his men target Spike, Jet, and Kimmie, right at the moment when Vicious is about to finish off Spike. Shooting Vicious non-fatally, Julia asks Spike why he never sought her out over the years, despite being aware of her suffering as a result of Vicious' cruelty.
By the end of Cowboy Bebop, Jet, Faye, and Spike depart on their own individual paths. A broken Jet seemingly resumes his life as a bounty hunter aboard the Bebop, Spike is found by Radical Ed and Ein, while Faye Valentine sets out to find her real family at Greenvale Avenue.
In an ironic reversal of fortune, Vicious finds himself at the mercy of Julia, the woman he had taken possession of and tortured over the years in the name of "love". With the Elders of the Red Dragon Syndicate and the Capos dead, Julia has a direct claim to the throne as Vicious' wife, now that he is deemed an Elder.
The ending of the original anime was a primarily bittersweet one, as it marked the end of the road for everyone’s beloved space cowboy Spike, instilling the end with a raw, melancholic tint.
Interestingly, Cowboy Bebop ' ending with Spike and Vicious going head to head was decided even before the project was in its initial stages.
While not much is really known about Spike’s past, as the intricate world of Cowboy Bebop only metes out fragments of his backstory for the audience to piece together, it is known that he became a member of the Red Dragon Syndicate under Mao Yenrai.
At the end of Cowboy Bebop's 26-episode run, Vicious intends to kill Spike out of sheer vengeance, while the latter struggles with the temptation to be pulled back to a past rife with fatal wounds and betrayal. Spike’s constructed facade of laidback charm starts crumbling, as he is driven into a mad frenzy solely after hearing Julia’s name.
She acts as a stark contrast to the world around her—her blond hair, bright red umbrella and automobile stand out in the otherwise drab environments that she inhabits. After meeting Faye Valentine by coincidence, Julia is reunited with Spike.
Julia (Cowboy Bebop) 1. View source. History. Talk (0) Julia is the love interest of Spike Spiegel from the anime series Cowboy Bebop. Initially Vicious' girlfriend and a Syndicate member herself, she and Spike started a dangerous affair that led to Spike offering to abandon the Syndicate and elope with her, despite the fact ...
Spike also has run-ins with Vicious on two occasions: in "Ballad of Fallen Angels", while pursuing a Red Dragon executive, Spike and Vicious battle in a derelict church and Spike is nearly killed. Later, in "Jupiter Jazz", Spike hears that Julia was seen on Callisto and abandons the Bebop to look for her.
In Spike's younger days before joining the Bebop, he was part of the Red Dragon Syndicate, a Chinese criminal organization. During his time there, he was impetuous and volatile, but after leaving, he adopted a calm and collected demeanor. However, he still retains his love for combat.
Spike's artificial eye was included as Watanabe wanted his characters to have flaws. He was originally going to give Spike an eye patch, but the producers vetoed it. In order to portray him as cool, Toshihiro Kawamoto designed Spike to look "uncool": when he stands still, he has a hunched appearance.
Spike appears as one of the playable characters in the PlayStation 2 action / beat 'em up video game Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade, a game set within the continuity of the series.
During the final story of the series, "The Real Folk Blues", Julia comes out of hiding and sends a message to Spike through Faye: the two meet and resolve to flee as originally planned. Vicious, having staged a coup d'état and taken over the Red Dragon Syndicate, sends assassins after the two.
Spike is a bounty hunter who was born on Mars on June 26, 2044. He is 27 years old. Spike has fluffy hair and brown eyes, one of which is artificial. He is 6'1" tall and weighs 155 lbs.
Spike was created by Shinichirō Watanabe and Toshihiro Kawamoto as part of the production entity Hajime Yatate. Created as a mirror image of Watanabe and based on Yūsaku Matsuda 's character in Tantei Monogatari, he was designed as someone who would expect others to follow his lead.