https://www.rfblues.com/Omake/Controversies/

So did our favorite bounty hunters meet their ends in Session #11? What was that… thing?!

When Spike tried to identify the monster he found, a healthy bacteria called Bifidobacterium turned up, a near mirror image of the mysterious substance.

According to Alicia, a vigilant fan who studies organic chemistry, most organic substances are arranged asymmetrically. Since the the digestion of food involves complicated chemical reactions between food and asymmetrical substances in the body, there are notable differences in taste, smell and digestibility of mirrored substances most of the time. The Bebop may have encountered the opposite of bifidobacterium, which may be fatal after all. Bifidobacterium controls intestinal pH levels. The opposite of bifidobacterium would probably cause excess acid buildup.

Are Julius from Session #12 and Julius from The Movie the same person?

Though they share certain… eccentricities, whether or not the Julius from the Callisto migrated to Mars is up for debate. Though a similar character makes a brief appearance in another series.

Who sent Faye the beta tape and deck in Session #18?

One theory suggests the tape, a time capsule, became a historical artifact, randomly sent to various people in the Solar System. Yet another theory suggests an ex-boyfriend sent it to repent for past crimes. An old classmate may have sent it as well, hoping to find her after her disappearance.

Flashback sequences in Session #5 and Session #13 briefly show one shot of a Red Eye vile and spray in Julia’s apartment. Who was using it?

The popular vote goes to Vicious. Thanks to Michael Wayne for sending in this one.

Did Bull know Spike’s fate since Session #1?

“You will meet a woman… the woman will hunt you… and then death.” Bull may have been referring to Spike’s final encounter with Julia.

Is Spike really dead?

Even though he managed to survive gunshot wounds and a dramatic fall from a cathedral window, the relentless attacks of a psychopathic killing machine and a highly-trained Titan War veteran with a deathwish among other near-death encounters, Spike believed he was “already dead” since Julia disappeared three years ago. His days on the “Bebop” were his purgatory where he lived aimlessly as if in a dream. In Session #26, when Faye asks him why he chooses to die, he tells her that he intends to find out if he is alive. In the end, he finds out that he was “dead” all along.

https://www.rfblues.com/Omake/Notice/

THE TWO EDWARDS

An early pitch for the show featured two children onboard the ship, a boy and a girl. In the end, the two designs merged. The original male design makes a cameo appearance in Session #5.

THE MAN IN THE PICTURE

A picture in Annie’s shop in Session #5 shows Annie with the two most important men in her life. One of them is Mao Yenrai but who is the other man in the picture? In a recent interview with director Shinichiro Watanabe, the man was revealed to be Annie’s late husband.

PUNCH/ALFRED

Alfred, the familiar man picking up his mother at the spaceport in Session #25 is none other than Punch from Big Shot!

MUSASHI STRIKES AGAIN

In Session #22, Andy traded his old fashioned six-shooter for a samurai sword and changed his name to Musashi before he rode off into the sunset. In The Movie, he makes a cameo appearance.

MOCACHU

This elusive creature is Mocachu. The little critter appears in Session #20 and Session #22 and may have possibly appeared in other sessions. The little monster even makes an appearance in The Movie. Thanks to Big Big Truck for pointing this one out.

BRUCE LEE BILLBOARDS

It seems Bruce Lee is still quite popular in the year 2071.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Product placement in Cowboy Bebop!

I can’t stop thinking about ICO… even 20 years after its release, it’s still truly unique. It’s a game that defied all my expectations, probably shown best by how it somehow made me love escort mission style gameplay. Leading Yorda through the mysterious and massive labyrinthian castle gave me all the time and space needed to prod my curiosity and make my mind wonder about it’s enigmatic world. There’s just something about all the elements of ICO’s design that really sticks with you long after you finish playing the game…

Myasnitskaya Street (in the 16th-17th centuries – Frolovskaya Street and Evplovskaya Street, in 1918-1935 – Pervomaiskaya Street, in 1935-1990 – Kirov Street) – a street in the Central Administrative District of Moscow (Basmanny and Krasnoselsky districts). It runs from Lubyanskaya Square to Sadovaya-Spasskaya Street. The numbering of houses is carried out from Lubyanka Square. On December 14, 1935, by a resolution of the Moscow City Council, the street was renamed Kirov Street in memory of a prominent figure in the Communist Party, Sergei Mironovich Kirov, on the basis that the body of the murdered Kirov was transported along Myasnitskaya Street for burial on Red Square.

If you’re one of the many who are frustrated with the stubborn reluctance of Japanese role-playing games to let go of their needlessly convoluted combat systems. If you’re embarrassed by their cheesy, melodramatic stories and disheartened by their clichéd and often creepy character design, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky will take you back to a simpler time of RPGs and remind you that the genre you once loved has not left you behind.

Though the Legend of Heroes franchise has been around for decades, Trails in the Sky is the start of a trilogy unrelated to the other titles. Taking place in a heavily forested nation enjoying the fruits of a technological revolution, the story follows a brother and sister who go from running errands in their local town to unwittingly discovering a treacherous scheme that threatens their entire kingdom. The setting may sound like old territory for some JRPG players, but it’s the story’s graceful flow through this vibrant world that makes your progression through the game feel pleasantly familiar rather than just old or boring.

Our two main characters, Estelle and Joshua, begin their story by becoming members of a guild of freelance warriors organized to protect and serve the cities and villages of the kingdom. As junior members of this guild, all your adventures – whether main story or divergent side quest – are conveniently recorded in a notebook that can be instantly referenced in case you’re ever distracted by a colorful town square and can’t quite remember why you went there in the first place.

As you confront enemies you’ll also encounter another of Trails’ exceptional aspects: its combat system. The combat’s flexibility for accommodating both drawn-out, strategic maneuvers or fast, rushed-through combat keeps it from ever feeling rote and makes the grinding (seldom needed, unless you really want to kick the crap out of your opponents) immensely more tolerable. Speeding through a monster encounter can be as simple as holding down X to perform basic attacks, zipping past the battle results, and quickly proceeding on to your destination. When it is time bust out the big moves a comprehensive skill and magic system can be customized and implemented to deal out huge damage and clobber your enemies.

Monsters appear on roads and trails as you travel about the lands and dungeons. Run into the monster from behind and you can get an advantage in the beginning of combat. Defeating enemies yields small crystals that you can then synthesize in towns and equip to your characters for magic and status upgrades. As you collect hundreds of varying crystals your opportunity for synthesizing new magics to equip and character abilities to unlock expands. You can also collect ingredients from monsters that contribute to a huge library of cooking recipes to discover and exploit.

The player-friendly nature of this JRPG continues with the option to save at any time and its ability to restart any battle you lost without penalty. Admittedly, it does make running from battles when things take a wrong turn somewhat pointless, but it’s hard to argue with getting a retry button than a boot to the start menu and all your unsaved progress lost. Don’t get us wrong though – this game doesn’t rock because it’s a pushover – its battles can be quite challenging.

Trails’ characters, richly populated towns, and interesting back story are expertly expressed through the characters and their journey. The characters may seem more than verbose or overly talkative at times, spending more than a few moments conducting small talk when you just wish they would get to the meat-and-potatoes of the conversation, but it succeeds in portraying them as enjoyable, believable characters with their own distinct behavior. Also, if you decide you just don’t give a damn about the story, holding down the Circle button can turn an eight-minute bout of exposition into a 15-second scene with a handy objective update added to your quest notebook.

If we had to drag out a gripe about Trails, we might mention the minor blurriness of some of the art, the way some inconsequential conversations between characters can feel too long, or the way monsters tend to appear along your path too suddenly. But these are easily negligible issues.

If you’ll pardon the references, Trails possesses the old-anime style and basic battle mechanics of a Grandia or Lunar and mixes in the modern, flexible, hassle-free, yet deep execution of a battle system like Persona 4. Just when we thought the PSP (and, arguably, what we once knew as a JRPG) was slowly walking out the door, Trails provides a pleasant bastion of everything that drew so many to this genre long ago. Amusing characters, a rich setting and great mechanics all smoothly coalesce to create a surprising and thoroughly enjoyable tale, prompting us to speculate that our little PSPs are far from retirement. We’re ready for part 2.

Robson Street is a major southeast-northwest thoroughfare in downtown and West End of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its core commercial blocks from Burrard Street to Jervis were also known as Robsonstrasse. Its name honours John Robson, a major figure in British Columbia’s entry into the Canadian Confederation, and Premier of the province from 1889 to 1892. Robson Street starts at BC Place Stadium near the north shore of False Creek, then runs northwest past Vancouver Library Square, Robson Square and the Vancouver Art Gallery, coming to an end at Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park.

As of 2006, the city of Vancouver overall had the fifth most expensive retail rental rates in the world, averaging US$135 per square foot per year, citywide. Robson Street tops Vancouver with its most expensive locations renting for up to US$200 per square foot per year. In 2006, both Robson Street and the Mink Mile on Bloor Street in Toronto were the 22nd most expensive streets in the world, with rents of $208 per square feet. In 2007, the Mink Mile and Robson slipped to 25th in the world with an average of $198 per square feet. The price of each continues to grow with Vancouver being Burberry’s first Canadian location and Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood (which is bounded on the south side by Bloor) now commanding rents of $300 per square foot.

In 1895, train tracks were laid down the street, supporting a concentration of shops and restaurants. From the early to middle-late 20th century, and especially after significant immigration from postwar Germany, the northwest end of Robson Street was known as a centre of German culture and commerce in Vancouver, earning the nickname Robsonstrasse, even among non-Germans (this name lives on in the Robsonstrasse Hotel on the street). At one time, the city had placed streetsigns reading “Robsonstrasse” though these were placed after the German presence in the area had largely vanished.

Robson Street was featured on an old edition of the Canadian Monopoly board as one of the two most expensive properties.