[SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE MAIN SERIES AND THIS MOVIE...DUH!]

The Story & Characters:

Given this movie takes place between Episodes 22 & 23 of the series, this film is set before a lot of the major things have happened towards the end of the series, so Faye and Ed are still around, Spike's not stuck in purgatory on whether he's alive or dead after his fight with Vicious, etc. The story itself is certainly the most layered compared to the main series and its episodes. To break it down in simple terms, a soldier who was experimented on named Vincent ends up trying to essentially exact his revenge on the world through the usage of a bioterrorist act with a nanomachine pathogen that's made out of blood (specifically tied in with bone marrow) to wipe out the world and wants to take Faye along with him into his 'new world'. It's pretty well-paced (especially well given the fact it's roughly a little under two hours long) and has a pretty cool conspiracy to it, especially thanks to the large scale with the Mars Military, ISSP, Cherious Medical, and the Bebop Crew all trying to figure out what exactly they're up against and what they can do to stop it. It still keeps the theming of a character having some deeper-rooted reasons for doing what they've done, and while the writers hold your hand here more than they do in the main series to explain what's happening, I personally didn't mind it and found the way they presented it in this movie to be interesting and not too unnatural.

Character-wise, this is still 100% Cowboy Bebop at its finest. You've got the crew all coming together and contributing their own work to the story, too! I GOT WHAT I ASKED FOR, HOORAY! Everyone's still their usual selves from the main series, and I didn't get any 'out of character' vibes from any of them at all. Vincent, Elektra, Lee, Hoffman, Shadkins, and Rashid are the newcomers here, and they're all pretty great and utilized well with the time they're given, especially Elektra. I would've loved to see her pop in the main series if she were able to be. Hoffman and Shadkins were just there for basically comic relief and to add some more scale to the story with their presence, but I'll admit they gave me a couple of chuckles with their banter. It's once again really solid stuff, and I'm glad they still had the talent in them to keep the same consistency in quality like they did with the original series.

I'd honestly give this an A+ for this department, if only because the writing here feels a little more refined than in the original series and because the themes and story are genuinely really interesting and kept me really engaged all throughout the runtime.

The Visual & Sound Design:

Having been released a few years after the original series, the visuals received a significant boost. The CGI is still a little dated, but not nearly as much as it is in the original series, and the blend of traditional and CGI actually looks really good, especially for its time. The visual effects and especially the animation and detail throughout this movie are astounding, not even in a fangirly way, just in a 'Damn, this movie looks so clean!' sort of way. There's a lot more shown environmentally, and the varied locations and the new Middle Eastern ones are super great and give this film just a little more of its identity. The gunfights, hand-to-hand, and dogfights got a huge boost in fidelity for sure. The fight scenes with Spike and Vincent are BRUTAL, man, you can see and practically feel how hard they're whooping each other. Those amazing shots that were seen in the original series look even more amazing here with the refined visuals. If the original series looked this good, people would be gushing about it way more. There's also just a lot of experimentation with the visuals (i.e. the first person views of the characters whenever they're affected by the Pathogen and how the butterflies come into their visions to signify the virus is affecting them) and I think it gives this film its own flare on the original already trippy mixed-media style that the original series had going for it.

Sound-wise, it's also peak! The English Dub and Japanese subs are both phenomenal, and everyone was able to come back and once again absolutely rock their roles. Yoko Kanno also returns with the Seatbelts and absolutely knocks it out of the park with a mixture of Rock, Ambient, Cultural, Jazz, and Western musical styles that perfectly capture the series' original identity while giving us even more new amazing music. Sound design-wise too, man, those fight scenes and explosions hit even harder than they did in the original series, feels like they have a little more oomph to them. It's hard to go wrong when you've got the best of the best here.

Probably my favorite aspect of this film, and I'll definitely be gushing at it all for a while. It's just...gorgeous, man. A+ grade work here as well.

The Verdict:

Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door is an amazing addition to the Bebop franchise and helps in expanding the world more, giving us a little more screentime for all of the characters from the main series we all know and love while giving us some new ones that are also pretty interesting (even if we sadly don't get to see them again), and looks stellar while doing all of that. You can really tell they went all out on this film, and it paid off, cause this is probably, if not legitimately, my favorite anime movie I've seen, and that's a very bold statement coming from someone who's seen nearly every Ghibli film under the sun. There's just something about this film that...hits the right chords in a very specific...sensual sort of way? It's hard to describe, but it's brilliant.

I think it goes without saying, but I can only recommend it to those who are already invested in Cowboy Bebop and want more. And yes, I, like many other people, will say you should watch this probably between Episodes 22 and 23, when watching the series, since that's where it takes place. I will say, though, if you loved the series, you'll get an absolute kick out of this film, it's...Dare I say...a near-perfect masterpiece. Also, make it a Halloween movie, because why not have an excuse to watch it every year?