Recently Orson Scott Card, author of Ender’s Game, sang praises for the anime series Cowboy Bebop, calling it better than most sci-fi films out there. The author talked how he wasn’t a fan of live action sci-fi films in the 90’s, and was surprised by how much he enjoyed the Japanese animated series.

What can I say, except that to my vast surprise, I found this series brilliant. It’s often funny, sexy in a mostly chaste kind of way – these are drawings, after all – and the action is gripping.

But what held me was a combination of strong relationship-based storytelling, a moody visual style that never got old and really smart dialogue.

He then went on to compare it in quality to Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

I’d compare this to the great TV series Firefly, except that since Firefly came out in 2002, and resembles Cowboy Bebop in many ways (including quality), I can’t guess whether Firefly creator Joss Whedon was influenced by Cowboy Bebop, was deliberately doing an hommage, or created such a similar series by sheer coincidence.

[The Shakedown]

It’s interesting to me that Card sees the similarities between Firefly and Cowboy Bebop. I myself always wondered if River Tam was a product of  Summer Glau’s own creation, or if Whedon had Edward from Bebop in mind and Glau took careful direction on how to play her. I can see similarities between River (in her more upbeat and lucid moments) and Edward as far as character quirks go: the distaste for footwear, the dancing and twirling about, oblivious to what her shipmates think of her.

There is a moment at the end of Serenity, when River is peering down on Simon and Kaylee from above that I swear came straight out of Bebop. Ed is always hanging from things in the ship and always looking down from the her perches, overextending herself precariously with a similar bewildered expression.

Check out more of what Card said about Cowboy Bebop over at his article on the Rhino Times.