Is Cowboy Bebop science fiction?

Recently, I've been on a Cowboy Bebop kick, so I figured I'd address it in this week's blog post. For the uninitiated, Cowboy Bebop is an anime series revolving around the exploits of a team of bounty hunters in a spaceship called the "Bebop." It's set in 2071, when Earth has been decimated by a terrible accident, leading its inhabitants to terraform and colonize the solar system's other planets. In addition, it has one of the most fantastic soundtracks of any TV series, ever. Is it awesome? Absolutely. But is it science fiction? Unfortunately, no.


So why isn't it science fiction?

So. Is it science fiction?

Science fiction is a topic about which I am very, very passionate. I will, if you allow me, talk for hours and hours about science fiction. I'll expound on dystopia and wax lyrical on post-apocalypse. And I'll do all this for a genre that, really, lacks definition.

I'm sure that you have some idea of what science fiction is--or, at least, what the phrase means to you. But bookstores and genre literary magazines (not to mention the ridiculous SyFy cable channel) tend to lump science fiction and fantasy together in a larger "speculative fiction" category. I find this abhorrent. To me, science fiction and fantasy represent completely different concepts. On opposite ends of the spectrum. Diametrically opposed. And for whatever reason, I can't find anyone else who gets this worked up about it.

So I've started this blog. Every week, I'm planning on coming back and addressing a work of TV, film, or literature, then explaining why it deserves or does not deserve to be called science fiction. Hopefully, someone out there in the vast internet collective will be as passionate about this topic as I am.