Spike Spiegel is a tall and lean 27-year-old bounty hunter born on Mars. Inspiration for Spike is found in martial artist Bruce Lee, who uses the martial arts style of Jeet Kune Do, as depicted in Session 8, "Waltz For Venus". He has fluffy, dark green hair (which is inspired by Yusaku Matsuda's) and reddish brown eyes, one of which is artificial and lighter than the other. He is usually dressed in a blue leisure suit, with a yellow shirt and Lupin III inspired boots. A flashback in Session 6 revealed it was his fully functioning right eye which was surgically replaced by the cybernetic one (although Spike himself may not have conscious recollection of the procedure since he claims to have lost his natural eye in an "accident"). One theory is that his natural eye may have been lost during the pre-series massacre in which he supposedly "died". The purpose of this cybernetic eye is never explicitly stated, though it apparently gives him exceptional hand-eye coordination - particularly with firearms (Spike's gun of choice is a Jericho 941, as seen throughout the series). In the first episode, when facing a bounty-head using Red Eye, Spike mocks him, calling his moves "too slow". At first, this seems like posturing on Spike's part, but even with his senses and reflexes accelerated to superhuman levels by the drug, the bounty cannot even touch Spike. Spike often has a bent cigarette between his lips, sometimes despite rain or "No Smoking" signs.

Jet, known on his home satellite as the "Black Dog" for his tenacity, is a 36-year-old former cop from Ganymede (a Jovian satellite) and acts as Spike's foil during the series. Physically, Jet is very tall with a muscular build. He wears a beard with no mustache, and is completely bald save for the back of his head. Spike acts lazy and uninterested, whereas Jet is hard working and a jack-of-all-trades. Jet was once an investigator in the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) for many years until he lost his arm in an investigation that went awry when his corrupt partner (and friend at the time) betrayed him. His arm was replaced with a cybernetic limb (later revealed to be by choice, as biological replacements were possible, he wanted the fake arm as a reminder of what happened), yet his loss of limb coupled with the general corruption of the police force prompted Jet to quit the ISSP in disgust and become a freelance bounty hunter. Jet also considers himself something of a renaissance man: he cultivates bonsai trees, cooks, enjoys jazz/blues music (he named his ship the bebop a type of jazz), especially Charlie Parker, and even has interest in Goethe. As a character, Jet is the quintessential oyaji or "dad" even though he often wishes people would view him as a more brotherly figure (so as not to seem old).

Jet is skilled with handguns, typically carrying a pre-2004 Walther P99, as well as the use of the netgun. He is good with hand to hand combat as well. Unlike Spike, Jet tends to use more raw muscle than technique. He is also a great mechanic and pilot. Aside from the converted interplanetary fishing trawler vessel Bebop, Jet flies a smaller ship called Hammerhead. The Hammerhead appears to be a modified (Jet added larger engines and fuel tanks) salvage-craft that uses a mechanical arm equipped with a harpoon as its main weapon, which is somewhat analogous to his own mechanical arm. Both the Hammerhead and the Bebop are able to land on water, and have a fishing theme, most likely because Ganymede's surface is mostly covered with water (it is later revealed that the Bebop was originally a fishing ship that Jet "customized" with larger engines).

During the series, it is revealed that Jet once lived with a woman named Alisa, who left him because he was too controlling. Later they meet up again when Alisa's new boyfriend Rhint is wanted for murder. Jet then ends up in a situation somewhat similar to that of Vicious, where he must hunt down a woman who broke his heart, and her lover.

In a later episode, another Vicious/Spike parallel is set up when Jet finds out that it was his old partner Fad who betrayed him (though in Jet's case, there was no love affair involved). Fad arranged for Jet's death in a setup, but he survived with only a missing arm and a scar on his face. It is worth noting that Jet managed to face the demons of his past and let them go, in contrast to Spike, who was (apparently) killed when he confronted his. This is likely due to the contrast in the two approaches to the past. While Spike hid and fled from his past, Jet tracked it down and confronted it.

A possibly related note: Jet Black is also the name of the drummer in long-running English band The Stranglers and his nickname is in reference to the Led Zeppelin song "Black Dog". Jet also bears a remarkable resemblance to Daisuke Jigen from Lupin III.

By all appearances, Faye is a 23 year old young woman in 2071. However, she was actually born in 1994 and was cryogenically frozen sometime before the gate incident. Faye is confident, audacious, independent, and somewhat self-centered. She is attractive, with medium-length, dark purplish hair and a voluptuous body. She normally wears a revealing yellow outfit complete with suspenders and a red long-sleeve shirt worn only through the sleeves. She is also quite lazy, but takes time to care for her appearance. She enjoys gambling, and often loses a great deal of money doing so. Faye is a very competent bounty hunter, being skilled in flying and both hand-to-hand and firearm combat.

In truth, Faye's indomitable exterior hides a more fragile interior. Faye awoke from her cryogenic sleep with total amnesia in a mysterious world that she didn't understand, surrounded by people who were all-too-willing to take advantage of her naiveté, contributing to the hardening of her personality. Throughout the series, she is saddled with a huge debt that was pushed onto her as a result of a scam perpetrated against her immediately after being wakened. The surname "Valentine" was merely a name given to her by the doctor who woke her; the circumstances of her accident, her previous life, and even her real name all remain a mystery, and are only gradually revealed as the series progresses. It has been hinted that she came from Singapore on Earth, and was the daughter of a very wealthy family, as the city's famous Merlion Statue features prominently in scenes of her childhood, and that memories and a film from her childhood showed her living in a large mansion. In an early episode she states that she is descended from Roma people, but she may well have been lying.


Faye drawing her Glock 30 (compact in .45ACP).Throughout the series, some believe it is hinted that Faye may be in love with Spike Spiegel. Though this is never stated, her attraction may be implied by her interactions with him (Pierrot Le Fou, My Funny Valentine, Speak like a Child, The Real Folk Blues) as well as her fascination with Julia (Jupiter Jazz, The Real Folk Blues). Though he comes to see her as a companion, Spike does not seem to have romantic feelings for Faye, as could be evidenced by his decision to seek and face Vicious in The Real Folk Blues, a decision which upsets Faye to the point where she fires her pistol into the ceiling five times as Spike leaves. However in an interview Watanabe stated "Sometimes I'm asked the question, 'What does Spike think of Faye?' I think that actually he likes her quite a bit. But he's not a very straightforward person so he makes sure he doesn't show it."

The self-invented personal name of an elite netdiver from Earth, hacker "Radical Edward" is a very strange, somewhat androgynous, teenage girl assumed to be around 13 years in age. Ed could be considered a "free spirit"; she is fond of silly exclamations and childish rhymes, easily distracted, and the show's primary source of physical humor. It is presumed she has a personality disorder similar to Asperger syndrome or ADHD but this is never specified. Over the course of the show she rarely walks anywhere, preferring to run, crawl, flip, roll, walk on her hands, or even just saunter. She prefers always walking barefoot wherever she goes.

In the English version, she almost always refers to herself in the third person. Not much is known about her origins, only that she spent some of her earlier childhood in an orphanage after being left there by her father, a man named Appledelhi Siniz Hesap Lütfen (he calls Ed "Françoise", and may be of Turkish origin as his name means "excuse me, check please" in Turkish). In the manga it is revealed that she was a friend of a timid young boy in the orphanage known simply as "Tomato" (which also happens to be the brand name scrawled in katakana on his PC) who, like Ed, knew a great deal about computers and the net, and it's probably safe to assume that his friendship with Ed helped turn her into the genius-hacker she is today. Ed's primary use to the Bebop crew is as a hacker; she is widely known to be a whiz kid behind a computer (with the possible exception of Ein the data dog). Ed's computer of choice is a carry-along Tomato desktop, an homage to the portable flatpanel-outfitted Apple IIc from the 80s, and when traveling by foot she will balance it on her head much like Indian women do with baskets. Ed has a strong rapport with Jet, who acts as a surrogate father, and Faye, who acts as something of a big sister (much to Faye's chagrin). Ed also seems to be the only person who can understand Ein.

In the last episodes of the series Ed and Ein decide to stay on Earth, presumably because Ed finally meets her father. The episode in which this occurs is "Hard Luck Woman".

Originally, Ed's character was based on a description of the series' music director ("a little weird, catlike, but a genius at creating music") and was originally going to be a dark-skinned boy. It was changed to even the gender ratio on the Bebop, which was, with Ed as a boy, three guys and one girl. This original character design appears in session 5, stealing a clearly adult magazine from Annie's bookstore by smuggling it under his shirt.

Ein is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi brought aboard the Bebop by Spike after a failed attempt to capture a bounty. Ein is a "data dog": while the televised series only briefly hints on the fact that this means Ein's brain was somehow enhanced drastically, the manga shows Ed accessing data stored in Ein's brain via a virtual reality-type interface with which she has a conversation with a human proprietor. It is obvious that Ein is abnormally intelligent, as he is able to answer the telephone, drive a car (just the wheel), use the SSW, play shōgi, and generally do a number of other things that an average canine shouldn't be able to do, but he never talks in a human language during the show. He does, however, speak in Session 18 "Speak Like A Child" after the credits Ein tells Spike "Next Episode: Wild Horses". He is able to 'speak' to other species, as demonstrated in Session 17, "Mushroom Samba" (he spoke to a cow with a subtitled bark of "Thanks", to which the cow has a subtitled moo back of "No problem"). It is likely that Ed is the only crew member with any idea of Ein's capabilities, as the other crew members are quick to dismiss Ein, and never seem to acknowledge him as more than a pet. Ein initially takes a shine to Jet, but when Ed joins the crew, he comes around to her as well. Frequently the two trade roles, with Ein expressing very human sentiments via facial expression and Ed regressing to a feral state. He went with Ed after she left the crew, probably because of his attachment to her. His name is a pun on the Japanese word for "dog" (犬 inu) but is also German for "one". 'Ein' may also be short for 'Einstein', after Albert Einstein, because of the extraordinary intelligence he possesses.

It's all in the name with Vicious: he is ruthless, bloodthirsty, cunning and ambitious, willing to do anything in order to secure a position of power. He is a member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate in Tharsis, and is often referred to or depicted as a venomous snake. His weapon of choice is not a firearm, but a katana which he wields skillfully, even against gun-wielders. He was an infantry rifleman during the Titan War and is shown firing an automatic pistol in a Session 5 flashback, as well as in the Session 26 flashback of him and Spike fighting back-to-back. Early on, Vicious is sometimes seen with a black bird on his shoulder. This bird is eventually used as a distraction and weapon, either a cybernetic or robotic construct with built-in explosives.

Vicious was Spike's partner in the Red Dragon crime syndicate until they fell into conflict over Julia. After Spike's supposed death, Vicious also leaves the Red Dragons briefly to fight in the Titan War of 2068 although his precise motivations for enlisting are debated. The blood feud between Spike and Vicious is an ongoing storyline throughout Cowboy Bebop. Vicious believes that he is the only one who can kill, or "awaken" Spike, as Spike is the only one who can do the same for Vicious. Vicious' real age is revealed in the official guidebook The After: at 27, he's the same age as Spike, although he appears to be much older. The age 27 is a significant age in the series because of the connotations it has to some legendary musicians passing away at that age, who are called the 27 Club. He may seem older due to the heavy, ever-present bags under his eyes. Because of this and his affinity towards Red Eye deals, it is possible that he is a user of the mind and vision altering drug. Evidence of this is briefly seen during a flashback at Julia's apartment which shows a capsule of Red Eye on the window sill during Session 13: Jupiter Jazz, Part 2.

Julia is a beautiful and mysterious woman from both Spike and Vicious' pasts. A love triangle among the three caused Spike to leave the syndicate rather than challenge Vicious. Spike had wanted to take her with him when he left the syndicate, but she was blackmailed by Vicious into almost shooting Spike. Vicious found out they were planning to run away together and confronted Julia, telling her that she would have to kill Spike, or both of them would be killed. To protect not only herself but also the man she loved, she ran away, never meeting Spike at the cemetery as both of them had planned; Spike himself was never aware of her reasons for not meeting him until the very end of the series.

Julia only appears in flashbacks until the final two episodes of the series. She acts as a stark contrast to the world around her — her blonde hair, bright red umbrella and automobile stand out in the otherwise drab environments that she inhabits.

After meeting Faye Valentine by coincidence, Julia and Spike are reunited. However, soon they're ambushed by Vicious' henchmen, and one of them fatally injures Julia. Her last words to Spike are It's... just... a dream....

Julia's name comes from the Beatles song "Julia" on The White Album.

The man who invented the hyperspace gate system prevalent throughout the series, Chessmaster Hex is a near centenarian former chess prodigy who left the Gate Corporation in disgust just before the Gate Incident of 2021. 50 years later, instructions he seeded on the internet to get his revenge against the Gate Corporation, the company who built and now controls the Gates, have fallen into the hands of 30, and possibly more, random and isolated individuals using his instructions to defraud unsuspecting travelers using the gates.

An aloof figure, it appears that he's all but forgotten about his plan for revenge and now only wants to play chess over the net.

Punch and Judy are the characters of the TV show Big Shot. The show provides information on various bounty heads, but is often unreliable. The Bebop crew often has the show playing in the background, but seldom pays close attention (they usually get their information from close contacts). Punch and Judy play the "cowboy" persona in a characteristic, "over the top" fashion. Punch adopts a mid-western drawl mixed with a Mexican accent (both faked), and uses random old-West sayings. Judy plays the stereotypical dumb blonde, and always appears in an open bolero jacket with nothing underneath, frequently wiggling her hips with excitement. Big Shot gets cancelled towards the end of the series, and Punch (lacking accent and costume) makes a brief cameo revealing his and Judy's fates: he moves to Mars to live with his mother and Judy is engaged to marry her agent. In the last episode of Big Shot, it appears that Judy was not informed of the show's cancellation and shoved Punch out of the way as she said into the camera that '[the station] will hear from [her] agent about this!'

The character names and the loose concept of Big Shot are most likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to the British style of puppet-show also known as Punch and Judy.

Punch and Judy are the characters of the TV show Big Shot. The show provides information on various bounty heads, but is often unreliable. The Bebop crew often has the show playing in the background, but seldom pays close attention (they usually get their information from close contacts). Punch and Judy play the "cowboy" persona in a characteristic, "over the top" fashion. Punch adopts a mid-western drawl mixed with a Mexican accent (both faked), and uses random old-West sayings. Judy plays the stereotypical dumb blonde, and always appears in an open bolero jacket with nothing underneath, frequently wiggling her hips with excitement. Big Shot gets cancelled towards the end of the series, and Punch (lacking accent and costume) makes a brief cameo revealing his and Judy's fates: he moves to Mars to live with his mother and Judy is engaged to marry her agent. In the last episode of Big Shot, it appears that Judy was not informed of the show's cancellation and shoved Punch out of the way as she said into the camera that '[the station] will hear from [her] agent about this!'

The character names and the loose concept of Big Shot are most likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to the British style of puppet-show also known as Punch and Judy.

Roco Bonnaro is a member of Piccaro Calvino's gang. He is involved in organized crime in order to support his blind sister, Stella, and does everything he can to help her regain her sight. Roco sees Spike effortlessly take out several hijackers on a spaceliner and begs Spike to teach him how to fight. He befriends Spike although he doesn't tell him about the bounty on his head. Everything goes awry when Roco gives Spike a package to hold onto, which contains a plant called "Grey Ash" that he stole from Calvino. This plant, worth millions upon millions of woolongs, is capable of curing "Venus Sickness", the disease which has blinded Stella. Roco has a rendezvous with Spike and they fight against Calvino's gang. Roco manages to pull off one of Spike's Jeet Kune Do maneuvers and topples one of the gangsters, but, in the chaos, Roco is gunned down. He asks Spike if they would have been friends if they had met sooner, and dies. Later, Spike pays his respects and visits Stella, although she can feel that Roco has died.

A soldier during the Titan War, Electra is a beautiful young woman who clings onto her past. Her love towards Vincent caused them to have a short-term relationship, during which Vincent transferred a vaccine to Electra. It is never explicitly said how Vincent got the vaccine inside Electra. She encountered Spike in Cherious Medical, and, as a joke, Spike asked her for a date ("Let's flip a coin. Heads, I tell you [what I'm doing here], tails we go on a date"). Afterwards, Spike helped Electra to get back at Vincent and stop him. Her appearance is based on that of Gina Gershon.

The main villain of the Bebop movie. Vincent is a rather melancholic introvert. He was used as a test subject during the experimentation after the Titan War. He was the only survivor in a field of test subjects, ergo, the vaccine only he carried was successful. He was abandoned to die on Titan by the government, but somehow survived and returned to civilization. He has also loved Electra very deeply, but has suffered amnesia from his ordeal and does not remember. His plan is to release the virus throughout the world, leaving only a handful of survivors. As a side-effect of the virus, Vincent was driven to insanity; which was also aided by the hallucination of golden butterflies he saw continuously (another side-effect of the infection). Vincent is in many ways a contrast to Spike. Aside from equal physical strength and similar physical appearances, Vincent and Spike are both men who consider themselves to be "dead" due to tragic incidents in their pasts, both kept alive by their love of a woman. The archetypal comparisons between the two have lead many fans to argue that the film itself is merely one of Spike's dreams, in which he confronts the guilt of his past and the end of his own life’s situation. Watanabe has declined to deny or confirm this. It has been stated that he may have been inspired by Bob Dylan and that his look is based on Vincent Gallo.

Head of the Space Warriors — a once peaceful ecological activism group that now relies on terrorism more violent than the local crime syndicates - "Twinkle" and her sons fight for the survival of the Ganymede (moon) Sea Rat, even if they have to release a genetically engineered virus called "Monkey Business" that will mutate all of Ganymede's human population into monkeys.

She's caught early on in the episode by Spike and Jet, but her sons blackmail the government of Ganymede with the threat of releasing "Monkey Business" to get rid of the bounty on her head. This move succeeds until Twinkle moves into hyperspace and releases the virus, only to have it trapped in hyperspace once the Gate is closed. Spike had sneaked a vial of the virus into Twinkle's pocket before she was transferred back to her ship, and it bursts open when the ship is locked in hyperspace.

His first appearance is as an apparently ethnic Arab man who carries a cigarette lighter shaped like a grenade with him, and also knows an awful lot about "beans". It is later revealed that Rasheed is Doctor Mendelo, who developed the nano-machinery that was to be used as a virus for the military, vaccinated Vincent in attempt to keep it under control, and destroyed all evidence of the vaccine, but was unable to destroy the data of the virus itself, fleeing to the Arab Quarter where he lived on as a drug dealer.

A serial bomber who uses explosive teddy bears in order to blow up his targets. The reason for his crimes is unknown, mostly because no one is willing to listen to or care about why he wants to blow up buildings, especially tall ones. Spike and Faye set out to capture Teddy, but are constantly interupted by a third party who fancies himself a bounty hunter of sorts.