The crew of the Bebop spaceship are bounty hunters. The frontier they hunt on, though, is the whole solar system — not the American West like cowboys of old.

Their first onscreen quarry in Session #1 “Asteroid Blues” is drug peddler Asimov Solensan. His product is “Bloody Eye,” which when sprayed on the pupils turns the user into a super soldier with enhanced reaction time. Asimov demonstrates the product on himself to his first buyer. When some armed men come looking to steal his supply back, the scene cuts between shots of them firing and shots from Asimov’s point of view. He’s literally seeing red and the frame often shakes (representing his inhuman speed).

This introduction sets up that our heroes are in trouble if they cross him, but by the time he and Spike are trading blows the drug has loosened Asimov’s grip. At an outdoor cafe, Spike poses as a Bloody Eye buyer (he’s a trickster, after all) then drops the guise once he’s gotten under Asimov’s skin. An enraged Asimov lunges with his fists, while Spike dodges and favors the longer reach of his legs to hit back. The pair also use the tables around them as shields and acrobatic platforms, an understated way to make the environment key to the battle.

The character animation of “Cowboy Bebop,” particularly the way characters’ limbs stretch when punching or kicking, is one of the series’ strengths. This battle, like Asimov showing off Bloody Eye, proves what the series can do.