The first thing you need to know about Spike Spiegel is his absolute coolness. He is the yardstick for cool. There are three layers to this man: the first is the bounty hunter, the guy who smokes in front of no smoking signs, the man who shows no fear and kicks an extreme amount of ass. The second layer the philosophical Spike, the one whose ass-kicking comes from a place of training and hard work. The Spike who quotes Bruce Lee and references Way of the Dragon. The third layer is where it gets complex, this is the bounty hunter who used to be the right hand guy in the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, who fell in love with a woman, who betrayed and is hunted by a former friend, who has a prosthetic eye that “sees the past” – this is a man who faked his death and tried to change.



Spike mentions two philosophies he follows in his life that are closely connected with combat: Bushido, the Way of the Samurai and Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do philosophy, which is very Tao-based. In the first he mentions how he feels life is only a dream and that he’s already dead. These philosophies fit well within the Bushido code as described in the “Hagakure – The Book of the Samurai“, wherein Yamamoto Tsunetomo describes how having the mindset of being already dead allows fearlessness and acceptance of death, whenever it comes. This was important for a samurai because they may be called upon to give their life at a moment’s notice, whether in service or seppuku. Spike also follows Tsunetomo’s description of how a samurai should speak; seldom and only to say what is needed.

The way I understand the Jeet Kune Do spirit is directness, efficiency, brutality and survival. That is how our class is taught, but it’s not exactly the philosophical side of JKD that most remember Bruce Lee for. Spike’s fighting is definitely brutal and direct and he survives most encounters, but it seems, according to Session 8 – Waltz for Venus – that he follows the principle of formlessness, of becoming whatever shape you need to suit the situation. “Water can take any form. It drifts without effort one moment then pounds down in a torrent the very next.” But if you take the idea of JKD as a whole, formlessness and brutality together, then this is somewhat at odds with Spike’s Bushido code. Taoism, the root of much of Bruce’s philosophy, holds continued understanding sacred – moving forward and refining, but the samurai hold duty and servitude dear. Their lives are nothing but to exist for their Lord and that includes their death at a moment’s notice. If both samurai walk away from a fight alive, they both deserve to be cut down because neither had the spirit to kill the other.

It’s worth noting that Spike does not use the Way of Jeet Kune Do in terms of attacking the nearest vital target with the longest weapon (kick to the knee, kick to the groin, fingers in the eyes, etc), but actually physically emulates Bruce Lee. He mirrors Bruce’s kata scene from Enter the Dragon, he copies the salsa footwork and happily assumes Bruce’s many stances from his movies. However, when teaching Rocco the JKD philosophy in session 8, he uses an Aiki-style wrist grab and throw to demonstrate being like water. It’s also worth noting that while Spike despises him, Andy the Cowboy does mirror Spike literally: he is a cowboy, with a gun and a horse, while Spike is a bounty hunter with a dark past. Andy even goes so far to transform into a samurai, much like Spike’s transformation and refers to himself as Musashi, the single greatest and most innovative samurai, in terms of fighting prowess. I could do a whole post of why Musashi and Bruce Lee are very similar figures, but the short of it is that they both disregarded tradition, rebuked their contemporaries and developed fighting styles that were only for winning and were not concerned with history. This modernity of Musashi and Lee is important to consider when thinking about how old fashioned the Bebop crew is, Spike included.

Spike’s background intensifies the complexity. There is very little information on why Spike is chosen to be a pupil of JKD or Bushido, either from the writers or in the story. If you heard Spike’s past orally, that he was taken in by a crime boss, fell in love with his friend’s girl and faked his death to be with her. She disappeared and he was forced into taking his criminal skills and working on the side of angels, however controversial that is, becoming a cowboy. Taking just these details, it sounds as if Spike developed his samurai spirit under the mob boss, a good analogue for a lord and his samurai retainer. Then, after his faked death, he would pursue liberation, freedom, complete expression of self. That would be his Tao, his thinking-man’s combat, his Jeet Kune Do.

However, from the context, it appears to be the opposite. Mao, Vicious (former friend, now mortal enemies) and Spike’s mentor and father figure was actually a caring man, well-considered by most who knew him in the series. Mao may have encouraged or even taught Spike JKD. Sometime after Spike defected to be with Vicious’ girlfriend, Julia, Vicious killed Mao. Mao mentions before this “if Spike were here you would never have done this” – so possibly Spike’s compassionate side (raucous laughter) kept Vicious’ insanity in check when they operated as a team. So then, where does Spike’s samurai spirit come from?

The answer to this is that Spike considers his faked death to be real. When he defects from the Red Dragon Syndicate, this is his real death and his samurai ideas of “life being a dream” begin. This is probably because he did not get what he wanted, freedom and a life with Julia. For some unknown reason she disappeared right after the plan was executed. So as a bounty hunter, as a cowboy, he is simultaneously a samurai. He’s fearless, he shows nothing in the face of death, and invites it on many occasions. The fear he shows to the mad clown is in the face of an unkillable monster, not fear of his own death. Tsunemoto believed you should live without fear of death in the same way you would calmly walk through a rainstorm. The rain will hit you regardless, so why run? Spike walks this way. So Spike is a taoist samurai cowboy in space, hunting bounties, being occasionally compassionate and possibly running from his old life. Mao is mentioned that he could feel that Spike was still alive after he defected. Spike, similarly, probably felt that Julia is still alive.

So, this is the spoiler territory, Spike goes to fight Vicious after he and the Syndicate killed Julia just when Spike thinks they’ve reunited. He is begged and pleaded to save himself by the Bebop crew, specifically Faye, but he says that he’s not going to his death, he’s going to find out if he’s really alive. This is simultaneously a very Bushido thing to do but also isn’t. A proponent of the samurai spirit would stalk his way calmly up to Vicious and attempt to cut him down (or shoot him up in this case). And yes, this is what Spike does. But a true samurai would be happy to fail. He would be happy to get within six feet of Vicious and fall down dead. To a samurai, it is not success that matters, but that you tried. That your honourable actions took you to the right place and set you on the right course. That is enough and that is a good death. So perhaps it is Bushido that took him to Vicious, but it is Jeet Kune Do that killed Vicious.

There is always the possibility that Spike survived and got his life back. It’s hard to imagine him falling in love with Faye, even though she represents so much of Julia, and it’s hard to imagine him getting a day job or quitting smoking or becoming any semblance of a normal person. Taoism teaches that to continue life is to continue on the way, on the understanding of the world. Jeet Kune Do teaches that to live is to express and to express is to refine. To continually become more efficient, a better fighter, a better person. Learn to love the straight line paths through life, create opportunities and grasp them. Spike is uncomfortable not being with Julia and not being in the Syndicate, his bounty hunter life is somewhere between what he had and what he wants. Similarly, Bushido represents that phase of his life that is new, his death, and he doesn’t really want it, and JKD simultaneously provides brutality and fighting spirit but also the desire for freedom and to better oneself. Spike goes towards one, Julia, and it’s taken away. So he follows the other, out of duty and responsibility to end this fight. It’s hard to take the entirety of the samurai code and apply it to any endeavour outside of its origin. This clash of two ideologies mirrors the clash of old and new in the Bebop universe; the way Spike is a cowboy samurai in a sci-fi world, Jet was a clean cop in a dirty solar system, Faye was cryogenically frozen from before the Gate accident and Ed is one of the few Earthborn characters in that era. Maybe that is why Spike is searching for a way to temper his differences, and he goes towards Vicious to finish it.

We don’t see him die, but perhaps he just woke up.