Carole & Tuesday is the most recent anime by Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame. The series stars the eponymous Carole Stanley and Tuesday Simmons as they team up to form a band on Mars, and their journey to stardom ends up changing not just themselves, but everyone on Mars, as a whole.

Despite how prestigious Cowboy Bebop and Shinichiro Watanabe’s other projects usually are, Carole & Tuesday is surprisingly underrated by fans and critics alike. Much of that likely stems from how Netflix gave it a batch release schedule, meaning it couldn’t generate any hype, and it’s flown under the radar ever since. As someone who never ignored it, though, I can proudly say that Carole & Tuesday’s writing, direction, and overall production make it Shinichiro Watanabe’s true masterpiece that’s at least on par with Cowboy Bebop, and I would love to explain why.

Carole & Tuesday Is A Music Story Unlike Any Other

Why Carole & Tuesday's Music Is So Good

The first reason why I love Carole & Tuesday so much is because of its music. Shinichiro Watanabe’s ion for music always leads to his anime having incredible soundtracks, and not only does Carole & Tuesday have a great instrumental track courtesy of Mocky, but it even features a great variety of vocal tracks from artists like Celeina Ann, Jessica Karpov, and even Thundercat and Denzel Curry. Carole & Tuesday’s soundtrack might have the best composition of any of Shinichiro Watanabe’s anime, and it’s one I can never get enough of, no matter how much I try.

What truly makes Carole & Tuesday’s music so great, however, is the stellar direction behind it all. Every musical sequence not only has great animation behind it, but the story and emotional beats are always structured to make them as impactful as possible. I cry every time I watch Carole and Tuesday perform “Loneliest Girl”, and the build-up to “Mother” i.e. the 7 Minute Miracle made for a phenomenal climax, and I can firmly say that Carole & Tuesday’s soundtrack is the one where Shinichiro Watanabe does his best job of making his music inform the story he’s trying to tell.

I've Never Loved A Cast As Much As I've Loved Carole & Tuesday's

Why Carole & Tuesday's Characters Are So Great

What I ended up loving just as much as Carole & Tuesday’s music, of course, was its incredible cast of characters. As far as the ing cast goes, every character consistently does a great job of bringing something worthwhile to the story, whether they’re comedic characters like Gus or Ertegun, serious characters like Angela or Tao, and especially dramatic one-off characters like Flora and Desmond. Every character in Carole & Tuesday has something great to add to the story, no matter how small their role may be, and it all comes together for a brilliant ensemble.

Naturally, the best characters in Carole & Tuesday are its eponymous leads, Carole and Tuesday. Carole and Tuesday’s earnestness and innocence in a world we’re constantly reminded is growing more cynical by the day always makes them fun to watch, and the fact that it was them who brought all the past characters together for the final concert is a perfect testament to that. Carole & Tuesday is as great as it is because its leads do a perfect job of reminding the cast and the audience that there’s still some good in the world, and that’s always great to see.

Carole & Tuesday's Writing Is Everything Great About Shinichiro Watanabe

Carole & Tuesday Is The Pinnacle Of Shinichiro Watanabe's Writing

Tying everything together in Carole & Tuesday is its stellar narrative. As is often the case with Shinichiro Watanabe, much of the writing is centered around the found family the main characters stumble into and the various ways they impact each other and other characters, and sure enough, it always works thanks to a combination of comedy, drama, and genuine heart at every turn. Carole & Tuesday is an anime that never fails at selling the heart and drama of its story and how overall fun it can be, and I can’t believe how much fun I had with that.

More than that, of course, is the anime’s use of social commentary. For starters, one of the major plot threads in Carole & Tuesday is the issue of AI overtaking the entertainment industry, and while there’s clear criticism of AI, the show never outright condemns it and instead makes the point that it can be good, but it shouldn’t be the only way to listen to music. Carole & Tuesday’s surprisingly nuanced take on AI is just as relevant now as it was in 2019, and I found it great to look back on with how much bigger the issue has become.

Carole & Tuesday’s social commentary is at its strongest, of course, when it deals with racism. The series makes very clear criticisms of the Trump istration’s controversial anti-immigration policies, and it works as well as it does both because of Shinichiro Watanabe’s cutting honesty and for how it’s used to build into the final concert where everyone makes a triumphant call to stand together and spread love instead of hate. Carole & Tuesday’s social commentary and overall writing capture Shinichiro Watanabe’s style in its purest form, and with how relevant those issues continue to be, it’s all the more incredible to watch.

Is Carole & Tuesday Actually Better Than Cowboy Bebop?

Where Does Carole & Tuesday Truly Stack Up Against Cowboy Bebop?

I’ve gone at length about why I love Carole & Tuesday so much, but as for it being better than Cowboy Bebop, that’s more complicated. As much as I love Carole & Tuesday, its visuals and animation aren’t as consistently good as other Shinichiro Watanabe anime, and the pacing takes a notable hit in the second half when it keeps introducing new plot points that often end anticlimactically. Meanwhile, Cowboy Bebop is still a masterpiece visually and narratively after almost 30 years, and overall, as much as I love Carole & Tuesday, I can’t deny that Cowboy Bebop is objectively the better show.

Cowboy Bebop might be the better show, but Carole & Tuesday has touched me in ways I never knew possible through its fun cast and overall earnestness, whether it’s with its commentary or with how few reservations it has about being a story about the joys of music and the general importance of love. I love Carole & Tuesday because of how touching a story it is from start to finish, warts and all, and with Shinichiro Watanabe’s Lazarus on the horizon, I implore everyone to give Carole & Tuesday a chance so they might experience everything I loved about it, and more.