Waifu Wednesday: Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)

Waifu Wednesday

If you’re looking for badass chicks in your space opera, you can’t go wrong with Faye Valentine of Cowboy Bebop fame. With all the talk of the live action version of this classic anime swirling around, I wanted to give the show a rewatch so I could be justified in my eventual disappointment. Translating the setting and action of Cowboy Bebop to live action might be possible, but capturing the charm and uniqueness of its cast will be a tall order.

So for this week’s Waifu Wednesday, lets take a look at the gambler-turned-bounty hunter that is Faye Valentine. We showed Spike the same love before, so it only seems fair, right?

Who is Faye Valentine?

Faye Valentine makes a cute face

When we first meet Faye Valentine, she is heavily in debt and working for the kind of people that cross paths with the crew of the Bebop. For the first few encounters with Spike and Jet, the most consistent thing she does is attempt to double-cross everyone she can. Faye’s insistence that a life in solitude is better than the pain of losing people puts her at constant odds with those around her, causing her to push everyone away.

However, like any good character, Faye Valentine changes over the course of the show. In fact, I would argue that she gets the most character development of the entire cast of Cowboy Bebop. She never becomes completely trustworthy, but she reveals that she has a lot of heart and a suitably tragic backstory.

Why we love her

Faye Valentine with guns pointed at her

If it wasn’t clear by now, I love dangerous women and Faye Valentine fits the bill nicely. She is arrogant and deceitful, so you never really know exactly where you stand with her or what she’ll do next. She’s a crack shot and a solid pilot, meaning she is someone you want in your corner when things kick off. And no one is a smoother talker than she is. On multiple occasions, she shows the ability to talk her way out of (and into) bad situations.

Faye is a classic femme fatale character. Dangerous yet beautiful, causing all the men in her life to lose their senses when she’s around. The mystery around her past and the tragedy that comes with finding out about it only enhance the things we love about Faye Valentine. She is a badass with a heart, one of the most dangerous women in the solar system regardless of which side she chooses to be on at that particular moment. Faye manages to be one of the coolest characters in a cast overflowing with cool.

Why you’ll love her

If you ever find yourself on the opposite side of a fight with Faye Valentine, wait a few minutes and she’ll probably switch sides just to be contrary. Despite being reliably unreliable throughout the first half of the show, it becomes clear that this behaviour is simply to push people away and protect herself from the dangers of attachment. Getting to know Faye is a tall order, but once you do she proves to be worth the effort.

Faye Valentine is a classic waifu for a reason and the live action show will need to work real hard to bring as much of the effortless charm that the animated version managed. She might not be the best gambler in the system and she manages to get herself into more problems than she gets herself out of, but Faye is still one of the best to have in your corner when it hits the fan. You know, until she decides to betray you again.

If you want to have a rewatch of Cowboy Bebop, you can catch the entire series on All4.

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