I'll definitely be buying the UK bluray release, so thanks for the reminder OP. I was thinking about re-watching Cowboy Bebop again this year, so this release pretty much came out at the exact time I needed it to.
On a more personal note, this series is heavily connected to my memories of my father and our time together after his divorce from my mom. Allow me to share this with you.
Back then, when DVD players were still new, my father and I often made a special trip to an import DVD store that sold American DVD's in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). Here is where I rediscovered my love for anime (and animation) after having been introduced to it by my dad as a child, though often without knowing that they were (partly) of Japanese origin (as was the case with tv shows and VHS movies/OVA such as Akira, Techno Police 21C, Samurai Pizza Cats, Alfred J. Kwak, The Last Unicorn, Transformers, Patlabor, Guyver, Ultraman, Swan Lake, Swiss Family Robinson, Heidi, et cetera).
Even though the DVD's were very expensive back then, with the help of my father I still managed to collect Vision of Escaflowne, Lain, Macross Plus, Rurouni Kenshin Trust & Betrayal and - indeed - Cowboy Bebop. (Man, those first few years of releases were full of significant series now that I think about it as Evangelion, Trigun, Outlaw Star and Berserk were also released around that time.)
Cowboy Bebop definitely became my favorite out of those, and has remained so ever since. Rarely is it the case that I as a viewer can feel completely in sync with a series or movie (up till predicting correctly which song would be used in the ending for instance), but Cowboy Bebop definitely is one of those for me. It makes me smile and cry like almost no other movie or series and it makes me feel alive and full of wonder. A big part of this, of course, is because of Kanno's incredible score.
Ever since my father died this past January, I started to go back in my head to those happier times and have started to associate this series in particular with him and our time buying it in that store, stopping at the McDrive along the way home and then watching it together in his little house in the woods where I would spend the weekend with him. Even though the timing of the DVD release and us picking it up then and there was very much coincedental, my appreciation for Cowboy Bebop has grown even more because of how I can link it to my father.
Dad, if you can read this from wherever you are now: thanks for being such a generous parent and for introducing me to movies and cartoons all those years ago. They have permanently improved my way of viewing the world and life in general, and for that I owe you big time. You led a tough life full of hardships and loneliness, but hopefully you have moved on to better things now. I miss your kindness and guidance so much, but don't worry about me as I'll try to remember that life is just a dream...and that when I wake up, I'll see you again up there Space Cowboy...
Dad, this
song is for you. Gaf, thanks for reading my story.