Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop wears his heart on his sleeve. He's a big man who experiences big emotions, especially compared to his partner and buddy Spike Spiegel. Jet's emotional weaknesses can be considered a double-edged sword, making his highs very high and his lows very low.
Jet is a straightforward guy, but his life is filled with contradictions. He has his own ship but it's filled with people, which isn't ideal for him. He was shot in the arm and had to get it replaced with a robotic one, but it gives him extra strength. And his partner gets him into trouble but also saves him from trouble on just as many occasions.
10 Harsh Reality: Jet Had His Arm Shot Off After Being Duped By His Colleagues
After he was shot by Syndicate assassin Udai Taxim, Jet was in need of a new arm. Existing technology could rebuild Jet's arm so it looked and felt real, but he chose to get a mechanical prosthetic as a reminder of the incident. While he has enough dexterity in his fingers to allow him to do everything he needs to, he surely would have preferred for his arm not to have been blown off by one of his corrupt colleagues in the ISSP.
9 Perk: Jet Has A Good Heart & A Keen Sense Of Justice
Jet was known as the Black Dog while he was in the ISSP. Once he bit into his prey, he didn't let go. In a solar system where crime is rife and the bad guys far outweigh the good, Jet's sense of right and wrong ensures he has no trouble sleeping at night. He would arguably make more money if he was less principled. He might even have kept his arm if he'd only looked the other way when he uncovered corruption in the police force. But Jet values a clean conscience above all.
8 Harsh Reality: Jet Has To Look After The People Living On His Ship
As the oldest and most mature member on the Bebop, Jet's living situation is far from ideal for him. Somehow, a band of misfits has managed to infiltrate his ship to call it their home. Since Jet has such a big heart, he can't exactly throw them out without a guilty conscience.
Having some roommates wouldn't be so bad if they were responsible enough to look after themselves, but Ein needs feeding, Ed needs babysitting, he needs to keep Faye in check, and also make sure Spike doesn't get into too much trouble.
7 Perk: Jet Has His Own Ship
Despite having to share the Bebop with a group of rambunctious and mischievous roommates, Jet's the one who actually owns and maintains it, so he's the one that calls the shots. A former fishing trawler, the Bebop has plenty of space: it's got a living room, workshop, multiple living quarters, storage room, and of course, a toilet. The Bebop is mostly reliable, but being secondhand, it does require a certain amount of maintenance every now and then. Good thing Jet is responsible enough to maintain it well.
6 Harsh Reality: Jet Doesn't Have A Lot Of Woolongs
Finding work as a bounty hunter can be difficult in the solar system where Jet plies his trade. Even when he thinks he's scored a jackpot, something always goes wrong, keeping that big payday perpetually out of reach. When Jet won big on the casino ship Spiders From Mars, for example, he was double-crossed by Gordon, the casino's owner. The betrayal left Jet just as broke as he was when he entered the casino.
5 Perk: Jet's Good With A Gun & Packs A Hefty Punch
Jet Black's skills with a gun are a big part of what gives him his livelihood as a bounty hunter. Jet's training in the ISSP leaves him more than capable of looking after himself, which is always a good thing in a business as unpredictable as bounty hunting. His robotic arm gives him added strength and is a handy weapon to use in face-to-face combat. As a bonus, Jet is a pretty muscular guy, so his non-prosthetic limbs can also be quite powerful.
4 Harsh Reality: Jet Is Partners With A Wanted Man
Spike Spiegel is Jet's best friend and a reliable partner, but he's also an ex-member of the Red Dragon Syndicate. The Syndicate has been out for Spike's life ever since, so being Spike's partner naturally puts Jet at risk.
Jet has no way to know whether they'll be attacked by assassins or worse any time they go somewhere. Spike has made a lot of enemies over the years, and the stress of never knowing when someone will attack can't be a very pleasant situation to have to deal with.
3 Perk: Jet Is Partners With A Formidable Fighter
Spike Spiegel may put Jet in hot water every now and then, but he also (probably) gets him out of as much trouble as he puts him in with his Bruce Lee-inspired Jeet Kune Do martial arts skills. Together with Jet's strength and prowess with firearms, the two are a formidable partnership that can take on just about anybody. Their synergy guarantees that they're two of the most feared bounty hunters in the business.
2 Harsh Reality: Jet Had His Heart Broken By The Woman He Loved
A note that said "farewell" and a pocket watch is all that Jet's former love, Alisa, left behind when she disappeared from his life. He told himself that, if the watch stopped before Alisa returned, he'd leave his home planet of Ganymede forever. Unsurprisingly, the watch stopped before he ever saw her again. Jet is eventually forced to go back to Ganymede years later with bounty-related business. He manages to catch up with Alisa, who tells Jet that she left him because she wanted to make her own decisions and forge her own path.
1 Perk: Jet Kind Of Has A Family
Jet provides a sense of stability in a ship of oddballs who would otherwise probably be helpless without him. He acts as a kind of father figure, offering advice and wisdom to his younger, less mature shipmates. When child prodigy Ed entered the fray and came to live on the Bebop, Jet took on a paternal relationship with them. Ed's more of a sibling to Spike and Faye while Ein is Ed's best animal friend.
