Here's the backstory for Cowboy Bebop bounty hunter Jet Black. Cowboy Bebop arrived in the late 1990s and is a classic anime series that ranks alongside Neon Genesis Evangelion in terms of popularity - though the two shows are quite different in tone. The series is set in the future and follows a crew of bounty hunters working from the titular Bebop spaceship. The crew is made up of Spike, Faye, computer genius Ed, the superintelligent dog Ein and the owner of the Bebop, Jet Black.
The Cowboy Bebop anime boasts great animation and action, but the show's blending of tones and genres made it connect with viewers. It's a potpourri of sci-fi, western, John Woo action movie, noir romance, wacky comedy and much more. The series boasted great music too. Cowboy Bebop ran for a single, 26-episode season while director Shinichirō Watanabe later helmed the animated movie spinoff Knockin' On Heaven's Door in 2001. Netflix has a live-action Cowboy Bebop show on the way too, which is set to land in late 2021.
While Spike and Faye are at the center of most Cowboy Bebop episodes, Jet Black is the level-headed one commonly holding the crew together. By the time the show starts, he and Spike are already bounty hunting partners, with Faye and Ed joining up in later episodes. Jet is also the focus of a few Cowboy Bebop episodes that focus on his backstory, including how he became a bounty hunter and how he lost his arm.
Years before Cowboy Bebop begins, Jet Black was an investigator with the Inter-Solar System Police, where he was so dogged in his pursuit of criminals he earned the nickname "Black Dog." During this period he was partnered with policeman Fad and was in a relationship with a woman named Alisa. One day he returned home to find Alisa had left him, leaving a watch behind with a note that said "farewell." This caused Jet Black to focus on his work, though he was later shot in an ambush seemingly set by an assassin named Udai Taxim, which resulted in him losing his left arm and replacing it with a cybernetic one.
Cowboy Bebop being the tragic noir that it is, Jet later learns the truth behind the two biggest turning points in his life. In one episode, he pursues Alisha and her new love as a bounty hunter and learns that even though her life didn't turn out how she wanted following their relationship, she wanted to live her own life as she felt trapped with him. In a later episode, he hops onto a prison ship to confront Udai again, only to learn Fad helped set him up and was the one who fired the shot. A guilt-ridden Fad lets himself get killed by his old partner when the truth comes out. While neither outcome is pretty, hearing the truth helps Jet Black move on from both events.