Space Dandy: Episode 23 -- If Dandy Doesn't Love Scarlet, Well I Know I Sure Do

Here you go, guys and gals. A Space Dandy-related article to serve as a break of sorts from the numerous reviews I have in the pipeline.

While I'm still in this weird middle ground of whether or not I love or hate Space Dandy, I know one thing is certain - Scarlet (voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard) is my favorite character, without a shadow of a doubt. That was heightened by this past Saturday's episode that aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami anime block, which featured Scarlet as the focus for the entire episode.

I loved Scarlet since her bad-ass debut in Episode 2.

But exactly who is Scarlet? According to the Space Dandy wikia, "Scarlet is a beautiful inspector at the Registration Center who oversees Dandy's work. Scarlet tries to be calm and professional, but circumstances (and Dandy) force her into this role more often than not. She is quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat, specifically jeet kune do (the martial art popularized and created by the late Bruce Lee himself) style."

In this universe of littered with the crazy antics of Dandy (voiced by Ian Sinclair) and his crew, it's Scarlet's job to clearly and precisely bluntly point out how stupid they are in this series. I loved this week's episode since we were given another insight into her character.

In Episode 19, "Gallant Space Gentleman, Baby", we get to see a different side of Scarlet as she enchanted by a Cloudian (think a ladies man/gentleman) named Gentle. By the end of the episode, Scarlet is shown as a drunken mess with Meow as Dandy and Gentle are more distracted with "rescuing" Honey than paying her any attention. This episode showed a more vulnerable Scarlet as she let her defenses down in the hopes of companionship.

In Episode 23, "Lovers Are Trendy, Baby", we see a complete 180 from Scarlet's no-nonsense, tough girl demeanor as she "hires" Dandy to play the part of her fictitious boyfriend in a ploy to fool her delusional ex-boyfriend (who was easily inspired by a pilot in the Mobile Suit Gundam universe...) that she has moved on. Along the way, Scarlet and Dandy actually end up falling for each other, despite how unlikely and how incompatible they have been labeled as such up to this point. Of course, Dandy does something stupid (as usual) to cause her to doubt her feelings, but this gives Scarlet's crazy ex-boyfriend the opening he needs to intervene. That's when Dandy actually has a genius move to end all of this and breeches his "contract" with Scarlet by kissing her right in front of her ex-boyfriend. This causes him to have an emotional breakdown long enough to allow the cops to arrest him for the damages he caused along the chase.

To say these two don't actually "like" each other, Scarlet and Dandy's kiss lasted much longer than one would expect - thus, hinting at there may be something more to this just being business.

Immediately, I thought of this scene from Cowboy Bebop as it teased a relationship that never blossomed, much to the dismay of fans of this spectacular anime as well.

Ironic that the same creators of Cowboy Bebop are working on Space Dandy, so I doubt this was a coincidence. Much like Faye Valentine and Spike Speigel, Dandy and Scarlet are portrayed as incompatible but with a working business relationship. The sad part of the matter is that the relationship could have flurished if Dandy was only a few seconds earlier or if Scarlet saw him before the bus passed by. It just makes me anxious to see where their relationship would have gone from there if they had a "happy" ending. Sadly, that's what life is about - chances that come once and we may or may not get another chance to experience that "happy" ending, if at all.

The point is driven home harder with both of their reactions to seeing each other at the Registration Center. Scarlet is pretty nervous and awkward seeing him again and Dandy has subdued his emotions, but respects her feelings (something Scarlet's crazy ex-boyfriend wouldn't have done). I have to wonder where Scarlet and Dandy's relationship will go from here.

One of the funniest moments on this episode...

For that, I tip my hat to Space Dandy's episode from this past weekend and I'm crossing my fingers that Bones doesn't leave this up in the air like Faye and Spike's relationship and fans are left to speculate what happened for years to come.