I've only ever watched the first few episodes of Cowboy Bebop, although every person I know that indulges in anime has told me to finish it. I never do, but hopefully with the organization of all of this I can see it until the end. I'm definitely going to agree with klein that the world they've created is definitely an interesting one. I think it's an interesting take on the expansion into space being something like the wild west almost uncontrollable by sheer space alone. I'm also curious if this anime will clash at all with Japanese culture, and their perceived notions of what the future looks like. From the first two episodes I get a very westernized vibe from the whole thing.
Neither am I to be honest, I don't know enough about Japanese culture to answer the question really. I only know that perspective can inextricably change how we view everything, future included. To give an example we've talked about before in a previous thread unrelated to sci-fi. Godzilla and the entire structure of the kaiju culture pretty much arose from the fear of nuclear warfare. That is a perspective Japanese culture holds almost on their own, being the only nation a nuke has been used on in a war-time capacity. While it's definitely apparent that Japan over the years has developed a strong westernized culture, its hard to say if their science fiction looks like our own. What they fear in their day-to-day lives, or see as worthy of development varies.
War, zebra2 if you have not watched Space Brothers you absolutely should, it's a beautiful slice-of-life near-future realistic sci-fi that is very applicable even now. I understand it was a Manga before being made into an anime, but I never read that and I don't know how it holds up.