I've watched quite a lot of anime adaptations, particularly Japanese made ones, and they consistently demonstrate two truths: 1) a lot of anime's stylings simply do not translate into good live action and 2) anime fans will insist you put it in anyway, all other considerations be damned. Netflix's 2021 Cowboy Bebop is no exception to either of these truths.
For those not familiar, Cowboy Bebop is a Space Western about a gang of down-and-out bounty hunters; they're incredibly cool and skilled, but through perpetual misfortune and infighting, they can never make any real money off of the criminals they take down. Bebop is also one of the most beloved anime series of all time, so as you might imagine, the new show has earned the ire of a lot of anime purists.
Fortunately, the live action show has all the important parts. It has the anime's kitchen-sink of genre tropes, the grubby sci-fi, the kung-fu, and all the splendid big band music. Of chief importance, it gets its trio of main characters right. Spike is suitably aloof, sarcastic and always thinking about his stomach. Jet is a gruff father figure who tries to keep the others out of trouble. Faye is the selfish asshole who is always grifting for her piece of the pie. Faye is perhaps the most different from her anime inception in that she's much more vivacious and extroverted here. It's a change that's absolutely fine, and does its job of differentiating her from the other two miserable blokes she shares a spaceship with. With these strong characters, we get some good personality clashes, and the bantering and childish bickering is a highlight.
Episodes roughly follow the plots of the source material, sometimes remixing scenes or writing in slightly different outcomes. Tonally, the show is mostly going for campy, with split screens, colourful characters, surreal elements and silly jokes. The budget is visibly straining at times to show everything it wants to show, and there are occasionally crummy special effects or simple mistakes, whilst fight choreography can be a bit sluggish too. For the most part it works though. It looks right, if a bit rough around the edges.
What doesn't work is the villain. Vicious is the worst part of the anime; a two dimensional Sephiroth wannabe that fortunately only appeared in a few episodes. Live action Vicious is even worse. There is a whole new subplot about his rise to power, and its impossible to take it seriously because of how goofy he looks, a sad 40 year old with tacky goth costume jewellery and bad silver hairdo; It's Anime stuff that won't translate. His subplot is a misstep, even if it resolves some of the plot holes of the original anime.
I liked Cowboy Bebop. It was never going to be better than its inspiration, and no one expected it to be. Being less good =/= not good however, so if you are a fan of the show or new, give this a watch. And if you are a purist, the original anime is on Netflix for you still.
Bang!
I've watched quite a lot of anime adaptations, particularly Japanese made ones, and they consistently demonstrate two truths: 1) a lot of anime's stylings simply do not translate into good live action and 2) anime fans will insist you put it in anyway, all other considerations be damned. Netflix's 2021 Cowboy Bebop is no exception to either of these truths.
For those not familiar, Cowboy Bebop is a Space Western about a gang of down-and-out bounty hunters; they're incredibly cool and skilled, but through perpetual misfortune and infighting, they can never make any real money off of the criminals they take down. Bebop is also one of the most beloved anime series of all time, so as you might imagine, the new show has earned the ire of a lot of anime purists.
Fortunately, the live action show has all the important parts. It has the anime's kitchen-sink of genre tropes, the grubby sci-fi, the kung-fu, and all the splendid big band music. Of chief importance, it gets its trio of main characters right. Spike is suitably aloof, sarcastic and always thinking about his stomach. Jet is a gruff father figure who tries to keep the others out of trouble. Faye is the selfish asshole who is always grifting for her piece of the pie. Faye is perhaps the most different from her anime inception in that she's much more vivacious and extroverted here. It's a change that's absolutely fine, and does its job of differentiating her from the other two miserable blokes she shares a spaceship with. With these strong characters, we get some good personality clashes, and the bantering and childish bickering is a highlight.
Episodes roughly follow the plots of the source material, sometimes remixing scenes or writing in slightly different outcomes. Tonally, the show is mostly going for campy, with split screens, colourful characters, surreal elements and silly jokes. The budget is visibly straining at times to show everything it wants to show, and there are occasionally crummy special effects or simple mistakes, whilst fight choreography can be a bit sluggish too. For the most part it works though. It looks right, if a bit rough around the edges.
What doesn't work is the villain. Vicious is the worst part of the anime; a two dimensional Sephiroth wannabe that fortunately only appeared in a few episodes. Live action Vicious is even worse. There is a whole new subplot about his rise to power, and its impossible to take it seriously because of how goofy he looks, a sad 40 year old with tacky goth costume jewellery and bad silver hairdo; It's Anime stuff that won't translate. His subplot is a misstep, even if it resolves some of the plot holes of the original anime.
I liked Cowboy Bebop. It was never going to be better than its inspiration, and no one expected it to be. Being less good =/= not good however, so if you are a fan of the show or new, give this a watch. And if you are a purist, the original anime is on Netflix for you still.