Strongly disagree that the show is inferior to the anime, Frankly, I find this review is needlessly negative and clearly biased in favour of the anime to the point that it is on the edge of what is acceptable by the code and conduct of this wiki. Please be more considerate in the future and do improve the formatting of any future reviews you post.
You are assuming that adaptations must be judged by their faithfulness to their source material. This is false. Adaptations must stand on their own merits in their new medium even if it comes at the cost of faithfulness. Blade Runner is held as one of the best films ever made, yet holds relatively few things in common with the novel it is based on. Adaptations must make changes, both to adapt to a new medium and to provide a new and hopefully improved experience over its original format.
While I am not quite willing to compare this show so favourably to a widely hailed and respected film such as Blade Runner, per se, I found the show to be one of the best productions Netflix has produced in recent years. I have never watched the anime, nor do I intend to, but the live-action incarnation holds up on its own merits. It was a satisfying and by action-show standards thought-provoking season that was better than a good deal of adaptations, clearly respecting the visuals of the anime at the cost of some minor awkwardness in the medium of live-action. I would say that much of the reasonable dissatisfaction from fans of the anime comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the anime, versus the nature of the live-action show. From my reading, the anime was a single-season affair that valued efficiency over length, whereas the live-action incarnation was taking its time to build up plots, themes, and characters over multiple seasons. We had yet to see the full potential of the live-action show with that precious room to breath, and yet we never will. Perhaps, we could have seen that second season had the fans approached with an open mind, and had the toxic meme-driven culture of social media abstained from lampooning the live-action show via out-of-context snippets that misrepresented its moments.
If you\'ve never seen the anime, and don\'t intend to, how can you disagree with the Netflix show being worse than it?
Because this review repeatedly argues that the show is bad because it’s not the anime.
I, at least, know people who like the Last Airbender movie because they just don’t like dramatic animation and can’t take it seriously at all. I feel this is extremely narrow minded and chauvinistic of them, but for better or worse they exist, and them getting a version of the story they can consume and enjoy is not a bad thing.
In the same way, those people getting a version of Cowboy Bebop for them isn’t a bad thing.
That said, I just agree that it is “on the edge of what is acceptable for the wiki.” There are many takes within this review that I strongly disagree with, but that doesn’t mean it deserves to be flagged for breaking rules.
Putting everything in one massive paragraph on the other hand… still wouldn’t flag but bad practice. If you aren’t sure how it happened, make sure to add two paragraph spaces instead of one.
Very Melon, it is my belief that adaptations can and should be judged outside the context of what it is adapting, and as original works in their own right. It is why I cited Blade Runner specifically, as it is entirely possible to have an adaptation that is not faithful yet still a compelling work in its new medium. It is also possible for an adaptation to be faithful but fail to translate. I take exception to the idea that changes by an adaptation are inherently a bad thing, and simply comparing elements of an adaptation versus the original work in question does adaptations a disservice.
I never intended to state that this live-action version was the better show. That would be an irresponsible statement without viewing both.
…Dis. Disagree not “just agree.” I wish the state would let me edit, or feeling that explain why I can no longer edit.
I'll agree that this review has its problems, most notably the lack of paragraphs or cohesion. However, I think that claiming that it's a borderline violation of the rules is going a bit too far.
I agree that adaptations need to make changes, but that depends on the media involved. For example, the Super Cub anime made some changes from the original light novel, particularly cutting out a lot of the expository narration in favor of Show Dont Tell, and I consider it a rather good anime adaptation of a light novel. In this case, Cowboy Bebop is going from an anime to a live action TV show, which are similar media, so changes that the adaptation makes are harder to justify as necessary. As such, the debate comes down to whether the changes made in an adaptation are good, which is more of a subjective judgment- some changes are accepted but others are widely criticized, so it's understandable if people who liked the original are skeptical of changes made in an adaptation.
For the record, I have seen the original Cowboy Bebop anime, but haven't seen the live action show, so I can't judge how well this adaptation does. As an example, while I highly enjoyed the original Bokurano manga, I think the anime did some things better, such as giving characters more screentime outside of their respective arcs.
I disagree with the reviewer's assertion that Cowboy Bebop (the anime) is allegedly "heads and shoulders" above anything else. I thought it was "okay" at best, I've seen better.
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Misfiring on all cylinders
Arrogance, thy name is Netflix Cowboy Bebop. Simply put, even if the show was above the line of mediocrity, there would still be no reason to watch it. Cowboy Bebop 1998 was and still is the seminal work of, not only animation, but TV storytelling as a whole. The writing there still is head and shoulders over not only anime, not only Japanese television, but most pop media. Any attempts of remaking this is destined to be an inferior product. And the producers and executives of the netflix venture still thought that they could improve it. The final result is a product that completely betrays what the original series strived to be. Where the original was smart, the remake is dumb. Where it is poetic, now it's loud and brash. Where it was kinetic, now it's slow and staged. And finally, where it was mature, now it acts like a kid who learned their first swear word. Nothing is more emblematic of this inversion of values than the new Julia and Vicious. In the original anime, their love triangle and backstory with Spike is left ambiguous on purpose, they are almost cyphers for what Spike's past. When we do see them, it is always the exclamation marks of the series. Julia's appearance is specially remarkable, as showing that Spike didn't just fall for a pretty face, but as someone just as capable and charismatic as himself. Vicious, a cold and pragmatic psycopath always leaving a trail of blood that he cares nothing for. So now those two cyphers are completely filled out by being the opposite. Vicious cares a lot for what everyone around him think and Julia is left as distressed damsel to be abused only for her to do a 180 at the very last second. If those two's storyline weren't already dreadful, while the series used those two sparingly, Vicious and Julia is now ommipresent, appearing every episode. That the series was cancelled after the first season means that there is no reason to seek it out. There won't be a second season to course correct these baffle decisions. The time spent watching the original series will be the same in length as watching this terrible remake, but much more rewarding.