Anime: Everything We Know About The Live Action ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Series So Far
Netflix’s live action take on popular anime Cowboy Bebop is right around the corner and it feels like we’re learning something new about it every day.
First announced back in 2018 Netflix’s live action adaptation of fan favorite anime Cowboy Bepop has been awaited with a mixed response at best. Live action reimaginings of popular animes have been hit-and-miss at best and Netflix was responsible for a certain disaster of a Death Note adaptation, but as more information, first looks, and production stills come out it’s hard to not get at least a little excited to get back onto the Bebop and hunt down some bounties. Here’s what we know about the upcoming show so far and why we’re actually cautiously optimistic about its release.
With a ten episode season coming the popular streaming service on November 19th, Cowboy Bebop will star John Cho as Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black and Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine. Very conspicuously missing is Radical Edward, the crew’s thirteen year old hacker, but she doesn’t appear in the original until episode nine will the live action version seems to be somewhat following along with the first eight episodes. So if this season is watchable and successful we may see a casting choice for Edward within the year.
The core characters aren’t the only people who are back from the original show however. Composer Yoko Kanno and opening song Tank! will both be part of Netflix’s take as well as consultation from original director Shinichirō Watanabe. Plus established villains, featured background and side characters, and a very cute corgi can all be seen in production stills and the released opening song.
Despite the numerous similarities and references, fan can expect this to not be a shot-for-shot copy of the original. In an August interview with Vulture John Cho said that even he didn’t want a complete remake.
“I was like, we’re not gonna just remake each episode, are we? I didn’t want to re-stage everything exactly frame by frame. I didn’t want to do that artistically, and I also thought that that was a recipe for encouraging unflattering comparisons. How could you do it better? You can’t. You have to do something a little different.”
Instead it seems like this will be a retelling of the show we already know and love, a take on the same general story from a slightly different angle. That said, the almost nostalgically similar recently released opening credits are showing quite a few nods and winks to the anime.
Of course there are still reasons to be apprehensive; perhaps you remember Dragonball Evolution. Parts of the opening sequence are campy to the point of threatening to be a little cheesy and Spike’s run across the screen at the beginning looks undeniably goofy. It feels like everyone involved wants this show to be good and something that fans genuinely enjoy, but it’s easy to take it too far and make it not-fun-anymore. Despite that though, I’m looking forward to Netflix’s take on Cowboy Bebop. On paper everything looks right and it seems like it could be an enjoyable series to binge-watch, but we’ll just have to wait and see to know for sure.
Are you looking forward to live action Cowboy Bebop? Who is your favorite character? What scene do you want to see acted out the most? Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventurers!
Here’s the original intro for your entertainment.
