Hollywood has this obsession with turning everything animated into live action because apparently that means we’ll take it more seriously. It ends up sucking the life out of what made the original so special.
No, anime is hugely popular in the West and it isn't influenced by the elites yet. That's why they spend God know how much money just so they can turn it into woke garbage meant to demoralize the intelligent and brainwash the dumb.
@@jahmd8377 japan's live action remakes are infinitely better than ones tried by americans - changes to the storylines and characters are minimal. american productions have too much studio involvement and demands for changes from the actors and the result is a totally different story. the japanese can keep making live action versions because it does not piss off the fans and they are reletively successful. american remakes do not do well because they lose the original fans and the stories get so muddled or boring that they do not draw in a wider audience.
I think it’s because they see it as safe bets for marketing because a story doesn’t have to start from scratch. It’s already has a fan base that sadly, they severely disappointed 😂
If someone would have told me that first episode is a fan made movie with some people cosplaying, I would have totally believed it. Would have even said it's a good effort. But for this thing to be an actuall fully featured series with paid actors, wow. If you are even a remote fan of the show, you can't help but be disappointed.
I disagree. There were definitely changes I hated and the last third of the series definitely started to suck. I had fun watching some of the episodes, even laughed at some of the admittedly badly written dialogue. I watched the whole season and the episodes where they actually took stories from the show are pretty decent, the ones where they do their own thing do blow.
I just finished. The show runners for this show knew that this show had fans out there in the world somewhere. But they themselves were not fans of the anime. They didn’t vie for this project; they were available and their agents made some calls and came across this project and said “you want this Netflix project?” They watched the show with a pen and pad to take notes and said “sure, I can do that.” They didn’t watch the show to grasp what resonated with true Cowboy Bebop fans. I like Jet even though I wasn’t a fan of the daughter and ex wife thing. Spike was Fearless, not Spike Spiegel. To be fair, like she said, no one can really be Spike. Especially Steve Blum’s Spike. Faye….oh boy. “Faye.” I can understand the want to strip her of the overt sultry sexiness (even though I wouldn’t have because I think there’s a way to make it work) but this character was too goofy to even be called Faye. As another commentator commented, she might as well have had a different name. I wouldn’t have mind then because I did find myself laughing at some of this characters comedic moments and she wasn’t the worst…she just wasn’t Faye. Viscous was THE definition of scary and stoic in the anime. And you could sense he was truly respected every time he was on screen. What on God’s green earth was this portrayal of Viscous? Terrible. Julia…don’t even get me started. To be fair, just about all the main characters in the anime sans Ed are pretty stoic and cool. I suppose that it wouldn’t have translated well to do a 1 to 1 depiction of their personalities. Too many characters being stoic and cool may not translate well to live action. But then, as most CB fans have pointed out, they should’ve just left this IP alone in the first place.
They were definitely trying to make the show a bit more funny. Keep in mind mixing somewhat inappropriately timed jokes with gory brutality is the in thing now.
Even the setting speaks volumes: these strangers who feel empty inside are constantly traveling within the emptiness of space to places which have been abandoned, forgotten and stuck in the past...like Earth, Callisto, Tijuana, Ganymede, Io and Venus. Little is ever spoken about the pasts of these places, adding to the mystery of how they got to be like this, hell, not much is even shown despite a few frames to establish the basic setting. It makes you want to explore these environments beyond what the episode shows you and makes you curious about what the cultures and societies are like in these places. Even Earth - which is the most well explained in the series - is still shrouded in mystery. Adding to these is the abandoned mining colony where the Chessmaster lived among other misfits and outlaws. Most of the ancillary characters have mysterious pasts which are only glossed over, like Annie, the Heavy Metal Queen, Pierrot the Fool, Rocco, Gren, the Earth Satellite, just to name a few. This makes the show feel more identifiable as we are just as clueless as the cast about everyone's history and learn as they learn, instead of having every little thing explained to us in detail and having the mystery and intrigue disappear. And the times we actually learn something, we don't really learn very much: only enough information that pertains to the situation at hand, leaving everything else a mystery. The main characters' locations of birth and previous lives also emphasize how different they each are and isolated they are from each other: Faye and Ed were born on Earth, Spike on Mars and Jet by Jupiter, they're each from totally different worlds. Ed was a hacker roaming the wastelands of Earth on her own, Faye was a professional gambler as well as a cryogenic revival with no memory of her past, Spike was a syndicate enforcer, Jet was a cop - totally different pasts. The only things that unite them are the Bebop, the emptiness of space that confines them in it, and their occupation as bounty hunters.
The interesting part about the original series is that more attention was given to the places without monologuing, while far less was given to the characters- the events of current episode conflicts was the only lens onto past events, save Spike’s brief flashbacks- the characters were who they are now, resolved to hold steady with what they have despite the past gnawing at them, much like IRL. The original series’ ending can be summed up as “the past catching up, despite efforts against”. The new series nails settings, IMHO, but adds character detail where none is necessary. Spike is a bit too introspective; Vicious’s backstory is far far far too much, Jet is perfect, and Faye is just okay.
Wow, I just looked through your channel and you have an amazing body of work spanning over 12 years. I totally read your passion for films and filmmaking, and totally understand why this adaptation didn't work. Keep up the good work, and I hope your channel grows even more.
Nothing in the history of ever has lived up to the full weight of rose colored nostalgia. It was never going to be "as good as the original", but it still holds a significance all on it's own. I appreciate that we have both versions to compare their respective strengths and weaknesses.
So i saw the NF live got a little mad with cheap references and a "weightless" BUT after I later rewatched 10 episodes of the anime... THE contrast, the obviousness BAD structure NF writers drafted just needed someone to revise/check on the anime to avoid. At least it proved to me that it wasnt the music that "made" the anime a masterpiece. It already had soo much ...
This just breaks my heart because as a longtime fan of the original.. The fanbase was just this nice place where no one ever fought because the anime and it's movie were held in high regard. The only people who didn't like bebop.. were people who had never seen bebop. Now we have this STAIN on it's legacy. the small group of fans who like the Netflix version are constantly attacked by those who didn't like it or didn't like it and were already fans of the original. Even I get annoyed by seeing comments like "Netflix version was my first time experiencing Bebop and I like it!".. like I wanna be nice but more often than not.. I roll my eye's lol.
One of my biggest gripes was how they actually all connected and had the “found family” concept. I think Jet said it best(in the OG anime) when he said outright in the show that there is no comradely and they leave and do what they want, etc. So you really hit the nail on the head with this! I also found that I did feel that emptiness that you were talking about on the first watch, but in retrospect I can see just how intentional it was. Changes in plot and such are totally fine, but the show needs to have the same feelings/themes to really show respect for what the OG was putting out. I actually usually despise episodic series, but in the context of this show it makes so much sense. During my first watch of the anime I had found myself wishing there was a connecting plot. However, when I tried watching the show I found myself absolutely despising how they tried to make a connecting plot with Spikes past. His past being ambiguous was absolutely perfect in the first and I really felt that exploring his past really brought nothing to the table
They still have the "found family" construct but now it's from the context of finding a new family/life after losing your previous one... which was still evident from the animation.
@@thedicetomato It is very much half assed here. Especially when Faye literally disappears for 2 episodes of the 10 after her intro in the premiere and the way each of the main cast connects is completely botched up and lacks any gravity or weight to it, unlike in the anime where it happens organically and done exceptionally well that they all develop and grow from their adventures in each episode.
@@theprowler18 In the animation. Faye was literally trying to leave them like every other episode to go do her own thing only to end up falling back onto the Bebop's couch. The way I see it, this version did less of that mess and just trimmed down her flightyness to give the main reason of searching her past a bit more weight and provide more opportunity to organically grow with Spike and Jet in a way that was more conducive to this iteration.
@@thedicetomato it bloated it out even more by shoving all of the character stories to the hour long runtime, poorly. The moment that truly defines Faye as a character comes through strongly in the anime with the time and structure to allow for it to come in at the right time. Here, it follows from a half ass, nothing burger con comedy adventure that plays it up for laughs (terribly) and lacks the emotional punch the anime earns through the time spent. That’s not getting into how they completely crapped the bed on the entire cast and their backstories, as well as the infuriating ending that throws a twist that lands with a thud.
@@theprowler18 You and I clearly didn't watch either series the same way then. Faye's "defining moment" in the animation comes after a series of madcap hijinks fetch quests which culminates to a real serious moment that Faye is allowed to have apart from the ridiculousness of what we are presented around her up to that point. We get a similar story vibe this time around in that her life has just been one crazy thing after another and her VHS tape gives her a moment to breathe and decide on an actual direction. As far as character backstories... I don't completely hate all the changes. I do find the whole separation between Gren, Vicious and Spike's relationship to be an intriguing omission... not to mention the whole lack of anything about the military history they had from the animation. I think they should have kept more of that in to establish a better sense of comradery, but I realize that detail wasn't the story they were trying to tell here. The twist ending was where I was thrown the most. Keeping Julia alive and after some hamfisted ambition to control the Syndicate felt considerably out of character for me even with the changes that they worked in on this version of her. I would have liked it more had she shot and killed vicious and simply rejected and walked away from spike and that be it for her/them. Essentially her freeing herself of the mess they had wrapper up in for the past.. what was it... 10 years or whatever.
Wow - I love the original anime, but I never noticed how all the characters are really alone. I felt it, though. When I watched it as a kid, it always struck me that Spike and Jet don't help each other much in their respective story arcs eg. Black Dog Serenade or even the whole Vicious plot. Only Faye gets pulled into Spike's story line, for a bit. Great observation!
I don't know why people make live action animes in the first place. The animation is an integral part of what makes them good. Making them real, unless maybe it's a realistic drama, just takes them a step down.
Most of the time it’s a cash grab. V for vendetta did well imo. It can be done. And I’d love to see akira live action done right, done wrong it would be an abomination to one of the best films(definitely the best anime) of all time.
Because in the end it can reach bigger audience. I dont watch anime but i did watch cowboy bebop live and enjoyed it. Not too worried about butthurt anime fans.
@@josiahz21 V for Vendetta wasn't animated though. There is a difference between illustrated work being interpreted into live action, and something as intricate as animation being interpreted into live action. A comic getting a film adaptation can heighten the material, the same cant always be said about animation.
I love how well you articulate the empty sort of feeling of the original show. To me, the driving theme of Cowboy Bebop is the give and take of coming to terms with your past. You start out with all of these characters who are lost, rudderless, and frozen in time because they are at odds with their past in a variety of ways. And as the show continues, we see each character coming to terms with their pasts but losing important parts of themselves in so doing. The live action adaptation captures nothing about that thematic framework. It’s seriously really really bad.
I remember working a dead-end job at a factory and I picked up a anime magazine to read when I was on break. I remember learning about the Cowboy Bebop series and being fascinated by the characters. I came to really love those characters when I finally got around to buying the Cowboy Bebop Blu-ray a year ago. It feels really bad to see Netflix stcrew up these characters so much.
An excellent analysis of the anime - I agree with all your key points, except maybe your love of UFC. I've actually lectured on Cowboy Bebop in university, and I highlighted the film noir origins of the show and the idea of being "lost in the past", as in the Robert Mitchum film OUT OF THE PAST. Spike, Faye and Jet are all trapped in mental prisons, though Jet somewhat less so (as when he throws his watch into the canal). You're right - it's almost impossible to capture a character like Spike in live action. I think that the church fight, complete with dense flashbacks, in Ballad of Fallen Angels is the best scene in all of anime. There's so many influences on it - noir, Leone, Hong Kong action films, Godard (notice the tricoleur title cards in Toys in the Attic, and Pierrot le fou), classic rock, jazz, maybe John Woo - that it's a treasure to watch and rewatch. Also, the idea of the original anime being a series of pop singles (as evidenced by the titles) that you could enjoy in bits and bytes was one of its strengths, all the while knowing that there WAS an overarching mystery about our heroes' lives. Well, as least Ein looks good in the new version.
Netflix really just regurgitates anything it sees profitable, and leaves fans with just that. A regurgitation, unneeded regurgitation. Too many series to count have fallen victim to this, and is why netflix will never -in my eyes- reach a standard above mediocre.
They could have surpassed Game of Thrones with The Witcher and gave us what GOT TLC edition. Sex and Violence is apparently good enough to pass for Game of Thrones these days. lol
I mean, its a business. The fact is they dont need stuff to go more than 1 season even. You can make a crap season of something, say on amazon prime they just released wheel of time (and yeh it is terrible), you get every wheel of time fan and random people who see this new fantasy and wanna give it a go (like the witcher, many people never read or played it). Thats all they need, they see the ratings, next series! what can we adapt now? whats got a huge fanbase already? Its no different to cinema, people need to stop considering "quality" of netflix, that is not their goal, money is their goal. Most marvel movies are just ok, theyr all the same with a couple standouts, they know you will watch them. Transformers, star wars etc etc you get the point. theyr not very good but they dont care cus we line their pockets every damn time. Sadly, this is how it works, whether something is high quality or not is not of interest, crap stuff can make more money than something actually good. For example. I was watching midnight mass (masterpiece imo) and squid game (its a 6/10 for me, hammy acting, plot holes, and death games have been done, i didnt get the hype but im not a koreaboo). I am saying to my friends "you should watch midnight mass, its really good!" and everyone is on about squid game, its worse, but it does a million times better, and thats my point. Better quality isnt whats paying them, so thats not what concerns them. Ready for an influx of korean stuff cus thats gna make billions thanks to bts and kpop (if it were a russian series no1 would have cared, lets be honest)
@@Auron710 thats kinda why i never give Netflix my money, i’d much rather spend it on something like HBO max or perhaps hulu (but even hulu is stretching sometimes). It’s just the marketing ploys that really irritate me, but i am a firm believer in bitching about something that will never change is pointless. It’s sad to watch series that you love so much get the worst they possibly could, all you really can do is look away. Will Netflix every be any type of quality more than the average CW shitfest? Probably not, that ship sailed years ago, but i guess that doesn’t matter. The money is the only thing that does. Squid game was good i guess, better than most but not the best. Its later seasons will definitely get more shitty and the stakes less raised as time goes on. Kinda ironic actually, the same show that tries its best as an allegory for greed and poverty gets the financial tramp stamp of sloppy seconds. I guess all we can do is crawl in a hole and rewatch the things that made us happy, because then we wont be reminded by the fact they get gutted and inverted into something less desirable.
Amazing and overwhelmeming analysis that shows that the core between art and imitation of art. Cowboy Bebop it's a work that as they stated, "will become a new genre itself". Can't be equalized.
Pretty good review. One part that bothered me about this show is that they gave Jet a daughter which completely messes up his character since in the original the only "family" he had was the Bebop crew and he was for the most part a lonely person. I also disliked John Cho as Spike since he just looks too old for the role and Spike's youth is a big part of his character.
@@jimmynguyen9047 he left the syndicate at 24 which is why his past being so tied to a life of mindless violence is so tragic. And given how we don't see much of his life prior to the syndicate, its likely that he started off being a member from an even younger age than that, given how he told Vicious "begging doesn't work on you, even from the man (Mao) who took you in and made you what you are", and both of them are set as sort of previous "brothers-in-arms" thing that meant that both of them likely started off around the same time in the syndicate as well. John Cho being in his 40s makes it look as though Spike was already a seasoned member of the Syndicate who only chose to leave later on in his life, and not when he was still a very young member that could've climbed higher among the ranks of it if he wanted to. The fact that he was only 24 when he decided to leave speaks for itself about how much he actually didn't love that life or was intent on keeping his Syndicate connections any longer. It makes it seem as though he was desperate enough to risk his own life in a big shootout just to be able to disappear and leave. And it's why him being (and looking) much older in the live action makes it seem as though he just didnt want the lifestyle anymore because he had lived all his life in it and was getting older, not because he didn't want it enough to sooner die than continue living it while still being young.
@@jimmynguyen9047 28 is young no matter how you slice it Cho just looks old and it shows, Spike is not old even if you wanna cast someone barely a quarter century old as old
@@jimmynguyen9047 Cho looked way too old and he looks like the older guy, main character from Squid Games... It really just threw me off I just couldn't buy it.
I only watched the first episode and thought, “This isn’t Bebop. It wants to be. It’s trying real hard. But it isn’t. It’s just… wrong. Spike is wrong, Jet is wrong, Faye is SO wrong. It doesn’t move right. It looks off. This is all wrong.” I was actually very bummed. I went in hoping it would be at least ok.
Faye was the worst outta the 3, she was so fucking annoying and the actress tried way to hard. When her ship blew up in episode 3 I think it was, I was really hoping she would die but I knew she wasn't.
It would have been interesting to see what the film adaption they were working on back in the early 2000s would have looked like. Apparently they had Keanu Reeves on-board to play Spike which is a good choice imo.
'It made me desperately want to watch the original' I rewatched the first episode because i'd forgotten some of the details and wanted to make a better comparison. Specifically the conversation spike has with katerina and their initial meeting. It's a minor change but it makes such a massive difference with him revealing himself as a cowboy vs being exposed as a cowboy. A moment where spike should have been cool and in control was changed into an almost slapstick action scene instead of a short intense one to show just how dangerous that bounty target was. Spike is cool, but this drug is dangerous. This was changed to faye's introduction and just doesn't 'feel' right. This scene was important because later on it's paid off when Spike is able to beat the bounty despite the drugs enhancing him. Further driving him deeper into the addiction and tragedy. And the poetry of not having katerina responsible took so much soul out of the final scenes. It's just a surface level sad, not deeply tragic.
I forced myself to watch the whole live-action series. Oh boy, it was pretty stressful to do that since my inner mind was screaming in pain with every modification of the original storyline or characters etc. In short: the most part of Episode 1 and maybe some parts of Episode 10 were enjoyable (e.g. the scenes of Spacecraft Bebop, Spike and Faye's spacecrafts and other space scenes) but the rest was just a train wreck. Hell, after watching the first teaser in the past I was frightend that they will show only street scenes and almost no space scene, because CGI space scenes are expensive for netflix. Let's hope that this "anime adaptation" will never renewed for a second season. Even the original anime creator wrote his concerns on twitter during production since neither netflix nor sunrise nor the production team tried to listen to his critic. Well, it was obvious. Netflix and Surise are aiming for the money and don't care much anymore for the original franchise since anime adaption are easy cash grab for the entertainment industry
Cowboy Bebop was so incredibly formative for me. I watched it when the first episode premiered in the US on early Adult Swim back in 2001. It blew my mind and has stuck with me since. I don't really love anime as I did then but it's still in my top three or four favorite shows in general (the anime Monster is either right behind or ahead of it but don't care that much about anime shows otherwise -- by the way, you should watch Monster if you haven't, which is the best psychological thriller I've seen in any medium, though the only place I know to watch it is on here). I've never been hopeful about this adaptation but I've tried my hardest to keep an open mind. Hearing the way you're talking about it, I'm definitely not excited to start. Also, thank you for being one of the very few people I've heard talk about the failure to communicate and connect being a central theme of the show. I'm growing to hate the found family trope because it's now in everything, but they could've been that for one another. They could so easily be, in some way, what they each need but their melancholy and stubbornness keeps them focused not on their surroundings and the moment but on their miserable pasts. Perhaps least of all Jet. He ends up finding more resolution and closure than the others. And Ed just.... yeah. I do have a weird theory about Jet and the Bebop that I don't actually necessarily believe but think is interesting and plausible. Jet is the one most tied to the Bebop and the Bebop and Jet are representative of their depression. The Bebop is the place they simply exist but hardly live. Rarely any action. No food. They hardly talk. Just biding time. And Jet is the black dog because when he bites down he doesn't let go. And not that I feel like you don't get the black dog reference or that I need to spell it, but the term black dog is used to refer to melancholy (especially by Churchill), and nothing describes depression better than biting down and not letting go.
Like any medium, there's lots of great anime shows, and many more mediocre one's. Still, there's a hell of a lot more classics than just Cowboy Bebop and Monster.
@@joshs7160 I used to watch a lot of anime but there just aren't that many shows I like all that much. Movies there are a few more but I just sort of fell out of love with anime for the most part a while back.
Cowboy Bebop inspired a generation of animators, filmmakers, and storytellers. A nuanced, deliberate, jazzy tale of people lost to ghosts of their past, looking for a connection and meaning among the stars and sometimes or almost finding it. It’s a somber, hilarious, haunting piece of fiction. The NETFLIX monstrosity had the music (which they overused) and the cosmetics (detrimentally adapted almost entirely) and some of the funkiness… and none of the heart. None of the philosophy. All of the crazy and none of the beauty. They missed the forest for the trees. Thanks for articulating it so well.
Amazing encapsulation of what made the original so special. I remember finishing the series and feeling something animation has never made me feel before. Gobsmacked and deeply melancholic. I actually have no plan to see the live action version. I'm usually not the type to take a "staunch" attitude towards things like this.. but after your review.. there is no way I want to experience that.
I am having a hard time deciding if will watch the live action Cowboy Bebop. Part of me wants to see it but the original is my favorite anime and probably my favorite show of all time. So I don’t really won’t to give the remake my view. I can tell you love the original and appreciate your view! Thank you!
i'm a die hard fan and watched the anime multiple times ! It's not as good as the original - but watching all of it i can enjoy it for what it is and if it gets more people to watch the original -> its a win for everybody :)
I watched 6 episodes, and I think the biggest issue I have with this series is two-fold. It felt like the folks in charge were a lot more interested in the Spike/Vicious/Syndicate storyline than the day to day bounty hunting cowboys. And what they added in to "flesh" out that storyline makes it more campy in tone (Not to mention Julia's character retcon).
Heaven forbid that they should make an attempt to better explain Spike's conflict with Vicious (The Syndicate) and give Julia some actual agency... >.> That being said... while I don't particularly agree on the details with where Julia ends up this time around, I am interested to see how/if her specific character twist gets resolved.
@@thedicetomato But over explaining takes something away from it that’s part of the reason why it emotionally resonated with people. Bebop’s whole theme is about facing your regrets and moving forward. The reason why Spike’s past is so vague and why Julia and Vicious aren’t really as fleshed out is because we’re supposed to put our pasts into his. Julia and Vicious are less of characters and more like walking representations of Spike’s regrets about his past. Julia being the part of his past he can’t let go of and Vicious being the part of his past he wants to forget but he knows he can’t run from forever. Every shitty decision we’ve made, people we wish we saw one more time, and actions we wish we could take back. It emotionally resonates because that feeling is universal and that feeling is represented in really all of the Bebop crew Jet with confronting his past as a cop, Faye with realizing she doesn’t have a past to go back to anymore, etc.
Just got through a couple episodes... They added way too many corny jokes to the dialog. It feels like they were constructed by an awkward 25 year old nerdy fat chick with purple hair on twitter, not an accomplished writer, let alone comedian. The dialog is just uncomfortable in general
This is honestly a great review, however I actually disagree with you on one point. It absolutely feels like everyone involved in this are the type of people who claim to be massive fans of something yet you try to talk to them about that thing and they have no idea what you are talking about because it turns out they only saw 2 episodes or something of the like, and then say you are gatekeeping because they for some reason refuse to actually consume what they claim to be a fan of. This show feels like studio had an untouched cult franchise and wanted to capitalize and just throw out a soulless cash grab with a popular name attached to it
I'm about 10 episodes in the original show and although i appreciated aspects of it, i'm making my way through it very slowly because i always end up feeling like something is missing. You talking about it made me realize why i was feeling that way, how the emptiness IS the point. Thank you for your insight!
Instant sub. Thank you for voicing my exact thoughts on the value of the live action version. Have you seen Arcane yet? On par with CB on the weight departement.
I'm a big fan of cowboy Bebop. Watched the whole show for the live action last night. They change a few things and decide to go there own route in the last episode. But tbh I don't think it's that bad. And tears came to my eyes when the song rain came on in the last episode. Such a good song. But yeah I like to think the original and this one are two separate stories. But I enjoy this one alot actually. And I'm looking forward to season 2. Give it a watch guys. You might actually like it
I don't hate it, but the only justification I could give myself for watching it was that they changed just enough I didn't know where they were going to go with it. Maybe if they get renewed and get a second season it will be a bit better or more interesting as they take it further in a new direction. Right now its still so similar to the actual show, but just not quite as good.
I'm with you bro, just watched it last night I didn't mind it at all, the problem is a lot of people are going in expecting this to be anime accurate when it's not it's a live action version on its own story, and you've got other people making videos saying it's really bad and people who haven't seen it are taking there word which is a bit sad.
@@dylanthomas9089 I’ve seen it and they should’ve called it Cowboy Bebop: Remix or something. What’s wrong here is that they changed what didn’t need to be changed and kept what needed to be changed. Most of the storylines, characters, and the tone didn’t need to be changed and yet they did it anyway (The butchered Vicious, Spike, and Julia plot line, making Faye into an insufferable wisecracker and making Vicious a bug eyed spazz, and everyone speaking in Whedonspeak) and kept stuff that just doesn’t work in live action (Do I even need to say who this applies too?)
@@Amatarias read my comment again, that's igzactly what I'm talking about it's not anime accurate it's a live action 'on its own'. It dosent have to be anime accurate.
Just finished all ten episodes, and I dunno, I liked it. It's not AMAZING, but it's not bad if you don't expect a shot-for-shot remake and acknowledge that they'd have to make a few creative changes to condense it from 26 episodes down to 10.
It's all right so far. I don't see it so much as condensing, more like expanding to.. I dunno.. two or three seasons? Depending if the show gets renewal, of course. And I'm okay with some of the creative changes.
So far I’m on episode 7. There’s some hit or misses but it’s pretty good. Spike is good, Jet is a standout and the best character overall, and Faye is good in my book. Don’t treat it like the anime because it will drive you angry but treat it as it’s own thing. My advice is for everyone to finish the season before you make a general opinion. Also take my opinion as a grain of salt.
I watched the entire thing. I’ve also seen the anime twice. There are things I liked like the costumes being accurate, how all the cast looks, Mustafa Shakir as Jet, John Cho looks great and acts… just okay for live action. The set design is pretty great, and music is the same so that good. I was initially disappointed by the brighter vampier tone but grew to accept different take on tone. But the BIGGEST failure of it all is the writing. They truly did not understand the point of Cowboy Bebop. They missed a lot of character, plot and themes. It’s like they read the synopsis of every episode, watched best clips from CB, and crammed it into their “Marvel” filter and strive so far in faithfulness to the original. I don’t have a problem with them trying to appeal to a larger audience by adding a bit more humor and stuff but they are ripping bits of the original and trying to glue them together to make a large plot rather than be episodic. I honestly would have preferred if they just copied and pasted the original script. Other things they BUTCHERED was Vicious becomes a whiny baby, Julia just sucks, and Faye is basically different character.
I think the changes were done to make the show more serialized so it can last more than one season. The show to it's credit has a disclaimer which says based on the anime in every episode so it is not a direct page for page adaptation. I also think it's maybe better since I don't think doing a direct adaptation of the anime would have worked either. Fans are too connected to it so I don't think there was going to be a way of pleasing them either way. Doing something different is a positive.
@@joshuarobertson8866 ah that’s interesting. I never read that part word for word. I think the serialized thing is “fine” since that’s the main part of appealing to a wider audience but I still think they lost a lot of the original show by giving away way too much of the backstory in the beginning. I think the mysterious background was such an important part of the characters. I think it would have been better if background were hinted on rather than straight explained. It made for really bland story telling. Never felt the feeling of wanting to know more since everything was way too out in the open. I appreciate the attempt of something different but story telling wise it just wasn’t done well.
@@joshuarobertson8866 Then, why even attach name the "Cowboy Bebop" to it?? Oh, let me remind you why of because it is big name and launching a original ip inspired by cowboy bebop is too for these people, outside of death threats, you really shouldn't feel sorry for them.
The problem with this NF Bebop is that they've lightened the dark part of old Bebop to the point of comical. So wrong since the anime had everything in it, light, dark, passion, compassion, coolness, jazz, devil may care and space.
“The Jazz, the genre bending is less fun. It’s more melancholy the more you watch the show. It reflects this strange emptiness within the soul” That was such an awesome way to put a show like Bebop. I just don’t ever see this ever being able to be pulled off live action. Hollywood is too concerned with giant explosions, CGI, meh action, etc to truly capture what makes anime great mostly. Which is none of that, but more often it’s the complex themes, and arcs that keep us thinking about them years later.
The commentary about the music seeming out of place, or too good for what we're seeing is spot on lol. I said the same exact thing out loud watching the first few episodes. Great review!
Thank you so much for giving an actual, articulate breakdown of why the original was so important and what important elements the live action got wrong. So many other reviews I've looked at are just name-calling and raging, so everything is crap, but no real explanation why. Great video!
Thought you sounded a little bias at first but considering Bebop is one of my favourite shows of all time too I think that's fair. Hard not to be given how much the original does right. I appreciated that John Cho gave a shit to take the role seriously even though no one could really nail Spike in live action. Steve Blums performance is just too iconic. Least Ein is cute lol great video
I’ll admit I’m biased. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the core material be taken seriously. I haven’t seen it and I doubt I will. I don’t need a live action, the original is already awesome and easy to watch again.
The scary thing is that Netflix is trying to make a Yu Yu Hakusho lived action and refuses to cancel the obviously doomed ATLA live action series. That's FAR more difficult than they realize, the minimum budget for a good adaptation is not present in any anime movie they have made.
If anything they should try to do 'Monster' since that show was grounded in reality in the first place and wouldn't have to require any insane special effects or character designs. Yu-Yu-hakusho's a kinda bad choice but not as bad of a choice as One Piece! That. That need's to stay a cartoon no matter what!
The live-action is garbage. The screenwriting is the rotten core of it all. They brought in Watanabe as a "consultant", but they only wanted him to make notes and the would take them under advisement. That's why Watanabe stated on social media that he has no ties to the series whatsoever.
Amazing opinion, amazing descriptions, and amazing word choice here, thank you... You hid all the points without being overly negative or showing fan bias... a very objective and beautiful description.
Appreciate another perspective, I am actually powering through this show and just got to the half way point and literally remixing a ton of standalone adventures into one singular narrative was a boneheaded choice on the show runner’s part, as well as massively change the backstory of numerous characters that make them not only unlikable but in name only from a big fan of the anime as well. The only good I hope comes from this, is to get new people to discover the immaculate gem that is the anime series.
Thank you for your perspective on it, The structure of the anime doesnt work for live action especially for a streaming show which needs a episode to end with a hook for you to watch the next episode. I say this as someone who kind if dropped the original anime when I started watching it a while ago , I prefer serialized stories. Making a longer narrative for this show was the right choice for the majority of people who will watch it who aren't fans of the anime and don't know anything about the anime. I think the show is good for what it is and fans may need to just take it as a new thing to enjoy it e.g... I've been whete you are with the Fate the Winx club saga tv series which was only Winx in name , with the little I know Cowboy Bebop seems to still be very much honoring the old show in as much as it is doing something new. Most of Fate Winx's changes made no sense to me for nay reason other than budget. I think this adaption was also structured to be a multi season tv show it doesn't look all that cheap so Netflix hopes it bcomes a hit. With that in mind I complete get why they changed the structure if the anime. I don't think it would work for a binging series since the anime had too many stand alones.
@@joshuarobertson8866 Yeah, and having finished it, it is a garbage remix and I know I ain't tuning it for another season after what the hell I sat through. They've complete f**)ed the story to high noon for the worse and you proved my point in that only non-fans of the original anime and those that haven't seen it will think that abortion of an adaptation is better than the classic anime that was already fantastic to begin with. That's my two cents after having sat through that turd of an homage. And I respectfully say that you are way off on this one and if you really gave the anime a shot, you would see how they absolutely butchered it to high noon.
I've been watching Cowboy Bebop since it first aired on Adult Swim and saw the film Knockin' On Heaven's Door in theaters when it debuted and from the very first trailer, I knew this Netflix adaptation was going to be trash. It just looked so inexcusably cheap and miscast.
Im a hard core fan of the original anime, I thought they did a really good job, some of the mixups I don't like but I see what there doing. As well a new Comic is coming out about spike and Vicious before the cowboy bebop anime so a prequel. Thats gonna be worth a read.
i would very much like to talk to you about this new live action series. its hard to find someone who loves something as much as i do and has a in depth interpretation. Look forward to you seeing the whole series, what they did to Julia's character is criminal.
Just like she said, just stick with watching the original anime. This Netflix live action seemed like a rushed attempt and turned one of the best anime into a bad action comedy. I don’t think the writers or director fully understood the original anime. Watanabe always made sure the music in his work fit the narrative. This Netflix show treats the jazz like the background music you hear on the phone while on hold.
Having watched the first few episodes, I’ve actually enjoyed the show for what it was, namely the casting, music, and production design. However, I will say this review is absolutely brilliant and well-articulated, and I completely understand where you’re coming from. More reviews like this on UA-cam please!
the long running thing has always been that spike was like a cross between clint eastwood and bruce lee, but for this they just dropped the clint eastwood and chinafied him. He even does wing chun which even bruce lee dropped for his own blend of martial arts he called jeet kun do. I always saw spike as a reflection of how japanese culture absorbed american culture but still kept lots of traditional japanese attitudes in it and I think thats one of the things westerners find so intriguing about anime. Spike isn't a martial artist sifu, he's a street fighter. He's practical like clint in a western he uses his head and never does anything too reckless always approaches situations tactically even when hes completely outgunned like going after vicious or pierre le fou. When I saw spike go kung fu against the like 8 dudes in the beginning I was just flabbergasted, and then when Jet literally fell through the ceiling like a marvel superhero my jaw hit the floor. This show is like a trainwreck, its so horrible but I just cant look away. Everything spike said in the anime was so careful calm and cool, in this one hes just an annoying jackie chan kind of character. I just keep thinking, shut up and smoke your cigarette damn it! You're cooler than this!
Absolutely agree. It's a money grab. The original was a masterpiece. It's like remaking the Princess Bride (which I hear is maybe in the works)......or making Aladdin live action....wait.....fuck.....they did that. How could you EVER top Robin Williams? Bebop is basically perfect. Next they will try to do Samurai Champloo next........:-/
Apologies for the long post I knew that the Netflix Cowboy Bebop wasn't going to hold a candle to the fantastic anime because that was an impossible task the anime is literally regarded as one of the greatest anime of all time, the Netflix show isn't good. One of my main complaints is that nothing has any weight to it, take the anime as an example yes it is an anime but there was weight to everything that made it feel real the fighting had a realistic weight behind it and so to did the weapons and even down to the parts in Zero G. This show even though being live action has no weight, the fighting feels off and when they are in shoot outs there is literally no recoil to them and just looks like fake plastic guns with added flash. What made the anime so special was how detailed everything was, like if Spike shot a gun next to someone you would see their clothes react to the muzzle flash, every punch had weight, everything was so highly detailed and felt lived in and believable even though it was a anime. This show just doesn't have that they try and fail to recreate memorable moments from the anime but do a poor job at it, the Ballad of Fallen Angels is one of greatest set pieces I have ever seen and the Netflix show doesn't even come close, I know some might call them nitpicks but if you watch both you will understand what I am saying.
To add to some of your points, the show has no identity. There's numerous...numerous points where it's just covering the original. Even near the end of the season when it does something different, it had to then do it in a similar way to the original. Which, why? The original already exists, the original has some of the best implementation of directing and music you will ever witness, why try to copy that and make it look worse? It's just a mess, and the actors are doing their damndest, I don't know how they felt during the production, but I have to believe a couple weren't looking at this with strong hope.
I had the same reaction. The moment the first episode ended I streamed the original and everything felt better. I think Quentin Tarantino would do a great job with this kind of material. Visually I think Sin City gets closer to the anime than what Netflix achieved here (it would need a "little" bit more of color though). Thank you for your review. Thoughtful and respectful.
@@devon674 Oh, I apologize. English is not my native language. What I meant is that, for some reason, I feel Cowboy Bebop would benefit from the way QT directs and create a style for his films, and Sin City would function as a nice reference for visual identity. Maybe because it is quite abstract. Of course this is subjective, but I think if these elements could be put together the outcome would be much better than what we've got from Netflix.
Just finished the Netflix adaptation today and I certainly have some thoughts. Cowboy Bebop is like for many, my absolute favorite anime of all time and I’ve watched it countless times. But despite that I enjoyed the Netflix adaptation. I enjoyed it for what it was. It was never going to live up to the original and I never expected it to. I enjoyed it like fan art or a fan film. It was fun to see some of that world realized in live action even if it had much more of a modern bubble gum pop feeling to it. I though Jet was really well done and Spike was, well acceptable I guess. I mean like you said in the video, I can’t imagine an actor living today or ever who could embody the layers of cool that Spike has. Equally aloof and nonchalant as he is smooth and focused. For me the real failing we’re in what they tried to add. Everything they tried to do with Vicious and Julia was just reductive and a waste of screen time. Feye was totally off and simplified where she should have been complex and tragic. Ein was underutilized. Ed was basically MIA till the end for some reason. And as for the end, terrible. They completely robbed the show of its tragic ending and in doing so made it completely pointless. The end is seriously the worse part of the whole show. That being said, I still had fun with it.
Please, give us your inputs on the entire show. I am really curious to hear your opinion from the second half on, because I think the main problemas or main differences start there.
It's always interesting to hear what other Bebop fans liked about the series cuz each one adds a new perspective. Your point about them not being able to make connections was interesting because that seems to be the direction the world is going with lower birthrates and the social media generation. I'm tempted to watch the Netflix series but my heart tells me not to.
Watch it. Don’t rely on someone else’s opinions because you’ll be doing a disservice to yourself. That almost happened to me with the Three Musketeers movies from the late 2000’s with Orlando Bloom. I’m still waiting for the sequel.
It’s actually good imo. A lot of people being really harsh about it but it really isn’t that bad. Nothing ever compares to the first time of anything. This show is stylish and the connections the characters build are really good. Imo get past the fight scene of the first episode and ignore the very very end cringe scene and it has a lot of good in between.
Watch it, it's endearing in it's own ways, all love but doesn't quite hit the mark as a standalone must see tv event. The true highlights are in the intro's, they did different tweaks to Tank that flow from the current scene into the intro, very cool. Love John Cho, he carries the series on his back -
I absolutely loved it!!! Give it a shot and make up your own mind because haters seem to want to hate anything that doesn't replay each scene exactly as it was in the original.
The difference for me is, the anime had class and subtlety. While the adaptation is completely juvenile and on the nose. It's baffling how much they missed the point.
Tried to give it a shot but literally fell asleep after a couple of episodes. Think they camped it up too much. The live action feels more cartoony and camp than the actual anime. Think it would’ve worked better if they darkened it up and try to play it a little more straight. And from what I’ve seen they’ve made some fundamental changes to the characters that changed the essence of the originals. Faye was more bratty in the anime…more childlike in her obnoxiousness but Pineda plays her as a more foul mouthed, grating, obnoxious b!tch. Jet being a real father with a daughter in the live action changes him from a lonely, old school Bogart-esque noir cop whose only family were Spike and the others. All Jet has is the Bebop, giving him a daughter softens him from his true background story. Cho, I just can’t take seriously. Terrible haircut…in a horrible looking Spike cosplay missing the stoicism and philosophy of Bruce Lee. Vicious now instead of being dark and mysterious is just a whiny psychopath with daddy issues. Julia…no words for what they did…
You're spot on with your analysis of the original. I'm a pretty big fan of Bebop, and I had a lot of concerns when I learned about a live action. Even more when I saw them start to put out trailers for it. Ended up watching the first episode and felt like "Oh man Netflix has created another Death Note situation" After I had completely given up on them ever capturing Cowboy Bebop, an interesting thing happened. I ended up binging episodes 2-5 and weirdly enough, I enjoyed them. Not as an adaptation of Cowboy Bebop or any kind of retelling, but almost like someones alternate universe fanfiction. A kind of "What if someone else had to write a story with these characters and some of the similar plot threads" I started looking at it as something where instead of the show being "Cowboy Bebop" the stuff in it were just references to the original instead. Maybe I'm going crazy, but I can't hate it. Obviously, it's never going to be a replacement or alternative for Cowboy Bebop. Put it up against the original and it's always going to lose every time. However, just letting go and accepting it's going to be an entirely different thing, can probably allow some people to be able to enjoy it.
I think the lived-feel of the whole setting is something I don’t see mentioned enough. I love how these colonies under domes or behind shields are basically old towns with slums or open street markets. I love how a lot of ships are kind of jalopies, as if people are primarily salvaging things than building something new. Plus, there’s no way “Mushroom Samba” could ever be nearly as hilarious or fun outside of animation.
I watched the live action before I knew about the anime, and enjoyed. However after such a impassioned review and comparison of the two I started watching the anime and.......you were right!!!! The anime is soooooo much better. Thanks for making this review.
It sounds like you had a bias against this project even before it came out. I watched it, and while it's not a masterpiece by any stretch, it's not bad. And I love the original anime too. I realize it's an adaptation, and it doesn't have to be "exactly like the anime". In fact, I think they did too many callbacks to the anime. But whatever. The bar is admittedly not high when it comes to live-action anime. But I've seen WAY worse than this. I'll probably watch an ep every other day or so.
Thank you for such a wonderful explanation/break down of both what's wrong with this live action adaptation, as well as the problem of trying to adapt anime in general.
So I have to say it’s no where close to the anime but I honestly think this show is very well made. Is it perfect No. but I don’t think it deserves the hate because it’s not as good. It’s still good. But compared to the original it isn’t. Does that make sense. I think we should review it without nostalgia affecting us. (Which is hard). I honestly think they shouldn’t have touched this but since they did I think it’s the best possible outcome for it.
I could certainly enjoy this in a b-movie type of way if I had no knowledge of the anime, but I just can't help but hate nearly everything about the live-action.
I think the live action would have benefited by not having Faye at all in the series. I enjoyed the episodes where she was hardly in it and the first two which I think didn't introduce her yet. I enjoyed the banter between Jet and Spike without Faye being included.
Couldn't make it past the first 5 minutes of the Netflix and noticed from just that casino set how artificial it looked. This was a good review, my only complaint is the audio was a little inconsistent.
So the beginning is just kind of boring... once they start to really mess with the themes of the original you'll be more angry. The total season is complete hypocrisy. Honestly the character interactions get better... but they really fuck with the characters motivations and back stories in a way that is unacceptable.
It's my favorite series of all time It's gotten me through nearly every trying time of my life I still relate to spike on such a personal level that I dont think I've ever or will ever find a character as relatable as him Everything about this is just a cheap cash grab it has no soul and will never hold up to the original
I would be willing to forgive a lot of the failings of live adaptation if this thing just had a soul, but there's no love for the original here whatsoever.
The first video I saw from you, and you have a new subscriber. Great job, well explained, and good points. You will get better sound and other stuff but I pretty enjoyed listening to your review. Have a great day ;)
I realize that most would disagree with me here, but I didn’t find it that bad. They had quite a bit of fan service and I honestly feel like the creators tried to keep the nuance and atmosphere there. Cowboy Bebop was always going to be a near-impossible thing to bring to live-action, but many have wanted to. Should they have? Debatable. Did they hit the mark here? Not quite. In conclusion, I still feel like they really tried with how they attempted to replicate a lot of frames with care that were in the anime. P.S. Did Jet actually ever have a kid? I don’t remember anything about that in the anime.
No, I agree. Tonally there's some stuff that was off and it was clear the showrunner/writers aren't that good given what they did with Vicious/Julia but there's stuff that was pretty solid. I think the core cast with better direction and writing could pull off a solid show. Mustafa as Jet Black was great for me. Jet Black didn't have a kid in the anime. That's a new thing for the live action. I don't think that he got married either. Just had an ex that he catches up with in one of the episodes that left him because she resented how she didn't feel she had any agency.
I stopped halfway through ep 2... First thing I started questioning is... Why are they doing a beat for beat parody of the 7 11 opening scene from the movie? Second was when did jet have a kid? I read the Tokyo pop Mangas and watched the show and movie several times, never remembered a kid... Third was, why do so many scenes feel like I'm watching a borderlands tales movie? 4th was what the hell did they do to Gren? I just stopped... Only thing I enjoyed somewhat was Faye...
Yes! The part where you talked about how lived in and "settled" the environments of the original anime feel is what grounds the transitory nature of the characters. The environments in the live action look so cheap. They would've had to throw tons of money at it, for it to have had any chance of replicating the magic of the show.
Someone saying that they liked the netflix Bebop who haven't seen the original is like saying you like candy without ever having had chocolate. (que Space Lion track...)
Netflix sadly missed the point of the anime. And the was that the crew of the bebop were all from different forks of life Jet being the ex cop, spike being the ex gangster, faye being the girl lost out of time, and ed being the child hacker from earth. They struggled being a team but they are all essentially good people who are holding on to something in their past which stops them from moving forward. Which is the point of their little resolutions which bring a sort of peace to them all except Spike. And I mean that convo that Jet and Spike have before Spike leaves and Faye confronts him with her own speech is just such a great melancholic scenario. Both Faye and Jet love Spike yet Jet knows he cannot help and that Spike needs to fight Vicious and Faye just wants to keep their little family of bounty hunters together. I don't see that type of emotion happening in the live action. Even the short stories we get between each character they meet and help creating a third party narrative for us just doesn't work with the way the live action is filmed and scripted. Vicious was also meant to be a mysterious threat from Spikes mysterious past. As a writer I would have expanded on Shin and Lins story in order to tell the Spike and Vicious backstory through the eyes of the two young gangsters who looked up to both Spike and Vicious. While also incorporating the draft for the war on Titan and how that affected all of them.
I’m in the minority, I wasn’t a fan of the original anime, but I understand why so many people love it. After seeing a couple episodes of this Netflix adaptation, it kind of made me appreciate it more. I don’t think it’s bad, but having it be live action just isn’t the same. It’s the same show, minus any art and style.
@@joshs7160 same. I kinda liked it the first time I saw it but my first thought was “that was hella overrated”. But it just stuck to my memory like glue for some reason so I wanted to watch it again it it was much better on rewatch. Then I wanted to watch it again and it was even better. It legit gets better with every rewatch and it’s now a near masterpiece for me as well. This is why I call it the anime version of Pulp Fiction. That movie is kinda the same way with randomness and rewatchability value.
I just recently seen how well crafted and used foreshadowing is in the anime. Seeing how even the first episodes alluded to Spike’s fate and how the story wraps up. It is still that good of a show. This live action crap is a mere soulless husk of what was already effective in the first place.
Hollywood has this obsession with turning everything animated into live action because apparently that means we’ll take it more seriously. It ends up sucking the life out of what made the original so special.
No, anime is hugely popular in the West and it isn't influenced by the elites yet. That's why they spend God know how much money just so they can turn it into woke garbage meant to demoralize the intelligent and brainwash the dumb.
@@HonorarySaiyan and the pigs fly
Japan does plenty of live action versions of their anime, and they are usually pretty bad.
@@jahmd8377 japan's live action remakes are infinitely better than ones tried by americans - changes to the storylines and characters are minimal. american productions have too much studio involvement and demands for changes from the actors and the result is a totally different story.
the japanese can keep making live action versions because it does not piss off the fans and they are reletively successful. american remakes do not do well because they lose the original fans and the stories get so muddled or boring that they do not draw in a wider audience.
I think it’s because they see it as safe bets for marketing because a story doesn’t have to start from scratch. It’s already has a fan base that sadly, they severely disappointed 😂
If someone would have told me that first episode is a fan made movie with some people cosplaying, I would have totally believed it. Would have even said it's a good effort. But for this thing to be an actuall fully featured series with paid actors, wow. If you are even a remote fan of the show, you can't help but be disappointed.
I disagree. There were definitely changes I hated and the last third of the series definitely started to suck. I had fun watching some of the episodes, even laughed at some of the admittedly badly written dialogue. I watched the whole season and the episodes where they actually took stories from the show are pretty decent, the ones where they do their own thing do blow.
Y’all tripping I loved it
@@domalexander6804 seek help
@@domalexander6804 how?
I just finished. The show runners for this show knew that this show had fans out there in the world somewhere. But they themselves were not fans of the anime. They didn’t vie for this project; they were available and their agents made some calls and came across this project and said “you want this Netflix project?” They watched the show with a pen and pad to take notes and said “sure, I can do that.” They didn’t watch the show to grasp what resonated with true Cowboy Bebop fans.
I like Jet even though I wasn’t a fan of the daughter and ex wife thing.
Spike was Fearless, not Spike Spiegel. To be fair, like she said, no one can really be Spike. Especially Steve Blum’s Spike.
Faye….oh boy. “Faye.” I can understand the want to strip her of the overt sultry sexiness (even though I wouldn’t have because I think there’s a way to make it work) but this character was too goofy to even be called Faye. As another commentator commented, she might as well have had a different name. I wouldn’t have mind then because I did find myself laughing at some of this characters comedic moments and she wasn’t the worst…she just wasn’t Faye.
Viscous was THE definition of scary and stoic in the anime. And you could sense he was truly respected every time he was on screen. What on God’s green earth was this portrayal of Viscous? Terrible.
Julia…don’t even get me started.
To be fair, just about all the main characters in the anime sans Ed are pretty stoic and cool. I suppose that it wouldn’t have translated well to do a 1 to 1 depiction of their personalities. Too many characters being stoic and cool may not translate well to live action. But then, as most CB fans have pointed out, they should’ve just left this IP alone in the first place.
They were definitely trying to make the show a bit more funny. Keep in mind mixing somewhat inappropriately timed jokes with gory brutality is the in thing now.
Even the setting speaks volumes: these strangers who feel empty inside are constantly traveling within the emptiness of space to places which have been abandoned, forgotten and stuck in the past...like Earth, Callisto, Tijuana, Ganymede, Io and Venus. Little is ever spoken about the pasts of these places, adding to the mystery of how they got to be like this, hell, not much is even shown despite a few frames to establish the basic setting. It makes you want to explore these environments beyond what the episode shows you and makes you curious about what the cultures and societies are like in these places. Even Earth - which is the most well explained in the series - is still shrouded in mystery. Adding to these is the abandoned mining colony where the Chessmaster lived among other misfits and outlaws. Most of the ancillary characters have mysterious pasts which are only glossed over, like Annie, the Heavy Metal Queen, Pierrot the Fool, Rocco, Gren, the Earth Satellite, just to name a few. This makes the show feel more identifiable as we are just as clueless as the cast about everyone's history and learn as they learn, instead of having every little thing explained to us in detail and having the mystery and intrigue disappear. And the times we actually learn something, we don't really learn very much: only enough information that pertains to the situation at hand, leaving everything else a mystery. The main characters' locations of birth and previous lives also emphasize how different they each are and isolated they are from each other: Faye and Ed were born on Earth, Spike on Mars and Jet by Jupiter, they're each from totally different worlds. Ed was a hacker roaming the wastelands of Earth on her own, Faye was a professional gambler as well as a cryogenic revival with no memory of her past, Spike was a syndicate enforcer, Jet was a cop - totally different pasts. The only things that unite them are the Bebop, the emptiness of space that confines them in it, and their occupation as bounty hunters.
couldn't have said it better, I suspect Watanabe did a ton of worldbuilding and gave us this amazing atmosphere by obscuring something like 97% of it
The interesting part about the original series is that more attention was given to the places without monologuing, while far less was given to the characters- the events of current episode conflicts was the only lens onto past events, save Spike’s brief flashbacks- the characters were who they are now, resolved to hold steady with what they have despite the past gnawing at them, much like IRL. The original series’ ending can be summed up as “the past catching up, despite efforts against”.
The new series nails settings, IMHO, but adds character detail where none is necessary. Spike is a bit too introspective; Vicious’s backstory is far far far too much, Jet is perfect, and Faye is just okay.
tldr
Wow, I just looked through your channel and you have an amazing body of work spanning over 12 years. I totally read your passion for films and filmmaking, and totally understand why this adaptation didn't work. Keep up the good work, and I hope your channel grows even more.
Wow, thank you!
most articulate film critic on youtube, you deserve way more subs!
To all my Bebop fans "We're gonna carry that weight". Knew it wouldn't live up to the original anime. At least we still have the OG version
Seeing the dub of the film in 35mm during its initial North American release was an incredible experience
Nothing in the history of ever has lived up to the full weight of rose colored nostalgia. It was never going to be "as good as the original", but it still holds a significance all on it's own. I appreciate that we have both versions to compare their respective strengths and weaknesses.
So i saw the NF live got a little mad with cheap references and a "weightless" BUT after I later rewatched 10 episodes of the anime... THE contrast, the obviousness BAD structure NF writers drafted just needed someone to revise/check on the anime to avoid.
At least it proved to me that it wasnt the music that "made" the anime a masterpiece. It already had soo much ...
I had to binge watch the original anime just to wash the bad taste out of my mouth.
This just breaks my heart because as a longtime fan of the original.. The fanbase was just this nice place where no one ever fought because the anime and it's movie were held in high regard. The only people who didn't like bebop.. were people who had never seen bebop.
Now we have this STAIN on it's legacy. the small group of fans who like the Netflix version are constantly attacked by those who didn't like it or didn't like it and were already fans of the original.
Even I get annoyed by seeing comments like "Netflix version was my first time experiencing Bebop and I like it!".. like I wanna be nice but more often than not.. I roll my eye's lol.
One of my biggest gripes was how they actually all connected and had the “found family” concept. I think Jet said it best(in the OG anime) when he said outright in the show that there is no comradely and they leave and do what they want, etc. So you really hit the nail on the head with this! I also found that I did feel that emptiness that you were talking about on the first watch, but in retrospect I can see just how intentional it was. Changes in plot and such are totally fine, but the show needs to have the same feelings/themes to really show respect for what the OG was putting out. I actually usually despise episodic series, but in the context of this show it makes so much sense. During my first watch of the anime I had found myself wishing there was a connecting plot. However, when I tried watching the show I found myself absolutely despising how they tried to make a connecting plot with Spikes past. His past being ambiguous was absolutely perfect in the first and I really felt that exploring his past really brought nothing to the table
They still have the "found family" construct but now it's from the context of finding a new family/life after losing your previous one... which was still evident from the animation.
@@thedicetomato It is very much half assed here. Especially when Faye literally disappears for 2 episodes of the 10 after her intro in the premiere and the way each of the main cast connects is completely botched up and lacks any gravity or weight to it, unlike in the anime where it happens organically and done exceptionally well that they all develop and grow from their adventures in each episode.
@@theprowler18 In the animation. Faye was literally trying to leave them like every other episode to go do her own thing only to end up falling back onto the Bebop's couch. The way I see it, this version did less of that mess and just trimmed down her flightyness to give the main reason of searching her past a bit more weight and provide more opportunity to organically grow with Spike and Jet in a way that was more conducive to this iteration.
@@thedicetomato it bloated it out even more by shoving all of the character stories to the hour long runtime, poorly. The moment that truly defines Faye as a character comes through strongly in the anime with the time and structure to allow for it to come in at the right time. Here, it follows from a half ass, nothing burger con comedy adventure that plays it up for laughs (terribly) and lacks the emotional punch the anime earns through the time spent.
That’s not getting into how they completely crapped the bed on the entire cast and their backstories, as well as the infuriating ending that throws a twist that lands with a thud.
@@theprowler18 You and I clearly didn't watch either series the same way then. Faye's "defining moment" in the animation comes after a series of madcap hijinks fetch quests which culminates to a real serious moment that Faye is allowed to have apart from the ridiculousness of what we are presented around her up to that point. We get a similar story vibe this time around in that her life has just been one crazy thing after another and her VHS tape gives her a moment to breathe and decide on an actual direction.
As far as character backstories... I don't completely hate all the changes. I do find the whole separation between Gren, Vicious and Spike's relationship to be an intriguing omission... not to mention the whole lack of anything about the military history they had from the animation. I think they should have kept more of that in to establish a better sense of comradery, but I realize that detail wasn't the story they were trying to tell here.
The twist ending was where I was thrown the most. Keeping Julia alive and after some hamfisted ambition to control the Syndicate felt considerably out of character for me even with the changes that they worked in on this version of her. I would have liked it more had she shot and killed vicious and simply rejected and walked away from spike and that be it for her/them. Essentially her freeing herself of the mess they had wrapper up in for the past.. what was it... 10 years or whatever.
Wow - I love the original anime, but I never noticed how all the characters are really alone. I felt it, though. When I watched it as a kid, it always struck me that Spike and Jet don't help each other much in their respective story arcs eg. Black Dog Serenade or even the whole Vicious plot. Only Faye gets pulled into Spike's story line, for a bit. Great observation!
I don't know why people make live action animes in the first place. The animation is an integral part of what makes them good. Making them real, unless maybe it's a realistic drama, just takes them a step down.
Most of the time it’s a cash grab. V for vendetta did well imo. It can be done. And I’d love to see akira live action done right, done wrong it would be an abomination to one of the best films(definitely the best anime) of all time.
Because in the end it can reach bigger audience. I dont watch anime but i did watch cowboy bebop live and enjoyed it. Not too worried about butthurt anime fans.
@@josiahz21 V for Vendetta wasn't animated though. There is a difference between illustrated work being interpreted into live action, and something as intricate as animation being interpreted into live action. A comic getting a film adaptation can heighten the material, the same cant always be said about animation.
I love how well you articulate the empty sort of feeling of the original show.
To me, the driving theme of Cowboy Bebop is the give and take of coming to terms with your past. You start out with all of these characters who are lost, rudderless, and frozen in time because they are at odds with their past in a variety of ways. And as the show continues, we see each character coming to terms with their pasts but losing important parts of themselves in so doing.
The live action adaptation captures nothing about that thematic framework. It’s seriously really really bad.
I remember working a dead-end job at a factory and I picked up a anime magazine to read when I was on break. I remember learning about the Cowboy Bebop series and being fascinated by the characters. I came to really love those characters when I finally got around to buying the Cowboy Bebop Blu-ray a year ago. It feels really bad to see Netflix stcrew up these characters so much.
An excellent analysis of the anime - I agree with all your key points, except maybe your love of UFC. I've actually lectured on Cowboy Bebop in university, and I highlighted the film noir origins of the show and the idea of being "lost in the past", as in the Robert Mitchum film OUT OF THE PAST. Spike, Faye and Jet are all trapped in mental prisons, though Jet somewhat less so (as when he throws his watch into the canal). You're right - it's almost impossible to capture a character like Spike in live action. I think that the church fight, complete with dense flashbacks, in Ballad of Fallen Angels is the best scene in all of anime. There's so many influences on it - noir, Leone, Hong Kong action films, Godard (notice the tricoleur title cards in Toys in the Attic, and Pierrot le fou), classic rock, jazz, maybe John Woo - that it's a treasure to watch and rewatch.
Also, the idea of the original anime being a series of pop singles (as evidenced by the titles) that you could enjoy in bits and bytes was one of its strengths, all the while knowing that there WAS an overarching mystery about our heroes' lives.
Well, as least Ein looks good in the new version.
Keanu reeves was the closest they could get to spike and that wasn’t even good enough
Netflix really just regurgitates anything it sees profitable, and leaves fans with just that. A regurgitation, unneeded regurgitation. Too many series to count have fallen victim to this, and is why netflix will never -in my eyes- reach a standard above mediocre.
They could have surpassed Game of Thrones with The Witcher and gave us what GOT TLC edition. Sex and Violence is apparently good enough to pass for Game of Thrones these days. lol
I mean, its a business. The fact is they dont need stuff to go more than 1 season even. You can make a crap season of something, say on amazon prime they just released wheel of time (and yeh it is terrible), you get every wheel of time fan and random people who see this new fantasy and wanna give it a go (like the witcher, many people never read or played it). Thats all they need, they see the ratings, next series! what can we adapt now? whats got a huge fanbase already? Its no different to cinema, people need to stop considering "quality" of netflix, that is not their goal, money is their goal. Most marvel movies are just ok, theyr all the same with a couple standouts, they know you will watch them. Transformers, star wars etc etc you get the point. theyr not very good but they dont care cus we line their pockets every damn time. Sadly, this is how it works, whether something is high quality or not is not of interest, crap stuff can make more money than something actually good. For example. I was watching midnight mass (masterpiece imo) and squid game (its a 6/10 for me, hammy acting, plot holes, and death games have been done, i didnt get the hype but im not a koreaboo). I am saying to my friends "you should watch midnight mass, its really good!" and everyone is on about squid game, its worse, but it does a million times better, and thats my point. Better quality isnt whats paying them, so thats not what concerns them. Ready for an influx of korean stuff cus thats gna make billions thanks to bts and kpop (if it were a russian series no1 would have cared, lets be honest)
@@Auron710 thats kinda why i never give Netflix my money, i’d much rather spend it on something like HBO max or perhaps hulu (but even hulu is stretching sometimes). It’s just the marketing ploys that really irritate me, but i am a firm believer in bitching about something that will never change is pointless. It’s sad to watch series that you love so much get the worst they possibly could, all you really can do is look away. Will Netflix every be any type of quality more than the average CW shitfest? Probably not, that ship sailed years ago, but i guess that doesn’t matter. The money is the only thing that does. Squid game was good i guess, better than most but not the best. Its later seasons will definitely get more shitty and the stakes less raised as time goes on. Kinda ironic actually, the same show that tries its best as an allegory for greed and poverty gets the financial tramp stamp of sloppy seconds. I guess all we can do is crawl in a hole and rewatch the things that made us happy, because then we wont be reminded by the fact they get gutted and inverted into something less desirable.
Amazing and overwhelmeming analysis that shows that the core between art and imitation of art. Cowboy Bebop it's a work that as they stated, "will become a new genre itself". Can't be equalized.
Pretty good review. One part that bothered me about this show is that they gave Jet a daughter which completely messes up his character since in the original the only "family" he had was the Bebop crew and he was for the most part a lonely person. I also disliked John Cho as Spike since he just looks too old for the role and Spike's youth is a big part of his character.
Spike is like 28... not that youthful
@@jimmynguyen9047 he left the syndicate at 24 which is why his past being so tied to a life of mindless violence is so tragic. And given how we don't see much of his life prior to the syndicate, its likely that he started off being a member from an even younger age than that, given how he told Vicious "begging doesn't work on you, even from the man (Mao) who took you in and made you what you are", and both of them are set as sort of previous "brothers-in-arms" thing that meant that both of them likely started off around the same time in the syndicate as well.
John Cho being in his 40s makes it look as though Spike was already a seasoned member of the Syndicate who only chose to leave later on in his life, and not when he was still a very young member that could've climbed higher among the ranks of it if he wanted to. The fact that he was only 24 when he decided to leave speaks for itself about how much he actually didn't love that life or was intent on keeping his Syndicate connections any longer. It makes it seem as though he was desperate enough to risk his own life in a big shootout just to be able to disappear and leave. And it's why him being (and looking) much older in the live action makes it seem as though he just didnt want the lifestyle anymore because he had lived all his life in it and was getting older, not because he didn't want it enough to sooner die than continue living it while still being young.
@@jimmynguyen9047 28 is young no matter how you slice it Cho just looks old and it shows, Spike is not old even if you wanna cast someone barely a quarter century old as old
@@jimmynguyen9047 cho is 49
@@jimmynguyen9047 Cho looked way too old and he looks like the older guy, main character from Squid Games... It really just threw me off I just couldn't buy it.
I only watched the first episode and thought, “This isn’t Bebop. It wants to be. It’s trying real hard. But it isn’t. It’s just… wrong. Spike is wrong, Jet is wrong, Faye is SO wrong. It doesn’t move right. It looks off. This is all wrong.” I was actually very bummed. I went in hoping it would be at least ok.
Faye was the worst outta the 3, she was so fucking annoying and the actress tried way to hard. When her ship blew up in episode 3 I think it was, I was really hoping she would die but I knew she wasn't.
No its not Shinichirō Watanabe!
Jet is actually dope
@@papertiger9845 i will admit the gut who played Jet sounded pretty similar to that anime one
It would have been interesting to see what the film adaption they were working on back in the early 2000s would have looked like. Apparently they had Keanu Reeves on-board to play Spike which is a good choice imo.
'It made me desperately want to watch the original' I rewatched the first episode because i'd forgotten some of the details and wanted to make a better comparison. Specifically the conversation spike has with katerina and their initial meeting. It's a minor change but it makes such a massive difference with him revealing himself as a cowboy vs being exposed as a cowboy. A moment where spike should have been cool and in control was changed into an almost slapstick action scene instead of a short intense one to show just how dangerous that bounty target was. Spike is cool, but this drug is dangerous. This was changed to faye's introduction and just doesn't 'feel' right. This scene was important because later on it's paid off when Spike is able to beat the bounty despite the drugs enhancing him. Further driving him deeper into the addiction and tragedy.
And the poetry of not having katerina responsible took so much soul out of the final scenes. It's just a surface level sad, not deeply tragic.
I forced myself to watch the whole live-action series. Oh boy, it was pretty stressful to do that since my inner mind was screaming in pain with every modification of the original storyline or characters etc. In short: the most part of Episode 1 and maybe some parts of Episode 10 were enjoyable (e.g. the scenes of Spacecraft Bebop, Spike and Faye's spacecrafts and other space scenes) but the rest was just a train wreck. Hell, after watching the first teaser in the past I was frightend that they will show only street scenes and almost no space scene, because CGI space scenes are expensive for netflix. Let's hope that this "anime adaptation" will never renewed for a second season. Even the original anime creator wrote his concerns on twitter during production since neither netflix nor sunrise nor the production team tried to listen to his critic. Well, it was obvious. Netflix and Surise are aiming for the money and don't care much anymore for the original franchise since anime adaption are easy cash grab for the entertainment industry
Cowboy Bebop is like my third favorite anime behind Berserk and Evangelion. I’d rather stay as far away from this live action as possible
Berserk was amazing
Oh indeed
Berserk Anime is great. Berserk manga is one of the greatest stories ever told, full stop.
@@CaptainMorganThe3rd oh yeah I’m taking about the manga. I would take Bebop over just the 1997 anime
Cowboy Bebop was so incredibly formative for me. I watched it when the first episode premiered in the US on early Adult Swim back in 2001. It blew my mind and has stuck with me since. I don't really love anime as I did then but it's still in my top three or four favorite shows in general (the anime Monster is either right behind or ahead of it but don't care that much about anime shows otherwise -- by the way, you should watch Monster if you haven't, which is the best psychological thriller I've seen in any medium, though the only place I know to watch it is on here).
I've never been hopeful about this adaptation but I've tried my hardest to keep an open mind. Hearing the way you're talking about it, I'm definitely not excited to start.
Also, thank you for being one of the very few people I've heard talk about the failure to communicate and connect being a central theme of the show. I'm growing to hate the found family trope because it's now in everything, but they could've been that for one another. They could so easily be, in some way, what they each need but their melancholy and stubbornness keeps them focused not on their surroundings and the moment but on their miserable pasts. Perhaps least of all Jet. He ends up finding more resolution and closure than the others. And Ed just.... yeah.
I do have a weird theory about Jet and the Bebop that I don't actually necessarily believe but think is interesting and plausible. Jet is the one most tied to the Bebop and the Bebop and Jet are representative of their depression. The Bebop is the place they simply exist but hardly live. Rarely any action. No food. They hardly talk. Just biding time. And Jet is the black dog because when he bites down he doesn't let go. And not that I feel like you don't get the black dog reference or that I need to spell it, but the term black dog is used to refer to melancholy (especially by Churchill), and nothing describes depression better than biting down and not letting go.
She 100% should watch Monster. One of the best stories ever, period.
@@shadowseer07 I have
Like any medium, there's lots of great anime shows, and many more mediocre one's. Still, there's a hell of a lot more classics than just Cowboy Bebop and Monster.
@@joshs7160 I used to watch a lot of anime but there just aren't that many shows I like all that much. Movies there are a few more but I just sort of fell out of love with anime for the most part a while back.
Monster is so good
Cowboy Bebop inspired a generation of animators, filmmakers, and storytellers. A nuanced, deliberate, jazzy tale of people lost to ghosts of their past, looking for a connection and meaning among the stars and sometimes or almost finding it. It’s a somber, hilarious, haunting piece of fiction.
The NETFLIX monstrosity had the music (which they overused) and the cosmetics (detrimentally adapted almost entirely) and some of the funkiness… and none of the heart. None of the philosophy. All of the crazy and none of the beauty. They missed the forest for the trees. Thanks for articulating it so well.
The only person that comes to mind that could possibly play Spike is a younger Adrien Brody.
Amazing encapsulation of what made the original so special. I remember finishing the series and feeling something animation has never made me feel before. Gobsmacked and deeply melancholic. I actually have no plan to see the live action version. I'm usually not the type to take a "staunch" attitude towards things like this.. but after your review.. there is no way I want to experience that.
I am having a hard time deciding if will watch the live action Cowboy Bebop. Part of me wants to see it but the original is my favorite anime and probably my favorite show of all time. So I don’t really won’t to give the remake my view. I can tell you love the original and appreciate your view! Thank you!
Imo just watch the anime.don't even give them any views.
i'm a die hard fan and watched the anime multiple times ! It's not as good as the original - but watching all of it i can enjoy it for what it is and if it gets more people to watch the original -> its a win for everybody :)
This is how I felt. I hated some of the changes, but had fun with the show overall. I loved the soundtrack too.
Same I felt this beat live action adaptation of an anime period cause they usually all are trash. I enjoyed this.
Well said
I agree with you. Its not that bad i liked it but never expected it to out do the original.
I like how they left it open for a season 2, I love the original cowboy bebop but ive always wanted a second season.
Wow, youtube suggested your video and I love your review and the thoughts you put out. No BS on the delivery either.
I watched 6 episodes, and I think the biggest issue I have with this series is two-fold. It felt like the folks in charge were a lot more interested in the Spike/Vicious/Syndicate storyline than the day to day bounty hunting cowboys. And what they added in to "flesh" out that storyline makes it more campy in tone (Not to mention Julia's character retcon).
Heaven forbid that they should make an attempt to better explain Spike's conflict with Vicious (The Syndicate) and give Julia some actual agency... >.>
That being said... while I don't particularly agree on the details with where Julia ends up this time around, I am interested to see how/if her specific character twist gets resolved.
@@thedicetomato But over explaining takes something away from it that’s part of the reason why it emotionally resonated with people. Bebop’s whole theme is about facing your regrets and moving forward. The reason why Spike’s past is so vague and why Julia and Vicious aren’t really as fleshed out is because we’re supposed to put our pasts into his. Julia and Vicious are less of characters and more like walking representations of Spike’s regrets about his past. Julia being the part of his past he can’t let go of and Vicious being the part of his past he wants to forget but he knows he can’t run from forever. Every shitty decision we’ve made, people we wish we saw one more time, and actions we wish we could take back. It emotionally resonates because that feeling is universal and that feeling is represented in really all of the Bebop crew Jet with confronting his past as a cop, Faye with realizing she doesn’t have a past to go back to anymore, etc.
Great analysis. I really had a good time watching how u described, structure, vocabulary, the passion and how effortless u did it. Subscribed.
You know, Quasimodo predicted all this
Just got through a couple episodes... They added way too many corny jokes to the dialog. It feels like they were constructed by an awkward 25 year old nerdy fat chick with purple hair on twitter, not an accomplished writer, let alone comedian. The dialog is just uncomfortable in general
This is honestly a great review, however I actually disagree with you on one point. It absolutely feels like everyone involved in this are the type of people who claim to be massive fans of something yet you try to talk to them about that thing and they have no idea what you are talking about because it turns out they only saw 2 episodes or something of the like, and then say you are gatekeeping because they for some reason refuse to actually consume what they claim to be a fan of. This show feels like studio had an untouched cult franchise and wanted to capitalize and just throw out a soulless cash grab with a popular name attached to it
Please, please, please, do another video when you finish the series. You're gonna LOVE the ending
I'm about 10 episodes in the original show and although i appreciated aspects of it, i'm making my way through it very slowly because i always end up feeling like something is missing. You talking about it made me realize why i was feeling that way, how the emptiness IS the point. Thank you for your insight!
It's one of those things you don't realize until after you've seen the whole thing. Which is why I find it fascinating.
Instant sub. Thank you for voicing my exact thoughts on the value of the live action version. Have you seen Arcane yet? On par with CB on the weight departement.
I'm a big fan of cowboy Bebop. Watched the whole show for the live action last night. They change a few things and decide to go there own route in the last episode. But tbh I don't think it's that bad. And tears came to my eyes when the song rain came on in the last episode. Such a good song. But yeah I like to think the original and this one are two separate stories. But I enjoy this one alot actually. And I'm looking forward to season 2. Give it a watch guys. You might actually like it
I don't hate it, but the only justification I could give myself for watching it was that they changed just enough I didn't know where they were going to go with it. Maybe if they get renewed and get a second season it will be a bit better or more interesting as they take it further in a new direction. Right now its still so similar to the actual show, but just not quite as good.
I'm with you bro, just watched it last night I didn't mind it at all, the problem is a lot of people are going in expecting this to be anime accurate when it's not it's a live action version on its own story, and you've got other people making videos saying it's really bad and people who haven't seen it are taking there word which is a bit sad.
@@dylanthomas9089 I’ve seen it and they should’ve called it Cowboy Bebop: Remix or something. What’s wrong here is that they changed what didn’t need to be changed and kept what needed to be changed. Most of the storylines, characters, and the tone didn’t need to be changed and yet they did it anyway (The butchered Vicious, Spike, and Julia plot line, making Faye into an insufferable wisecracker and making Vicious a bug eyed spazz, and everyone speaking in Whedonspeak) and kept stuff that just doesn’t work in live action (Do I even need to say who this applies too?)
@@Amatarias read my comment again, that's igzactly what I'm talking about it's not anime accurate it's a live action 'on its own'.
It dosent have to be anime accurate.
Just finished all ten episodes, and I dunno, I liked it. It's not AMAZING, but it's not bad if you don't expect a shot-for-shot remake and acknowledge that they'd have to make a few creative changes to condense it from 26 episodes down to 10.
It's all right so far. I don't see it so much as condensing, more like expanding to.. I dunno.. two or three seasons? Depending if the show gets renewal, of course. And I'm okay with some of the creative changes.
So far I’m on episode 7. There’s some hit or misses but it’s pretty good. Spike is good, Jet is a standout and the best character overall, and Faye is good in my book. Don’t treat it like the anime because it will drive you angry but treat it as it’s own thing. My advice is for everyone to finish the season before you make a general opinion. Also take my opinion as a grain of salt.
can u make another video after u watched the whole series?
I watched the entire thing. I’ve also seen the anime twice. There are things I liked like the costumes being accurate, how all the cast looks, Mustafa Shakir as Jet, John Cho looks great and acts… just okay for live action. The set design is pretty great, and music is the same so that good. I was initially disappointed by the brighter vampier tone but grew to accept different take on tone. But the BIGGEST failure of it all is the writing. They truly did not understand the point of Cowboy Bebop. They missed a lot of character, plot and themes. It’s like they read the synopsis of every episode, watched best clips from CB, and crammed it into their “Marvel” filter and strive so far in faithfulness to the original. I don’t have a problem with them trying to appeal to a larger audience by adding a bit more humor and stuff but they are ripping bits of the original and trying to glue them together to make a large plot rather than be episodic. I honestly would have preferred if they just copied and pasted the original script. Other things they BUTCHERED was Vicious becomes a whiny baby, Julia just sucks, and Faye is basically different character.
I think the changes were done to make the show more serialized so it can last more than one season.
The show to it's credit has a disclaimer which says based on the anime in every episode so it is not a direct page for page adaptation.
I also think it's maybe better since I don't think doing a direct adaptation of the anime would have worked either.
Fans are too connected to it so I don't think there was going to be a way of pleasing them either way. Doing something different is a positive.
@@joshuarobertson8866 ah that’s interesting. I never read that part word for word. I think the serialized thing is “fine” since that’s the main part of appealing to a wider audience but I still think they lost a lot of the original show by giving away way too much of the backstory in the beginning. I think the mysterious background was such an important part of the characters. I think it would have been better if background were hinted on rather than straight explained. It made for really bland story telling. Never felt the feeling of wanting to know more since everything was way too out in the open. I appreciate the attempt of something different but story telling wise it just wasn’t done well.
@@joshuarobertson8866 Then, why even attach name the "Cowboy Bebop" to it?? Oh, let me remind you why of because it is big name and launching a original ip inspired by cowboy bebop is too for these people, outside of death threats, you really shouldn't feel sorry for them.
The problem with this NF Bebop is that they've lightened the dark part of old Bebop to the point of comical. So wrong since the anime had everything in it, light, dark, passion, compassion, coolness, jazz, devil may care and space.
“The Jazz, the genre bending is less fun. It’s more melancholy the more you watch the show. It reflects this strange emptiness within the soul”
That was such an awesome way to put a show like Bebop. I just don’t ever see this ever being able to be pulled off live action. Hollywood is too concerned with giant explosions, CGI, meh action, etc to truly capture what makes anime great mostly. Which is none of that, but more often it’s the complex themes, and arcs that keep us thinking about them years later.
The commentary about the music seeming out of place, or too good for what we're seeing is spot on lol. I said the same exact thing out loud watching the first few episodes. Great review!
Thank you so much for giving an actual, articulate breakdown of why the original was so important and what important elements the live action got wrong. So many other reviews I've looked at are just name-calling and raging, so everything is crap, but no real explanation why. Great video!
You just earned a sub, love your way of articulating media.
I only recently finished my rewatch of the anime and just decided to give the live-action series a shot. After one episode I had enough ☹
I made it to episode two and stopped. Julie at the end of episode one. It only gets worse. 😫
Agree 1000% . This show sucks🤦🏻♂️
The 1st ep is Bad then it gets good
The series wasn't bad it just takes awhile to get into it. Just like anime takes a while to get into it.
Interesting comments on the series. Mixed reactions for sure. 👍
It's of a standard that insults it's source material.
Thought you sounded a little bias at first but considering Bebop is one of my favourite shows of all time too I think that's fair. Hard not to be given how much the original does right. I appreciated that John Cho gave a shit to take the role seriously even though no one could really nail Spike in live action. Steve Blums performance is just too iconic. Least Ein is cute lol great video
I’ll admit I’m biased. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the core material be taken seriously. I haven’t seen it and I doubt I will. I don’t need a live action, the original is already awesome and easy to watch again.
I knew trouble was coming when I saw the thumbnail
The scary thing is that Netflix is trying to make a Yu Yu Hakusho lived action and refuses to cancel the obviously doomed ATLA live action series. That's FAR more difficult than they realize, the minimum budget for a good adaptation is not present in any anime movie they have made.
If anything they should try to do 'Monster' since that show was grounded in reality in the first place and wouldn't have to require any insane
special effects or character designs. Yu-Yu-hakusho's a kinda bad choice but not as bad of a choice as One Piece!
That. That need's to stay a cartoon no matter what!
The live-action is garbage. The screenwriting is the rotten core of it all. They brought in Watanabe as a "consultant", but they only wanted him to make notes and the would take them under advisement. That's why Watanabe stated on social media that he has no ties to the series whatsoever.
This whole series was a joke and that last scene with Ed was the punchline
Amazing opinion, amazing descriptions, and amazing word choice here, thank you... You hid all the points without being overly negative or showing fan bias... a very objective and beautiful description.
Appreciate another perspective, I am actually powering through this show and just got to the half way point and literally remixing a ton of standalone adventures into one singular narrative was a boneheaded choice on the show runner’s part, as well as massively change the backstory of numerous characters that make them not only unlikable but in name only from a big fan of the anime as well.
The only good I hope comes from this, is to get new people to discover the immaculate gem that is the anime series.
Thank you for your perspective on it,
The structure of the anime doesnt work for live action especially for a streaming show which needs a episode to end with a hook for you to watch the next episode.
I say this as someone who kind if dropped the original anime when I started watching it a while ago , I prefer serialized stories.
Making a longer narrative for this show was the right choice for the majority of people who will watch it who aren't fans of the anime and don't know anything about the anime.
I think the show is good for what it is and fans may need to just take it as a new thing to enjoy it e.g...
I've been whete you are with the Fate the Winx club saga tv series which was only Winx in name , with the little I know Cowboy Bebop seems to still be very much honoring the old show in as much as it is doing something new.
Most of Fate Winx's changes made no sense to me for nay reason other than budget.
I think this adaption was also structured to be a multi season tv show it doesn't look all that cheap so Netflix hopes it bcomes a hit.
With that in mind I complete get why they changed the structure if the anime. I don't think it would work for a binging series since the anime had too many stand alones.
I think most people who don't remember the anime as much or never watched it will enjoy this better e.g... Exactly what happened with Winx.
@@joshuarobertson8866 Yeah, and having finished it, it is a garbage remix and I know I ain't tuning it for another season after what the hell I sat through. They've complete f**)ed the story to high noon for the worse and you proved my point in that only non-fans of the original anime and those that haven't seen it will think that abortion of an adaptation is better than the classic anime that was already fantastic to begin with. That's my two cents after having sat through that turd of an homage. And I respectfully say that you are way off on this one and if you really gave the anime a shot, you would see how they absolutely butchered it to high noon.
I've been watching Cowboy Bebop since it first aired on Adult Swim and saw the film Knockin' On Heaven's Door in theaters when it debuted and from the very first trailer, I knew this Netflix adaptation was going to be trash.
It just looked so inexcusably cheap and miscast.
Im a hard core fan of the original anime, I thought they did a really good job, some of the mixups I don't like but I see what there doing. As well a new Comic is coming out about spike and Vicious before the cowboy bebop anime so a prequel. Thats gonna be worth a read.
Are you serious? You loved Bee bop and you actually thought what Netflix did was good?
@@davidwilhelm942 yep thought it was good. it’s just my opinion tho ✌🏾
i would very much like to talk to you about this new live action series. its hard to find someone who loves something as much as i do and has a in depth interpretation. Look forward to you seeing the whole series, what they did to Julia's character is criminal.
As always, excellently articulated. Its a damn shame this didn't work but also.... inevitable
Worked for me , millions well spent!😁
It did work
Just like she said, just stick with watching the original anime. This Netflix live action seemed like a rushed attempt and turned one of the best anime into a bad action comedy. I don’t think the writers or director fully understood the original anime. Watanabe always made sure the music in his work fit the narrative. This Netflix show treats the jazz like the background music you hear on the phone while on hold.
That sigh at the very beginning sums up the whole tv show
Why change Faye.... Why is she now a bounty hunter.... It could have been amazing...
Having watched the first few episodes, I’ve actually enjoyed the show for what it was, namely the casting, music, and production design. However, I will say this review is absolutely brilliant and well-articulated, and I completely understand where you’re coming from. More reviews like this on UA-cam please!
yeah but what about the ending? what they did to Julia?
I appreciate this review on what you've seen it didn't go off on reactionary talking points to appeal to those audiences that have the same reactions
the long running thing has always been that spike was like a cross between clint eastwood and bruce lee, but for this they just dropped the clint eastwood and chinafied him. He even does wing chun which even bruce lee dropped for his own blend of martial arts he called jeet kun do. I always saw spike as a reflection of how japanese culture absorbed american culture but still kept lots of traditional japanese attitudes in it and I think thats one of the things westerners find so intriguing about anime. Spike isn't a martial artist sifu, he's a street fighter. He's practical like clint in a western he uses his head and never does anything too reckless always approaches situations tactically even when hes completely outgunned like going after vicious or pierre le fou. When I saw spike go kung fu against the like 8 dudes in the beginning I was just flabbergasted, and then when Jet literally fell through the ceiling like a marvel superhero my jaw hit the floor. This show is like a trainwreck, its so horrible but I just cant look away. Everything spike said in the anime was so careful calm and cool, in this one hes just an annoying jackie chan kind of character. I just keep thinking, shut up and smoke your cigarette damn it! You're cooler than this!
Absolutely agree. It's a money grab.
The original was a masterpiece. It's like remaking the Princess Bride (which I hear is maybe in the works)......or making Aladdin live action....wait.....fuck.....they did that. How could you EVER top Robin Williams?
Bebop is basically perfect.
Next they will try to do Samurai Champloo next........:-/
Apologies for the long post
I knew that the Netflix Cowboy Bebop wasn't going to hold a candle to the fantastic anime because that was an impossible task the anime is literally regarded as one of the greatest anime of all time, the Netflix show isn't good. One of my main complaints is that nothing has any weight to it, take the anime as an example yes it is an anime but there was weight to everything that made it feel real the fighting had a realistic weight behind it and so to did the weapons and even down to the parts in Zero G. This show even though being live action has no weight, the fighting feels off and when they are in shoot outs there is literally no recoil to them and just looks like fake plastic guns with added flash. What made the anime so special was how detailed everything was, like if Spike shot a gun next to someone you would see their clothes react to the muzzle flash, every punch had weight, everything was so highly detailed and felt lived in and believable even though it was a anime. This show just doesn't have that they try and fail to recreate memorable moments from the anime but do a poor job at it, the Ballad of Fallen Angels is one of greatest set pieces I have ever seen and the Netflix show doesn't even come close, I know some might call them nitpicks but if you watch both you will understand what I am saying.
To add to some of your points, the show has no identity. There's numerous...numerous points where it's just covering the original. Even near the end of the season when it does something different, it had to then do it in a similar way to the original. Which, why? The original already exists, the original has some of the best implementation of directing and music you will ever witness, why try to copy that and make it look worse?
It's just a mess, and the actors are doing their damndest, I don't know how they felt during the production, but I have to believe a couple weren't looking at this with strong hope.
Love your comments about preferring the animated versions of various super heroes, totally agree.
I had the same reaction. The moment the first episode ended I streamed the original and everything felt better. I think Quentin Tarantino would do a great job with this kind of material. Visually I think Sin City gets closer to the anime than what Netflix achieved here (it would need a "little" bit more of color though).
Thank you for your review. Thoughtful and respectful.
this almost reads as if you think QT made any of the Sin City films?
@@devon674 Oh, I apologize. English is not my native language.
What I meant is that, for some reason, I feel Cowboy Bebop would benefit from the way QT directs and create a style for his films, and Sin City would function as a nice reference for visual identity. Maybe because it is quite abstract. Of course this is subjective, but I think if these elements could be put together the outcome would be much better than what we've got from Netflix.
I feel bad for the girl playing Ed. She doesn't deserve the hate she is getting.
She deserves it as much as anyone else who signs up for a job and does the job terribly.
Just finished the Netflix adaptation today and I certainly have some thoughts. Cowboy Bebop is like for many, my absolute favorite anime of all time and I’ve watched it countless times. But despite that I enjoyed the Netflix adaptation. I enjoyed it for what it was. It was never going to live up to the original and I never expected it to. I enjoyed it like fan art or a fan film. It was fun to see some of that world realized in live action even if it had much more of a modern bubble gum pop feeling to it. I though Jet was really well done and Spike was, well acceptable I guess. I mean like you said in the video, I can’t imagine an actor living today or ever who could embody the layers of cool that Spike has. Equally aloof and nonchalant as he is smooth and focused.
For me the real failing we’re in what they tried to add. Everything they tried to do with Vicious and Julia was just reductive and a waste of screen time. Feye was totally off and simplified where she should have been complex and tragic. Ein was underutilized. Ed was basically MIA till the end for some reason. And as for the end, terrible. They completely robbed the show of its tragic ending and in doing so made it completely pointless. The end is seriously the worse part of the whole show.
That being said, I still had fun with it.
"I enjoyed it like fan art or a fan film"
Saying that a high budget official adaptation is like a "fan film" is not a compliment.
Please, give us your inputs on the entire show. I am really curious to hear your opinion from the second half on, because I think the main problemas or main differences start there.
It's always interesting to hear what other Bebop fans liked about the series cuz each one adds a new perspective. Your point about them not being able to make connections was interesting because that seems to be the direction the world is going with lower birthrates and the social media generation. I'm tempted to watch the Netflix series but my heart tells me not to.
Dont do it!
Watch it. Don’t rely on someone else’s opinions because you’ll be doing a disservice to yourself. That almost happened to me with the Three Musketeers movies from the late 2000’s with Orlando Bloom. I’m still waiting for the sequel.
It’s actually good imo. A lot of people being really harsh about it but it really isn’t that bad. Nothing ever compares to the first time of anything. This show is stylish and the connections the characters build are really good. Imo get past the fight scene of the first episode and ignore the very very end cringe scene and it has a lot of good in between.
Watch it, it's endearing in it's own ways, all love but doesn't quite hit the mark as a standalone must see tv event.
The true highlights are in the intro's, they did different tweaks to Tank that flow from the current scene into the intro, very cool.
Love John Cho, he carries the series on his back -
I absolutely loved it!!!
Give it a shot and make up your own mind because haters seem to want to hate anything that doesn't replay each scene exactly as it was in the original.
The difference for me is, the anime had class and subtlety. While the adaptation is completely juvenile and on the nose.
It's baffling how much they missed the point.
Tried to give it a shot but literally fell asleep after a couple of episodes. Think they camped it up too much. The live action feels more cartoony and camp than the actual anime. Think it would’ve worked better if they darkened it up and try to play it a little more straight. And from what I’ve seen they’ve made some fundamental changes to the characters that changed the essence of the originals. Faye was more bratty in the anime…more childlike in her obnoxiousness but Pineda plays her as a more foul mouthed, grating, obnoxious b!tch. Jet being a real father with a daughter in the live action changes him from a lonely, old school Bogart-esque noir cop whose only family were Spike and the others. All Jet has is the Bebop, giving him a daughter softens him from his true background story. Cho, I just can’t take seriously. Terrible haircut…in a horrible looking Spike cosplay missing the stoicism and philosophy of Bruce Lee. Vicious now instead of being dark and mysterious is just a whiny psychopath with daddy issues. Julia…no words for what they did…
I like the descriptors you used for Bebop's genres: "A new outfit for the day or a new song to listen to."
Very fitting! (no pun intended lol)
You're spot on with your analysis of the original.
I'm a pretty big fan of Bebop, and I had a lot of concerns when I learned about a live action. Even more when I saw them start to put out trailers for it. Ended up watching the first episode and felt like "Oh man Netflix has created another Death Note situation"
After I had completely given up on them ever capturing Cowboy Bebop, an interesting thing happened. I ended up binging episodes 2-5 and weirdly enough, I enjoyed them. Not as an adaptation of Cowboy Bebop or any kind of retelling, but almost like someones alternate universe fanfiction. A kind of "What if someone else had to write a story with these characters and some of the similar plot threads" I started looking at it as something where instead of the show being "Cowboy Bebop" the stuff in it were just references to the original instead.
Maybe I'm going crazy, but I can't hate it. Obviously, it's never going to be a replacement or alternative for Cowboy Bebop. Put it up against the original and it's always going to lose every time. However, just letting go and accepting it's going to be an entirely different thing, can probably allow some people to be able to enjoy it.
Nah, it's still mediocre trash.
I think the lived-feel of the whole setting is something I don’t see mentioned enough. I love how these colonies under domes or behind shields are basically old towns with slums or open street markets. I love how a lot of ships are kind of jalopies, as if people are primarily salvaging things than building something new.
Plus, there’s no way “Mushroom Samba” could ever be nearly as hilarious or fun outside of animation.
It worked, it’s not the anime tho. That’s the point. Watch the anime if you need that nostalgia.
I watched the live action before I knew about the anime, and enjoyed. However after such a impassioned review and comparison of the two I started watching the anime and.......you were right!!!! The anime is soooooo much better. Thanks for making this review.
It sounds like you had a bias against this project even before it came out. I watched it, and while it's not a masterpiece by any stretch, it's not bad. And I love the original anime too. I realize it's an adaptation, and it doesn't have to be "exactly like the anime". In fact, I think they did too many callbacks to the anime.
But whatever. The bar is admittedly not high when it comes to live-action anime. But I've seen WAY worse than this. I'll probably watch an ep every other day or so.
Thank you for such a wonderful explanation/break down of both what's wrong with this live action adaptation, as well as the problem of trying to adapt anime in general.
So I have to say it’s no where close to the anime but I honestly think this show is very well made. Is it perfect No. but I don’t think it deserves the hate because it’s not as good. It’s still good. But compared to the original it isn’t. Does that make sense. I think we should review it without nostalgia affecting us. (Which is hard). I honestly think they shouldn’t have touched this but since they did I think it’s the best possible outcome for it.
I could certainly enjoy this in a b-movie type of way if I had no knowledge of the anime, but I just can't help but hate nearly everything about the live-action.
I think the live action would have benefited by not having Faye at all in the series. I enjoyed the episodes where she was hardly in it and the first two which I think didn't introduce her yet. I enjoyed the banter between Jet and Spike without Faye being included.
Listening to you talk the way you do about animation… I think I love you. ❤️
Live action adaptations of anime, cartoons, and video games should be abolished.
Witcher And Alice In Borderland -"exists"
Couldn't make it past the first 5 minutes of the Netflix and noticed from just that casino set how artificial it looked. This was a good review, my only complaint is the audio was a little inconsistent.
I have nostalgia for the anime, and still quite enjoyed the Netflix adaptation.
So the beginning is just kind of boring... once they start to really mess with the themes of the original you'll be more angry. The total season is complete hypocrisy. Honestly the character interactions get better... but they really fuck with the characters motivations and back stories in a way that is unacceptable.
It's my favorite series of all time
It's gotten me through nearly every trying time of my life
I still relate to spike on such a personal level that I dont think I've ever or will ever find a character as relatable as him
Everything about this is just a cheap cash grab it has no soul and will never hold up to the original
I would be willing to forgive a lot of the failings of live adaptation if this thing just had a soul, but there's no love for the original here whatsoever.
The first video I saw from you, and you have a new subscriber. Great job, well explained, and good points. You will get better sound and other stuff but I pretty enjoyed listening to your review. Have a great day ;)
I realize that most would disagree with me here, but I didn’t find it that bad. They had quite a bit of fan service and I honestly feel like the creators tried to keep the nuance and atmosphere there.
Cowboy Bebop was always going to be a near-impossible thing to bring to live-action, but many have wanted to. Should they have? Debatable. Did they hit the mark here? Not quite.
In conclusion, I still feel like they really tried with how they attempted to replicate a lot of frames with care that were in the anime.
P.S. Did Jet actually ever have a kid? I don’t remember anything about that in the anime.
No, I agree. Tonally there's some stuff that was off and it was clear the showrunner/writers aren't that good given what they did with Vicious/Julia but there's stuff that was pretty solid. I think the core cast with better direction and writing could pull off a solid show. Mustafa as Jet Black was great for me.
Jet Black didn't have a kid in the anime. That's a new thing for the live action. I don't think that he got married either. Just had an ex that he catches up with in one of the episodes that left him because she resented how she didn't feel she had any agency.
@@giantpunda2911 Mustafa as Jet was a PERFECT casting choice. I could close my eyes and swear I was hearing Beau Billingslea.
@@giantpunda2911 and yeah, it goes into his romantic past during Session 10, Ganymede Elegy with Alisa.
I stopped halfway through ep 2...
First thing I started questioning is...
Why are they doing a beat for beat parody of the 7 11 opening scene from the movie?
Second was when did jet have a kid? I read the Tokyo pop Mangas and watched the show and movie several times, never remembered a kid...
Third was, why do so many scenes feel like I'm watching a borderlands tales movie?
4th was what the hell did they do to Gren? I just stopped...
Only thing I enjoyed somewhat was Faye...
I already know it's shit without even watching the review lmao
I don't think it's a surprise to anyone.
The fact you love Cowboy Bebop and genuinely love all the same movies I do make me love your channel more and more.
Yes! The part where you talked about how lived in and "settled" the environments of the original anime feel is what grounds the transitory nature of the characters. The environments in the live action look so cheap. They would've had to throw tons of money at it, for it to have had any chance of replicating the magic of the show.
Someone saying that they liked the netflix Bebop who haven't seen the original is like saying you like candy without ever having had chocolate. (que Space Lion track...)
That thumbnail sums it up
Netflix sadly missed the point of the anime. And the was that the crew of the bebop were all from different forks of life Jet being the ex cop, spike being the ex gangster, faye being the girl lost out of time, and ed being the child hacker from earth. They struggled being a team but they are all essentially good people who are holding on to something in their past which stops them from moving forward. Which is the point of their little resolutions which bring a sort of peace to them all except Spike. And I mean that convo that Jet and Spike have before Spike leaves and Faye confronts him with her own speech is just such a great melancholic scenario. Both Faye and Jet love Spike yet Jet knows he cannot help and that Spike needs to fight Vicious and Faye just wants to keep their little family of bounty hunters together. I don't see that type of emotion happening in the live action. Even the short stories we get between each character they meet and help creating a third party narrative for us just doesn't work with the way the live action is filmed and scripted. Vicious was also meant to be a mysterious threat from Spikes mysterious past. As a writer I would have expanded on Shin and Lins story in order to tell the Spike and Vicious backstory through the eyes of the two young gangsters who looked up to both Spike and Vicious. While also incorporating the draft for the war on Titan and how that affected all of them.
I’m in the minority, I wasn’t a fan of the original anime, but I understand why so many people love it. After seeing a couple episodes of this Netflix adaptation, it kind of made me appreciate it more. I don’t think it’s bad, but having it be live action just isn’t the same. It’s the same show, minus any art and style.
The anime can be an acquired taste, it wasn't until my 3rd attempt at watching it that I "liked" it, and now I would rate it a near masterpiece.
@@joshs7160 yea, time is funny
@@joshs7160 same. I kinda liked it the first time I saw it but my first thought was “that was hella overrated”. But it just stuck to my memory like glue for some reason so I wanted to watch it again it it was much better on rewatch. Then I wanted to watch it again and it was even better. It legit gets better with every rewatch and it’s now a near masterpiece for me as well. This is why I call it the anime version of Pulp Fiction. That movie is kinda the same way with randomness and rewatchability value.
I just recently seen how well crafted and used foreshadowing is in the anime. Seeing how even the first episodes alluded to Spike’s fate and how the story wraps up. It is still that good of a show. This live action crap is a mere soulless husk of what was already effective in the first place.
So you have good taste also im glad you touched on the themes at least a little bit unlike others who don't seem to to understand it