The Netflix live-action Cowboy Bebop debuted on 19 November 2021 and was cancelled less than three weeks later, on 9 December 2021 — a fate widely attributed to the criticisms outlined here. The single-season run remains the most prominent recent attempt at a live-action adaptation.
Few anime have a soundtrack as inseparable from their identity as Cowboy Bebop. Yoko Kanno’s jazz-led score is, for many fans, as much the show as Spike’s gunplay or the Bebop itself. So when Netflix announced its 2021 live-action remake, the music seemed like the one thing the production couldn’t get wrong — and, mostly, it didn’t. Here’s what worked, what didn’t, and what the soundtrack reveals about the show’s adaptation challenges.
Spoiler warning: Discussion below includes plot details from both the anime and the live-action adaptation.
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- The curse of making an anime remake
- The cinematography, setting, and music are on point
- The character design is true to the original
- The writing is horrible
- The characters we loved only look like them and nothing else
The curse of making an anime remake
Look no further than their 2017 live-action anime adaptation of beloved Death Note and you’ll see exactly what we mean. A handful of live-action adaptations have landed well — notably the Rurouni Kenshin films and parts of the Gintama series — and one common denominator is that they’re produced and directed in Japan, with creative teams steeped in the source material. These successful adaptations are produced and directed by Japanese companies which nail the atmosphere of the movies they create.
The live-action adaptation of Death Note produced by Netflix unfortunately turned into the laughing stock of the anime community at the time of its release, as the majority of those that watched it noticed how unfaithful it was to the source material. Aside from a great performance by renowned actor Willem Dafoe, the rest of the movie’s characters were changed, whether it be the way they looked or the motivations for their actions. Removing key plot points and motivations which led to the gripping tale of Light Yagami, the main character of the show, is what led to its demise.
Unfortunately, Cowboy Bebop falls into a similar situation akin to Death Note. Changes made from the anime to the live-action adaptation were seen as questionable decisions that severely hampered how it turned out.
Before discussing the changes to the live-action adaptation, first we’ll take a look at what was truthful to the original source material. There will be spoilers ahead, so if you plan to watch the anime or live-action adaptation, be warned.
The cinematography, setting, and music are on point
One thing Western adaptations get right more often than not is the overall vibe of the show. Set in 2071 — long after a hyperspace gate disaster has rendered Earth largely uninhabitable — Cowboy Bebop follows a group of bounty hunters travelling between the colonised planets and moons of the Solar System in pursuit of wanted criminals. Calling themselves “Cowboys,” Spike, Jet and Faye traverse these moons aboard their ship, the Bebop.
From the first couple of episodes of the show, they set the tone by showing various set pieces from different locations across the galaxy, ranging from a casino spaceship in the middle of nowhere, a desert that channels the classic Western, and neon-soaked cyberpunk streets. The world-building is downright fantastic; it’s a feast for the eyes, papering over some of the show’s deeper issues. The work they did with the computer graphics of the different environments and the action sequences was exciting and invigorating.
Yoko Kanno also returns to compose the live-action score — a meaningful return, given how essential her jazz-led soundtrack was to the anime’s atmosphere. This genre is almost synonymous with, or even crucial to, setting the tone, as the tunes act as a fitting accompaniment to the adventures Spike and his crew go through.
The character design is true to the original
As much as we mentioned how, more often than not, anime characters are so cartoonish they’d take away the viewers’ focus, the main cast was actually dressed up great. With their distinctive looks, the three main protagonists stayed true to how they looked in the anime, with the fashion designers doing a great job making the actors look like they were the original characters.
Unfortunately, this is where the similarities end, with most of the glaring issues in the Cowboy Bebop live-action version being thrust to the forefront through most aspects outside the world and character design, as well as music. Questionable changes were made to core parts of the show, which drew ire from fans, viewers, and critics.
The writing is horrible
We mentioned earlier how anime characters have a way with words which seems hard to imagine real-life people replicating. Not only is it a major issue in the live-action Cowboy Bebop, but in some way or form, the scriptwriters seemingly made the characters sound even more cartoony.
The main trio, all the different villains, side characters, and even goons had moments that made the show seem like a cheap production. It removes immersion from the show, making it feel like a parody of Cowboy Bebop as opposed to a quality, truthful remake. For example, not only were there various one-line reactions from the cast that would make you raise an eyebrow, but on top of this, there were some very tasteless and poor choices of dialogue.
In a way, perhaps the thought process behind this way of speaking was to make the conversations bounce smoothly between all the characters in a fun and playful way. What it actually did was remove the seriousness of many scenes, reducing them to empty shells of the original. One can argue that the biggest change the show had was to turn it into a forced comedy, when the original came off as naturally charming and funny. The dialogue at times tipped into outright awkwardness.
The characters we loved only look like them and nothing else
The biggest culprit in this show was the changes made to all the characters relevant to the main plot of the story. Aside from Mustafa Shakir’s portrayal of Jet, different elements were added to the characters that changed them at their core. To add to this, they were turned into one-dimensional versions of themselves. Spike came off as a vanilla protagonist when, originally, there was more despair and nuance to his actions. On top of this, the writers made the curious decision to assign the name “Fearless” to him in an attempt to rival one of the main villains, “Vicious,” in name.
Faye Valentine turns from a genuinely formidable character into a flattened, more cartoonish version of herself who shows her toughness through excessive nudity and cursing. Then we have the aforementioned Vicious, who turns from a calmly terrifying and menacing counterpart to Spike into a petulant, easily-rattled antagonist.
Worst of all was ultimately changing the main villain to Julia, which in turn made it seem like an overly melodramatic way to shine a light on all the clues that the group uncovered throughout their adventures about themselves and what was happening. Ed’s reimagining is harder still to defend.
From the very beginning, producing a Cowboy Bebop live-action adaptation felt like it was going to be a tall order. Although Netflix did it right by giving it the same feel as the original with its catchy music and eye-catching sceneries, it was let down by poor character writing and development.
If you’re a fan of the original, you might not appreciate some of the changes made to the main cast of characters, but if you’re new to the series, the anime adaptation might be a great way to introduce yourself to the wacky world of Cowboy Bebop.
