Rumors of Cowboy Bebop making the jump to live-action are nearly as old as the original anime itself, but it's only recently that this much anticipated adaptation has finally started to take shape at Netflix. Now the first season of the new Cowboy Bebop is nearly upon us. So why are some fans looking forward to the show with more trepidation than excitement?
Frankly, there are reasons to be concerned based on the limited footage Netflix has revealed so far. Let's take a look at the warning signs and why Netflix's latest live-action anime adaptation might just be suffering from a major identity crisis.
Netflix's Cowboy Bebop: 'An Expansion to the Canon'
If we've learned anything from the past several decades of live-action adaptations of animated properties, it's that what works in one medium doesn't always translate to the other. Even if a film or show does survive the jump to live-action, a straightforward, beat-by-beat recreation of the source material only raises the question why an adaptation was necessary in the first place.
That's a question that's dogged a number of Disney's live-action remakes over the years. What does 2019's Lion King offer that we didn't already get from the 1994 version? By the same token, what is the new Cowboy Bebop going to do to distinguish itself from a show that is widely regarded as one of the best animated series of all time?
Showrunner André Nemec recently addressed this question, telling Entertainment Weekly the new series is "an expansion to the canon" rather than a straightforward remake.
"I promise we will never take the original anime away from the purists. It will always exist out there," Nemec said. "But I'm very excited about the stories that we're telling. I believe we've done a really nice job of not violating the canon in any direction but merely offering some extra glimpses into the world that was already created."
Based on this quote, it would seem as though the cast and crew are going into this series with the intent of expanding the scope and depth of the original story and taking advantage of the new medium. That's an encouraging sign. Nemec's comments could almost be taken as a hint that the live-action series is a companion to the anime set in the same continuity. However, any confusion on that front was quickly cleared up when Netflix revealed the show's intro sequence at Tudum.
How Close Is Too Close?
If the idea is to establish the live-action series as its own, unique creature, perhaps it was a mistake for Netflix to reveal the show's title sequence as the very first Cowboy Bebop footage. This new intro is an almost exact recreation of the anime's iconic opening. The silhouetted characters move in exactly the same ways. The stylistic flourishes and transitions are identical. The new intro even uses the exact same rendition of the anime's theme music, "Tank!".
It's certainly interesting seeing an almost 1:1 recreation of the anime, but this footage hardly establishes how the new series is meant to be different. It gives a bad first impression in that regard, while simultaneously showcasing the pitfalls the come from trying to directly translate animated sequences into live-action.
As closely as the intro sequence mimics the original, there's a bizarre Uncanny Valley effect seeing John Cho's Spike Spiegel attempt to move, fight and run in exactly the same way as his anime counterpart. It just doesn't look natural. As anyone who paid attention to that short-lived "Naruto Run" fad can attest, trying to recreate the movements of anime characters in real life just looks silly.
There's also the fact that most of the snippets of footage from upcoming episodes featured in the intro are immediately recognizable as being adaptations of anime episodes. The intro makes it clear we'll be getting live-action renditions of "Asteroid Blues," "Stray Dog Strut," "Ballad of Fallen Angels," "Jupiter Jazz" and even ""Pierrot le Fou." So much for expanding the canon.
Even the show's costumes raise some concerns. On the one hand, Daniella Pineda's Faye Valentine is a great update to a familiar look. Her costume echoes the anime but strikes a more low-key (and less sexually charged) tone. But both John Cho's Spike Spiegel costume and Alex Hassell's Vicious costume fall into that same Uncanny Valley trap. Their respective suits and hairstyles are so close to the anime that they wind up looking less like actors playing characters and more like very talented cosplayers.
We need to be able to believe these are living, breathing characters who occupy this grungy, futuristic setting, and so far the series seems to be having trouble selling the illusion. It's so intent on recreating the look and sound of the anime that it comes across as a hollow clone.
The 'Lost Session' Teaser
Netflix recently gave fans their second look at the series in the form of the "Lost Session" teaser. In some respects, the new footage is a step in the right direction. Rather than attempt to recreate an iconic sequence from the anime, the teaser gives us very brief, tightly paced adventure featuring Cho's Spike, Pineda's Faye and Mustafa Shakir's Jet Black.
"Lost Session" at least veers away from being a 1:1 recreation of the anime. This footage isn't even taken from the series itself, but is instead a sort of mini-episode introducing the main trio and their dysfunctional team dynamic. It also hints at one major difference between the two incarnations of Cowboy Bebop.
Tonally, "Lost Session" strikes a very different note from the anime. It's louder and more bombastic, complete with a fourth wall-breaking element as the characters interact with the black screen borders. This footage has the vibe of Edgar Wright films like Scott Pilgrim and Baby Driver. Meanwhile, the opening title is presented as a faux-retro throwback to grindhouse B-movies.
Tonally, this second teaser feels different from the source material, though the jury is still out on whether that's a good thing. Part of Cowboy Bebop's charm is that it balances many moods, transitioning from big action beats to humorous character moments to somber, emotional drama as needed. Apart from the occasional outlier of an episode like "Mushroom Samba," the anime isn't as consistently or overtly silly as what we see in "Lost Session."
That raises a new concern. What good is painstakingly recreating the costumes and set pieces and repurposing the iconic music of the anime if the tone of the series is going to be wildly different? The concern here is Netflix's Cowboy Bebop may try too hard to recreate the superficial trappings of the anime while falling short on the emotional core of the story.
To be fair, fans can only judge the new series so much based on these two teasers. Only when Season 1 finally arrives can we truly assess whether the show is a worthy "expansion to the canon" or not. But given the abysmal track record of past Hollywood anime adaptations, it's probably best to be skeptical. For every Alita: Battle Angel or Speed Racer, there's a Dragonball: Evolution or Kite. Even Netflix's own Death Note movie is a poor substitute for the manga and anime. As beloved as the source material is, a live-action Cowboy Bebop is far from a sure thing.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
