Cowboy Bebop (2021)

Netflix | Release Date: November 19, 2021

5.2	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 243 Ratings

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wrathofgutsDec 23, 2021

As a fan of the original anime, I did have some expectations on what I would have liked to see from the live action. That being said, I was not anticipating a complete copy and paste from the anime. This doesn’t work as an adaptation, nor asAs a fan of the original anime, I did have some expectations on what I would have liked to see from the live action. That being said, I was not anticipating a complete copy and paste from the anime. This doesn’t work as an adaptation, nor as a standalone thing. The writing is amateurish and relies heavy on marvel style humor, the changes to the characters’ personalities or what drives their plot have all been changed for the worse; the biggest offender being the Vicious/Julia plot line which was painful to watch. Everything about the show just feels so cheap. I feel bad for the actors, especially the main cast. I feel like they gave it their all but in my honest opinion, it’s the writing department that’s to blame for this atrocity. Gave this a 4 instead of a 1-2 for Mustafa’s performance as Jet.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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TheWaffleNov 23, 2021

In my opinion, adapting anime into live action is almost always a mistake, and Cowboy Bebop is another weak entry into the anime-to-live genre. Live action just can't achieve the same heightened realism or extreme emotion that is possible inIn my opinion, adapting anime into live action is almost always a mistake, and Cowboy Bebop is another weak entry into the anime-to-live genre. Live action just can't achieve the same heightened realism or extreme emotion that is possible in anime. Anime can easily show Spike throwing lightning fast kicks and then throw in a two second shot of him landing the key punch. And live-action requires a bunch of effort and budget to achieve a less-good version of that.

The casting is mostly excellent, especially Mustafa Shakir who could easily be mistaken for the anime version of Jett for how well he nails the voice and mannerisms. Faye was kind of ridiculous in the anime, and I think Pineda does a good job of bringing her into live action. I love John Cho, but the dude is almost fifty and is not an action star. He's great when doing anything other than fighting, but Spike has to do a lot of fighting and it really feels like Cho just can't quite keep up. The fight scenes have good choreography, but they often feel like a slo-mo rehearsal. The frenetic jazz soundtrack tries to set a high-tempo, but the action on screen feels languid by comparison.

And as far as style, there are more images seared into my brain from the 20-minute first anime episode than from the 90-minutes of the first two live-action episodes. Any sci-fi show is make-or-break in how well it uses its FX budget, classics like Firefly and The Expanse make excellent use of a few limited establishing shots and space ship fly-bys. Unfortunately, Bebop is clearly hindered by its budget and falls short of those much older shows. Episode 1 ends with a fight in what is supposed to be a space-port, but is clearly just an airport with a CG spaceship composited in.

Anime is great because it takes advantage of all the benefits of animation: heightened realism, fantastical settings, time dilation to convey speed or impact, etc. But porting it over to live action robs anime of all its magic. And Cowboy Bebop feels like its huffing and puffing to capture a sliver of that anime magic, and only captures a sliver.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

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PerxodaNov 22, 2021

While the show starts off pretty good it quickly loses a lot of steam. A lot of props to John Cho and Mustafa Shakir for their perfomances in this show. They both give the characters some much needed depth. Daniella Pineda as Fay ValentineWhile the show starts off pretty good it quickly loses a lot of steam. A lot of props to John Cho and Mustafa Shakir for their perfomances in this show. They both give the characters some much needed depth. Daniella Pineda as Fay Valentine just doesn't seem like a good casting option. Then again that might just be the way the way the show wrote Fay Valentine......
Which leads to the major problem of this show, the writing. The old anime had a way of knowing what to show and what not to show you. It didn't explain much, but that was part of it's charm and allure. They just seemed to throw all of that out and went for the stereotypical 'let's explain it to the dum-dums'approach. To top that off the show just gets gradually worse untill it just crashes and burns in the final episode. That episode alone would get a solid 1 from me. I don't know what the writes were snorting when they wrote that one, but it must've been something cheap and cut with a lot of washing detergent.… Expand

4 of 6 users found this helpful42

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mothman_eddieNov 21, 2021

They ruined the mysteriousness of Vicious and Julia by giving them way too many melodramatic scenes. The actor they got to play Vicious is way too over the top. They turned him into a moustache twirling villain.

They turned Faye into like anThey ruined the mysteriousness of Vicious and Julia by giving them way too many melodramatic scenes. The actor they got to play Vicious is way too over the top. They turned him into a moustache twirling villain.

They turned Faye into like an annoying child. The world itself feels much smaller. They made pointless connections to characters, but that shrinks the scope. Didn't these guys used to travel through space to different planets? It feels like they are in same planet all the time.

What you get feels like fan fiction and cosplay.… Expand

5 of 8 users found this helpful53

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cainezenNov 21, 2021

There is no way around comparing it to the original since they've tried to replicate it here. Unfortunately, trying to replicate an almost perfect animation series in live-action was a monumental task to start. As a cowboy bebop series it'sThere is no way around comparing it to the original since they've tried to replicate it here. Unfortunately, trying to replicate an almost perfect animation series in live-action was a monumental task to start. As a cowboy bebop series it's meh. The characters for the most part aren't as developed as the cartoon versions. Jet Black is the exception. I felt his character here is well done and pretty spot on. John Cho does an admirable job trying to get Spike down, but there is just something off about it. There are glimmers of the character there but it's just not as well done. The biggest disappointment is Faye's character. I don't think the portrayal here is anything close to the tone of the cartoon version. The personality of this Faye doesn't seem nearly as damaged or have the weight that we see in the cartoon. I feel like had they made a live-action movie in the Bebop world but not tried to tackle the same characters, they might have had something. There are a lot of bounty hunters in this world and a lot of lore to expand upon. Like always, they try to retread the same ground and end up failing to replicate the same characters in a way that resonates with fans. If you haven't seen the cartoons, then you might like it. I could see people just like it as a sci-fi show if they had no reference to compare it against, but unfortunately that's not me. I love the original series and think it's practically perfect in every way.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

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ZennorWhyteNov 20, 2021

It’s fairly entertaining just to pass the time with that being said im angry but more so disappointed that they changed the plot, the audacity!

Jon did a ok job as spike but should have been Keane reeves, jet was the best performance by aIt’s fairly entertaining just to pass the time with that being said im angry but more so disappointed that they changed the plot, the audacity!

Jon did a ok job as spike but should have been Keane reeves, jet was the best performance by a landslide and Faye was terribly portrayed to say the least.
Julia performance was also bad they should have casted someone else the same could be said for Faye even Ein did a better job.

Visuals were fine one minute but not the next it’s truly puzzling why this is but that was the least of the problems I had with the show.

As a long time fan of the original anime and anime movie I am truly disappointed in this adaptation and while watching it I feel like there are two people fighting over how to make this show and do the source material justice .… Expand

6 of 12 users found this helpful66

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SolearNov 22, 2021

To be honey this show started out well, not a remake of the Anile but if you don't expect that, it's actually not that bad. They stole from the anima storylines, characters etc, and changed up a lot if things. I'm only halfway in, so I mightTo be honey this show started out well, not a remake of the Anile but if you don't expect that, it's actually not that bad. They stole from the anima storylines, characters etc, and changed up a lot if things. I'm only halfway in, so I might need to come back and add to this review later on. So far, I'm OK with the CGI, Spike's and Jet's characters are OK, music is fine. The one thing that makes the show barely watchable is Daniella Pineda's performance. She singlehandedly ruins the show for me to the point that I just want to skip ahead every time she's on screen. She has 0 sex-appeal and that would be the main thing for Faye Valentine, she comes across as **** complaining and fake. I'm not even sure what she wanted to go there, but that's not Faye Valentine, Fake valentine perhaps.. Every time she was on screen I just wanted to stop watching the show.. Side characters are quite OK I think, unlike other YT reviews it didn't bother me that the live action series was not a 1:1 remake. If they would have made a better choice for Faye's character, someone remotely likeable, this would be a fairly good show.… Expand

4 of 8 users found this helpful44

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AquaberrySkerryNov 21, 2021

I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that a lot of anime tropes and character styles just don’t work in live action adaptations. This series is pretty faithful to the original and you can tell the creators are fans of the anime, but II think it’s pretty obvious at this point that a lot of anime tropes and character styles just don’t work in live action adaptations. This series is pretty faithful to the original and you can tell the creators are fans of the anime, but I think that faithfulness was its downfall. There are a lot of moments here that just didn’t translate well and came off VERY cringey. It’s not because the scenes were necessarily acted badly or anything like that (matter of fact the cast did their best all things considered) its just that seeing real people act like anime characters is hard to watch. It comes off very stiff and strange. For example, Ed is almost an exact copy of her anime counterpart, but that’s the problem. Ed acts like a total crackhead in the anime, and seeing a real person act like that was extremely hard to watch and made me and my friends visibly recoil from cringe. It felt like we were watching a low budget kids movie when she was on on screen. The story is fine (although they had the audacity to change parts of it), but it’s just overshadowed by laughably awkward dialogue and cringe moments.… Expand

4 of 8 users found this helpful44

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GutoMaggiNov 21, 2021

É ruim sim... tem uns efeitos CGI mal camuflado, a transição e a posição das cameras que poderiam ser melhor, o baixa orçamento dos cenarios, é agonizante assistir.. mas, a parte boa é que é uma historia remasterizada de um universoÉ ruim sim... tem uns efeitos CGI mal camuflado, a transição e a posição das cameras que poderiam ser melhor, o baixa orçamento dos cenarios, é agonizante assistir.. mas, a parte boa é que é uma historia remasterizada de um universo conhecido, e ver como modificaram o que ja era bom é interessante, dando enfase no que não foi tão aprofundado no anime, mas é assim que voce descobre como que ferraram tudo.… Expand

3 of 6 users found this helpful33

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Benjamin_sh29Nov 25, 2021

Those who watched and liked the anime were either excited or worry. I personally were both. I was excited that i could watch cowboy bebop in another way but i also were afraid that they might make a horrible live action like other liveThose who watched and liked the anime were either excited or worry. I personally were both. I was excited that i could watch cowboy bebop in another way but i also were afraid that they might make a horrible live action like other live actions based on anime. Well i was not wrong to be worry. Cowboy bebop just does not work in real life, all those characters don't belong to real life. A great example is ed, the show introduces ed in the last scene of the show, and ohh boy that's not a good scene to watch at all. the actor is not the problem, to be honest i think the actor does a great job but the main problem is that the ed character does not belong to the real world at all, the way he acts and those face impressions just seems goofy irl. And another big thing for me is they changing some events or characters personalities which does not deliver the true cowboy bebop experience. I'm not gonna end without saying that i enjoyed some moments in the show and that this live action was much better than many other live actions based on anime.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

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VonsaberhagenNov 21, 2021

The new live action Cowboy BeBop is amazing! Don't believe the critics or people who rate it badly. They were looking for a sequel to the anime but this is a new take on the story. It is true to the BeBop spirit. To use an analogy from theThe new live action Cowboy BeBop is amazing! Don't believe the critics or people who rate it badly. They were looking for a sequel to the anime but this is a new take on the story. It is true to the BeBop spirit. To use an analogy from the show, it is like a jazz rif on a well known song. You can still hear the original, but it is unique and beautiful.… Expand

3 of 7 users found this helpful34

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Catra195Nov 21, 2021

I thought they did a pretty good job on Most things but they were very disrespectful to the moral integrity of of Spike and the moral integrity of Julia and its a shame these people are too Woke to see that. Other than that I'm glad thereI thought they did a pretty good job on Most things but they were very disrespectful to the moral integrity of of Spike and the moral integrity of Julia and its a shame these people are too Woke to see that. Other than that I'm glad there is new Cowboy Bebop content and attention to a classic and I don't appreciate all the hate that this show or the actors have received.… Expand

3 of 7 users found this helpful34

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TVJerryNov 27, 2021

John Cho and Mustafa Shakir star as bounty hunters chasing down dangerous criminals all over the galaxy. The live action remake of the 1998 Japanese series echoes some of the original anime style, but goes for a grimier, more industrial feel.John Cho and Mustafa Shakir star as bounty hunters chasing down dangerous criminals all over the galaxy. The live action remake of the 1998 Japanese series echoes some of the original anime style, but goes for a grimier, more industrial feel. The casino showdown early in Episode 1 features some impressive fight choreography, but subsequent encounters are less inspired. There are some weirdo characters, but Cho’s swagger is the show’s main asset. TV series Preacher and Ash vs Evil Dead did this sort of graphic novel adaption with more pizzazz. After watching 4 episodes, i the style and stories are all over the place, but there’s sufficient energy to keep it interesting if you’re into the genre.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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