Netflix took its first leaps with anime a few years back, and now, the streaming service has put made the medium one of its top focuses. From original series to ultra-exclusive licensing deals, Netflix is putting serious cash into its anime pulls these days. Now, the company is ready to put forward one of its most ambitious anime projects yet, and the reviews for Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop are finally here.
As you can see below, the review embargo for Cowboy Bebop went live today, and the Internet is buzzing. Everyone from ComicBook to The Hollywood Reporter has given their official take on the show, so there’s some good and bad here. To start, some of the show’s reviews are glowing despite worries from Cowboy Bebop fans. But of course, there are others who cannot stand the live-action adaptation.
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At ComicBook, our own Evan Valentine gave his take on the series, and it turns out Cowboy Bebop was a surprise for the best. But as expected, Netflix still has some kinks to work out when it comes to adapting anime.
“In tackling this ten-episode recreation, we should knock out some of the good things in regards to this vehicle starring John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda as the main trio of the Bebop in Spike, Jet, and Faye. Their chemistry with one another is the show’s greatest strength, with each of the actors presenting the cast as a family that you love to watch banter with one another as they get ready for their next big score. It’s clear that each of the actors here is in love with their characters and that shows to the audience, with the back and forth creating an interesting atmosphere and a sense of fun,” Valentine writes.
“Where Cowboy Bebop truly stumbles is the expansion of the world with the likes of Vicious, Julia, and their place in the Syndicate. In the original series, these characters were almost like templates for the life that Spike had left behind, having little to no characterization outside of their archetypes. In the live-action series, they take an opposite approach that attempts to give us more background into Vicious and Julia but simply doesn’t work.”
Of course, netizens will be able to decide how Cowboy Bebop fares for themselves soon. Netflix will debut the live-action series on November 17th stateside, and you can bet fans will have lots to say about the project once it has gone live.
Do you plan on checking out Cowboy Bebop when it hits Netflix this weekend? What do you want to see from the live-action adaptation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
Collider
“Though the cast is great and they do their best with what they have, the line deliveries and cheap-looking costumes end up looking like cosplayers forced to do poor impressions of dub voice performers. In the time it takes to watch the 10 episodes of the season, you could watch most of the entire run of the anime, and Cowboy Bebop doesn’t offer many good reasons why you shouldn’t do that instead.” – Collider
GameSpot
“Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop is a jazzy, stylish binge–though certainly not a shot-for-shot remake of the anime, despite what the very faithful recreation of the show’s opening credits may have lead you to believe. This means your mileage will absolutely vary, depending on the expectations you set going in, and, critically, what your relationship with the anime is now. It’s been over 20 years since the original show first debuted, and chances are if you’re in the US, you first encountered it while watching Toonami’s Adult Swim block late at night, back when anime was extremely difficult to come by. If that’s the case, you may want to do a gut check about your own relationship (and memory) of the show and what you want from this new version before putting your foot on the gas.
Because if you are willing to come in with an open mind, you’re in for something fun.” – GameSpot
SlashFilm
“The creative team behind the Netflix live-action adaptation definitely had their work cut out for them. Anime series creator Shinichiro Watanabe was brought in as a consultant, and original composer Yoko Kanno returned to write the score, and their touches are felt throughout the series. The characters feel authentic to their two-dimensional versions, the world is just as deliciously weird, and when the elements line up just right, it manages to tap into the effortless cool that defined the original.” – SlashFilm
Entertainment Weekly
“Could live-action anime adaptations follow a similar arc into the cultural spotlight? Netflix certainly hopes so. The streaming giant has been working hard in recent years to build up its anime library: Acquiring the rights to classics like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Fullmetal Alchemist, producing their own originals like Castlevania and Yasuke, and embarking on American remakes. Their new version of Cowboy Bebop is the latest in the latter category, and is a lot less embarrassing than previous attempts like the 2017 Death Note movie. The fight sequences are pretty fun, and there’s some impressive camera work like a tracking shot through a disintegrating space station, but it still doesn’t quite live up to the power of the original series.” – Entertainment Weekly
The Rolling Stone
“I can’t speak to how faithful or satisfying fans of the original will find its Netflix live-action remake. But the new version very much feels like a project with anime roots, and has for the most part figured out how to make its influences work with flesh-and-blood actors and practical sets. It’s a lot of fun.
It’s a hangout show as much as it is a thriller, a space opera, and so on. And it’s good at nearly all these things. Every time it seems as if none of these elements should make sense together, especially in live action, Cowboy Bebop goes sprinting off a cliff, refusing to look down at the void, and just keeps moving forward.” – The Rolling Stone
The AV Club
“Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop is not a complete and irredeemable disaster, but it’s definitely not going to challenge anyone’s assumptions about live-action anime. Its best moments come from playing to its own strengths rather than emulating those of the original. When it comes to expanding on the ideas or characters from the anime, the Netflix show offers only the most obvious and overused storytelling beats.” – The AV Club
The Hollywood Reporter
“What’s the point of adapting Cowboy Bebop in live action? That’s the question I found myself asking over and over during the roughly 10 hours of Netflix’s new series, and it’s one I grew to suspect its creators had spent too little time asking themselves before they took the plunge. As far as it’s possible to tell, their line of thinking seems to have been that it would be cool if someone re-created the classic anime series in live action, and that those someones might as well be themselves. If there was ever any inkling of expanding or reconsidering the source material, not a trace of it remains in the final product.” – The Hollywood Reporter
IGN
“When I think of live-action anime adaptations, at least those made in America, I think about how they just seem so embarrassed by the source material. So much of an anime is changed during the adaptation process to make it more grounded, or seem less ridiculous. Or, if they must keep elements of the original anime, it’s transformed into something unrecognizable (I’m looking at you, Dragon Ball: Evolution).
Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop feels like the first live-action adaptation I’ve seen from an American production company that not only loves the source material but does everything it can to bring the details of the anime to life. There’s no embarrassment from the Cowboy Bebop team, just a full-throated embrace of the 1998 anime.” – IGN
Polygon
“[The] original Cowboy Bebop anime was like a critically acclaimed band with a nigh-perfect career of defining hits, and the 2021 Cowboy Bebop is a ska-funk cover band playing through its hits. The players involved with Netflix’s new blockbuster series throw themselves into the material, and viewers might even feel a rush of joy in recognizing an old favorite reinterpreted with colorful enthusiasm. But that initial charm can’t disguise the fact that the singer only seems to know about half the lyrics, and the guitarist can’t carry a tune.” – Polygon
ComicBook.com
“Anime adaptations are, unsurprisingly, quite difficult to pull off. In the past, we’ve seen the likes of Dragon Ball, Death Note, and Attack On Titan given live-action interpretations, only to find them fall to the wayside thanks in part to having a misunderstanding of the source material and simply being unable to find the secret ingredient that made their source material so beloved. Cowboy Bebop is often thought of as one of the greatest anime series of all time, and while the Netflix adaptation never hits the same heights, it manages to carve out its own life and justify its existence with some flaws along the way.” – ComicBook.com
