I regret to inform you that Netflix‘s long-awaited live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop has some problems. It’s not a total disaster, per se. Cowboy Bebop has many things to recommend it: John Cho’s absolutely incandescent turn as leading man Spike Spiegel, Mustafa Shakir’s dead-on Jet Black, Yoko Kanno’s genius score, and Ein, the universe’s most perfect corgi. However all of the good things about Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop are betrayed by poor writing, uninspired action scenes, and a truly baffling obsession with the most annoying characters in the series. Cowboy Bebop is the text book definition of a mixed bag, full of glimmers of extraordinary promise and confounding choices that cheapen what made the anime version a masterpiece. I hated it. I loved it. It made me desperate to just watch the anime again.
The original Cowboy Bebop was a ground-breaking anime series that originally aired in Japan in 1998 and later became a smash on Cartoon Network’s Toonami in 2001. Set in a future where humanity fled a dying Earth to colonize the solar system, Bebop portrayed the future as an interstellar version of the Wild West. Criminals run rampant and bounty hunters known as “cowboys” barely make ends meet tracking these goons down. Cowboy Bebop focuses on a group of these bounty hunters led by lanky former gangster Spike Spiegel, cynical ex-cop Jet Black, amnesiac con woman Faye Valentine, child computer genius Radical “Ed” Edward, and a corgi that was designed in a lab named Ein. Each character is defined by their trauma, loneliness, mistrust, and hearts of gold. They break the law and kill with abandon, but ultimately try to do to the right thing.
Cowboy Bebop was as beloved for its cast of iconic characters as it was acclaimed for its groundbreaking approach to anime. At the time, the Japanese animation genre was awash with childish concepts and cutesy motifs. Bebop was adult, sensual, violent, and truly unique. The series’ visual style blended neo-noir, science fiction, comedy, kung fu, and the old American west. Cowboy Bebop‘s storytelling was clever and concise, full of pathos and humor. Every element worked together in perfect synchronicity. Unfortunately, the team behind Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop seems to have put so much energy in trying to mimic the anime’s idiosyncratic visual style that they forgot to take narrative notes.
One of the biggest problems facing the live action Cowboy Bebop adaptation is that it is too beholden to its source material in all the worst ways. Even if you can jive with the show’s campy approach to bringing the anime’s visuals to life, the Netflix series assumes an obsessive familiarity with the anime. Side characters are given confusing hero shots and Easter eggs overpopulate every frame. This would be fine if the live action’s storytelling was as outstanding as the anime’s, but it’s not. Plot twists announce themselves from 57 minutes away and the dreaded “Netflix bloat” which infamously afflicted Marvel’s Netflix shows permeates the middle of the season. Worst of all, the show takes hitherto enigmatic characters from Spike’s past and attempts to humanize them in the worst way possible: by somehow making them equal parts boring and detestable.
And yet, Cowboy Bebop isn’t a total debacle. John Cho is utterly phenomenal as Spike Spiegel. Tortured, quippy, and as adorably damaged as a rain-soaked kicked puppy, John Cho arrives in Cowboy Bebop as a true hero. He’s sexy, tough, and cool as heck. Basically, Cho is the perfect Spike Spiegel! Likewise Mustafa Shakir pulls off something miraculous by nailing the animated Jet Black’s vocal tics and physicality, while also bringing a fresh soul to his whole character. Ein the corgi rules. Yoko Kanno’s score is breathtaking. Many of the visuals are wildly stunning. And there’s nothing more fun than when Cho’s Spike and Shakir’s Jet finally team up with Daniella Pineda’s Faye Valentine to make the Bebop family (almost) whole. Some of my favorite moments were just watching this team of misfits banter. It’s when the lackluster plot poked in to ruin the vibe that I found myself disengaged.
The shadow cast by the original Cowboy Bebop is a blessing and curse for Netflix’s live action series. Without the imagination of that show, this 2021 version wouldn’t exist. We wouldn’t have the pleasure of watching John Cho truly become Spike Spiegel. The problem is the animated version of this story is still vastly superior.
Cowboy Bebop premieres on Netflix on Friday, November 19.
Watch Cowboy Bebop on Netflix