COWBOY BEBOP LIVE
Netflix Remakes Japan's Anime Series
Netflix has become the home of live-action adaptations. There’s The Witcher, based on the hit series of books and video games, Altered Carbon, based on a sci-fi novel, and Death Note, based on the hit anime and manga. While all of their adaptations have had varying degrees of success, they’ve always managed to become some of the most talked-about shows or movies of the year. It looks like this will happen again as Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop adaptation hits the streaming service in November.
The adaptation, also titled Cowboy Bebop, is a show based on the anime of the same name which premiered in Japan in 1998 before making its way to America in 2001. Cowboy Bebop follows the adventures of bounty hunters Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, and Faye Valentine as they hunt down targets in the Bebop, Jet’s ship named after a type of jazz. Spike is one of the most iconic anime characters and will be portrayed by John Cho who is best known for the Harold and Kumar films, Searching, and J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek films. He’ll be joined by Mustafa Shakir and Daniella Pineda who will be playing Jet Black and Faye Valentine respectively.
Jet loves jazz music and if you’ve seen the original show, you’ll know that its production crew loves it too. The show’s soundtrack is filled with jazz music and a recent trailer for the Netflix adaptation reflects this by using those same songs. This same trailer also shows that Cowboy Bebop will have a unique style as comic panels constantly appear on screen as a reference to the show’s roots as a Japanese comic (Manga.) This style is reminiscent of the cult classic film Scott Pilgrim vs The World, which was also originally a comic.
Live-action anime adaptations have never been really successful. Usually, what made the anime so great and special is lost in translation when it comes to TV or film. I think Cowboy Bebop is starting off on the right so far. The question is will it be able to stick the landing? We’ll find out when Cowboy Bebop premieres on Netflix on November 19.
