The new Cowboy Bebop live-action series starring John Cho, Daniella Pineda, and Mustafa Shakir tells the story of three interstellar bounty hunters who struggle to deal with their past and put food on the table. The Spike, Jett, and Faye that fans meet in Netflix's new series are similar to the original, but not all the same.
Each of the changes made to these three iconic characters can be justified by the painstaking effort it takes to adapt a classic anime to live-action. Still, this justification does not always come in tow with the joy that each fan feels when Jett, Spike, and Faye show up onscreen. While some of the changes made in Cowboy Bebop's 2021 adaptation improved on the original, others fell a bit short of meeting the fans' expectations.
10 Improved: Daniella Pineda Brings A Realistic Complexity To Faye Valentine's Character
One of the largest departures that the live-action adaptation took from the anime can be seen in Faye Valentine's character. The femme fatale that consistently stayed one step ahead of Spike and Jett in the original series is back in Netflix's adaptation, but the way Daniella Pineda portrays Faye is unique to the new series.
Pineda's Faye is a dynamic character that is capable of anything. In one scene, she is outdoing Spike in a bounty measuring competition, and in another, she is intimately opening up to a mechanic about her amnesia or saving Spike and Jett from Vicious. The Faye fans met in the original anime was powerful, but when compared to the complexity of Pineda's Faye, she could hardly be called intimate, let alone dependable or dynamic.
9 Worse: Jett's Family Steals Valuable Time Away From Cowboy Bebop 2021's Limited Action Sequences
There are a number of endearing moments between Jett and his daughter in Cowboy Bebop's live-action adaptation, but this family dynamic stole far too much time from the Bebop crew's bounty hunting adventures. Nothing proves this point more than the episode titled "Galileo Hustle."
At the tail end of the 7th episode, fans are forced to watch Jett dance along to his daughter's recital while Spike faced the galaxy's wealthiest arms dealer in the background. Spike singlehandedly took down a small army, but instead of giving fans the chance to watch, the director decided to put Jett's dance in the foreground and relegate Spike to the background.
8 Improved: Faye Takes Control Of Her Own Plot & Even Saves The Day For Spike & Jett
The Faye that fans are introduced to in Cowboy Bebop 2021 is a different beast than the Faye that fans met in the original series. After being stranded in space without any fuel, Faye's anime incarnation was taken on by the Bebop's crew and offered the chance to rediscover her past. Of course, this version of Faye was strong enough to outwit Jet and Spike on a number of occasions, but she still needed their help when the truth about her past came calling.
Faye's live-action variant manages to explore her history on her own. Then, she sacrifices her own mission in order to save Spike from being murdered by Vicious.
7 Worse: Spike Moves Through His Fight Choreography With A Choppy Efficiency That Flows More Like A Rock Slide Than Water
Not every Cowboy Bebop fan fell in love with the original series because of the way Spike floated through his fight choreography like water, but it is rare to find a fan who didn't enjoy the clean action sequences.
The fight choreography created for the live-action series largely misses out on the hype created by the original. This may be a side-effect of turning an anime into a live-action series, but considering the painstaking amount of time it took to draw and animate action in the '90s, the new series really has no excuse for its lackluster action set pieces.
6 Improved: Vicious Becomes A Dynamic Character With A Reason Behind His Vicious Behavior
The anime does a fantastic job of setting Vicious up as Spike's foil. The white-haired, katana-wielding, killer from the Syndicate represents everything that Spike hates about his past. Outside of this though, Vicious is pretty one-dimensional.
The new Cowboy Bebop's live-action adaptation allows Alex Hassel the chance to dive into the psychological profile of the man who prefers a sword over a gun. In the ten episodes that make up the new series, fans are given a chance to watch Vicious plot his takeover, attempt to overcome daddy issues, and eventually be murdered by his most trusted ally.
5 Worse: The New Series Leans Further Into The Noir Genre & Skips Over A Number Of Epic Sci-Fi Space Battles From The Original Series
The action set pieces that involved hand-to-hand martial arts fell well short of the standards set by the original anime.
Luckily, many are willing to forgive Spike's clunky moves after watching the live-action series' 9th episode, but there is nothing that makes up for the lack of action set pieces that involve Spike's Swordfish and Faye's Red Tail.
4 Improved: Spike's Background Is Littered With Facts & Action Sequences That Never Made It Into The Original Anime
Spike Spiegel's story runs at the center of the Cowboy Bebop mythos in both the live-action series and the original anime. Somehow the latter manages to make space for a number of other characters while also including more of Spike's backstory than the original anime.
In the live-action series' 9th episode, fans get the chance to watch Spike operate as a member of the Syndicate for more than 40 minutes. Fans may bemoan the fact that Spike's character didn't sport a fake eye in the new series, but watching him decimate the entirety of the Neptune Cartel was a pretty worthy trade-off.
3 Worse: The Bond Between Ed & Ein Is Saved For The Last Moments Of The Series To Tease A Second Season
There was something truly special about the relationship that developed between Ein and Ed in the original anime. Though Ein was relegated to the background of the anime after boarding the Bebop, Ed made it a mission to include the pup in her story as soon as she joined the crew.
Ein's involvement in the new series' plot went much deeper than it ever did in the original, but without Ed, Ein felt a bit flat. This is just one of the reasons that introducing Ed in the final episode of the live-action series was a bad idea.
2 Improved: Reanimating The Sci-Fi Setting Created For The Anime In 2021 Makes For Some Incredible Set Pieces
The Cowboy Bebop anime was beautiful. The grimy sci-fi aesthetic that was created to blend the noir and science fiction genres was brilliantly hand-drawn and animated. Still, the live-action settings and character designs were undeniably superior.
For fans still skeptical about this idea, take a moment to rewatch the first episode when Jett directs the Bebop through an astral gate for the first time. That is top-notch science fiction.
1 Worse: Reviving The Cowboy Bebop Franchise & Teasing A 2nd Season Contradicted The Original Show's Main Theme & Doomed The New Series Into A Clunky Corner Of Criticism
Though it was a genuine pleasure to watch John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda bring the Cowboy Bebop anime to life, bringing the Bebop crew back goes against everything that the original show stood for.
By the end of the original anime series, fans are forced to accept that letting good things lie in order to move on from the past is a necessary part of moving on and growing up. By bringing Spike back to life and teasing a second season, the producers made it clear that the motivation behind Cowboy Bebop 2021 had more to do with money than appeasing fans of the original series.