Cowboy Bebop is still one of the most acclaimed and beloved anime franchises ever, but it doesn't seem like the same can be said for its live-action adaptation. The Netflix version of Cowboy Bebop was questioned from the get-go, and fans' fears are sadly justified given the initial reviews.

At first, reviews were fairly positive, but that's certainly not the trend in reception anymore. For all of its attempts to recreate the anime, Netflix's Cowboy Bebop is being seen as a soulless, lifeless and cheap imitation of the show's greatest hits. Though this doesn't necessarily mean that the new version is completely awful, being such a poor take on one of the best animes ever is knocking both of its feet into the hole. Here's a look at why critics just can't get into Cowboy Bebop and how it fails to live up to its source material.

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The story of Cowboy Bebop involves a group of bounty hunters who traverse the galaxy to scrounge up a living. Their ranks include Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine and Jet Black, who all have their own quirks and unique personalities. In the series' distant future, bounty hunters are dime a dozen and traverse the galaxy after the Earth's destruction. Along with the threats they encounter on their missions, each member of the crew must also come to grips with pasts that increasingly come back to haunt them.

The reception from sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic is somewhat mixed, though it's definitely more negative than positive. The biggest complaint is just how soulless the whole thing feels, as it never justifies its existence. In simply hitting the highlights of the acclaimed anime series, Netflix's version of Cowboy Bebop already doomed itself, especially given how it handles the material.

Though the actors' performances are generally praised, the tone and direction make the series feel cheap and almost amateurish, as if amateur fans put together a recreation of their favorite scenes. These scenes and concepts should seem dynamic and cool but only look cheap and lame, with the show and Netflix themselves having seemingly forgotten that they needed a bigger budget to properly showcase the space sequences.

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The worst part is that the show tries to make up for its lack of style or slickness with kitsch and campiness. This over-the-top humor and direction end up making it much more of a cartoon than the source material, and not in a good way. It's worth noting that even the positive reviews constantly harp on these issues, with some of them focusing on these problems more than anything the show supposedly does well. The additions to the narrative haven't been well-regarded, either.

All in all, it seems that for its few steps forward, the live-action Cowboy Bebop remake also takes several leaps backward. There aren't any audience reviews yet since it's still unreleased to the public, but it's doubtful that fans will find the critics to be too inaccurate in their feelings concerning the show. Audiences may be better off simply watching the still highly-regarded anime instead.

To compare both versions, the Cowboy Bebop anime is currently streaming on Netflix while the live-action remake premieres on Nov. 19.

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