I'm coming at this from the POV of not watching the original series, so keep that in mind. (I did watch the first two episodes, though. I was was quite impressed by the anime.)

I get why people were upset with the casting of Jet and Spike, I do get it, I also see how Daniella Pineda's outfit isn't really like Faye's original and it was an integral part of who she was.

That said, I'm having a friggin' blast and I really, really enjoy the show. Perhaps my mood will change when I finish the anime, but until then, I'm happy as a clam. I like the stars picked for the roles and you can tell they had a hella good time making it.

I think it's just flashy enough without being overblown but not quite up to par with the anime's visuals.

I see now why people were pissed about Pineda's tweets but I also see why she was.

I think people are taking this far too seriously and not giving it a proper shot. This is more G1-lite/Generation 2 to G1 rather than G1 being replaced by Bayverse, to hit a little closer to home with my assessment.

I do hope there's a season 2 if these 5 episodes are any indication of how the series will go on.

 

Binged it all a few days ago. Was into it at first, very different from the anime but some fun new ideas, and the main three all play their roles perfectly. But the further I got in, the more Julia and Vicious scenes happened, the more they tried to tie everything together...it just lost all that charm it had going. First few episodes worked as a cheesy action comedy; poor representation of the anime, but fun on it's own. Then it tries to be serious and it's just, what are they even doing? Even the cheesy stuff got grating.

Also,

Spoiler

ditching Ein pretty much killed all good will I had for the show. Even if it makes sense for the characters in the moment, you do not fucking ditch the dog! Especially not that one!

Was willing to give it a shot, had some fun with it, cast is great but they deserved better material. Will be fine if this never gets a second season. Kinda hope it doesn't.

 

Anyone else notice the bar in Tijuana looks like the one from Desperado and El Mariachi. Even the tequila is called Mariachi.

 

I enjoyed the live action as a whole but it failed to live up to the anime on a few counts, firstly and most annoyingly was the change in Fae and vicious characters, she wasn't the gambling addict/thief turned bounty Hunter running from the depts she'd been lumped with and he wasn't the stoic deadly assassin. The twists on the original individual episodes of the anime being worked together into a continuous story across the live action wasn't a bad idea but it took most of the charm out of the overall feel of the series that the anime had. If they manage to continue for a season 2 I'll watch it but the way they've set up Julia as the big bad doesn't give me much hope that the stories going forward will improve. The ed bit at the end was rushed to shoehorn her in I think too.

 

Isn't that the bar that was inspired BY Desperado in the anime?

 

No idea. Guess it is cyclical. The Desperado/El Mariachi bar inspired the anime then This copied the anime.

 

Live action was unnecessary?

Shouldn’t they just have continued the animated series?

 

The creator said he told his story and doesn't want to do anymore
Also in the anime

Spoiler

Spike dies at the end

 

I guess it can be the Edward show now. They can call it Edward is Edward.

 

They'll just call it " Françoise".

 

Edward is Edward: Françoise.

 

Vicious was miscast.

 

As someone who enjoyed the original, I thought this was a good adaptation. Perfect? No, but pretty damn good.

I think we just live in an era where people want remakes to be one for one copies.

 

I'm still not done with the season and I still love it. Mustafa Shakir was an excellent casting choice for Jet Black. I, too, was a bit worried about John Cho being too old to play Spike Spiegel, but he's nailing it. (I've already given my positive opinion of Daniella Pineda's portrayal.) This is a solid, live-action take on the show. It's flawed, sure, but it's a lot of fun.

And the music, oh... the music. The soundtrack is wonderful.

 

We watched the first two episodes a little while ago and I honestly don't get the hate. Yes, the weakest link so far is Vicious because he doesn't seem very... well... vicious, but other than that, it has the style, the music, the look, and the banter between Jet and Spike down to a T.

I loved the recreated bar from Desperado (as we talked about earlier this week) and I am enjoying the expanded aspects of Spike being a former member of the syndicate. The Teddy Bomber episode was pretty funny too although, I can't say I like what they did with Grim. It makes sense, but I also feel it takes away the air of mystery with the character.

The casino opening in the premier was down right amazing and I don't know how anyone could watch that scene and not feel like they were watching Cowboy Bebop.

I'm looking forward to continuing this show.

 

Which is weird because if they are one for one copies, then they would complain that they are one for one copies.

I also hate the gatekeeping people have that others should not be allowed to enjoy an adaptation just because they don't want to.

 

I just finished this entire season and I'll say I'm mixed but I still had a good enough time. With an anime like Cowboy Bebop that is so revered, it was always going to be an uphill 'impossible' challenge to try live up to that. Either you replicate as many of the great moments from the anime and be considered a lifeless one-to-one remake or do something original with the material you have. I saw a Reddit post the other day that said something among the lines of, "If the anime is considered a fine well-done steak meal, then the live action series is a regular chilli hotdog". Nothing too crazy but it's at least nice to eat something proper.

It's clear that whoever was creating the Cowboy Bebop LA show did want to make a Cowboy Bebop show whilst trying to be original and faithful at the same time. Otherwise, I doubt they would have gotten Yoko Kanno to do the music who has pretty blessed us with the music we know and love as well as I believe new music exclusive to the show itself. Like this one here.

I also feel that there was dedication put for stuff like Big Shot or the three old men that would randomly appear in places. But there was also stuff that I feel they either under-utilised or did not work. Having certain characters like Shin and Lin be nothing more than cannon fodder who walk around with Viscious would come across as disappointing for fans as well as Gren, who I feel was so under-utilised that you can cut out this character. Although if a season 2 did happen then maybe there is a chance we can explore his character including his backstory on Titan and stuff.

As with the main cast, I already said John Cho did a good job portraying Spike as his carefree self and Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black remained the stand-out with the fatherly instincts in spite of having a backstory that's as familiar as Barrett and Marlene from FF7. Daniella Pineda does a good enough job as a modernised and resourceful Faye who I think has been given some of the show's roughest lines of dialogue. Ein was cute but for some reason, the writers forgot about him until they need him for the plot.

To be fair to Viscious, I think his introduction where he is soft-spoken and cold are the ones where he works while as soon as he goes into pouty and needy mode, he loses his charm and becomes less of a threat than intended. Julia sadly did not have anything better to match up and I wonder what exactly are the writers planning with her after the end. In the other words, the writers were trying hard to shove scenes with them. Oh, and Ed? Well, let's just say they need to desperately change this character and I feel it would have been better serviced with a tease such as his smiley face logo since I feel his introduction is like an afterthought. Like "Here's Ed, 100% from the anime."

So the show happened and it is odd. But it does try to find its own voice at times, like I appreciate how episode 3 had a 70s something style while episode 5 was obviously the noir one. It's nowhere near the terror that is Dragonball Evolution and it has more charm than something like Ghost in the Shell or Netflix's Death Note. And it makes me question how did some of us love Alita Battle Angel again? (I like that movie by the way)

 

While I have no attachment to the series, I just wonder why in the first place anyone wanted to see an anime turned into live action? Anime and animation in general is about style and exaggerated expressions, stuff you cannot do in live action (well). I seen a clip that shows some kid character who comes off as incredibly annoying and loud and obnoxious here, while I am guessing would be more tolerable in anime given that everyone else acts with such exaggerated expressions too.

I guess same as the Disney classic movies turned live action movies, the only reason this exists is simply to make more money. I mean why remake a show bit by bit in another medium, change only a few things? That's like if when Roddenberry crated The Next Generation, he would have made it exactly like TOS but with different actors...

Ah so that kid was about that annoying in the anime too?

Whatever that video is, it has been removed...

And about as well acted, too. And with effects that they or RLM can afford, too...
Seriously, if you had told me this was a scene from Batwoman, I would have believed it. Blonde lady even looks like (and acts about as bad) as Alice, and the window break and fall was about as bad of an effect as I expect from a CW show.

I got the same feeling. Both the props and settings remind me of a CW show, like Batwoman.

Well that Ed looks far more normal than their version.
Btw I never got why anime has that thing where characters always wear a band-aid on their nose. What for?