If you have Netflix, I would seriously suggest giving the original a try if you like stuff similar to Magnum P.I., Rockford Files, or Gunsmoke. It's not my favorite, but it is the one I recommend to people who have not watched anime before.

...okay, so we have established that you don't know what navel-gazing means.

 

Navel-gazing means introspection. All of Spike's musings on being lost in/waking from a dream, and his visits with the shaman woman on Mars all consist of this.

 

...no, it means deep, often excessive, rumination. Frodo muses on the concept of pity, he does not navel-gaze upon the issue. Leto II definitely navel-gazes about the nature of humanity in God Emperor of Dune.

 

Okay, leaving it at merely introspection simplifies it quite a bit. But Spike swims about in that head-space quite a bit in the series, which is what I'm getting at. And again, that's the only point where his true nihilistic tendencies come to light. If you're not looking for that all, or don't watch the series in its entirety, it's really easy to miss that aspect of his characterization and misread him as the mask that he puts forward.

 

It's mroe that I'm tired of people always comparing remakes to the originals and not as its own thing.

Like I loved the live action version of Mulan. I thought it had a damn good story, some great costumes and fight choreography, interesting mythology, and the characters were all good. I have never seen the animated movie before and I'm not sure I ever want to because people keep saying to me, "Oh, watch the original and then you will see why the live action verison is utter dogshit." I just don't get it. Is watching the animated version supposed to completely change my enjoyment of the live action movie? If I'm supposed to watch the animated version to compare the two, how about those people watch the live action version WITHOUT comparing it?

Like I get wanting to compare the two from an analyzation standpoint, but the vast majority are hating it just because it's a live action version and never truly gave it a chance.

 

Or that everything has to be a zero-sum game. There are shades in between "good" and "bad", and just because one version is by most consideration the superior doesn't automatically condemn the other to the dregs.


Okay, one thing I did hate in the Netflix version though was when Faye shows up during the finale with the Redtail, what was once a tense scenario turns into a joke underscored with "Mexican carnival" music (I'm not really sure what the actual genre is, but that's what came to mind). I mean, the campiness of the series amused me for the most part, but even as lopsided as the battle became, there were still some high stakes involved. That felt really out of place.

 

I have to finish with Star Blazers first.

 

My biggest issue with Cowboy Bebop and the idea of adaption is that for as much as it has the bones to be it's own thing. It already tries being that by changing the way the characters act. So where this becomes a problem for me thus far is that the show wants to obsessively ape the Anime. It takes the visuals but without the pathos and it just feels dumb. If the show went with just being a happy go lucky sci-fi western bounty hunter story then sure, but the show feels like it wants to have it's cake and eat it.

If you're not trying to attract the anime fans then why obsess with trying to look and feel like Bebop obsessively? I'm going to watch this in good faith for sure but I question why the need to be as close to the anime as it tries to be if it isn't going to try to take some of the pathos as well.

There's a point in the anime Asteroid Blues when Spike is chasing Asimov and Katerina, and Yoko Kanno's Road to the West plays. Swordfish is chasing the bounty, and the sound design changes. The woosh of the space planes is reduced while Road of the West takes over. There's minimal sound, because the show is written in a way where Yoko Kanno's score is used to tell part of the story too. The song is part of the pathos, and without saying anything, it tells of the emotion. It's telling that Shinichiro Watanabe had the score developed and then he had scenes developed around the music. Which then Yoko Kanno would use scenes as inspiration for more music. It was a purpuseful feedback loop and shows how intricately tied to music the show is.

We get a scene at the end that tries to capture that pathos but fails. Spike talks, Katerina talks, the police talk. It talks over a song in a way that's barely audible and you don't get that emotional catch the song was intended for. Yoko Kanno composed whole new music for this show and it feels like such a waste if the sound design can't even understand why and how music was used.

Sure it's an adaption. But again if you're not going to respect the source material all the while trying to adhere to it like...90%, then what's the point? I don't think I would've minded as if it was a whole new story inspired by the anime, rather than trying to condense the anime into however many episodes that this is. I'm not surprised that the show is so polarizing. Cowboy Bebop maintains it's popularity and legacy as one of the best anime of the 90s, one of the best ever, and a cornerstone of why the anime industry cannot be underestimated.

 

I just finished the season.

Sooo, this is probably the best American live action adaptation of an anime show. On paper that sounds pretty damn good but the bar was pretty low in the first place and the bar is still low.

The worst part is the heavy focus on Vicious. A mysterious character lost a lot of its character because he got a lot more screen time.

I wish the show was simply the Bebop gang doing the bounty of the week and that’s it.

Spike and Jet were pretty good. They feel right for the most part. Especially Jet. Spike still feels cool but does ooze cool like the anime.

I have mixed feelings on Faye. I think they took Faye and went let’s make her really vulgar and super brash that it gets annoying at times. I never found Faye annoying in the anime.

So there is good elements but it has the same amount of bad elements. Let’s see what season 2 brings.

 

Alita Battle Angel and Edge of Tomorrow are the best Western adaptions.

 

Technically bignick was correct, because Bebop is an adaptation of an anime. Alita and Edge were based on a manga and a light novel, respectively.

 

Live-action Speed Racer is considered by some to be an underrated cult fave. I actually dug it.

 

I forgot about it. It is way better, imo.

 

Speed Racer is by far my favorite adaption of anime/mange from the western studios. It has some top notch actors, amazing visuals, and one of my favorite fight scenes:

It has a very unique aesthetic, too, making it truly a unique experience. Cowboy Bebop really did need that stupid 4th wall stuff from the teaser shown a few weeks back. It really did make it stand out, and far more entertaining in my opinion. It was stupid, but at least it was something unique. Speed Racer is in my opinion, the best adaption of anime/manga from the west. Alita and Edge Of Tomorrow have come close, but neither have surpassed it in my opinion. Also, Speed Racer is the best Hot Wheels movie to date, too. On top of all that, Speed Racer has John Goodman.

 

Cowboy Bebop's John Cho Is Pushing for a 'Weirder and Darker' Season 2

 

Anyone who still supports this show in any way after seeing that Ed scene is beyond saving. I do have to hand it to that actor for their bravery and complete commitment to the take they decided to go with, but that was the most aggressively irritating thing I've seen in two or three decades.

And yes, Speed Racer is fantastic. It's relevant to this discussion, because Speed Racer is also an anime "adaptation" that strays faaaaaaaaaaaaar from the source material. Much, much, much farther than live action Cowboy Bebop does. But it manages to be a good movie on its own terms.

 

It's easy enough to pull Ed back.

The anime's balance of weird and cute is really hard to pull off in live action, because her exaggerated mannerisms are simply uncanny. It's not really that the brief glimpse we got of Ed was inaccurate. It's just that real-life Ed would in fact be pretty over-bearing.

But in this brief moment, there's an easy out in that Ed's "extreme-ness" could also be seen as being filtered through Spike's "hungover" state. There's plenty of opportunity to course correct in an organic way, if given the opportunity.

 

I'm not disagreeing with that at all. I mean, it's inaccurate in that Ed is suddenly an adult in live action instead of a little kid, but it's not the inaccuracy that bothers me. It's just the worst possible execution of something that never should have even been attempted outside of animation to begin with.

They either should have reimagined the story to work without Ed at all, or reimagined Ed in a completely new way that would work in live action with real actors. Because I'd rather watch 10 half hour episodes of nothing but fingernails scratching a blackboard than 10 more seconds of this Ed.

 

Netflix Ed didn't strike me as particularly "adult". Pretty ambiguous, actually. Or maybe I'm just desensitized because I'm used to Hollywood trying to pass off older actors as teens.