Forum - View topicREVIEW: Cowboy Bebop Live-Action
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Cardcaptor Takato
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liatris
Posts: 56 |
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I feel like the situation I feared is starting to happen after all.
I believe that the way the original Cowboy Bebop portrayed the female characters was very good, if not perfect. Of course there are some things that could be changed to fit the live action, and I wasn't going to go into detail about the changes. But as it turns out, they portrayed Faye and Julia as female characters with much more vulgarity and less depth than in the anime. I think that's a failure. However, some people have started to misrepresent the failure by saying that the way the anime portrayed Faye was problematic. Perhaps there will be more of them in the future. I think that the live-action version will clearly lower Cowboy Bebop's reputation. The brand value has been damaged and the IP has been tarnished. |
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FunkyDude88
 Posts: 108 |
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But that's all modern media. Dripped in snark, irony and always refusing to be genuine or sincere. Nothing particularly unique to this show. *glances at new Spider-Man trailer where they snark and riff on Otto Octavius being a silly name* |
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Varkias
Posts: 30 |
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Was the live action "great"? No. It has plenty of problems, but it was still a fun remix. If it gets a second season, I'll continue to watch it.
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myfairx
 Posts: 87 |
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another Outlaw Star Fan here .. I can't get into Bebop with it's episodic nature either. Same with Space Dandy. The animation and direction is superb though. But I like Samurai Champloo. Maybe I'm not sophisticated in taste, after all I like AIC universe (Photon, Tenchi, GXP) better than bebop Watching live episode 1 is a total recall of how I felt watching anime version. It's so dull and uninspiring. But after enduring it, I continue watching. And because I don't remember minute of original anime beyond that, the live Cowboy Bebop feels A-OK as much as other regular adaptation. Some episode are quite fun to be honest. As for characters, I wish Faye to be better. Spike and Jet are kinda OK.. Vicious is great. not much of a focus in the original so he can be portrayed better as writer has much leeway anyway. So it's clear that the showrunner is not total incompetent but somewhat bound to the original and not bold (or creative) enough to navigate the whole gig. As far as I can remember Bebop (and Outlaw Star) I suspect is a homage to Lupin and the gang.. Made me imagining how live action TV Lupin is going to be. And speaking of lupin, the live movie with oguri shun and 70s movie sucks too.. I belive it really hard to justice the original after all no matter where it's from Japanese or west. It's the same in reverse too. Star wars vision sucks for being too safe IMO. But we already saw some did good like Kenshin for example or Animatrix (as reverse) With bigger budget and right people it can be done. Next, One Piece and Gundam. I'm not holding my breath though I will watch them when they're releases. Adapting IP is a business decisions. Streaming is booming. Every company want a quick grab of the pie. I totally understand how fans get riled I hen the final product is garbage. It soils the perfect image of the beloved original. It even happens to non live action like FLCL progressive alternative which I totally HATE..  so as far as this article goes, I get it. Cowboy Bebop sucks as adaptation.
Hmm wonder is anybody interested in adapting Outlaw Star 
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2215 |
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I mean, witty characters who make biting retorts are as old as cinema itself, but there is just something about a lot of modern media that tries to come off as aloof and above it all. A lot of them seem to forget that sarcasm isn't necessarily wit and that self-deprecation isn't actually self-awareness or deconstruction. They just refuse to own their story and setting. Aside from some fanservice and problematic queer and trans representation, there's not a lot about Cowboy Bebop that needs addressing. There's nothing about it on a fundamental storytelling level that needed to be corrected or retold and a lot of the stuff they've added is window dressing or shallow cliche. Might as well just stick to the original. Last edited by AiddonValentine on Sat Nov 27, 2021 2:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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timber
Posts: 134 |
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Finally watched the whole season. My verdict, watchable but not to great.
On the plus side: - the main crew's (Spike, Jet, Faye) acting was good. They were a little stiff in the first episode, but I thought they did a good job despite the scenario. - Yoko Kanno and the band playing as the band in the cabaret. - some stuff from the anime made it fine in the live version: Faye's video as a youngster, the bioterrorists, Pierrot le Fou. The down sides: - Sometimes looked like some 50's cheap SciFi movies. When Faye's flying in the middle of the advertising, it looks like a rushed job made in 5 minutes with some cardboard and wires. - Did they really think making Faye vulgar of Spike trigger happy would improve the characters? - They didn't seem to know when to use Yoko Kanno's music for the best effect. Most of the time it seemed to appear at random instead of being part of the scene. - The show was to centered on the mafia stuff. These new versions of Vicious and Julia were painful to watch and of course makes it impossible to have a life version the superb finale of the anime. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4379 Location: New York |
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The thought has crossed my mind that Amazon would be interested in picking it up to get something to compete with Netflix (they have a Promised Neverland show in production, and acquired the rights to a live-action She Ra to get a pulp fantasy show to compete with The Witcher, so counterprogramming isn't foreign to them), but Outlaw Star would cost way more than Bebop to not look ridiculous. There are a lot more aliens, a lot more unusual character designs, and of course, they would need to make a live-action Aisha Clan Clan, which would be a challenge to anyone. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4380 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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this here is the reason WHY people are so bat shit scared when the live action version of one piece was announced and when i pointed it out on twitter, i got mocked for it when history was more or less on my side concering live action adaptations. its good thing i completely igored this trainwreck and it more or less confirmed why people should not even bother with OP! |
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Mr Kibbles
Posts: 2 |
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Jeez, that was a harsh review. I'm a huge fan of the anime, as it's one of my favorite series of all time. I just finished season 1 of Netflix Bebop, and I'm sorry but I enjoyed it. I liked most of the retelling and reimagining of the characters and storylines. I think the mistake most made was expecting a 100 percent adaptation of the OG series, which is crazy imo. I'm looking forward to season 2.
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ZiharkXVI
Posts: 358 |
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There may be a few people who expected a complete adaptation, but most just wanted to capture the soul of the anime (which is about all I was hoping for - but I go into these live-action remakes expecting disappointment). I don't have anything new to add that hasn't already been said in this discussion...but this adaptation definitely misses the mark on pretty much everything. I couldn't even finish this I disliked it so much. If you have seen the anime and enjoyed that - there is a very high chance you will not enjoy this. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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Being "bat shit scared" over these live action adaptations is just nonsense and silly. Either the adaptation will be good, or it won't. If it's good, or at least adequate, then there's no issue. If it's not good, then you can just ignore it and move onto something else. People acting like these live action adaptations are some sort of plague or going to kill anime are just overreacting. That is probably more of the reason why they would get mocked for that sort of doom & gloom overexaggerating. The concerns over One Piece are a different thing altogether. No one really questioned if Bebop could be done in terms of live action in of itself, it was mostly a concern regarding the quality of the acting and plot. In terms of visuals and adapting an anime into live action Bebop is nothing new compared to other Sci-Fi shows and movies that Hollywood has done. One Piece however is quite different. There's legitimate concern simply over how Hollywood, or anyone for that matter, can visually adapt that show into live action without it looking horrible. Even if it has the most brilliant acting in the history of acting that won't save it if the visuals are just beyond ridiculous. Once again though I refer back to my first point, if it sucks and is a bad adaptation then someone can simply skip it and watch something else. Still no need for the wild overexaggerating and doom & gloom attitudes. Having watched Bebop halfway through at this point I think this is a decent show if taken as a separate product in its own vacuum. Does it stack up to it's source material? Not really. Not for me. If you remove the anime from the equation is it entertaining enough? Sure. I've seen worse Netflix original series and movies. Also seen better. The music was a definite plus for the series though, as was expected. |
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animedude1982
Posts: 16 |
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Well..all things considered. I wanted to know what the Japanese and Japanese-American's think. Japan is NOT happy apparently.
Check it Out!! https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2021/11/25/tv/cowboy-bebop/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2021/11/27/tv/cowboy-bebop-squid-game/ this is VERY telling. I don't know what the PLAN is. but it seems like the general consensus is the fan base is pissed off. while the subscribers are happy. Japan..doesn't look to be too happy with this. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18209 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Finally finished the LA version, so I finally got around to reading the review and perusing this thread. Can't say I'm surprised by the harshness of the review or some of the comments here. While I do agree with some individual criticisms, I don't agree at all with the review's overall evaluation or what seems to be the prevailing sentiment in this thread.
I am firmly in the camp which regards the series as working well enough on its own. Yes, it is flawed (the last episode in particular disappointed me, and who thought handling Ed that way was a good idea?) but it's vastly better than a lot of the trash LA shows out there and I felt that it (mostly) did establish its own style and embody an appropriate degree of campiness in its less serious parts. Faye being a largely different character didn't bother me one bit because I was never a big fan of her in the original. I also never cared for the way Julia and Vicious were handled in the original (claiming that they weren't really characters but just story elements seems like making excuses for them not being fleshed out properly in the original), so I had no problem with their roles being expanded here. And yes, I found Vicious to be a fun character to watch. Someone earlier in the thread described him as immature, and I felt that was entirely the point. Julia wasn't trying to assault his manhood by saying he wasn't a man; she was calling him out for that immaturity. I tend to give adaptations into other formats a lot of leeway, and will tolerate a lot of changes, because I appreciate that what works in one format doesn't necessarily work in another. Perhaps that's why I was entertained by this more than a lot of people around here were? Warts and all, I like this better than I did the live-action Alice on the Borderland and would almost certainly watch a second season if one gets made. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2312 |
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Why does this parse as an excuse, to you? Their importance to the original story is as past ghosts Spike hasn't dealt with (as the reviewer argued); building them up into whole characters is unnecessary, and changes Spike's story pretty fundamentally. And, for a creature like the anime's Vicious, I'd argue further that giving him layers and humanizing him is actively detrimental to the necessary mood; he's meant to be more monster than man, which makes for a "less is more" situation in telling his role in the story, I think. I think you could tell a somewhat different story where Julia's role is expanded, but doing so with Vicious without undermining what made the character effective in the first place seems quite difficult, to me.
I think the trouble for me with the adaptation of Vicious is that he seems part bumbling, incompetent, and cartoonish soap opera villain, and part the vicious, calculated killer he was in the anime, and those two halves don't cohere well, in my opinion. The result feels schizophrenic, like Snidely Whiplash is battling anime Vicious for control of one body. |
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