“The work, which becomes a new genre itself, will be called… COWBOY BEBOP.” 

The line above is an excerpt taken from the text we see flying around in the opening sequence of the original animé. It’s a sort of manifesto to the intentions of the show — a new genre itself. The animé, which first aired in Japan in 1998, more than lived up to this. Netflix’s live adaptation certainly tries its best, but what it ultimately achieves is an okay cover of a masterpiece.

Before we proceed, we think it’s only right to put a big fat SPOILER WARNING here. While we won’t go into specific details, some parts of this review/reaction to the series might contain mild spoilers. You have been warned.

Cowboy Funk

If you’ve been keeping an eye on Netflix Cowboy Bebop, you’ve likely seen the teasers and trailers they’ve put up thus far. These sample tastes don’t veer too far from the overall feel of the entire series. It’s colorful, campy, and full of energy.

For the most part, the production got a few things right. We can’t really comment much on the editing since we were told some final touches were still being applied. Essentially, the screeners we got aren’t the final cut. But it was supposedly good enough to be shared with reviewers.

There was plenty of care and attention to detail put in the overall set and costume design. It does, somewhat, capture the world of Cowboy Bebop… just in a different lens.

Some of the fight choreography felt clunky but we’re gonna chalk that up to this not being the final cut. Most other physically demanding scenes looked great. There were just a few that we felt needed more polish.

Overall, the show feels zany but not in the same way that the Cowboy Bebop animé was. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s different, but somehow the live action just lacks the grit of the original. Instead, it feels like a mashup of the 1960s Batman starring Adam West and Saban’s many Super Sentai adaptations, only a tad bloodier.

Jupiter Jazz

COWBOY BEPOP (L to R) JOHN CHO as SPIKE SPIEGEL in COWBOY BEPOP Cr. GEOFFREY SHORT/NETFLIX © 2021

What’s holding this together is the brilliant performance of John Cho as Spike Spiegel. He nails down the character to a T and is what pretty much carries a bulk of the show. He is nonchalant and carefree on most days, but is worked up every time his past hovers around him. Exactly the Spike we know and love.

Other than that, it’s his banter with Jet Black (Mustafa Shakur) and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) that give the live action adaptation any semblance of the animé. The scenes featuring these characters together are easily the best parts of the show.

COWBOY BEPOP (L to R) DANIELLA PINEDA as FAYE VALENTINE, JOHN CHO as SPIKE SPIEGEL and MUSTAFA SHAKIR as JET BLACK on the set of COWBOY BEPOP Cr. NICOLA DOVE/NETFLIX © 2021

They did make changes to the characters. Changes are generally okay, if they work. However, we can’t say that’s true here. For Jet, the key change was okay. But how it will affect his character and the show was telegraphed at best and predictable at worst.

My Funny Valentine

COWBOY BEBOP (L to R) DANIELLA PINEDA as FAYE VALENTINE in COWBOY BEBOP Cr. GEOFFREY SHORT/NETFLIX © 2021

Meanwhile for Faye… it’s hard to nail it down. To get it out of the way, I thought the costume change was fine and practical. No issues there. But part of what makes Faye Valentine a femme fatale felt lacking.

Daniella Pineda perfectly captures the character’s rough edges. It’s the silkier side that was missing, and this isn’t because she’s not built like the Faye in the animé. Faye, despite learning to be rugged, still maintained a certain air of sex appeal that was simply missing in the live action adaption.

Of course, yours truly writes this being fully aware that he is a straight man commenting on how a female character should appear sexy. Faye is, for better or worse, a heavily sexualized character in the animé and perhaps they wanted to tone it down. However, maybe there could have been a way to execute it without completely shying away from the matter.

On the flip side, this version of Faye could be empowering to women. This writer is personally still unlearning the many trappings of the patriarchal society we live in and is excited to listen to conversations about the character.

Brain Scratch

To mixed effects, we see more of Vicious (Alex Hassell) and Julia (Elena Satine) here than in the animé. For one, it does a generally good job of providing a bit of backstory to the two key figures in Spike’s past. However in doing so, they start to feel less like the characters in the animé.

Instead of simply fleshing them out, what came across on screen seemed like alternate universe versions of the characters. For Vicious, this is especially true in the early to middle part of the series. Where animé Vicious felt ruthless and menacing, the live action Vicious felt a lot more whiny and unhinged.

Julia will be polarizing. The arc her character goes through is fascinating in that she goes from a simple love interest — a damsel in distress if you will — to a woman acting out of her own agency. But the choices she makes towards the end of the series felt unnatural for her character.

The Real Folk Blues

COWBOY BEPOP (L to R) JOHN CHO as SPIKE SPIEGEL on the set of COWBOY BEPOP Cr. NICOLA DOVE/NETFLIX © 2021

In a media availability, the main cast talked about how much those who worked on the show revered the original. That’s certainly evident in the production design, dialogue, and selected episodes of the live action adaptation. There’s plenty of near one-to-one recreation of scenes in the animé that will make any fan gasp with excitement.

However, in their desire to expand, the showrunners miss some story beats, subtle moments, and character nuances that make the original animé great. Instead of the smooth soulful Jazz feel of the original, what we get instead is an odd remix that may be a little off key.

Cowboy Bebop streams on Netflix on November 19.