Cowboy Bebop

This show isn't the anime, but is definitely enjoyable all on its own. The casting is great. The sets and music really captures the spirit of the original.

There are expected controversies around how faithful it is (or should be) to the source material - some points are literal retelling of the story, some are drastically different. I think it's mostly good that they're changing the story at times, it's a new material and a new medium after all. And I think they actually are the story difference are actually fixing the issue of the source material where the story was not sufficiently told in the end.

What's really great about the live action series is a visual style - it's realistic (the CGIs are mostly about space and some background imagery) yet very bright and vivid and ever-so-slightly goofy. The pace and character development is also great, it's all coming together nicely.

But it's a real hit-and-miss in the actors department - some of them are really in the right place and the resulting characters are truly great (like Spike and Jet), some of them come unbalanced (like Faye), and some are a complete disaster (like Vicious and Julia), which is really irritating.

It's still very worth the time, for it's a quirky and goofy blend of visual greatness and great characters.

I won't make comparisons with the original animation.

I think this show in general is an excellent production. The actors are ok and have great chemistry together.

But this show takes a bold approach to the way it tells the story.

It tries, perhaps excessively, to be faithful to an Anime narrative structure.

It's a western. It's a space opera. It's a buddy cop comedy. It has a noir atmosphere mixed with ultra-over the top action scenes. All mixed in a crazy colored juice.

This cocktail isn't easy to make into a live series.

And the end result is a highly stylized TV show that is beautiful to watch, well interpreted, but not everything blends in very well.

This will certainly work for many people, but for many it won't.

So, in the end, what counts is a matter of taste.

Try it and you may like it or not.

I personally enjoyed some episodes more than others, but I wouldn't mind seeing more.

A solid 7 out of 10 for me.

Cowboy Bebop is a live adaptation of a popular anime featuring a group of space bounty hunters nicknamed 'cowboys' who roam the now-populated solar system a few centuries in the future. The tone of the series is light-hearted, featuring typical down-on-their-luck yet likeable main characters who stumble their way into victories against equally incompetent bad guys. It's basically all in good fun.

It's universe is a combination of Americana influences from the '50's up to the '70's, Japanese mafia tropes and old-skool visceral science fiction, with a film noir-detective glue that holds it together. It consist of over-the-top but well designed set pieces with characters that find themselves in absurd situations, mostly created by their own antics. Fair warning, it can get pretty bloody at times between all the sarcasm, true to anime heritage.

The music is excellent, especially the jazz pieces from all the greats that seem hand-picked to fit the scenes. It's general feel is reminiscent of comic books, with lots of different color schemes, shots from strange angels and short, witty comebacks that could've just as easily been dropped in captions. Blood doesn't drip, it flashes over the screen, that sort of thing.

My main criticism are the predictable plot-lines, with one or two nice surprises. Also, not all the jokes land because the editing can be off beat, slowing down the comedic timing of the actors. On these review pages it has been compared to the original, well-loved anime, which I didn't do. Without the comparison, the end-result is a production that could have had a sharper finish, but that doesn't take away much from this futuristic noir-detective that got stuck in the seventies.

Don't expect the world and you'll root for these cowboys.

My only casting dislike so far is Faye Valentine.

The writing for her is awful, and her delivery is even worse. She also doesn't look the part either. Faye was the stereotypical femme Fatale in appearance, but juxtaposed by her brash nature. This actress lacks the first part, which is important to her character. She's cringeworthy. Also not a fan of vicious, either. But I'm telling ya Faye is really bad.

Jet is great. Spike is pretty good.

They NAILED the environment and atmosphere. Production is amazing. That really helps the affair.

Music is the best of all. Amazing. They brought back the same guy from the anime. It's incredible stuff.

They did make some stupid changes to things that I found entirely unnecessary, though. Why? Beats me.

It's not the anime and it never could be. But it's a damn good show, especially when you compare it to every other animation adaptation to live action

Give it a shot and don't let others whining taint your experience.