The Mosley Review: Cowboy Bebop: Season1
There are many series and films out there that are considered the ultimate gateway into the art form of anime. Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Trigun and Dragon Ball Z are among the top tier entry points for anime of all time, but none of them are as beloved as Cowboy Bebop. My gateway into anime was Cowboy Bebop and it was love at first sight. Many nights I stayed up to watch the a new episode of the American Dubbed version during Cartoon Network's adultswim line up and I was blown away each time. The series had everything I love about film and great storytelling in a very digestible and smooth design. The show was followed up with a feature length film that was just as exciting, fun and fueled by an amazing soundtrack. This anime had so many themes of philosophy, humanity, romance and a style that was ripped from classic 70's detective stories and spaghetti westerns. It was inevitable that the day would come that my favorite anime of all time would fall prey to a live action adaption. That day has come and I was genuinely surprised by how much care was taken to bring the world and vibe of the anime to life. There are some serious alterations and mistakes made throughout this adaptation but for the most part, it was actually pretty good. Now I can go very in depth of what was wrongfully changed and adapted well from the original, but I won't do it for everything. I will just highlight the most glaring issues this show has while staying far to this adaptation. First up is the most important thing I hoped they got right or else this showed would've failed from the start; the characters.
Each character in the anime had a full story and some were thin, but their story was explained in a number of exposition scenes and flashbacks that were subtle and did the job. That artistry is gone in this series and it was a real shame. What we got was a more fleshed out and sometimes boring new take on the iconic characters. John Cho was absolutely fantastic and the right choice to play Spike Spiegel. He captures the snarky, brash and cool vibe of the character who has a complicated and bloody past. He plays up the heart of the character and you see the more emotional connection he has with his friends. I liked that we got a look at his carrier in the Red Dragon Syndicate. Would I have liked this version of Spike to be a little younger? Sure, but for this adaptation, he was a great choice either way. Mustafa Shakir was outstanding as the older, gruff and gritty former cop Jet Black. He nailed the character's belief in having a plan, his love for classic jazz and philosophy. I really hated that they gave him a terrible stereotypical divorced parent storyline that never existed for him in the anime. His original story was already compelling with his past love life and the reason behind the loss of his arm. The chemistry between him and Cho's Spike is the true highlight of the show and it was perfect. Their constant jabs at each other and bickering over each bounty was fun to watch. Daniella Pineda was great as Faye Valentine and she nailed her sassy, loud, sometimes over the top and determined personality. They explore her backstory and slightly change it, but not enough to where we miss out on the same emotional gut punch it actually is. Once she is on the Bebop with Spike and Jet, she almost immediately becomes apart of the crew and I loved how they all hit it off. They're all messed up in many ways, but this is a crew of bounty hunters I like alot.
The main villain in this adaption was drastically altered and sometimes wattered down from his original creepy, intimidating and mysterious persona. Alex Hassell does a great job as Vicious and I liked that we got to see him working out his ultimate plan. He looked and sometimes sounded like his anime counterpart, but I felt he became such a whiny character throughout the season. His mystique is completely lost in this adaptation and he just comes off as another power hungry maniac with daddy issues. The chemistry between him and Spike was excellent though and you truly feel their friendship before the eventual friction between them begins. Elena Satine was alright as Julia, but the character was completely portrayed wrong in the end. I understand that they wanted to give her more of a story since she, like Vicious, was more illusive throughout the anime and not really on screen much, but this was just boring. You see her motivations coming from a mile away and she was the least compelling character of the show. Tamara Tunie was good as the new character Ana and I liked her connection to Spike and Vicious. Mason Alexander Park was alright as Gren, Ana's right hand. In the anime, Grin was a male who became a hermaphrodite and I thought he was more compelling than Mason's reimagining. Now one of my favorite villains in the anime was Pierrot Le Fou and they got half of him correct in this series. Josh Randall captured the weird and psychotic nature of the character expertly. He was absolutely terrifying in the anime and that almost carried over in to live action. The reason why I say almost is because his motivation for trying to kill Spike was completely altered and so was his weakness. This truly frustrated to no end, but didn't stop me from finishing the show.
The soundtrack was as iconic as the characters were in the original anime and I was so happy that composer Yoko Kanno & Seatbelts returned to do the score for the live action series. The soundtrack featured almost all the classic tracks from the anime and were in the correct moments, but I also loved the new jams that were created. There was absolutely no way you could even have this series without "Tank!" opening each episode and call it Cowboy Bebop. I don't think I would've even given this show a chance without Yoko or Seatbelts. Visually the show is stunning and takes full advantage of its color pallet and funky angles that felt right. The action in the show starts off very stiff and I wish the fighting was more fluid and sometimes raw and not so mechanical. You can almost count the beats and see the stunt crew give the signals for the actors to duck or react. For everything they got wrong, this was actually a decent adaptation of an iconic anime. It may not have been a 1:1 recreation and completely ruined a number of characters, but it is not the worst adaptation I've ever seen even if it ends with that god awful twist. In the end, this was a decent jam session where you support the band, but you know that they need way more time to study their material. The Netflix Original series and the original anime are now streaming on the platform. Let me know what you thought of the show or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
