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Anime Television

Netflix Drops Action-Packed Teaser For 'Cowboy Bebop' Series (nypost.com) 59

Posted by BeauHD from the action-meets-Western-meets-space dept.
Netflix just released an action-packed teaser for its live-action adaptation of the 1998 Japanese anime series "Cowboy Bebop." From a report: A 10-episode series -- which chronicles a group of cosmos-hopping bounty-hunters and is based on the cartoon of the same name -- will premiere on Netflix next month [...]. The 2 1/2-minute trailer, titled "The Lost Session," featured characters Spike Spiegel (voiced by John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir) and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) running after a runaway target while squabbling about how to best catch the enemy. The trailer also teased the show's main villain, Vicious (Alex Hassell), as well as a snippet of the song "Green Bird" from the original series episode "Ballad for Fallen Angels." The group's spaceship, the Bebop, was also featured in the clip. A full trailer will be released on Oct. 26, just ahead of the Nov. 19 debut on Netflix.
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Netflix Drops Action-Packed Teaser For 'Cowboy Bebop' Series More

Netflix Drops Action-Packed Teaser For 'Cowboy Bebop' Series

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  • Nice (Score:3)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2021 @10:29PM (#61908685) Journal

    The music from that show was some of the best jazz written in the last 40 years.

    • Seek out albums by The Seatbelts. Yoko Kanno & the gang have done a stack of albums containing music from the series and additional compositions. As you already know, it's really great stuff.

  • oh no, something else to get ruined. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ikhider ( 2837593 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2021 @10:43PM (#61908715)
    Some things need to stay an anime. When I hear about Leo DiCaprio wanting to do Akira or Tobey Maguire wanting to do Macross, I shudder. I could only handle 30 seconds of Ghost in the Shell with Scarlet Johansson, it sucked so bad. Sure, these are Asians doing live action versions of anime, like Space Battleship Yamato, but that sucked too. This looks awful, nowhere near as cool as arguably one of the best anime series ever made. Rare for live action to surpass the animation, with some exceptions (Star Trek, the animated series), but the live action show came first. Ugh.

    • This one looks good.

      • This looks like a cheap rip-off of visuals Tarantino might employ to present something as a '70s homage. Which is just completely clashing with the story's theme.

        Further, 4th wall breaks are just... Ang Lee "Hulk" bad. [youtube.com]
        Also, acting and writing is atrocious. It feels like they are trying to "act anime", overemphasizing everything.
        Including movement of the characters. It's... They move like stop-motion puppets.
        And then there's the visuals which look as if the camera was dragged through the mud before each take

    • Live action Yakuza was good.

    • To be fair Space battleship Yamato sucked because it was a vehicle for a pretty boy Korean star. I almost can't be grudge them doing it because it was apparently a big deal to have a Korean and such a important role Leji Matsumoto is a big deal in Japan) but the acting across the board was just terrible.

      Cowboy Bebop is pretty low-key as far as science fiction goes and I don't see any issues of translating it to live action side from the difficulty of making it not just suck. The fight scenes that would

    • Kinda agree. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2021 @11:28PM (#61908807) Homepage Journal

      Ghost in the Shell was such a terrible let-down because it had the exact wrong director. If Denis Villeneuve had directed it, it would have been an absolute masterpiece. But instead it was given to some guy whose limited experience was with fantasy movies. He had no loyalty to the source material, and violated it. Ghost in the Shell was always a pro-tech, pro-progress mythos. It presented the kinds of social threats that our near-future tech would produce, and gave us heroes who were ready, willing, and able to use that same tech to save the day. But this Rupert Sanders joker made it a story about how technology is threatening and scary and robs us of our humanity. He made Motoko out to be a Luddite, which is the precise opposite of her character in the anime, and also directed Scarlet Johansson to play her as an utterly flat emotionless bore (she is supposed to be fearless, not emotionless, sheesh).

      I guess that turned into a rant. Well, I am posting it. I don't think that being live action automatically ruins these stories, I just think that it needs to be written and directed by people who "get" the source material. And who don't pollute it with their own issues or woke politics.

      • Denis Villeneuve botched Bladerunner. It looks good, but they could have used a fraction of the visuals budget on decent writers WHO ACTUALLY FOLLOWED THE DAMNED STORY! I don't think Denis Villeneuve even understood the 1982 version nor read the book. He's French, so he probably did not bother to read the subtitles in his language. Arrival? Meh. Sicario was okay because I kept laughing at Blunt's character who repeatedly ignored her mentors and got strangled and then shot. I don't think Denis Villeneuve un

        • Incidentally, I never read the Bladerunner story either. But I thought Blade Runner 2049 was awesome, from beginning to end, including the plot.

          So, I am curious to know if the movie totally violated the spirit of the story and reversed the story's message while simultaneously making the characters act on values utterly unlike those held by the characters in the book. Was the movie version an insult to the source material, like Ghost in the Shell was? Or was it more of an interpretative adaptation that ma

          • In Bladerunner (1982) 'androids', also known as 'replicants', were not allowed on Earth. Androids/replicants were meant as labor and companionship on off world colonies, but had a four year lifespan. Some androids/replicants escaped the colonies to Earth, for various reasons. Androids that made it to Earth were disposed of by 'Bladerunners', humans trained to eliminate androids/replicants swiftly. The premise of the 1982 version is that you have androids/replicants who wanted longer than four years and soug

            • Ah thanks.

              There were three shorts that were released to youtube prior to the movie, one of which explains that Wallace convinced people he could make replicants that would never, under any circumstances, refuse an order, and this is why they were allowed back on Earth. Good enough to kick start a plot. Of course, there wouldn't BE much of a plot if that held true, so there is a replicant rebellion going on and an attempt to thwart it.

              It has been a while but the only replicant that I remember arbitrarily e

              • Sequels seem to be tough. You have Ridley Scott who did Alien (1979) and none of the other films are as good. Bladerunner (1982) was great and a follow up is real tough. There is a podcast called 'The Q & A with Jeff Goldsmith' where the original screenwriters for Bladerunner (there are three) were interviewed. Lots of great stories on the development of that script. One idea was even to make Tyrell a shark. Somehow we got the Bladerunner we see. The name Bladerunner was actually taken from a William S

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by nagora ( 177841 )

            Incidentally, I never read the Bladerunner story either. But I thought Blade Runner 2049 was awesome, from beginning to end, including the plot.

            You're a crazy man, then. It was shit that made no sense.

            Terrible movie, entirely in its own right.

        • Denis Villeneuve botched Bladerunner.

          Well, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

          Except this one. This one is plain wrong.

        • I could not stand BladeRunner 2049, IMO it was absolute shit, loaded with too many side stories, which was clearly a lazy attempt to bolster a thread bare main plot. The end result was a disjointed mess. The sad thing is, I see so much promise there, but they chose to phone it in and assume their audience would be a bunch of morons who would be satisfied with pretty visuals and brain dead action sequences. Seeing how well received it was, I think it says quite a bit about the American audience they clearly
        • If he watched Bladerunner in theatres in France in 1982 it would have been dubbed and not subtitled.

      • ... who "get" the source material.

        I watched the anime many years ago and can't readily compare it to the live-action but I didn't get any of the sentiments you did, from the live-action. The live-action is a story about corruption, how bad things were done in the name of progress, of national security, (The Bionic Woman remake had a similar trope.) of profit. The live-action totally avoided the issue of cybernetics having a soul, mostly because the ghost (Johansson) didn't have a past to define her humanity/soul. But finding that past wa

      • and also directed Scarlet Johansson to play her as an utterly flat emotionless bore

        Did he direct her to do that, or is that just her acting style? I started watching the Marvel movies recently, and Black Widow has got to be the least interesting character in a cast of dozens.

        • Did he direct her to do that, or is that just her acting style? I started watching the Marvel movies recently, and Black Widow has got to be the least interesting character in a cast of dozens.

          He directed her to do that, as did the various directors in the Marvel franchise. Both of them were directing choices based on the content of the character. Both Black Widow (somewhat correctly) and Motoko (completely incorrectly) were purposefully portrayed to be emotionless.

          May I recommend The Island? Heck even Lucy was better than the Marvel crud.

    • Re:oh no, something else to get ruined. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by _xeno_ ( 155264 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2021 @11:59PM (#61908849) Homepage Journal

      Some things need to stay an anime.

      I agree. Here's my take on it: a live action series set in the world of Cowboy Bebop could work. It could even re-use some of the characters from the anime and have live action versions of them.

      But there's no need for a live action remake of Cowboy Bebop. We already have a TV version of Cowboy Bebop. We don't need a new TV version that's the same, just with live actors. There's just no way for it to work. It would be like deciding that what a graphic novel really needs is a traditional novel remake, because that's a "more serious" version of the medium. That's all this is: remaking it as live action because "live action is more serious than animation."

      Because it's live action trying to duplicate anime, everything in it just looks off. It hits this weird uncanny valley of people acting unnatural because they're trying to match the actions of anime characters.

      Rare for live action to surpass the animation, with some exceptions (Star Trek, the animated series), but the live action show came first. Ugh.

      I'm not going to try to argue that Star Trek the Animated Series is good, but it did try and embrace the things that it could do as an animated series that Star Trek couldn't as live action. For example, the cat people aliens [fandom.com]. The new show Star Trek: Lower Decks is sort of doing the same thing. It can go to weirder locations and have more bizarre aliens because they don't have to have actual live actors on a real set. But in both cases, they're not simply re-telling the original stories. They're telling different stories as supported by the medium, rather than retelling the same story in a format that doesn't really work.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Live action versions of anime are not uncommon in Japan. Popular series often get made into several different formats. Manga book, light novel, multiple animes, live action TV show, live action movie, radio drama etc.

        It gives people an opportunity to experience the story in different ways. Maybe you commute so like having something to read every day, but are an adult now so don't want to be seen reading comics on the train. Light novel with the bookstore supplied privacy cover is ideal for you. Someone else

    • Fuck Star Trek the Animated Series.

      It will never be canon to me. Stop trying to make it happen.

    • Normally I'd say yes, but after seeing the trailer I disagree - tentatively. I think they're getting this one right so far. Casting, look, music, dialogue, attitude - it's all there. I'm excited for once to see a live action anime. Still not cool with not seeing Ed, but maybe if they get a second season...

    • Some things need to stay an anime. When I hear about Leo DiCaprio wanting to do Akira or Tobey Maguire wanting to do Macross, I shudder. I could only handle 30 seconds of Ghost in the Shell with Scarlet Johansson, it sucked so bad. Sure, these are Asians doing live action versions of anime, like Space Battleship Yamato, but that sucked too. This looks awful, nowhere near as cool as arguably one of the best anime series ever made. Rare for live action to surpass the animation, with some exceptions (Star Trek, the animated series), but the live action show came first. Ugh.

      (hushed tone) Calm down and listen carefully. Things can always . . . ALWAYS get worse.

      Zak Bagans and Justin Bieber were not in any of the things you mentioned, so let's all stay quiet, and `Pray they do not make it suck any further`

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dadoo ( 899435 )

      Sorry, but have you watched the (original) animated Space Battleship Yamato recently? I have, and the live-action remake was way better.

      On the other hand, I would not want them to do something like they did with Bleach or Fullmetal Alchemist, where they make a movie that represents a tiny fraction of the series, and that's it. I'd also not like them to make a series that's nothing like the original, like Death Note. If they want to fix the problems with the original, though, I'm all for that.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dadoo ( 899435 )

        Sorry to respond to my own post, but since I mentioned Death Note, I feel like I should mention the two Japanese live-action Death Note movies were excellent, and actually better than the original anime.

    • For the life of me, I don't know why people want to turn successful anime and cartoons into live action. Somethings just work better as animation. And things also tend to be done in the best format from the get-go (like Star Trek being live action). Look at Disney, they're working their way through the entire catalog and, to me, each one feels just as off as the next. Like with Lion King, I preferred the animated animals that could show emotions. You got that initial moment of, "Look at the baby lion,

  • But the trailer itself at least is an enjoyable little piece of media. I approve.

  • I've seen comments from a few other people on Twitter saying they don't think it feels like BeBop, but I think it seems about as BeBop as live action can be... I really like the visual effects and editing.

    And using the original, brilliant theme song - good choice.

    I am cautiously optimistic.

    • The live-action style they did is so unusual, it took me a little while to get used to it. Once I got used to it, I really liked it.

  • Good; I have the discs (Score:3)

    by dltaylor ( 7510 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2021 @11:47PM (#61908835)

    The live-action version is a don't-care (rather like the new "Dune"). I'd much rather run the media I already have (signed book, in the case of "Dune") than whatever they're going to put on Netflix.

    I've seen the "Dune" trailer enough to know that it has only a passing resemblance to the book. I expect the new "Cowboy Bebop" to have much the same resemblance to the original.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I wish more people would take this attitude. If it's not for you then it doesn't "ruin" the anime, and you can simply avoid watching it. Often we get people complaining that some new take is a personal insult to their enjoyment of the original.

      • I know it's not a rational thing to feel and that I could just ignore the new version (which I'll probably do) but, I somehow get angry when they take the name of a series and the characters and then make something completely different (characters don't look reasonably similar, or do things that they wouldn't do on the anime).
        I know it's irrational and stupid but I can't help it. I feels like they tainted the characters and the name of the series.

  • Being a big fan of the original, I'm trying/hoping/wanting to like the live action version, because, well, why not, right? Something good is simply something good, and I want more good stuff to enjoy.

    But that looked kinda terrible to me. Actually, really awful. Am I just prejudice?

    • I really hated the idea of a live action CB show, but with every piece of media that's being unveiled I have more and more confidence in the show. It seems to know what it wants to be (and what it doesn't want to be - a scene for scene remake of the original show) and I really like the direction they're going for (hyper-stylized exploitation inspired taking-itself-seriously-enough series). I don't expect it to be the as great as the original, but it really doesn't have to be - the original is still there an

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Sakuta ( 7459770 )

      I too am a big fan of the original. This looked like a bunch of amateur cosplayers goofing around at Comic Con to me.

  • "drops" is such a lame colloquialism (Score:4, Informative)

    by nyet ( 19118 ) on Wednesday October 20, 2021 @12:30AM (#61908885) Homepage

    They got rid of it?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by MobyDisk ( 75490 )

      Agreed. I read the headlined and thought "Oh, so they decided not to do the live action series? Meh, that's okay, you just can't replicate that style in live action very well." Then I skimmed the summary and realized that they meant the exact *opposite* of what the word drop means. It's like how people use the word "literally" to mean the exact opposite.

      • Except that the word "literally" has literally mean figuratively for at least 200 years (https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/literally). If you are upset by this evolution of the English language, you can literally complain to Charles Dickens.
  • Make a CowboyNeal series instead.

  • Sometime within the last decade it appears, in an effort to save a few bucks, producers/directors have turned off lights while filming scenes. And no, I don't mean the GoT fiasco either.

    Looking at these stills it appears that tradition will continue. The fight scene between Spike and Vicious took place in front of a massive stained glass window. Even allowing for the dreary weather outside, one could see the action, the background, and all the bits and pieces which made the anime so great.

    Whereas, lookin

  • Man, I am SO looking forward to this (Score:3)

    by Patchw0rk F0g ( 663145 ) on Wednesday October 20, 2021 @07:15AM (#61909527) Journal
    If the dialogue, action and silliness is as kick-ass as that teaser (and it should be), this is going to be fun!
  • Anime should stay in 2-D and netflicks needs to stop pretending we want it to molest more classic content with its cancerous need to ruin everything it touches. It won't translate well.

  • I love the original Bebop - I have 'way too many CDs trying to get all the music that was in the show - and pulling out the discs is a go-to for me when I have a half hour to wind down. So I have definite ideas about the show and based on the trailers I'm kind of excited about the Netflix series.

    But all the winging that's going on here - if you think it's going to suck, then don't watch it as soon as it's available for streaming for the whole purpose of being able to dis what' you think is wrong with it.

  • Batman (Score:3)

    by Tempest_2084 ( 605915 ) on Wednesday October 20, 2021 @11:30AM (#61910165)
    Congratulations, you've successfully turned a great anime series into 1960's Batman. I guess it works if that's what you're going for, but yikes...
  • It looks like a poorly made and written Kung Fu movie.

    And not one of the "so-bad-it's-good" type either, just a "Dollar Store space filler" bad.
  • A 10-episode series — which chronicles a group of cosmos-hopping bounty hunters and is based on the cartoon of the same name — will premiere on Netflix next month, and the streamer has just released an action-packed teaser. The 2½-minute trailer, titled “The Lost Session,” featured characters Spike Spiegel (voiced by John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) chasing a runaway target while bickering about how they got on. dear the enemy. Best re

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