Cowboy Bebop

I'll take (or at least try to) this from an uninitiated and objective point of view first and say that after the markedly unconvincing opening trailers that put chills down the back of more than one anime fan, the live-action Bebop danced out of it decently. The main trio are relatively easy to get used to, the dialogue has just the right mix of wit and charm, the acting, especially by Cho and Shakir, is above average, the excellent stylization and outerspace sets are attractive, and the music is literally sexy (no wonder they brought back the legendary Yoko Kanno!). The plot often finds time for lighter parts, and as much as I was worried that the action might be lame (I was bothered by moments where they paused for a second or two), I was satisfied on that front as well. What I wasn't happy with, on the other hand, was the Syndicate storyline annoyingly patched into every episode, which I found torturously boring. Here you could that when the writers made this decision, they couldn't rely on the source material whether they liked it or not and had to start inventing something of their own, which didn't exactly work half as well. When I start comparing this slowfox to the iconic anime source material, the flaws in the adaptation start coming to the surface. I can easily overlook details like the fact that Spike should be played by someone much younger and Faye is more fun as a neurotic femme fatale. I liked the original episodic format, the more laid-back and carefree nature of the plot and characters on that cartoon screen; it was all more wrapped in cool garb and the jokes rattled out with the cadence of a machine gun compared to the sometimes spastic nervousness of the show. The villains are the worst, though, as the whole ensemble around the coarse and whiny Vicious is a disaster compared to the cold and calculating killer of the source material. All finished off with a hideously disrespectful and overwrought ending, senselessly mutating the characters into areas personally unacceptable to me. I don't even want to see where the live-action series could go from here, because the immature sprouts of the notorious power of friendship are beginning to break through, disrupting the previous standardized behavior of the characters. However, there's no denying that this series has found a solid compromise of respect for the source material and its own creativity to offer passable entertainment that is rarely found among anime adaptations. 3 stars (28/11/2021)

I guess that this show is a lot less of a bummer than I had originally expected. The stylization was spot on, the soundtrack is great, and I got to know some of the characters quite well. The atmosphere is a bit off though, the beginning is still sort of good; some episodes in the middle of the season were even pretty good. However, I missed the charming laidback feeling, especially towards the end. It seemed to have been replaced by an attempt at a sort of over-the-top Game of Thrones mafia drama. Furthermore, I could not recognize some of the characters at all compared to the anime series. In certain important aspects, they almost seemed like someone completely different from how I knew them from the anime series (especially Julia and Vicious). As far as the action was concerned, sometimes I was satisfied; other times, I thought they could not properly translate some of the punches and moves they pulled off in the anime series to live-action in a way that looked convincing. What is worse, though, is that with all the dramatic tension and the attempt at some sort of supposedly more original and complicated storyline at the end, I am now rather dreading what the second season might bring. I wonder how far they will take this show away from the style of the anime series, and that is not a good thing. It has certain things I enjoyed and things that did not sit well with me; however, it was not that irritating. I did not think it was too bad but other than a couple of scenes and a few stronger episodes, I did not really enjoy it that much. 5.5/10. (30/11/2021)