Because actually doing something new would be harder. Cowboy Bebop: Who Are the Characters in the Netflix Teaser? - IGN
Spike, Jet, Faye, and Ein. (The picture to the right is of Ein, as portrayed in the live action version.)
For those of you not familiar with Cowboy Bebop. Bebop is the name a of spaceship crewed by Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine, Jet Black, and Ed. With Ein along for the ride. Cowboy is slang (in universe) for bounty hunters.
Ed doesn't show up in the opening credits (see below) and isn't included in the cast on IMDB, but does seem to be included in the teaser trailer. I mean, how could you do Cowboy Bebop without Ed? (Ein would be so sad!) It would be like doing Star Trek without Spock, but I suppose that could be what they're doing.
And for some reason they appear to have given Jet a Mateba Model 6 Unica autorevolver that I normally associate with Togusa from Ghost in the Shell. (Though I suppose it could be a Chippa Firearms Rhino.) In the original Jet used a Walther P99 in 9x19mm, a holdover from his days as a cop. Still, Spike seems to have his signature Jericho 941 from IMI, so they did somethings right. (The Jericho was sold in the US as the Baby Eagle by Magnum Research.)
Unlike typical Hollywood relaunches, they are not pissing all over the intellectual property (aside from the whole Ed thing), but they seem to actually be sticking to the source material fairly well. I guess we shall see. (Or at least those of us who love the anime will see...)
There has been some trashing online of the "toned-down" Faye Valentine. But just like the X-Men movies didn't put Wolverine in yellow spandex, and the Netflix version of Jessica Jones was only ever in the black leather jacket, and not the costume from the comics, I don't have a problem with the costume choices seen in the video.
Here are the 1998 opening titles side-by-side with the 2021 titles.
You can find the teaser trailer at this link.
The best introduction, for people starting from zero, to Cowboy Bebop is the opening scene from the movie. That's how I see it anyway. About 4 and a half minutes how I have it set up... Spike. Jet. Bounty hunting.
And the best thing about the movie is the opening theme.
And if you are familiar with the phrase Kaubōi Bibappu, you are a serious fan of anime.
Huh. With all of the bad news these days, something positive.
ReplyDeleteReality is overrated.
I'm actually looking forward to this. I love anime, and for Netflix has a history of not pissing on the intellectual property, and doing comics right. (1st 2 seasons of Daredevil, 1st season of Luke Cage, 1st season of Punisher, 2 seasons of Jessica Jones, and The Defenders were all good. I didn't like season 1 of Iron Fist, and I haven't had the opportunity to see the rest.
DeleteNetflix took characters that the Hollywood suits would have said "no one has ever heard of these, so we can ignore everything and do whatever we want." "no one has ever heard of these" means the suits never heard of them.
Bebop was only glimpsed in one of the videos, but it was spot on. Both Faye's and Spike's crafts were straight out of the anime. You couldn't find a better Ein. And Spike is shooting a Jericho 941. Hollywood would have ignored all of that, because their tiny minds think they know best.