Cowboy Bebop co-creator Shinichiro Watanabe shares his reaction to the live-action Netflix series starring John Cho as Spike Spiegel.
Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the iconic anime series Cowboy Bebop was heavily hyped prior to its release, but the series received lackluster reviews, and Netflix officially cancelled it soon after. While speaking with Forbes, Shinichiro Watanabe, who directed the original Cowboy Bebop anime series, shared his reaction to the live-action Netflix adaptation.
“For the new Netflix live-action adaptation, they sent me a video to review and check,” Watanabe explained. “It began with a scene at a casino. It was very difficult for me to continue. I stopped at that point and only saw the opening scene. It was clearly Cowboy Bebop, and I realized that if I wasn’t involved, it wouldn’t be Cowboy Bebop. It was possible that I should have done it. Although the value of the original anime is somehow far higher now.” Many Cowboy Bebop fans had a similar reaction to the Netflix series, which was a shame considering how passionate the cast and crew were about the series.
John Cho, who played Spike Spiegel, said that everyone was “in accord that we wanted to honour the material and also add something original. We talked about the most important thing. Cowboy Bebopshowrunner Andre Nemec had “big dreams” for a second season. Cho was shocked to learn of its cancellation. Cho stated that I devoted a lot of time to it,. “I was injured while shooting that show, so I took a year off and dedicated myself to rehab. Then, I returned and completed the show. It was a huge mountain to climb after my injury. As a result, I felt good about my self. My family also moved to New Zealand because we shot the show there. It was a major event in my life, and it was over. It was very shocking and I was bummed.” You can check out a review of the series from our own Alex Maidy right here.Did the live-action
Cowboy Bebop series get treated unfairly or was it Cowboy Bebop in name only, as Watanabe suggests?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pnXvdGMoWk
