Cowboy Bebop

 I'm not normal

Blah blah, gaming blog whilst this has absolute no ties to gaming, blah blah, influenced certain genres of game, blah blah. Now that's out of the way, who watched the classic jazzy noir sci-fi anime Cowboy Bebop? Even if you haven't I betting that you've heard of it. It's like Akira or Fist of the North Star, just another classic Anime that world needs you to know about in order for you to exist on it for anytime whatsoever. I say this when, if I'm being honest, most of today's kid's first introduction to this world would have been through this simply stellar video by famed meme-poster voice actor 'Gianni Matragrano'. (To be clear, none of those lines are from the actual show. Spike is- he's not like that. I swear.) I've touched on the show a bit, even watched an episode or two, so imagine my surprise when I woke up one day to find a trailer for this show in the live action which both looked good but still confused me. I was conflicted.

Which isn't to say that I didn't know that this Netflix show was coming, it's just one of those things that you hear about but don't think anything substantial will come of it. Like the Dune movie which took thirty years but is now finally out, or that Uncharted movie which feels like is took just as long but is on it's way, or how about that Lord of Rings Reboot which is just around the corner. (Wow, a lot of these projects are finally get off the ground this year, this must be the promised time) Not even when I read the several reports I heard about the casting of Faye Valentine driving up some controversy for some reason or other, did I stop to actually acknowledge "Okay, this thing is definitely happening." Afterall, we saw leaked cast photos, read a terrible script, and got everything short of a release schedule for the CW Powerpuff Girls show, but now one of the main cast has dropped out so that's in the air. I thought, heck that could happen to Cowboy Bebop, no need to acknowledge this. But here we are.

So in typical Netflix fashion we've been treated to a trailer that will follow a speedy release window and alls left to ask from here is "Is the thing going to be any good"? 5 years ago that would have been a pretty definitive 'no', as a Sci-fi show is just too high budget to be anything less than a sweeping opera and trying to put a Noir world in that space would never secure enough studio budget to do the idea justice. But this is Netflix we're dealing with and they have a brand defined by putting down their money where others would just walk by for the sheer purpose of securing those rare break away success stories. You can always count on something cool coming out of the Netflix lineup, but then they'll throw something like 'Another Life' at you so that you get thrown off guard as it becomes clear that not everything they do is destined to be a knockout. And then there's inbetween shows like The Witcher. Where does Cowboy fall?

At a glance I have to say I'm feeling a show that seems closer to the Witcher in terms of quality for the moment, which makes sense given that the source material is littered with cool concepts and visuals that would either be too expensive or just straight confusing to translate 1-to-1. As a compromise we have a fairly decent looking Sci-Fi world when it comes to the Space ships and the overtly advanced tech, but anything on the ground feels almost oppressively ordinary and tied to this world. There's none of the vast space wild west vibe from the show maintained here, which I suppose keeps the vibe of the show open to new comers but it feels like a missed opportunity to make this show really stand out. Maybe they just needed a more ambitious cinematography team working on the project over here, who can really say for sure?

Speaking of jarring elements, I really wasn't expecting this show to be in English. I know that seems absolutely hair-brained when you consider that this is Netflix's latest big push project, and not just a show that they happen to host which accidentally became bigger than any expected. (Like Squid Game) Alongside the fact that the Dub of Cowboy Bebop is actually very widely known and loved, and Spike's English voice is iconic. Even with all that I just wasn't expecting an English show, which shows how out-of-touch I am with reality, I suppose. Going past that I can say that I think the cast seem to fit the show very well for the most part, Spike's hair isn't quite as glorious as I would have shot for, but that sort of physics denial isn't really possible in the real world so apart from that he seems fine. Jet Black seems perfect, the second I saw him I felt that character shining through. Only Faye Valentine confused me until I literally saw her in the outfit and put 2-and-2 together. (At least it's better sight-cast than Uncharted is.)

For me my hope with this series is that they both realise and play towards the strengths they have on deck, namely that they should play to style and character over action and, unfortunately, visuals. I don't think the visuals are going to stun for this show, they'll make decent backgrounds but they should keep there with any luck. And the action, although remember I'm judging this purely from the trailer, looks a tiny bit sluggish and disingenuously coordinated. Fight choreography probably isn't going to be going up for any rewards if this footage is indicative of the rest of the show. But that's just fine, because a Cowboy Bebop show doesn't need to hit perfection on either of those to capture the spirit of the original, style is it's most important commodity and the Netflix show at least hints towards that so far. What would help a lot more would be if they actually managed to snag some of the original soundtrack, but I guess that's an ask too far.

When looking at a show like this I can't help but shake the lingering questions of what this would all look like had they gone all in on a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure live action show, although in all honestly that'd probably never get a go-ahead at an English production studio for the simple translation problems. (What producer is going to read the word 'muda' several hundred times in a script without then setting it on fire?) And I think that if I were to be looking at a trailer for JoJo and it was of this comparative quality, I'd be very on the fence about it. Everything seems to teeter on the edge of effortless cool and hackneyed trite, which I suppose is the gamble you take whenever a Noir story is on the docket. I feel a little like Mister Blonde in declaring that this is either going to be a total disaster or a masterpiece, but the slightest bit of nuance comes for the assertion that I think this show is going to hit one extreme or the other. Right now I'm not expecting great things, but Netflix has surprised me before. (And disappointed me. You never know with these guys.)

At the very least if the Netflix guys stick to working with what they have in front of them and don't start trailing off on their own 'new adventures' or anything like that, I think they have a fighting chance of pulling all of this together into something watchable. If the team start getting it in their heads that they can write better than the source material, then we should probably start the exercises for completely forgetting the existence of this show as expediently as possible. As for whether I actually want this to succeed, as a piece of media I want to watch it so I hope that it's good, but then I know that success invites so many more imitators who will invariably screw up the franchises they try to adapt, so maybe it would be better for everyone if this does suck. (There, then this whole situation is a win-win in my head. I did it.)