I'd like to be wrong, but my initial reaction is that this looks like it sucks. They recreated Spike's outfit too perfectly and I just think it looks weird if it's not animated.
photo from: https://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3679522/netflixs-live-action-cowboy-bebop-series-will-premiere-november-first-images-revealed/
I just can't help but see this shit as fundamentally contemptuous of animation as an art form. We already have Cowboy Bebop, so what is this offering me that I don't already have? All I'm getting is, "what if thing, but live action?" As though the fact that it's been recreated in live action is inherently a draw or improvement or something.
doing anime >> live action just seems tough to pull off
seems a change in tone and visual style is usually a better option to fit live action then trying to be so matchy
There is an uncanniness to it that makes it looks sort of like a fancy still render, like all the props look slightly cartoony and off.
Visually I think it looks pretty great! However, I'm more concerned if the writers understood/understand the very specific tonality of the anime. I think TV and movies have a pretty bad record of missing the mark on the creative themes of the things are adopting. I loved the look of The Ghost in the Shell movie and even putting executive meddling and other behind-the-scenes drama aside I don't think the script understood the types of stories you can tell with GiTS and I hope the same doesn't happen to Cowboy Bebop.
This show is a classic and hopefully that is treated with respect. All that said I think if you were going to make a Cowboy Bebop show you'd be better off creating a new crew of scoundrels, misfits, and losers for us to follow, as the original show gave us pretty much every thing we needed from the crew of The Bebop. Don't get me wrong I LOVE the show but I think the strength of the original series is that it treated itself with some creative integrity (most of the time anyways) and give us pretty all we need from Jet, Faye, Spike, and our dear beloved Edward .
I think you could do a lot more interesting stuff in the world of Cowboy Bebop without follow Spike and company. The many themes of alienation, aimlessness, running from the past, scared of the future, and the many oddities of space, life as jazz (full of collaborations, connections that create new things, ups and downs, speed-ups and abrupt pauses), and a bunch of other things I'm too bad at writing to mention. I think it could be explored with a new crew in the same world and explored in new ways without the audience constantly projecting their experience with the original anime onto the show they'd be watching.
After having tried to watch a few live action remakes of animes. I have a question.
Outside of the Full Metal Alchemist one, are there any that are decent?
Speed Racer is great, but only because it completely embraces the cartoon, unrealistic aesthetic. It's completely zany and surreal and ridiculous and fun
Well call me a :smoking-fish:
I completely forgot about that one. That one is great! Way better than I was expecting. Hell, I've seen it several times.
Crucify me for this but the Speed Racer and Battle Angel adaptations are very good films.
I was just reminded about Speed Racer.
Good to know about Battle Angel, I might try to keep my eyes out for it.
the jojo one is good kinda ish like it is kinda campy but it just works
Yoko Kanno is still doing the soundtrack, so at least that should be good
I'm casually optimistic. A problem a lot of anime adaptations have is a kind of shame. They're ashamed about being an anime adaptation. Visually at least this looks like they're fully embracing a cartoony aesthetic, which isn't something I've seen a lot. That alone, that there seems to be a genuine desire to at least look like the source material earns points from me. The Speed Racer adaptation also did it and I fucking love that movie (I am philistine swine, I know)
Well, here's hoping. At least we'll always have the original.
