Last week we heard the news that the Netflix live-action production of fan-favorite anime Cowboy Bebop has been canceled after one season, despite hopes by the creators and cast that more seasons would be greenlit. As with most subjects are close to otakus’ collective hearts, the news caused a flurry of reactions from fans, some expressing regret that the series didn’t find success, while others dancing with glee that yet another attempt to mess with an anime from our childhood has failed.
Why Did Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop Fail?
Why did the show not meet with success? Here are some reasons, based on my own observations as well as feedback from J-List’s helpful followers.
Making Changes to the Original Story
There were many changes made to the story. Spike’s true name is now Fearless for some reason. Jet’s story has been changed. Whitney has been changed from male to female… and says she’s Faye’s mother. And so on.
Bad Writing? Too Much Swearing?
People today take English-translated manga for granted, but I remember when Viz, partnering with Dark Horse Comics, brought out the first three localized manga titles ever back in 1987. Back then, no one knew how Western fans would greet Japanese comics that read from right-to-left (for years the pages were flipped for Western readers), and now-common tropes like using “……..” to express silence or hesitation hadn’t entered comic readers’ mindset yet. And nudity! The fact that nipples were occasionally seen in manga was so scandalous. Won’t someone think of the children?
The question of swearing was similar. I remember in The Legend of Kamui, the main character says, “Shit!” in a panel, because kuso! is a thing that ninjas apparently said a lot back in the day. But it was so weird to see curse words in a comic-like medium, and it took some time to get used to in English.
The Netflix Cowboy Bebop is filled with curse words, as well as lines like, “you’ll never know true power until you’ve tasted the testicles of a man who has wronged you” or “I’m already late for my midnight bukkake.” These lines did not add anything to the story for most fans.
Bad Press from All Corners
While I’ve already seen supporters of the Netflix series dismiss its failure as “toxic fans being toxic” and “the opinions of rabid fanboys shouldn’t be taken into account on anything ever,” I have to point out that there was a ton of bad press for this series. Everyone from the New York Times (“Cowboy Bebop, Minus the Art”) to Wired (“Netflix’s Live-Action Riff on Everyone’s Favorite Anime Is a Cosmic Disaster”) to Watch Mojo had thoughtful and valid criticisms of the show on many levels. Several J-List followers said they had intended to watch the show but saw too many negative articles to justify it.
Do you think the Netflix Cowboy Bebop adaption deserves a second chance? There’s a Change.org petition you can sign here!
Perception That the Show Was “Woke”
One person pointed out that “no one wants a woke bastardization of anime, a medium whose rise is partly because of people looking to get away from wokeism.” While I don’t expect 100% of the media I consume to be perfectly adjusted to my personal tastes, I do agree that anime is best when it’s an “island of freedom” where stories that can’t be handled in other mediums can be told. This might include “base” ideas like pantyshots and jiggling boobs, but it can just as easily mean telling valid dramatic stories that would be taboo in other forms.
Actress Daniella Pineda didn’t win any points with fans for trying to explain why Faye’s iconic yellow boobs are mostly missing from the show in a video, which came across as combative and not understanding of why people love her character so much. But what disappointed me the most was reading that one of the writers had said, “we fixed what was wrong with Cowboy Bebop.” If you think anything is “wrong” with the original anime series, I humbly suggest you find a new line of work.
Netflix Shot its Wad Early As Usual
When Netflix isn’t putting anime in the “Netflix Jail” to allow time for the dubs to be prepared — though happily with Komi-san Can’t Communicate they seem to have moved to a new model where episodes are only delayed for two weeks, which doesn’t entirely derail the energy and momentum the series has with worldwide fandom — they’re doing the opposite, shooting their wad by posting all episodes of a season at once. That approach might be best for Netflix’s core customers, but it’s terrible for a show that has to work to build up a buzz over time to get noticed in our crowded world.
I’ll say it again in case anyone from the company happens to read this: Netflix needs to treat anime-derived works like anime and space the episodes out weekly. The “binge-watch” model is not compatible with what anime fans want or expect and leads to creative works like being forgotten immediately after release, which is what happened with the outstanding ReLife. If no one is talking about the new Jojo series that just dropped on Netflix three weeks from now, you’ll know why.
Read More Here: Five Reasons Netflix is Bad for the Anime Industry
Waiting Too Long to Use Ed?
I saw multiple comments to the effect, “Since Ed isn’t in the show, I won’t be watching.” This indicates that they tuned out too early because Ed does eventually show up. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I’ll let you decide.
Literally No One Wanted Live-Action Cowboy Bebop to Exist
If fans are actively making negative memes about the live-action adaptions your company is making, perhaps it’s time to stop? Or at least go on a journey of understanding to see what approach would be best, perhaps studying why 2009’s Star Trek was well received despite re-casting beloved characters, and why the awful Dragonball film was shunned by virtually all fans.
In the End, Netflix Viewers Didn’t Keep Watching
The people who run Netflix are masters of using data to understand the viewership of the shows they provide for us. According to reports, initial reception was good but fell off 59% soon after. This probably indicated to the company that the show had not met its own internal goals.
Is It Possible to Make a Good Live-Action Adaption of 2D Works?
In my long post on why we’ll never get rid of anime-to-live-action adaptions, I explain some of the reasons why live-action anime will probably never go away (they’re cheap to license, creators actively want them to exist, some stories are actually quite appropriate for adaption). I also point out that there’s a perfectly reasonable way to adapt 2D stories from Japan into our 3D world: stick with novels and manga, which avoid the baggage that an anime version inevitably carries. One success story is Edge of Tomorrow, based on a Japanese sci-fi novel called All We Need is Kill.
J-List Customers React to the Cancellation of Cowboy Bebop!
Loved the original, loved the remake. I don’t get the hate.
What can we expect from producers who focus more on adapting to mass audience taste (money) or their own fancy version (ego) instead of being true to the Japanese series?
I thought it started out good. Though I didn’t care for Vicious’ casting. But I still thought it was done fairly well.
The best thing about this Netflix adaptation is that the old soundtrack is going to be reissued alongside the new one…on vinyl no less! ❤
Can’t say we didn’t see this coming!
The live-action opening was awesome. At least there’s that.
The Netflix Cowboy Bebop Was Actually a Big Success!
The producers involved may view the cancellation as a “failure” of their live-action adaption, but by any measure, the show was a raging success. It brought lots of attention to Netflix and to the cast of the series, who performed competently. But more than anything, it revived the dormant fandom for the awesome 1998 original Cowboy Bebop. If you’ve made it this far in this post, I’m sure you’ll be re-watching the original again soon, just like me!
Thanks for reading this blog post exploring what lessons we (or Netflix) can learn about the cancellation of the Cowboy Bebop live-action series. What did you think of the show? Post your thought below, or reply to us on Twitter!
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