Cowboy Bebop: everything you need to know about Netflix’s live-action adaptation

In recent years, Netflix has started to specialize in live-action adaptations of anime. So far, the streaming service has released film adaptations such as Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Rurouni Kenshin. The next anime to receive the live-action treatment is Cowboy Bebop, a show considered to be one of the greatest anime ever made. 

The original Cowboy Bebop anime ended in 2001, but it’s seeing a surge in popularity thanks to the new Netflix show. That popularity can be seen on Reddit in the r/cowboybebop subreddit. For nearly a decade, fans have flocked to this community to post their thoughts on Spike Spiegel and his past, funny memes, cosplay pics, and fantastic fan art. 

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, known in Japan by the much better name Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, was released in 2001 and takes place during the show’s final handful of episodes. Most anime movies don’t impact the overall arc of the show, featuring enemies, allies, and plot points that are rarely ever acknowledged outside the movie’s quarantine zone. However, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door transcends the trope of the inconsequential anime movie and is critical to the conversation surrounding the show’s cultural impact.

In Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, the gang are unwittingly sucked into a bio-terrorism plot, forced to stop the evil Vincent Volaju before he unleashes a deadly storm of nanobots on Mars. The movie hits on all the little things that make a typical Cowboy Bebop episode great. Every character gets a moment to let their unique talents save the day. There’s an absolutely bitchin’ spaceship battle underscored by Yoko Kanno’s soul-stealing soundtrack. And at the end, the bad guy is tragically relatable. 

As a young child, I was a dreamer. I wanted to be an astronaut, and despite living in a world that constantly reinforced that Black femmes would hardly walk the moon, my family encouraged me to be driven and reach for the stars — literally. My father fed my imaginative spirit by giving me books on the Solar System and inspiring me to foster a deep love for the futuristic sounds of George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic, and jazz music. 

Around this time, my cousin Elliott and I would play video games and stay up late to watch anime. The one that stuck with me the most was Cowboy Bebop, a 1998 neo-noir space Western that takes place in 2071. The series, which is directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, follows Spike Spiegel and his “crew” of bounty hunters, who are colloquially referred to as cowboys, while simultaneously giving us snapshots of each principal character’s storyline over a backdrop of jazz music. I instantly fell in love with the anime’s aesthetic and tone, a love that would extend well into my adulthood, inspiring me to get a tattoo and sing praises of this great body of work time and time again. 

Thanks to its heavy Western pop culture influences and long life in reruns on Adult Swim, Cowboy Bebop has long been one of Americans’ most successful gateway drugs to anime. With the original anime now streaming on Netflix in advance of its live-action adaptation premiering November 19th, even more new viewers can discover “the work which becomes a new genre itself.” However, while Bebop is as close to a household name as adult-oriented anime get in the States, director Shinichiro Watanabe’s other works have never found the same level of mainstream success, despite featuring much of the same stunning animation, beautiful music, and sharp post-modernist sensibility that made Bebop a hit.

If you’ve enjoyed Bebop, here’s a guide to help you explore the rest of Watanabe’s rich catalog.

The early reaction to Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop has been mixed, but there’s one thing that everyone seems to agree on: the soundtrack is killer. Yoko Kanno, who gave the original anime its distinctive jazzy songs, returned as composer on the Netflix series, while her band the Seatbelts performed the tracks. The soundtrack includes a few original songs along with rerecorded classics. Thankfully, it’ll also be available to listen to outside of the show very soon. Netflix revealed that the soundtrack will be on streaming services — that includes Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon, and Tidal — starting November 19th, the same day the 10-episode series lands on Netflix.

In the meantime, you can enjoy this photo of Cowboy Bebop star John Cho (who plays the lead role of Spike Spiegel) and his hair greeting Kanno on the red carpet.

Netflix’s live-action take on Cowboy Bebop comes with a lot of expectations.

Much of those come from the existing fans, of course — those who loved the original anime with its jazz- and corgi-infused mix of noir and sci-fi and are hoping the new series does it justice. Then there are those coming to the show without existing expectations, who are just looking for some great space capers. On top of this, Netflix’s Bebop is also the latest in a growing list of attempts at turning classic anime into live-action shows or movies. For the most part, these have been an unqualified disaster, whether it’s the Americanized Death Note movie or M. Night Shyamalan’s forgettable take on The Last Airbender.

The official trailer for Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop series is finally here. Released during a live countdown event featuring appearances from stars John Cho, Daniella Pineda, and Mustafa Shakir, the trailer is another peek into what we can expect from the highly anticipated adaptation of the legendary anime series.  

The trailer starts with John Cho as Spike Spiegel standing on the deck of the eponymous Bebop as we hear him talking to his old friend Anna about what he’s up to these days. We’re treated to scenes of Spike’s old life as a mobster, his new partner Jet, and a moody shot of a reflection in a puddle that should send Bebop fans into a frenzy. 

It’s still not a full trailer, but Netflix showed off the best look yet at its upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation in a new teaser to celebrate the one-month countdown to the show’s debut on November 19th. 

Like the previous teasers for the show (which so far have included stills and the opening credits), the latest video, titled “Cowboy Bebop: The Lost Session,” isn’t actually made up of footage from the show but does show off the key trio of Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) in action as they hunt down a bounty, get some noodles, and fight through an army of thugs.