Full disclosure: unlike a lot of reviewers floating out there right now, I’m not a megafan of Cowboy Bebop. I watched the original anime ~15-20 years ago and remember really liking it. But until this watch (which had me pulling up some wiki’s to remind myself of the differences), I really couldn’t tell you what the original was about. Killer music, neo-noir western vibes, a smart corgi and a lanky main character with a penchant for walking around with his hands in his pockets were about everything I could remember. If you’re looking for a review from someone who watches Cowboy Bebop religiously or is a huge fan of the material, this might not be the review you’re looking for. But if you’re looking for a review from someone with a passing understanding of the series who has pleasant memories of watching it when he was an early 20-something many moons ago...well, let’s go.

Live action remakes of cartoons/anime tend to not always work. There’s things you can do with hand-drawn animation that wouldn’t work very well once you’ve added a veneer of reality to them. Costuming and caricaturizations that work in the animated medium don’t always translate. So, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Netflix’s revival. But one thing’s for sure, when I sat down to watch this live action remake of the beloved and iconic anime Cowboy Bebop, I never expected a character to say, “You’ll never know true power until you’ve tasted the testicles of a man who’s wronged you.” But here we are, in a semi-grimdark reboot that leans into the cursing and blood and away from what I remember enjoying of the original anime.

Watching Cowboy Bebop was a weird experience because this adaptation would pepper in moments from the anime, but would almost always remix them in some ways. The first episode introduces us to the story in a similar way as the anime, focusing on bounty-hunters (Cowboys in the show’s parlance) Spike Spiegel (John Cho) and Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir) tracking down Asimov (Jan Uddin) and Katerina (Lydia Peckham), two star-crossed lovers on the lam. They’ve stolen a shipment of a drug called Red Eye from the big bads of the season, The Syndicate. While they’re chasing after Asimov, another bounty hunter named Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) is simultaneously hunting Katerina, putting them all on a collision course.

From here, the show somewhat apes the general structure of the anime, introducing a case-of-the-episode that brings Spike, Jet and Faye together. Along the way, they find Ein/E1N, a mysterious dog, who is slightly different from the anime, and make a sort of chosen family. This adaptation heightens the family dynamic by giving Jet a more fleshed out backstory involving his own kid and an ex-wife who’s now married to a cop who used to work with Jet when he was on the force.

The collapse of his one family informs his issues of trust and posits him as the father figure of the bounty-hunting group. It’s small, but it adds a layer to his character and explains why he tries so hard to keep the group together, taking them out on fun outings and, when he learns that Faye doesn’t know when her birthday is, surprises her with a cake. It also adds a layer of heartbreak when the lies and secrets that both Faye and Spike hide begin to surface, leading to a sense of real tragedy and betrayal as the episodes continue.

Also more fleshed out are some of the side characters and villains. Before he joined up with Jet, Spike secretly was a member of the evil Syndicate, working alongside an entitled brat named Vicious (Alex Hassell). One of the side storylines involves flashbacks to show how Spike (named Fearless when he worked with the Syndicate) ended up faking his death and leaving both Vicious and Julia (Elena Satine), the woman/femme fatale he loved, behind. Unfortunately, this added storyline takes focus away from the heroes and doesn’t add too much to the story. Vicious’s plotting to overthrow the leaders of the Syndicate is a storyline done to death, to the point where you know where it’s going before it does. However, the added attention to Julia gives her more agency and lifts her from a damsel who must be rescued into a strong character herself.

And if there’s anything Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop does better than the anime, it’s in small details such as Julia’s storyline. Or the fact that Gren (Mason Alexander Park) is actually a non-binary character played by a non-binary actor (and is absolutely fab). Or that Faye is explicitly queer and given a moment of happiness in a world of uncertainties about her past. Amidst the somewhat fan-service remixed cases and the action beats, Cowboy Bebop inserts small moments that hint at something more moving and intriguing than the show’s macro storytelling would have you believe. An episode devoted to Faye’s quest to track down her identikit so she can discover who she was before she was awakened from cryosleep was a moving reminder that there is a heart beating underneath some of the fluff...it’s faint, but it’s there.

So, is this adaptation of the seminal anime series good? Cowboy Bebop (2021) is in an unenvious position where no matter what the creators did, it probably wouldn’t live up to any expectation because of the 23 years of hype and its importance in anime pop history. For people who don’t know what the Bebop is or understand the importance of the last scene in this live action adaptation, it’s a decent sci-fi western that, at times, feels more akin to Firefly than its source material. But hopefully it’ll inspire you to check out the anime series and see what the fuss is about. If you’re a huge fan of the anime, you might find some enjoyment here in the way it remixes the storylines...but you’ll probably say “See You Space Cowboy” to the live action and rewatch the anime for the nth time.