Cowboy Bebop (Netflix) Season 1 TV Show Review & Comments

Just started watching it myself and enjoying it so far 😃 I think I'm 5 episodes in right now.

I read your review and can understand where you're coming from, since you know the original. Sounds like a hard act to follow!

But I never watched the original and never knew what to expect with this show, I've just enjoyed it for what it is, all the time hoping it doesn't become too predictable or cringeworthy.

The style and randomness feels like a spin-off from Guardians of the Galaxy (which is probably a gross injustice in the eyes of someone who knows & loves the original 🤦‍♂️).
 
Just started watching it myself and enjoying it so far 😃 I think I'm 5 episodes in right now.

I read your review and can understand where you're coming from, since you know the original. Sounds like a hard act to follow!

But I never watched the original and never knew what to expect with this show, I've just enjoyed it for what it is, all the time hoping it doesn't become too predictable or cringeworthy.

The style and randomness feels like a spin-off from Guardians of the Galaxy (which is probably a gross injustice in the eyes of someone who knows & loves the original 🤦‍♂️).
2 eps in not bad about a 6.5 for me.
 
Broadly agree with the review, but for me - someone who has only ever seen the English dubbed series - I found Mustafa Shakir to be a great Jet, and came round to Daniella Pineda's Fay by the end. Hated, HATED whatever the hell Alex Hassell thought he was doing though.

I actually prefered it when the show tried to do its own thing, versus the shot for shot stuff they attempted which just made me cringe.

On the whiole I came round to it and would give it a 7. I'd like to see more, but likely only if Ed is shot in the face in the first episode of season two.
 
Broadly agree with the review, but for me - someone who has only ever seen the English dubbed series - I found Mustafa Shakir to be a great Jet, and came round to Daniella Pineda's Fay by the end. Hated, HATED whatever the hell Alex Hassell thought he was doing though.

I actually prefered it when the show tried to do its own thing, versus the shot for shot stuff they attempted which just made me cringe.

On the whiole I came round to it and would give it a 7. I'd like to see more, but likely only if Ed is shot in the face in the first episode of season two.
Radical Edward's noodle arms are amazing. I will not hear a word against her.
 
Radical Edward's noodle arms are amazing. I will not hear a word against her.

In the anime I agree! But, I don't think it'll translate to live action, and the final sequence of the final episode just drove that home. 😬
 
I watched the first 20 minutes and just gave up. It felt too much like a 70s tv show.
 
Interesting, this one proving divisive. I was expecting this to be terrible but then I read some glowing reviews. Yoko Kanno is there so that's something at least.
 
I've absorbed Bebop over the last 20 years but my other half knows nothing about it and we're watching it together. I think it is pretty good and hope it gets a second season.

For me it's an entertaining 6/10 but would be higher with more spaceship stuff...the original is obviously 10/10.

For her though, it's really enjoyable, she likes it a lot and has asked to watch the anime. I'd guess she'd give it an 8.
 
I thought 5 is generous for such garbage. Also they try to be clever by turning down the colour on a DOLBYVISION format which looks sh*te. 1/10

Nothing with music from The Seatbelts can be 1/10



I confess, I thought I was going to hate this, but it's more watchable than I was expecting.
 
I'm aware there's an anime show called Cowboy Bebop but I've never seen any anime either so I came in to the show completely fresh and I loved episode one. The style is right up my alley so I'm definitely in for the series.
 
Thanks for the review Tom. I managed half an episode before deciding that no, this is not for me. Cool guys doing cool stuff in a cool way with a cool quip is the sort of thing that impresses 14 year olds in the main. Meanwhile us olds roll our eyes. If you need an antidote, check out the excellent new Korean series Hellbound. It's a bit (clumsy) exposition heavy in the first episode but gets very, very good thereafter.
 
I have only just started watching this series but already it can best describe it as click bait sci-fi; the prospect for this show looked better than the actual content, though to be fair Cowboy-Bebop is a dark satire with a comic book heart, albeit pumped up on low grade steroids.
Although the series retro look can be a bit jarring sometimes, especially the music, it takes the spaceship design concept of using space junk yard parts to a new level, there's no doubt the set designers had a great time building this stuff.
I believe Cowboy-Bebop owes a lot of its concept to 'Space Sweepers' which probably would have been a better TV series, if the two titles were swapped with Cowboy-Bebop becoming the movie it may have proved a better entertainment concept, but as I haven't progressed far with this show I may change my mind.
Overall I'm pleased Cowboy-Bebop is on but it does need to pick up the pace, parts of the story are beginning to amble along which to me means it has a limited plot, which is not good at all for a sci-fi show whether its satire or not.
For now my rating is 6 out of 10.
 
I like it .

Its crazy enough to do justice to the anime , is about the best photographed series to come out of Netflix for years .

Yeah its meandering and random and contrived but so is the anime. The cast do a great job locking some cameraderie and grounding into it .

Doesn’t take itself too seriously but gives all seriousness to its execution and is pretty much flawless in its depiction of the anime . Doesn’t waste time on exposition or explaining itself to the audience .

Gets better after the first episide. Great fun .
 
To preface, I know nothing about the anime and I watched this as I would watch anything SciFi related.

I tried a few minutes of this after 20 minutes, I gave up. It was just terrible. There was literally no compelling reason to torture myself and decided that it would be more interesting to go do my household chores.

What is it about Netflix that for every great show like The Witcher, they manage to fund about 20 utter turds.
 
To preface, I know nothing about the anime and I watched this as I would watch anything SciFi related.

I tried a few minutes of this after 20 minutes, I gave up. It was just terrible. There was literally no compelling reason to torture myself and decided that it would be more interesting to go do my household chores.

What is it about Netflix that for every great show like The Witcher, they manage to fund about 20 utter turds.
You reminded me of another reason I switched off. The acting is bad. I mean really, really bad. Like, cringeworthy bad. And that's something you can barely say about the cheapest of daytime soaps.

And there's no excuse to be found in 'Oh that's the material'. No matter what the script is doing, actors should be able to act. Even simple reaction shot switchbacks show appalling acting skills.
 
Well not having seen the Anime. I`m actually rather enjoying it, cheesy as it is. But it`s fun, and an easy watch.

Plus it has a great soundtrack :)
 
visuals / CGI 9
casting / 8
writing / dialogue /plot 5

Overall i'd say 6.5 as i like the visual world thats been created, would have been a 7 but you just cant unsee those fishy collagen pumped lips on Julia, I also find it difficult to watch anything these days with Nicole kidman in either but there are many others who've also made the same mistake, there is a point where bad plastic surgery just becomes too distracting for me.
 
I'd never heard of this before seeing the (amazing) Netflix trailer, I'll give this a look and make up my own mind, given I'm not comparing it anything.
 
my review was based on watching the first 3 eps, its got worse since then, i'm now fully onboard with Tom's assessment of this one, shame, you can see how this could have been so great if they had tightened the pace and action.. a lot... :)
 
Last edited:
Big fan of the original series, watched season 1 of the live action series over the weekend & I think it's a scenario where they did a great job w/ it for the most part but it's probably still better animated.

Only complaints I really had were that neither Spike nor Faye (but especially Faye) seemed quite self absorbed enough to fit the original characters for me. They were still engaging to me & I like them as characters in the new series however. I came away feeling like both casting & the performance were fairly consistent high points to be honest (Julia was probably the weakest link in this department for me), you really do need to consider the source when you're talking about a re-imagining of a classic in the genre IMO. Seems like they completely nailed Jet & even w/ the myriad of changes to the specifics, the plot & overall tone feels pretty true to original to me. The framing & pace of editing seemed like areas that the creators here really "got" the original in & it was a for the most part pretty visually & sonically interesting to me throughout.

Really wish they had a bit more budget to include more of the action that would have been CGI if they'd written in those sequences. What's there looks great though & I prefer the approach of making what they could afford to do look great rather than shoehorning in more CGI action than they had budget for & having it look like crap.

I'm looking forward to another season at least & wouldn't rate it lower than a 7 on first viewing personally.

.02
 
meh. looked great, acted horribly. jarring clash of styles, changing every episode it seemed just to try and be cool; noir one time, 60s the next, didn't make sense. lot of plot points that just seemed to flounder aimlessly.
 
I tried as fudge knows what a bloody Bepop is and in what relation it has to a Cowboy . Two episodes in and I still can not tell as all of that time has been filled with junk I do not yet understand or now want to .
 
i was going to tell you, until your last comment.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom