¡SPOILERS DISCUSSION THREAD! Cowboy Bebop
Massalinie
_k's WaifuTexas Icrontian
Hello friends, I want to know your thoughts. Anyone else binge watch the show this weekend? Slow playing it over the next week?
Let's jam.
Overall I was very very into the first 3/4 of the season, they lost me in a big way on the main backstory. I feel like they were missing some key vibes compared to the original anime. The pace was much faster, which I think is to be expected in the 2020s, yet I can't help but feel that they lost something crucial in the process. And yet, I will watch it again and would definitely come back for season 2.
I haven't read a lot of the reviews online because my expectation from the mainstream is negativity, but there was a lot about this season that I personally really loved, even though I felt let down by other areas.
Honestly a LOT of the early episodes hit me in just the right way. From many of the shots they reproduced particularly well, to the Jet character being absolutely spot on, to the Bebop itself and most of the tech being just gorgeous. The overall familiarity really blew my socks off.
I'm withholding my negativity for now while I gather my thoughts, but have at it. Share away!
Comments
Looks awesome, didnt know it finally came out. Ill definitely check it over the holiday.
I think me not having watched the anime since High School has probably steered me away from thoughts of negativity on the live action. I think the new show is great! I think the season did peak around episodes 4-6 but I enjoyed all of it. I think the casting for Faye and Jett really worked well. Spike felt different but not in a bad way. They nailed the style of the show which was really great to see. I'd recommend new and old fans to watch it, fun for all.
Now some spoilers:
I was kind of surprised they went the route of dealing with Vicious and Spike during season 1. It was probably one of the bigger plot departures from the original. It kind of makes me wonder how they can create something as compelling for season 2. Does the arrival of Ed mean Spike can get the gang back together again? Or maybe Faye figures out her stuff and forces the crew back together? Sure seems like the crew of the Bebop are pretty done with each other. I think I wanted like 1-2 more episodes this season of the fully formed crew trying to get a bounty, it did feel like we went from Bebop having everyone together to immediate story end. Would have been fun to have Faye, Spike, and Jett get a couple more stories together, especially since now it seems like they don't want to be together at all. Is Julia the new baddie? I dunno I'm kind of confused on where the show goes from here. If that last scene with Ed didn't exist I'd feel ok about it being a 1 and done show, but because of that it really makes me want a Season 2.
I think I'll probably rewatch the anime when I'm caught up on the other shows I'm wanting to see. That intro is always too good. Never skipped it in my life unlike all the other anime I have watched over the years.
The last few episodes felt like a bit of a slog to me. I am very into the vibe of the show in general up to that point. I too would've loved to see more general bounty hunting shenanigans. I found the Vicious character to be more sloppy and comedic than precise and creepy which is bothering me a bit, but I like most of the other characters. It definitely feels like they have left off around Session 5 of the anime, except they took the coup from the very end seemingly wrapping up the story very quickly, and a couple of stories came from later as well. I can definitely see the crew returning together in similar fashion to the anime, a couple of times they fight and return (though never from anything so polarizing as in the live action). I like the direction they went with Julia deciding to stay, but the reasoning feels a little forced. She could've easily felt betrayed and taken things into her own hands without instantaneously becoming psychotic about it. I guess they intended it to be a twist. I also wasn't sure about her being a singer initially since in the anime she is supposed to be a badass syndicate bitch but I guess we will see if that is yet to come
Jet 100% the best! I understand the casting for Spike but honestly thought someone like Justin Chon or even better Steven Yeun because I think he has the right balance to handle the heavy things I know American directors will want to have him do while also being able to keep things light and saucy like Spike does.
Finally got to the end, and I agree with a lot of sentiments here.
I loved almost everything about the show. The banter, the style, the nostalgia, it all hit the right notes for me. Just one major issue and a few nitpicks.
Viscous was weird. The casting was odd, the performance was poorly directed, the changes to the character were poorly developed. "boohoo, my dad was mean to me and now I'm the villain." is overdone, and I really didn't like the addition of explicit violence toward Julia. It's been a few years since I watched the anime through, but I didn't get the feeling that he was physically abusive to Julia in the original. I feel like it was thrown in just to make it super clear that he's a terrible person, but it felt gratuitous. Overall they changed the character from a cold, quiet lunatic into a raving madman, and that didn't work for me.
Julia's motives at the end did feel a bit forced, but I would still have been interested to see where they would have gone with it.
I didn't like the performance of Edward at the end, but that scene in general felt tacked on, more like a "look what next season holds!" rather than an actual part of this season, So, I would hope that if they had gotten the chance to make it, they could have refined that actor's performances a bit.
I agree it would have been nice to see more bounty hunting shens for the team, but that was also how the original sort of went. Once the team got together, and started actually functioning as a team, they got like 2 real cases together before the team started to fall apart again. Spike just doesn't understand how to be part of a team, and his constant going off to do things by himself, and never telling anyone anything, makes the team impossible, and it's also this flaw that eventually gets him killed.