I was a huge fan of the anime when it came out, Bebop and Trigun we're my only dives into the genre before I had to do the adult thing.
I hadn't watched the series well over 15 years, and watching this live action brought back a lot of the same feelings and moods. Funny thing after watching all the episodes I went back through the anime, and I didn't realize how much was changed, I remembered wrong.
But this is to say while certain events may have been altered from the series, its a testament too the live action how well they captured the essence.
The actors portraying Faye and Jet came off in the series exactly as I had remembered their characters to be like. John puts out an admirable effort in playing Spike, but doesn't quite hit all the notes. I don't think it's his lack of range he clearly studied the character of Spike, I think there's just a certain style/energy in the anime format that's impossible to translate into live action.
That said I went in expecting something between meh and disappointment, history has shown adaptions are very rarely good. Either as its own thing or as a true adaption, I think this Bebop did quite well in that respect. Watched on its own its a fantastically stylish break from the usual, and as an adaption it hits the major notes, and the team behind it clearly get's the source material.
8/10 all day. Rarely does a series end and I'm ready to rewatch so soon.
I hadn't watched the series well over 15 years, and watching this live action brought back a lot of the same feelings and moods. Funny thing after watching all the episodes I went back through the anime, and I didn't realize how much was changed, I remembered wrong.
But this is to say while certain events may have been altered from the series, its a testament too the live action how well they captured the essence.
The actors portraying Faye and Jet came off in the series exactly as I had remembered their characters to be like. John puts out an admirable effort in playing Spike, but doesn't quite hit all the notes. I don't think it's his lack of range he clearly studied the character of Spike, I think there's just a certain style/energy in the anime format that's impossible to translate into live action.
That said I went in expecting something between meh and disappointment, history has shown adaptions are very rarely good. Either as its own thing or as a true adaption, I think this Bebop did quite well in that respect. Watched on its own its a fantastically stylish break from the usual, and as an adaption it hits the major notes, and the team behind it clearly get's the source material.
8/10 all day. Rarely does a series end and I'm ready to rewatch so soon.