Cowboy Bebop is considered one of the greatest anime series [1] of all time. The space western, initially aired in 1998, focuses on a group of bounty hunters — Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Edward, and their Welsh corgi Ein — who travel through the galaxy in their spaceship called the Bebop. They hunt down criminals to try and bring them into the Inter Solar System Police for a reward, although nothing ever goes quite as planned.
When Netflix announced in November 2018 it would be developing a live-action Cowboy Bebop series, fans had mixed feelings due to Hollywood's failed history of live-action anime adaptations, like Dragonball Evolution, Ghost in the Shell, and Death Note, which have all been accused of whitewashing casts and straying too far from its original material.
However, when the first teaser for Netflix's Cowboy Bebop [2] dropped on Oct. 19, fans had high hopes for the new series due to its diverse cast, action-packed sequences, and spot-on humour. They also praised the streaming platform for keeping the original series' iconic theme song, "Tank!"
Now that Netflix's Cowboy Bebop officially premiered on Friday, Nov. 21, fans are wondering just how faithful the live-action adaptation is to the original anime. While there are some similarities between the two series, Netflix also made many changes to the show's original plot to adjust for a 10-episode format. Here are the 11 most significant differences.
Spike Spiegel's Age
Spike is meant to be in his late twenties in the original anime, while John Cho, who portrays Spike in the Netflix adaptation, is 49 years old. During an Aug. 30 interview with Vulture, Cho revealed his biggest fear about taking on the role [3] was he thought people would say he was "too old" to play Spike. "I knew people were gonna have issues with my age. And I had to get over it," he said, adding his years of experience as an actor actually allowed him to express Spike's more vulnerable side. "I don't think I would've done justice to the emotional depth we tried to give Spike [if I was younger]."
Jet Black's Family
Jet never settles down with anyone in the original Cowboy Bebop series, but in the Netflix adaptation, he has an ex-wife, and they share a daughter named Kimmie. He rarely sees her due to his bounty missions but tries his best to be a good father by bringing her presents and attending her recitals. Kimmie also plays a big part during the live-action series' season finale.
Faye Valentine's Introduction
In the original Cowboy Bebop series, we meet Faye on Mars during the third episode as a group of thugs is tracking her down. She fires on them with a machine gun but gets captured and brought to their boss named Gordon. He's a casino owner that offers to pay off her debts if she's able to pose as a dealer to get Spike's final chip in a round of blackjack, which is how she meets him and Jet.
In the Netflix version, however, Spike and Jet run into Faye in the first episode while they're on a mission to find a man named Asimov Solensan on the asteroid of Tijuana. She's actually the one who shoots and kills him in this version instead of his wife, Katerina.
Ein's Introduction
The original Cowboy Bebop introduces Ein as a lab animal who gets taken from a research facility by a man named Hakim in hopes of selling him for eight million Woolongs. Spike and Jet track down Hakim to try and turn him into the police for a reward. Although they fail, they end up keeping Ein as a pet aboard their ship.
Netflix completely changes Hakim's motivation for stealing Ein, however. As a kid, Hakim witnesses a group of wealthy people choosing to save their pets instead of other humans during a catastrophe, which is why he seeks revenge on the rich by stealing their pets.
LGBTQ+ Representation
Faye's sexuality is never explicitly stated in either the anime or live-action series, but we do know she falls in love with a man named Whitney Haggis Matsumoto in the original show, and in Netflix's Cowboy Bebop, we see Faye have sex for the first time with a woman named Mel.
Daniella Pineda, who plays Faye in the live-action series, told Variety during a Nov. 19 interview it made sense for her character to experiment sexually [4]. "This was a young woman who was cryogenically frozen, so she doesn't know anything about herself, and she doesn't know who she was or where she came from," Pineda said. "So, everything she is experiencing is for the first time, and I think that under that umbrella of 'first-time experiences' is sexuality."
Whitney Haggis Matsumoto's History With Faye
In the anime, Whitney is portrayed as a con man who dumps his debts on Faye after she begins to develop feelings for him. Netflix reimagines Whitney as a woman who pretends to be Faye's mother to steal her identikit, which includes information about Faye's past. During the seventh episode, Whitney blackmails Faye into helping her in exchange for her identikit.
Vicious and Julia's Relationship
Viewers get a glimpse of Vicious and Julia's relationship in the original anime, but the Netflix adaptation offers a more in-depth look at their life as a married couple by showing how abusive Vicious is to Julia. At one point, he chokes Julia after she accuses him of not being "man enough" to stand up for himself.
We also see Julia thinking about leaving Vicious. After her friend Ana tells her to gain control of her own life, Julia shoots and imprisons him.
Ana Owns a Jazz Club
Netflix rewrites the character of Ana to give her a more prominent role in the live-action series. In the original, she's the owner of a convenience store on Mars and is a friend of Spike and Julia's. During the season finale, she gets shot after refusing to reveal Spike and Julia's whereabouts to a group of men from the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate.
In the Netflix version, Ana owns a jazz club that also serves as a hub for the criminal underworld. Ana also meets with Julia several times at the club to give her advice about Vicious.
Faye's Message to Her Future Self
Once Whitney gives Faye her identikit back, Faye realises it contains an old videotape of herself before she was cryogenically frozen. The video is similar to the one shown in the anime since it also includes Faye as a kid sending a message to her future self. Still, there's one major difference: We learn the person recording the message behind the camera is her mother. Previously, we knew nothing about Faye's family history.
Edward Is Absent For Most of the Series
The fifth member of the Bebop is supposed to be a young girl named Edward, who's a brilliant hacker that develops a close relationship with Ein. She's mentioned briefly during the sixth episode of Netflix's Cowboy Bebop when Spike goes to look for Dr. Londes as part of a bounty, but we don't see her until the season finale. This is different from the anime, which introduces Ed early on in the series.
A Potential For a Second Season
Julia dies from being shot by a group of Syndicate men sent by Vicious in the original anime. Because of this, Spike goes after Vicious and shoots and kills him. Spike seemingly dies, too, after suffering injuries from the fight and falling unconscious. However, his death is never confirmed, and Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichirō Watanabe told The Daily Texan in 2006 that he meant to leave the finale a mystery. "I've never officially said that he's died [5]. At this point, I can tell you that I'm not sure if he's alive or dead," Watanabe said about Spike.
The finale of Netflix's Cowboy Bebop is different because it confirms Spike, Julia, and Vicious are all still alive, leaving room for a potential second season.