Maybe I should just use Session instead of Vol. I’ve been back enjoying a favorite anime and processing some thoughts about the first (and hopefully not last) season of the live action remake of Cowboy Bebop. Tht dropped over the weekend on Netflix. I know it has been a polarizing experience among the fandom. All I can say is that if I accept it on its own terms, it’s actually pretty okay. It is not the disaster that the Deathnote live action film was a few years ago. The new Cowboy Bebop is more of a remix. The main characters and those peripheral characters who show up are generally familiar, but it is its own story. It had to be. Otherwise, we’d be bored out of our skulls. It’s set up nicely for a second season if Netflix picks it up. I get the feeling the cast is willing. And I appreciate that some of the more cringy elements of the original anime (especially with regard to gender and sexual orientation) are handled in a manner more appropriate to 2021. I’m not a huge anime fan, but if I am given a premise that interests me, I will check it out. Cowboy Bebop had everything I enjoyed – sci-fi, Spaghetti western, and procedural detective drama, with a slapping jazz soundtrack. The characters became very likeable for me in the original. They became very likeable for me in the remake. I tend to like back stories. The remake weaves that in quite nicely. I wish we’d had more time with the Corgi, Ein, and with Radical Ed. If there is a season 2, I am guessing we’ll see that, as well as how the three primary characters figure out how to reconcile.
And then there is the music. Here’s Yoko Kanno (the composer behind the soundtrack and background music for both the original anime and the new series) doing her thing:
I know that this post will drop around the extended Turkey Day weekend. Hang in there. If you want to drop a comment or two, feel free. Otherwise, see you, space cowboy.
