Cowboy Bebop is a masterpiece anime, but few would make the same claim about its live action counterpart. While it may seem like Cowboy Bebop Is the perfect anime to adapt to live action on paper, the fact is that a lot of that makes Bebop Special is not something that can be easily replicated in real life.
Because of its more realistic approach than many anime, Cowboy Bebop Definitely seems like it could be easily adapted at first glance. The series does, however, still make extensive use of the fact that it’s an anime, it’s just not always obvious when it’s doing that like it is in your typical shounen anime. actually, Cowboy BebopThe reliance on his animated nature is what ultimately makes it impossible to adapt properly to a live action series. The first episode of the series is an excellent example of this, as it showcases everything anime can do that live action can’t.
The first episode of Cowboy Bebop isn’t about plot, it’s about tone
The first episode of the series sets the tone for all that follows
In the very first episode of Cowboy BebopSpike and Jet chase down a dangerous bounty head, Asimov Solenson, who uses a drug known as Red Eye, which radically enhances his strength and pain tolerance. Rather than go in guns blazing, however, Spike approaches the situation undercover, and gets to know Asimov’s girlfriend, who helps him smuggle the drug. The actual action of the episode is largely contained in the last few minutes, while most of it is made up of scenes designed to get across the mood and tone of the series.
Related
Bebop Establishes many important facts about the series indirectly in this episode. The “Bell Peppers and Beef” scene, for example, makes it immediately clear that Spike and Jet are short on cash, and that this is a pretty common situation for them. The episode is also full of slow motion shots of the environment, as seen right after the title card for the episode, showcasing how different the world they inhabit is; Floating above Mars and surrounded by ships and space stations, this world has a bustling interplanetary setting. Still, later shots of the asteroid Tijuana feel almost indistinguishable from Earth.
The combination of the lingering shots with BebopYoko Kanno’s iconic soundtrack immediately conveys the tone of the series, showing the western genre inspired elements that combine with the sci-fi to create something unique. It takes its time getting to the plot, with over half the episode elapsing before Spike runs into Asimov.
Cowboy Bebop uses animation in ways that are difficult to replicate in live action
Even Cowboy Bebop’s establishing shots are hard to pull off
The long, boring shadows not only set the scene, but they set the mood of the piece; They are essential to the pacing of the episode. For an anime, they are just scenes, no more difficult to draw than any other. However, for a live action series, this would be extremely expensive special effects shots, requiring a significant portion of any episode’s budget to be captured accurately. The live action series largely got around this by omitting them and cutting them short where they couldn’t be completely removed, thus changing the mood the scenes help to establish.
The same goes for the action scenes, like the dramatic spaceship chase at the end of the episode. These are insanely expensive to create, especially to do them justice and have them resemble the anime. While anime action scenes can be more expensive than your average dialogue scene, the difference is much less significant than for a live action production. With both the moody establishing shots and the intense action suffering, there isn’t much left that the live action can do right.
Cowboy Bebop’s animation practically ruins any live action adaptation
No live action adaptation could match the original animation
Beyond the first episode, there are also scenes such as the zero gravity space walk in episode 3, or basically any shot of the Bebop or other ships in space. Recreating these scenes would be difficult and expensive, and so many times the live action adaptation just… doesn’t. Despite his more grounded feeling that makes life action seem possible, Cowboy Bebop is only able to be what it is because it is animated. To try to adapt it to live action is to ignore this fact, and that predictably leads to problems.
Cowboy Bebop It’s just not as cut out for a live action adaptation as it appears, and is better off left than the incredible anime that it is.