Authors: Kai Curry and Stacy Nguyen
Northwest Asia Weekly
Vicious (Alex Hassel, left) and Spike (John Cho, right) pose in the famous church window scene in “Cowboy Bebop”. (Photo courtesy of Netflix)
Netflix’s reality show “Cowboy Bebop” went live on November 19. Adapted from the original work, the play tells a group of space-age bounty hunters-“cowboys”-riding in their dilapidated spacecraft-“Bebop” sailing in the dilapidated universe-accompanied by cute corgis, and finally return There is a perverted hacker named Ed. They are always short of cash (“woos”), are always accompanied by jazz music, and their work is a bit bad. But their weirdness and fragility are likable, and they are very good at fighting.
Stacy Nguyen and Kai Curry took a look.
How about that John Cho?
John Cho as Spike Seigel with big hair and blue suit (photo courtesy of Netflix)
Kay: I think John Cho played very well, playing Spike Spiegel/Fearless who is loved/hated. Watching Cho’s entire career from eating White Castle burgers to indulging in Spike’s favorite food, noodles, is very attractive to me. Cho’s acting trajectory has always been stable and reliable, but he has not received as many praise or reports as others. So, seeing him get a role that I think is a performance horse, I am very satisfied. marvelous.
Stacy: Obviously, he is still an angel sent from heaven to earth.
It is really very good to see him play Spike, a character full of the whole atmosphere. He is funny, gorgeous, stylish, sexy, and has beautiful hair. This is really the kind of role I have been waiting for John Cho. From his “good luck tomorrow”, I have been paying attention to his career, and many times, he seems unable to play the protagonist with many quirks.
But in “Cowboy Bebop”, he has more personality, so it’s interesting to see him inside.
Before the live version, what was your background or interest in Cowboy Bebop?
Stacy: To be honest, my only familiarity with “Cowboy Bebop” is that my brother has been watching it, and I will walk into the living room while my brother is watching. Since then, I have discovered that music is super jazz and stimulant, it is very wild and savage, but also black and masculine. That’s really not my bag.
So I don’t know much about the original anime, but I can see that the Netflix remake has made considerable efforts to pay tribute to it. For example, the remake is really fun. At the same time, I remember that in the original series of clips I saw, it was more relaxed, more comical, and more humorous. The live-action adaptation feels heavier and darker, and I prefer it in the general sense-but I believe hardcore “Bebop” fans like,’WTF! ‘ about it.
Kay: I am an anime fan. However, to be honest, I have always wanted to watch the original version more than actually watch it. Like many people, what really attracts me is art. It wasn’t until the opening subtitles of the remixed version of “Tank” became one of my favorite shows that the music fascinated me so much. When I did watch the animation, I found it to be slow-however, I also found that there will always be rewards if you stick to it. I got a lot of things from the philosophical tendencies of the plot, such as Dr. Landes, the master of artificial intelligence, encouraging followers to “let go”-this new version does a great job. I have the same impression of the pacing of reality shows — sometimes slow — and the same judgment — except that it may be due to live actors, the rewards are greater.
What are your thoughts on this show?
Kay: I like it so much. I learned more about the hierarchical plot and characters than before. I know everyone’s motives better. I think it has something to do with Spike’s plight. The violent narcissist Vicious is very unfavorable for Spike’s situation. Jet, his pain of losing his family is obvious; Faye Wong, who wants to find her relatives, can’t help but fall in love with the fake mother who betrayed her. It may be because there are live actors this time, so there is no sense of distance in the anime version, and it is easier not to take the role seriously. Now, I agree that most of them are bastards-and love them all. Some people complain that the actors are not young enough, and the overall feeling is indeed “old”. I’m OK. I’m getting old too, and I will definitely join these cowboys in the second season of the ride.
Stacy: To be honest, I am pretty sure that masculine-noire-meets-space-cowboys is still not my bag. It is difficult for me to adapt to this show. I think it’s because this genre is so stylized—for example, it looks cool and visually interesting—but I think the trade-off is that the characters are not completely real and human. They will say some strange things, such as: “Sounds like blackmail. / Damn it, because Jeter, you are black and you are male.”
It’s like, kill me, I can’t see it anymore, because my eyes are too hard.
However, I really like the chemistry of the main actors-during the performance, I believe in their friendship. The set design and world architecture are very textured and look very interesting. It does not look as sleek and fanciful as many science fiction novels. It looks sloppy, like everyone needs a shower-this is what I imagine will happen in our near future.
What do you want to see? How does it compare to anime?
Kay: The internet is set on fire by bad reviews. This is nothing wrong.
This “Cowboy Bebop” is as good as the other 100 science fiction dramas. People say that the only way it resembles the original is “aesthetics”, which is obviously wrong.
Although some characters have changed (Anna works in a club instead of a shop), there are many improvements in the animation, such as the church showdown when Evil (played by Alex Hassel) suggests “fallen angels become demons”. After watching the animation, no problem was found. My views often deviate from the mainstream, but rarely so, which makes me think that there is an agenda here, which may be for Netflix, and the “cowboys” are unfortunate victims-it is a shame because they work hard to get it right .
Stacy: If “Cowboy Bebop” has a second season, I hope they can figure out their dialogue issues and make it less daunting.
And—this may be blasphemous—but as a non-anime fan, I hope that the producer of the live-action adaptation will stay away from the source material and go all out to make himself unique. I think trying to be too faithful to the animation will make some parts of the show feel artificial instead of being as real as it is.
Kai and Stacy’s contact information is info@nwasianweekly.com.
