It’s safe to say that Netflix’s big-budget adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, has not gone down well. Diehard fans of the original series are united in the fact that the streaming platform’s take on the animated classic has been lukewarm, to say the least. Now, less than a month after its premiere, Cowboy Bebop has been cancelled. Per a report in The Hollywood Reporter the series will not be continued for a second season.
Netflix’s remake stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir and Daniella Pineda, is based on Shinichiro Watanabe’s 1998 animated series, but it has been panned across the board.
The mix of Eastern and Western influences made it one of the most iconic universes in TV, and a huge cult classic, but by all accounts, the Netflix adaptations falls flat in every area, not to mention the plot. It currently holds a critics consensus of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s been called hollow, laughable and embarrassing. Given that fans of the original Cowboy Bebop are so diehard, even elements such as the soundtrack has been widely criticised. One user even as far as to say that it has an “awkward cosplay vibe”, ouch. Although online, fans of the original have made their thoughts loud and clear, the series was initially still a hit in terms of views.
However, this quickly changed. Viewership plummeted when people got further into the series. As of the week commencing November 28th, the viewership dropped by 59%.
It’s a shame that Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop has fallen so flat. Rumours of a live-action remake have been doing the rounds for years, and have had fans of the original hotly anticipating its release. This perhaps fed into the furore, that they waited so long for something so vacuous. It could have been so different.
Watch the trailer for Cowboy Bebop below.
