Cowboy Bebop: Callisto Soul (2021)

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Anime to Live Action, Cowboy Bebop, Live Action

In yesterday’s review of Dog Star Swing, I included the following footnote: “I am hoping that they kept Faye’s story and will do it justice.”

The very next episode, Callisto Soul, delivers the first installment of that, and does so really well.

Cowboy Bebop: Dog Star Swing (2021)

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Anime to Live Action, Cowboy Bebop, Dirty Pair, Live Action

Episode 2 Stray Dog Strut of the original Cowboy Bebop anime was defined by the insane, Warner Brothers inspired[1], chase sequence featuring Ein, Spike, Hakim, and a bunch of clueless researchers[2].

So.

How do you replicate, in live action, a sequence that could really only work with the anime visual conventions to support it?

Fortunately, the creators of Dog Star Swing knew better than to try. Instead they set out to better establish what sort of show this iteration is going to be. They succeeded with a strong episode that leans harder on drama than on comedy[3].

Cowboy Bebop: Venus Pop (2021)

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Anime to Live Action, Cowboy Bebop, Dirty Pair, Live Action

So, the second episode of the live action Cowboy Bebop draws inspiration from episode 22 Cowboy Funk, but reimagines it substantially into more of a character piece for the relationship between Jet and Spike.

Faye doesn’t appear in this episode.

What’s interesting here is what the episode is saying about the live action adaptation. Where Cowboy Gospel is there to reassure fans that, yes, this is Cowboy Bebop[1], Venus Pop is meant to establish this as its own show[2].

Cowboy Bebop (2021): Cowboy Gospel

Tags

Anime to Live Action, Cowboy Bebop, Live Action

Taps microphone… is this thing still on? OK, good[1].

So I’ve just seen the first episode of the 2021 live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop.

And it really is Bebop.

It looks right, it sounds right, John Cho, Mustafir Shakir, and Danielle Pineda are solid as Spike, Jet, and Faye respectively.

Higehiro (2021) – First Thoughts – Good but Content Warnings Needed

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Bunny Drop, Higehiro, Koikimo, Usagi Drop

Higehiro Key Visual (Source: CrunchyRoll)

Ok, deep breath. After Being Rejected I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway[1], aka Higehiro[2] is a surprisingly solid adaptation of a light novel series with a fairly dubious premise. As of episode 9, it is also a show that should come with some definite content/trigger warnings.

In addition to spoilers, content warnings apply after the jump for discussions of emotional abuse, statutory rape, attempted rape, bullying, and suicide. I may also be swearing a bit in places.

To be fair, alert viewers will pick up warnings along the way, although not for the specific issue that prompted this post.