Image by Manuel Garcia Melgar, used under Creative Commons

Three Reasons Netflix’s Live-Action Cowboy BeBop is Better Than the Anime

I love them both, but I love the new version more. And I’m only on Episode 6.

I suspect this may be the most controversial blog I ever write.

Recently Netflix dropped one of the most eagerly-anticipated-and-dreaded series: Cowboy BeBop. Based on an anime that you can google for yourself to your heart’s content, this is following the trend of taking beloved animated features and creating new versions combining actors and CGI.

Honestly, I’m just a consumer, not a critic, but it’s rarely done well. Like many fans of Cowboy Bebop, we were skeptical that Netflix could pull it off, and were resigned to the idea that it was going to flop.

If you read some fan-reactions, they’re sure it will fail. They may be right. I enjoy it anyway, and here’s why:

1. It’s about more than one character. While the original anime did center around three main characters — Jet, Spike, and Faye — the main story arc was all about Spike coming to terms with the past he left behind.
   Unsurprising, given the time period it was created in . A redemption arc featuring a young fit cis white male bucking the system? How original.
   The…