Having been hyped up as one of Netflix’s most hotly-anticipated shows of the year, the live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation landed with a bit of a dull thud when fans and newcomers alike finally got to see it for themselves on November 19.
Sure, it’s been putting in a strong showing on the most-watched list and we won’t be finding out with any degree of certainty whether it’ll get a second season or not for a while, but the response has been muted to put it lightly. A 48% score and 53% user rating on Rotten Tomatoes is not the stuff long-running episodic hits are made of, with longtime supporters of the original anime blasting a number of major changes.
With that in mind, it’s a little ironic that star John Cho described Cowboy Bebop “the most expensive work of fanfiction ever” during an interview with Still Watching Netflix, when you consider how many people with an in-depth knowledge of the source material have actively rebelled against Netflix’s vision.
It’ll be very interesting to see what the weekly and 28-day figures are for Cowboy Bebop, which started strong but already looks to be sliding down the Top 10 after just a week in release.
