Tokyo, 31 January, /AJMEDIA/
There have been a lot of anime-to-live-action projects in recent years, but none of them had the same level of anticipation as “Cowboy Bebop.” Rumors of a Hollywood live-action version of the eclectic sci-fi bounty hunter story had been floating around since the original anime was airing on American TV in the late 1990s, and so when Netflix announced that they were going to be the ones to finally do it, all eyes were on the streaming giant to see how they’d handle adapting one of the international anime fan community’s favorite series of all time.
But as preview photos and teaser trailers began being released in the runup to the Netflix premiere, a lot of people who had a lot of love for the original were less than impressed. And it turns out it wasn’t just pre-existing franchise fans who were disappointed, but “Cowboy Bebop” creator and anime director Shinichiro Watanabe too.
In a new interview with Forbes, Watanabe talks about his career path, his international success and recognition, and working with overseas entertainment producers. When asked how he felt about the live-action Netflix Bebop, he responded with:
“For the new Netflix live-action adaptation, they sent me a video to review and check. It started with a scene in a casino, which made it very tough for me to continue. I stopped there and so only saw that opening scene. It was clearly not ‘Cowboy Bebop’ and I realized at that point that if I wasn’t involved, it would not be ‘Cowboy Bebop.’”
