The infamous Netflix series has been canceled after one season! It was poorly received by fans and didn’t get the reception the directors were expecting. However, there seems to be a bigger discourse on the nature of the calculation.
According to The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop will not be renewed for a second season. Though a lot of shows on Netflix are not renewed, The Hollywood Reporter alluded to the show’s poor reception as the reason for its abrupt cancellation.
Reviews of Cowboy Bebop generally criticized the show’s weak pacing and cheap-looking costumes and sets, while it also failed to capture the essence of what made the 1996 anime one of the best examples of the genre. Yet others say that it’s the lack of defined political statements that the show was known for, instead opting for the “cool” factor”! There’s also the fact that anime just doesn’t translate well into live action. It’s a unique piece of media that’s often highly stylized in terms of both visuals and storytelling, thus when you take that away, it loses its flavor.
Nevertheless, I personally felt that the script itself was weak. Cowboy Bebop was one of those anime that could have translated well but failed in its execution. It seems that the live-action focused too much on superficial things like diversity & representation rather than really paying attention to the wide range of socioeconomic + political issues that Cowboy Bebop addressed during its run! The original focused on the struggles of poor and working-class people within this dystopian future, and given how popular Squid game became in the west, I’m sure that these topics would have connected with people more today!
Well, that’s my observation! Let me know what you think?
