The show’s first episode, named “Cowboy Blues,” has the characters talk over the spacey and sax-fueled track, the first of many crimes this show commits against Kanno’s iconic score and the new material she wrote for it.Īt the beginning of episode two, “Venus Pop,” as Jet tries and fails to catch Teddy Bomber, the opening notes of “Tank!” begin playing, leading organically to the credits, which then play the opening again for some reason without the spoken word. Spike and Katerina, in a shocking silence, say everything they need to say in a few meaningful looks before she meets her unfortunate demise, evoking feelings of bittersweet loss. The anime’s wordless, "Asteroid Blues,” sets up the wordless, tragic finale. Overall, the music in the first episode was pretty much what I had hoped it would be however, there was one scene that made my stomach sink and audibly ask my laptop, “How could you mess that up?" The production team did a great job matching the energy of the fight and the “almost sucked into space” chaos by seamlessly transitioning and layering energetic horn sections and whimsical and spacey percussion. I do think the opening fight scene of the live-action, which is a direct callback to the 2001 Cowboy Bebop movie, was a strong start. Let’s start with the first episode of the Netflix adaptation. The band also created short compositions called vitamins to enter and exit commercial breaks along with custom title cards. Although most of the songs are instrumental and play as background music, some numbers are accompanied by singers ranging in Japanese, English, and French. One hallmark of the show is its high-tempo jazz accompanied fight scenes that serve to accentuate the fast-paced action. The music often inspires the visual scenes and vice-versa, a direct byproduct of the significant collaboration between Yoko Kanno and Shinichirō Watanabe. The styles of music are incredibly diverse, ranging from straightforward big band jazz, blues, acoustic ballads, hard rock, country, funk, electronic, hip-hop, and experimental compositions and elements. Each episode adopts a different style to suit the subject matter and gives each of the characters and far-off places our ragtag group of bounty hunters visits a distinct identity. But today we’re gonna focus, or at least try to, on how the adaptation measures up to fan expectations and one of the defining elements that earned the original its cult following - the iconic score.Ĭowboy Bebop is a show famous for its ability to build an entire universe out of disparate film and music genres. Now, a review of the show could quickly turn into a manifesto criticizing all the things it missed the mark on or decided to omit from the timeless anime.
![cowboy bebop tank sheet music with notes labeled cowboy bebop tank sheet music with notes labeled](https://www.musicnotes.com/images/productimages/mtd/MN0213517.gif)
I will say though, nothing has given me more anxiety than the phrase "Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop." Prior to the announcement, Netflix’s only stateside live-action project was the Death Note movie, and we all know how that turned out. You forebodingly wait in anticipation, hoping for the best ( Alita: Battle Angel) and preparing for the absolute worst ( Dragon Ball: Evolution). It’s not a secret that there’s a sense of dread that brews for rabid anime fans every time news of a beloved classic getting a live-action adaptation arises.
![cowboy bebop tank sheet music with notes labeled cowboy bebop tank sheet music with notes labeled](https://musescore.com/static/musescore/scoredata/g/b4f8a9a9effffc25e6576c050c8d819098be75f7/score_0.png)
The 2021 Cowboy Bebop live-action is… certainly something.