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Cornish Hen (Ft. John Scofield & MonoNeon) | Scary Goldings

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🐈 Crush White Christian Nationalism 🐈11/19/2021 5:56:37 am PST
The live-action remake of the beloved anime series, starring John Cho, doesn’t seem to understand what made the original so great.

The OG Cowboy Bebop blasted its premise across its infectious theme: “The work, which becomes a new genre itself, will be called Cowboy Bebop.” And the anime series’ conceit consisted of wrapping popular genre motifs in a 26-minute package. One week, it was a mechanized Space Warrior’s delight; the next, an achingly personal drama, blaxploitation romp, gun-slinging Western, or certified kung-fu flick. The dark, universe-spanning neo-noir followed a trio of bounty hunters—Spike, Jet and Faye—as they hurtle toward their next big score while attempting to outrun their pasts on their spaceship, The Bebop. Its crisp animation, crackling soundtrack, stylized aesthetic and unpredictable world endeared it to fans across the West, making Cowboy Bebop one of the most popular animes of all time.

In the minds of most anime fans, a live-action remake simply cannot recreate the spirit of the medium. Between the by-the-panel approach of the Rurouni Kenshin Netflix films or the very strange, very bad Dragon Ball and Ghost in the Shell remakes, no adaptation can seem to get the formula right. Unfortunately for Cowboy Bebop, fans will continue their search for an adequate remix. AndrĂ© Nemec’s new Netflix series, which stretches each episode to 40-plus minutes, doesn’t really know what to do with more resources and time. Its performances signal that the cast doesn’t appear to grasp the pull of the source material, opting instead for lame slapstick humor and cornball lines (the script is woefully deficient). Cowboy Bebop gets some of the style parts right: the show’s kung-fu scenes, snappy scene-setting, and over-the-top imagery can prove compelling. But where it falters, fatally, is in its misunderstanding of the kind of show Cowboy Bebop is. This isn’t just an issue of translation from one creative medium to another, but rather a complete misreading, transforming a gripping space saga into something utterly childish.

What centered its universe and plot was an overwhelming sense of melancholy. No matter how loudly their ship’s machine guns rang out, how many sly grins Spike would crack at women and nemeses alike, the original was never a show that felt like everything would work out. These characters have been through the wringer, and they acted like it. The series takes place in 2071, 50 years after a catastrophe leaves Earth uninhabitable and the reality of human uprootedness permeates every seam. Ships guided by lonely pilots careen through space, pining for their next meal, a casino to gamble away their last Woolong or bar fight with a stranger, if only to feel some sense of connection. Spike’s exile from his last gang, the mystery behind Jet’s cybernetic arm and police force past, and Faye’s strange post-cryogenic amnesia have left them both physically and psychologically scarred—unable to truly relate with others because they know how finite the world is.

More at Netflix’s ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Is a Flaming Pile of Space Trash (The Daily Beast - Paywalled)