Though Netflix was trying its best to build up the hype, the premiere of the live-action Cowboy Bebop was ultimately met with a poor reception. It hasn’t even been three weeks since the series premiered, and it looks like Netflix has pulled the plug.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the streaming giant has opted to cancel Cowboy Bebop after one season. Premiering on November, the series was met with a mixed-to-negative reception, and though it garnered 74 million viewing hours on its debut, the viewership had a sharp decline of 59 percent the following weeks.
At this point, it isn’t really a mystery that Netflix should pull the plug on the show. Though the live-action Bebop did try its best to replicate the look and music from the anime, some scenes from animation just don’t translate that well to live-action. What was a noir, cyberpunk anime ended up looking too much like a cartoon when it was adapted for Netflix.
With Cowboy Bebop being marketed really hard before release, you would think Netflix would have tried their best to get a second season made. Then again, with the legendary status of the anime, there was almost no way that the show could have lived up to the hype.
Personally, I think the series would have worked better if they didn’t try so hard to copy the aesthetics of the anime. If they kept the jazz, and the action, but tried to up the realism when it came to dialogue and characters, maybe they would have got that Season 2 greenlight.
For now, you can watch the first season of Cowboy Bebop now on Netflix.
