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Netflix: Flicks? On the Internet? That's just crazy talk!

I sincerely like that version better.

Also, personally, my dislike for this aside, it bet it will be a hit for Netflix. After Speed Racer was miraculously one of the few extremely good examples of "live action cartoon," we're now getting an English version of what a more typical live action stage or screen anime adaptation has been in Japan (as opposed to a very Hollywood-ified take, like ScaJo in the Shell, etc.). I think the long assumption has been no one outside of Japan would watch a show or movie this bad, but I think in the era of CW superhero shows we're going to discover this is not true and a lot of people love it. The most positive possible outcome here (and I'm not expecting this) would be if it opens the door for wider releases of lower budget Japanese shows/movies because Netflix etc. learn people will slurp up that content no matter what, and some of these do occasionally turn out to be good (or at least interesting).
 

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
I think I hate every single second of this. Every line dialogue, every cut, every bit of delivery, the tone, the rhythm, just everything.


(Well, I think Shakir is doing a good Jet, but it's edited so choppily that no one really comes across well in this.)

I kinda like it but mostly because it reminds me of hanging out by some of the fast food joints across from campus while I was still in grad school, so there's a sort of nostalgia going on

Believe me that as a nearly 40 year old man I don't say this lightly, but:

bruh

double bruh
 

q 3

here to eat fish and erase the universe
(they/them)
Ed should have just appeared by hacking nearby screens and never actually in person IMO, Netflix please go out of business hire me
 

Lakupo

Comes and goes with the wind
(he/him)
I was going to write something about how I felt after watching the first episode, but I think this tweet sums it up:
Maybe the most galling thing is that it's got some good ingredients, the cast is generally good, but it's like the notes are being played, but played in the wrong order or out of tune or with too much yammering on top. The first episode is pretty much the plot of Asteroid Blues, but twice as long, and not much value is added in that extended runtime.

I think there's one review out there that describes it as "community theater", which may be harsh to community theater.
 

Ludendorkk

(he/him)
It is slow. So slow in comparison to the original. Slowly plotted, slowly edited, slowly paced.

Maybe the most galling thing is that it's got some good ingredients, the cast is generally good, but it's like the notes are being played, but played in the wrong order or out of tune or with too much yammering on top. The first episode is pretty much the plot of Asteroid Blues, but twice as long, and not much value is added in that extended runtime.

Yeah the hour format does you no favors if you are doing straight adaptations, pretty much every episode is immaculately paced and doubling the run time is a recipe for bloat.


Also making Jet an absent father is, uh, a choice
 
Also making Jet an absent father is, uh, a choice
dd0.png
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
So help me God, I forgot what thread I was in, and I thought these were screenshots from, like, 7th Guest or something
 
Who approved these scripts?

I can live with the "meh" direction and the cast is fine, but the writing grates so much. This could have been quite good, if only there were better, swifter editing and even remotely competent writing.

Just so many awful choices here.
 

Alixsar

The Shogun of Harlem
(He/him)
Ep 1 and 2 spoilers ahead

I watched the first two episodes, and the Syndicate Elders being not-old people (one is a lady!) wearing masks of the Syndicate Elders from the anime is one of the funniest things I've seen in a longggggggggg time. This show sucks, but even worse, it's kinda just...mostly boring...?

I agree that the scripts are the biggest issue. They've made changes to everything, which I think is smart and good because emulating the anime is a recipe for failure. But...when they're not doing new characterization or new plot stuff...they're...trying to emulate the anime. I saw someone somewhere say that Ed is a "reverse uncanny valley" thing where it looks less believable in live action than it does in an anime and I totally agree...but also I think that kinda just applies to all of it?

Also there's something EXTREMELY funny about the phrase "Julia and Viscious are married" that fucking cracks me up. In episode 2, Viscious is forced to kill her as a test of loyalty and Julia seems shocked when he pulls the trigger (with blanks). YO YOUR BOY'S NAME IS VISCIOUS. Why are you shocked?

Also someone somewhere thought it was really fucking cool for Spike's old Syndicate name to be "Fearless" as the counterpart to "Viscious" and I wanna meet them and talk to them about books, because apparently they have never read any and they need our help


One universal truth that everyone seems to agree on: Mustafa Shakir is an INCREDIBLE Jet Black. He's perfect. Everyone else is hit or miss.
 
Who approved these scripts?
I have continually maintained, and have never encountered a morsel of evidence that implies the contrary, that Netflix hates anime and has active scorn for it. They put anime on their service because it gets views, but their engagement with it is about as cynical, disgusting, and devoid of passion as Fuller House. That anything good actually shows up on their service, or gets made in partnership with them, are happy accidents that are entirely due to the passion and effort that their partners have. Whoever runs their anime side of things and anime-adjacent projects like this, their worldview of the medium is stuck in the early 90s, and their understanding of it is as shallow as fans were back then. Only we had excuses for our ignorance; Netflix doesn't.
 

Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
Is that Ms. Kanno playing with the band in episode 2, Venus Pop?


Okay. I'm 4 eps in and I'm enjoying it.
I won't try to convince you all otherwise, as I am terrible at debate.
 
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ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
That Ed reminds me of those child safety commercials you'd see on basic cable in the mid 2000s...
"And here are some tips to help keep you on the safe side!"
 

Büge

Arm Candy
(she/her)
That Ed reminds me of those child safety commercials you'd see on basic cable in the mid 2000s...
"And here are some tips to help keep you on the safe side!"
I could see live-action Ed saying "I am Astar, a robot from Planet Danger"
 
Ok. So I watched the first four episodes of this last night. I... think I hate this? Immensely??? I could write a master's thesis on everything I didn't like so far. And may still do so, but for expediency's sake I'll stick to one anecdote:

The first episode opens up with a remix of the convenience market opening scene from The Movie. A good choice, honestly. It's a good scene and serves as an excellent introduction to the main characters, the setting, the mood/vibe, the scenario, etc. Spike and Jet both 'accidentally' murder a bunch of dudes. Which is fine. Neither man is shy about killing in the cartoon. They do what has to be done. But later on, when reflecting on the botched job, both settle their differences by... laughing about the people they murdered? Like, actually reveling in the look of horror on their victim's faces as they realized they were dying. It's played for laughs.

Absolutely and utterly appalling. I'm actually fine with a lot of the changes in the show to characters and events, even if most of the changes end up being actively worse than the original. At least it's trying to be its own thing and do a remix of sorts. But this revelry in violence just completely misses the point. It tells me the people making this have no idea what Cowboy Bebop is even about. If that was a one-off event, I think I could look past it. But these kinds of spirit-violating changes are all over the show and demonstrate pretty thoroughly the writers just don't really get what made the original show special or even tick.
 

Alixsar

The Shogun of Harlem
(He/him)
To Wist's point, I said elsewhere that the entire thing reeks of Marvel movies. The script THINKS it's super clever, and it loves to revel in how funny and smart in it is. Only problem is it's not; they have some truly awful dialogue, and everyone is a smarmy Marvel character cracking wise, too cool to deliver dialogue in their own show. It's a nightmare.

I was gonna watch more while I was exercising and I put the original on instead and lemme tell ya; I do not regret this decision
 

Bulgakov

Yes, that Russian author.
(He/Him)
In other Netflix strange choices news, has anyone watched Arcane? I've seen the first two episodes, and even having actively played the game for a few years I feel like I can barely follow the story or intent of the series.
 
I said elsewhere that the entire thing reeks of Marvel movies. The script THINKS it's super clever, and it loves to revel in how funny and smart in it is. Only problem is it's not; they have some truly awful dialogue, and everyone is a smarmy Marvel character cracking wise, too cool to deliver dialogue in their own show. It's a nightmare.
The thing is, cracking wise and having seemingly irreverent conversations isn't necessarily out of character for Cowboy Bebop. It's very much something the original show partook in from time to time. The difference here is:

1) There's just a lot more of it since they're using it to pad out the plots.
2) The quality of the banter is markedly reduced due to the poor writing.

Those two things by themselves aren't enough to get me to condemn them. I chuckled a few times in the first four episodes at a couple of scenes. The problem/meaningful difference between the two shows then, is that:

3) The banter in the old show was always thematically resonant and plot significant. It always served a purpose and gave texture and context to what was going on.

Spike whining about bellpeppers and beef with no beef tells us very quickly about both the socioeconomic situation that the Bebop crew is in, as well as hints about the situation that the setting broadly is in. Jet talking about washing his feet in bidets does nothing for anything and is just stupid. Especially when Jet is 1) a generally very knowledgeable character and oversights of this kind for him is odd, and 2) it's just dumb/ironic that characters, from a Japanese property of all things, wouldn't know what a bidet is - especially a good 50+ years in the future when there's artificial gravity, subspace gateways, forcefields, and interplanetary travel. It would be like Jet being confused with how email works. It's just nonsensical.
 

Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
Ask a kid today to read an analog clock. Heck in the next ten years ask one to write in Cursive.

Not to mention, when settling space conserving water will be #1 priority. Bidets will not be on the final frontier for some time.
 
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