Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve heard about this.

Like many things in the Science Fiction and Fantasy community, it’s generated a ton of controversy. Intense controversy over how good or bad it will be, before anyone’s seen more than two minutes and 40 seconds of footage.

The naysayers say it will fail. They don’t like the casting. They don’t like the costumes. (They don’t seem to understand that gravity is less of an issue in animation than real life…I’ll leave it there.)

Because that’s what SciFi fans do. They act like they own the characters. They think they’re owed the stories they want and have veto power over the ones they don’t want.

I like the casting. John Cho looks and acts fantastic as Spike. Mustafa Shakir and Daniella Pineda get a lot less screen time in the trailer, but seem fine. As far as costumes go, the clothes Faye almost wears in the anime isn’t nearly as important as her character fantastic backstory. Let’s see what they do with it.

I’m hoping the live adaptation is great. Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite anime. I’ve watched it all the way through at least 4 or 5 times. It’s a magical story about honor, loss, friendship, and love.

It’s also excellent SciFi. While many anime feature “science” that is borderline or outright fantasy, Cowboy Bebop is closer to the Expanse in how it presents space travel.

Can they successfully adapt it from anime to live action? I don’t know. There have been some colossal failures (that I won’t name), including efforts that were funded by Netflix. But the photos and footage I’ve seen so far give me hope.

And they’re using the original music, which is important.

What happens if I don’t like it? Well, I guess I’ll stop watching it, right?

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