'Cowboy Bebop': New Live-Action Version of Classic Anime Coming to Netflix

In a brief teaser released at Midnight last night, Netflix has announced they will be taking on the top rated anime of all time Cowboy Bebop in an upcoming live-action series. While little information is available as of right now, fans can take comfort in knowing the original's creator Shinichiro Watanabe has been brought on to consult and Thor: Ragnarok writer Chris Yost will be writing the first episode. The series will be a co-production between Netflix and Tomorrow Studios, the outfit behind short-lived but cult favorite period crime drama Aquarious, which starred long-running nerd icon David Duchovny. 

The news comes during the 20th anniversary year of the landmark 1998 show, credited with introducing the anime cartoon style to Western viewers with its arrival on Cartoon Network in 2001. The jazz-influenced soundtrack and comedy-thriller-noir hybrid themes of the show made it easy to watch and widely palatable, opening the door for similar shows to garner worldwide attention outside of its former niche audience.

While impassioned fans have shown mixed feelings surrounding the adaptation on Twitter (see: those precarious mentions), others have high hopes that Netflix can uphold their history of doing justice to the legacy of comic-derived series such as those inspired by the Marvel Comics universe.