Netflix improved Cowboy Bebop's scariest villain. Any adaptation of a beloved franchise is bound to be closely scrutinized, and Cowboy Bebop, widely considered one of the greatest anime of all time, has been greatly critiqued leading up to its release. Although fans have criticized some of Netflix's changes to the original Cowboy Bebop, its alterations to Pierrot Le Fou have only made the villain even better.
Also known as Mad Pierrot, Le Fou was undoubtedly the scariest Cowboy Bebop villain in the anime. Painful lab experiments that gave him superhuman abilities also greatly affected Le Fou's mental state, leaving him terrified of cats thanks to a scientist's cat who always observed the terrible procedures he was subjected to. After escaping confinement, Le Fou went on a ruthless killing spree with a smile that never seemed to fade. His powers, which included a force shield around his body, made him nearly impossible to defeat, and only luck allowed Spike to survive a face-off against Cowboy Bebop's deadliest assassin. Although the live-action adaptation retained much from the anime, Netflix made several key changes to Mad Pierrot's character.
By fleshing out and tweaking his backstory, Le Fou gained greater plot relevance to the Cowboy Bebop series. As bounty hunters, the Bebop crew faced a plethora of bad guys throughout the show, most of whom lacked any connection to each other or the greater series outside their specific episode. This made it difficult for any of the Cowboy Bebop villains besides Vicious to matter in the grand scheme of things, but the Netflix adaptation fixed this problem with Le Fou. Unlike the anime, in which Mad Pierrot targeted Spike after a chance encounter, the Netflix series showed Vicious freeing Le Fou from his imprisonment and hiring him to kill Spike. Spike was only saved from the hitman thanks to a timely intervention by the Bebop crew's corgi, Ein. Ein's barking reminded Le Fou of his past experimentation, since the lab had also been filled with dogs undergoing their own experiments. In this way, Netflix's Cowboy Bebop managed to connect Le Fou to both Ein and Vicious, granting him an importance to the larger story that he lacked in the anime.
Le Fou also looked scarier in Netflix's Cowboy Bebop. His endless smile, clown-like outfit, and supposed indestructibility made him the most frightening villain in the anime, and Netflix doubled down on all of those details. Along with his costume, Le Fou covered his face in clown makeup to further exploit a fear that many people possess. Not to mention, the very act of translating certain elements from animation to live-action automatically makes them scarier, and watching Le Fou's unhinged laughter in live-action is enough to terrify any bounty hunter.
Le Fou is perfectly handled in Netflix's Cowboy Bebop by better connecting him to the central story while also giving him an even more terrifying appearance. Many shows are only as good as their villains, and this Cowboy Bebop villain seemed well aware of that fact. Despite some valid critiques of the Netflix series, its treatment of Le Fou should not be one of them.