Netflix’s One Piece is set to premiere in 2023, and it already has one big advantage over the live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation. After being in production for several years, Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop premiered in November 2021, but it was immediately met with negative reception from fans and critics alike and was quickly canceled after one season. Cowboy Bebop had many problems, so it wasn’t surprising that it was canceled, but its cancelation does, unfortunately, reinforce the idea of live-action anime adaptations being cursed to fail.
Cowboy Bebop’s failure is another bad sign for live-action anime adaptations, which could be bad for the upcoming One Piece adaptation. With Netflix’s One Piece coming out so soon after such a massive failure, and one from the same streaming platform, no less, people might feel dissuaded from watching One Piece under the assumption that it will have the same problems that plagued Cowboy Bebop and the multitude of live-action anime adaptations to come before it. That being said, there’s a clear difference between the One Piece adaptation and the Cowboy Bebop adaptation, and it could easily be big enough to make things go very differently compared to other adaptations.
One Piece’s Creator Being Involved Means Netflix’s Show Can Beat Cowboy Bebop
The biggest reason why Netflix’s One Piece can be better than Cowboy Bebop is because of Eiichiro Oda’s involvement. In a recent interview, Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe confirmed that he wasn’t involved with the creation of the Netflix anime adaptation, despite previous statements of him serving as a creative consultant (via Forbes). By comparison, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has long since been confirmed as both an executive producer and to be heavily involved in the production of the series, meaning that, unlike Cowboy Bebop, One Piece can be assumed to be incredibly faithful to the original series and to maintain the same level of quality.
That idea of faithfulness is especially important when considering the long history of failed live-action anime adaptations. In addition to Cowboy Bebop, adaptations like Death Note, Dragonball Evolution, and Ghost in the Shell all struggled to remain faithful to their source material, and in each of those cases, the problems only escalated from there. It’s unknown how Netflix’s One Piece project will turn out, but with Eiichiro Oda’s involvement, faithfulness, at least, shouldn’t be an issue, and with any luck, the rest of the show will flow just as smoothly.
Why Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop Was Canceled After Season 1
While Netflix’s One Piece hopefully won’t have the same issues as Netflix's Cowboy Bebop, there remains some debate of exactly why Cowboy Bebop was canceled after only one season. One of the biggest problems with Cowboy Bebop was undoubtedly how it stuck too close to the source material. Like other adaptations, the show rarely diverged from the original story, so more often than not, it was simply retelling the anime without any of the action and animation that made it popular, to begin with, so older Cowboy Bebop fans weren’t able to get anything new out of it.
Another problem was that Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop often changed the characters in ways that only brought down the show. Cowboy Bebop's Spike Spiegel, for example, expanded the drama with Vicious, Julia, and the Red Dragon Syndicate, but that worked against him because it made it seem like that was all to Spike’s character when he was originally far more layered. Not only that, but Jet being a divorced father didn’t add anything meaningful to his character, the expanded role given to Vicious ironically made him feel even less developed because of how little happened, and making Julia into a villainous character felt forced and poorly executed.
Rounding out all of those issues was the general aesthetic of the show. The dialogue was very humorous and crass, and in addition to often being obnoxious, it completely clashed with the kind of vibe Cowboy Bebop was known for. The costume design was also a problem because a lot of the anime’s designs didn’t translate well into live-action; Eden Perkins' Ed was especially guilty of this, as their design ended up reaching uncanny valley levels of uncomfortable. Together, these issues meant that Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop ultimately added little to the original anime.
Can Netflix’s One Piece Beat The Live-Action Anime Curse?
Cowboy Bebop’s problems are especially egregious because they continue the idea of live-action anime being cursed, begging the question of whether Netflix’s One Piece can reverse the trend. Eiichiro Oda’s involvement is a definite positive, but that doesn’t automatically guarantee that the show will be a success. It would be easy to assume that the goofy nature of One Piece wouldn’t translate well into live-action, and if that does end up being the case, then the show could have the same uncanny valley problems that brought down 2021's Cowboy Bebop and other shows and movies.
The story of One Piece is also cause for concern. Season 1 is set to adapt the East Blue saga and likely nothing else, and that could be a problem because the East Blue saga is one of the weaker stories in the series. While there are many standout moments, it rarely reaches the highs that One Piece is known for, so old and new viewers alike might find it uninspiring. The adaptation could easily change things around, especially with Eiichiro Oda having over 20 years of experience and hindsight, but there’s still no guarantee that it won’t fall into the same pitfalls.
The last potential issue stems simply from Netflix’s One Piece being a live-action anime adaptation. As previously discussed, live-action anime adaptations have a long history of failure, so there are probably people assuming 2023's One Piece will be the same and refusing to bother with it, especially with how big and how recent Cowboy Bebop’s failure was. Netflix’s One Piece has plenty in its favor, but has a lot to do to break the anime adaptation curse.