Explainer | Cowboy Bebop: all you need to know about the influential Japanese anime series ahead of Netflix’s live-action adaptation

Set in 2071, Cowboy Bebop follows a ragtag gang of eccentric bounty hunters on dangerous missions. Its style influenced Firefly and Guardians of the Galaxy

The 1998 anime debuted in the United States in 2001, where it garnered a cult following and served as a gateway to the genre for an entire generation

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A still from the Cowboy Bebop film Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, featuring Spike, the show’s central protagonist.

Published: 2:30am, 13 Nov 2021Updated: 1:45pm, 16 Nov 2021

Cowboy Bebop remains one of the most imaginative and influential anime series ever to grace the small screen, featuring genre-bending storylines, an oddball cast of characters and a wildly eclectic soundtrack.

The 1998 anime, written by Keiko Nobumoto and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe under the collective pseudonym Hajime Watate, comprises just 26 episodes, although it also spawned a feature-length movie, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, which was released in 2001.

That was the year the show debuted in the United States, where it garnered a cult following and served as a gateway to the genre for an entire generation of fans.

Cowboy Bebop drew as much from the science fiction writing of authors Philip K. Dick and William Gibson as it did prominent manga writers like Katsuhiro Otomo, and was forged in the fires of Star Wars and Alien. Its space western format and refusal to operate within genre boundaries influenced later TV shows and films such as Firefly and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Netflix will release its live-action adaptation on November 19. The success of the live-action Cowboy Bebop, with so much potent material stuffed into a relatively short, self-contained series, will be determined as much by what Netflix and showrunner André Nemec leave out as by what makes it to the screen.