Bang!
Netflix’s live-action adaptation of “Cowboy Bebop” has fans buzzing with anticipation. The iconic anime, named for the genre-busting style of jazz that comprises the lion’s share of its soundtrack, is considered a cult classic. Netflix is pulling no punches on the production, and casting thus far has proven worthy of the hype: John Cho has been chosen to play the show’s devastatingly cool protagonist, Spike.
But John won’t be alone on screen, as Netflix has just announced a film and TV newcomer will appear alongside him.
Bella, the 2 year old Siberian husky, will round off the predominately human–and entirely motley–crew of bountyhunters as the “datadog” Ein.
Sources say that Netflix has decided to make an “Artistic choice” in casting Bella, citing her “intense and intelligent screen presence, befitting a gentically engineered ‘datadog'” as their rationale.
While Ein is drawn as a Welsh Corgi in the cartoon version of “Bebop”, the reasoning behind his original design was based solely on a member of Bebop creative team’s love for the breed.
“Nothing in the story says Ein has to be a Corgi,” a spokesperson for the Netflix project explained. “…and honestly, a reboot that precisely mimics the source material is boring. We’ve already seen that story.”
When asked about concerns related to fan backlash, Netflix’s spokesperson replied with “Just like the genre the show is named for, sometimes it’s better to do what’s unexpected, what’s never been done before. (sic) This is the ethos of Bebop, and we’re being true to that. We’re confident true fans of the show will embrace this choice.”
“Cowboy Bebop” is expected to air sometime next year on Netflix.
Until then,
See you later, space cowboy.
ANIME NEWS DAILY 
“While Ein is drawn as a Welsch Corgi in the cartoon version of “Bebop”, the reasoning behind his original design was based solely on a member of Bebop creative team’s love for the breed.”
Welsh, not Welsch, just fyi.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Terrible if true.
LikeLike
Who do we complain to????
LikeLike
The National Guard, probably.
LikeLike
“and honestly, a reboot that precisely mimics the source material is boring. We’ve already seen that story” this is the exact reasoning that leads to life action reboots being terrible
LikeLike
I take these comments as “we are going to take the name and change whatever we want and then get people to watch it based on the name and not what we’re putting in it.” There is a reason the original show work the way it did. You wouldn’t change the character of Spike into a fat short white guy just because you want to do something different.
LikeLike
It’s as if they’re not aware of how their adaptation of Death Note was received. (Hint: not well. Not well at all.)
LikeLike
The first live action Death Note was actually great. The one that recently came out… was not.
LikeLike
They should probably take a really hard look at The live action Dragon Ball movie to see what happens when you take a little “creative license” to what fans consider canon material.
My expectations for this movie have already dropped to half.
LikeLike
The fact that it’s canon isn’t what matters. Reboots by nature build their own canon. In Game of Thrones, Gendry gets used as a narrative stand-in for a different bastard son of King Robert Baratheon that existed in the books. His role is magnified… but even though the expansion of his role conflicts with the book canon, fans accepted it because the other royal bastard was more a footnote than a known character, while we actually got to know Gendry pretty well.
The problem is the fact that they’re screwing around with a part of the franchise that is beloved by the fans. Throwing out something that the fans LIKE about the franchise is a good way to turn the fanbase against you.
LikeLike
“Nothing in the story says he has to be a Corgi.”
Have you ever tried to fit a Husky in a briefcase? Because I’m relatively sure that won’t work.
LikeLike
This guy has you covered. https://www.ilovedogsandpuppies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/main-18.jpg
LikeLike
“Nothing in the story says Ein has to be a Corgi”… True, except fans of the original story are part of the target audience, right? They grew to love Ein as a Corgi. Why take that away?
“It’s better to do what’s unexpected, what’s never been done before”… yeah, but with unexpected turns, story-wise there must be a purpose for them to happen in first place.
so…. Which purpose serves changing ein’s breed? :thinking: .. (nothing comes to mind)
They say.. “this is the ethos of Bebop”.. Unexpected for the sake of being unexpected is the ethos of bebop?… that doesn’t sound like the show I know from a long time ago.
Bebop is more about characters that are running or away from their past and their personal stories, in a futuristic setting… not a reality show
“true fans of the show will embrace this choice” AKA “If you do not agree with our take… I hereby declare you a fake fan and you must live with that because we said so”
I’m willing to give the new show a chance… but I can say for certain this type of response is lacking in the PR department. Hopefully this type of replies will not reflect the quality the show will have. I wanna be positive
LikeLiked by 2 people
Vearing away from the show’s original format has happened to many anime and ruined the on screens, you don’t change a key figure in a show like this you try to make it as authentic as possible, I loved cowboy bebop watched it over and over ep1 to finale. If they cast a fn husky I’ll pull a spike and say fuck it and drop Netflix for hulu
LikeLike
I think someone connected to the show either owns this husky or they couldn’t be bothered to find a corgi that was trained. The old time fans will boycott out of principle, I think.
LikeLike
You wanna be positive an adaptation? But it is an adaptation AND it is by netflix! That’s two reasons it will not be good. Better just to stick to the original, and maybe seek out other, original stories. Ever seen Coffee Prince?
LikeLike
“Nothing in the story says Ein has to be a Corgi” is not true. In episode 2 pet trader said ‘it is corgi’. It means they never watched this series seriously.
LikeLike
“Nothing in the story says Ein has to be a Corgi.” Except the very first time we see Ein, he’s in the script as a “welsh corgi”, and he has to fit in a small suitcase to be carried easily and smuggled in the first episode. And the whole malarkey about “this is the ethos of Bebop to be unexpected.” By this logic, you might as well make Spike an alien race and Jet a robot! Hell, why not just cast Ein as a parakeet! THAT’S unexpected! Ridiculous! *insert eye roll*
LikeLiked by 2 people
The curse continues…
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/netflix-adaptation
LikeLike
EIN IS A CORGI!!!!!!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are gags in the anime that only worked because Ein was a Corgi, a small breed of dog. You know what a Husky isn’t?
A small breed of dog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s ok, they’ll just change the scripts…
LikeLike
Another tone deaf person knowing better then the people who watch it…
LikeLiked by 1 person
…Nope. Nope nope. Nopily nope. The nopeagon and the nopealope have elopanoped, and this is DUMB. This is just like Paul WS Anderson’s upcoming Monster Hunter movie. Someone else’ script using a franchise’ trappings. If you can’t get a DOG right in the script, then how can we expect you to get anything else right?
LikeLiked by 2 people
See how well liberties went with The Dark Tower? Give us the story we popularized, or stay home.
LikeLike
Exactly. I hated “The Dark Tower”. It was excrement. A faithful adaptation of the original novel would have been so much better.
LikeLike
You guys are going to really feel retarded that the whole series is going to crash down because you didn’t cast the dog correctly.
There is no Cowboy Bebop ethos for any other dog but a fucking Corgi.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Most stupidest thing I read in along time the show was loved cause win was a corgi and was small and able to movie oh and doesn’t win bark not howl and baby talk like a husky. This is going to be a disaster and I hope they choke there words that true fans will embrace when really true fans will done this reboot all due to them not wanting to cast a corgi. Then just dont do the movie if your not going to keep one of the key members the same. I own a Ein and 2 other corgis they are just as intelligent as that husky. Proably wont watch this trainwreck of poor choices now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, this is just going to be all around terrible. Live action remakes usually are and the ONLY reason I was going to bother watching was because of Ein and my insatiable love of Corgis and would make the live action tolerable. Next.
LikeLike
its not like there isnt a decent tv corgi in the PNW, besides casting a husky as a corgi is like casting a white person as a person of Japanese decent….. good choice for spike, but you are barking up the wrong tree when you change a fan favourite breed of dog
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://www.change.org/p/15274074/preview?sutype=returning_with_pw&sulstate=authenticated&sapvar=variant1&qanda=control&lsrappv=variation
LikeLike
https://www.change.org/p/netflix-cast-a-pembroke-welsh-corgi-as-ein-in-the-cowboy-bebop-netflix-adaptation
LikeLike
CORGIS ARE BETTER THAN HUSKIES!
EIN IS A CORGI!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“This is the ethos of Bebop, and we’re being true to that. We’re confident true fans of the show will embrace this choice.” This is such a misguided validation on Netflix’s part and just shows how much they do not understand these genre’s fandoms. True fans of the show would rather be true to the source material than just thrown a live action adaptation just for sake of making a live action adaptation. That’s why they are true fans. You don’t have to copy the storyline verbatim but you definitely shouldn’t mess with the formula of the team.
LikeLike
“This is the ethos of Bebop, and we’re being true to that. We’re confident true fans of the show will embrace this choice.” This is such a misguided validation on Netflix’s part and just shows how much they do not understand these genre’s fandoms. True fans of the show would rather be true to the source material than just thrown a live action adaptation just for sake of making a live action adaptation. That’s why they are true fans. You don’t have to copy the storyline verbatim but you definitely shouldn’t mess with the formula of the team.
LikeLike
look your chances at making this work! anddddd I’ts going going! almost gone…
LikeLike
I had no real hope for this actually being Cowboy Beebop beside using the character names and settings. I agree that you can not tell the exact same story but some aspects are cornerstones. The Corgi known as Ein is one of them. After this news I don’t really consider this to be CB but will check it out and see what show you have made.
LikeLike
Well, they just lost one viewer.. I wasnt overly excited about this human casting… now you’re going to fuck this up too. Dont count on this fan, and thos’ll never truly be Cowboy Bebop. Thanks Netflix for screwing up a potentially epic live remake. Just quit now. Your service is turning to shot anyway.. you might as well save your money than waste it on a bologna show like this.
LikeLike
Why do creators not understand that every change cracks the audiences ability to relate to the material. Its not like its hard enough to get audiences to connect to a live action adaptation of an anime. They are just making it harder for them to be successful.
LikeLike
Ein as a Husky, just no, no, and no
LikeLike
The breeds typical personalities and needs does change the story. Corgis can deal with the small space of a spaceship. Have the decision makers on this ever walked or spent an afternoon with a Husky?
LikeLike
I WAS looking forward to Live Action Cowboy Bebop, but fuck it. They ruined it. ONE JOB, cast a fucking corgi! Bullshit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Its “SEE YOU SPACE COWBOY” 😩
LikeLike
Corgis are considered a highly emotion and intelligent breed with the very specific attitude and personality portrayed in Ein. Huskies are high energy, and low attention span breeds. Ein cannot be replaced by a husky character wise.
LikeLike
“Let’s just change the race of every main character and the breed of dog! Surely this will be lolrandum and everyone will love it”
nah, eat a bag of dicks.
LikeLike
Sorry Netflix. You ruined Death Note and now you want to ruin Cowboy Bebop?!? I have a suggestion, listen to the fans, follow the story to a T, and fire your PR guy. It’s the only way you can redeem yourselves.
LikeLike
SEE YOU, Space Cowboy**
LikeLike
As much as I agree with folks’ statements that this is dumb or lame, I think we need to remember one thing: Netflix doesn’t necessarily care about the “original fans” or purists. Look at it this way–if you were a Netflix customer, and had never seen the original anime before, would you care if it was a Corgi? Probably not (unless you prefer Corgis). Someone quipped that they’ll just change the scripts so the word Corgi never appears–that’s quite likely.
I don’t know if they’ll replicate all the episodes (I suspect they won’t, because Netflix themselves said “why be boring?”) but they’re not out to placate the existing fanbase. They’re looking for new blood. If they get some of the oldtimers, and they probably will because some folks are more about the overall franchise than specific characters, then those will spread the word about how great CB is.
I’d use another example of a reboot that, before it actually aired, seemed to have gone completely off the rails: Battlestar Galactica. They recast two of the original series iconic characters, one of whom was a notorious womanizer, from guys to… women. The fans were completely outraged, of course, and wrote emails and posts and everything about boycotting etc etc. Yet the series went on to be a pretty big success anyway, and I suspect most of the “zomg boycott!” fans probably wound up watching the whole thing anyway.
Not defending Netflix. Just sayin’. Also sayin’ that I hate live action adaptations of anime and generally won’t watch them anyway, regardless of what changes they make to the characters/story.
LikeLike
There are things you don’t mess with Bebop. One of those is Ein the datadog is a corgi. An effing CORGI. I love huskies, but Ein as a corgi? Really? Next thing you know Ed is going to be turned into a bearded, tatted up hipster with a septum ring who quotes Shakespeare.
The other one is the closer line.
Kids these days, next thing you know they’ll be redoing Firefly but with the Serenity as a heavily armed gunboat and Jayne as the Companion….
LikeLike
Bad decision to recast Ein. The magic and success was because of the Corgi. Good luck now Netflix, way to go to lose viewers and fans. The Bait and Switch is not nice.
LikeLike
Half of the fun is watching Ein walk/bounce. Huskies dont move like corgis.
LikeLike
“Nothing in the story says Ein has to be a Corgi,” a spokesperson for the netflix project explained. EXCEPT WHERE THEY EXPLICITLY SAY HE IS A WELSH CORGI IN THE FIRST EPISODE.
“This is the ethos of Bebop, and we’re being true to that. We’re confident true fans of the show will embrace this choice.” So if you disagree with their bullshit total disregard for the actual series you aren’t a true fan. That pretty much proves they are only whoring the Bebop name for publicity and not actually making a bebop movie.
LikeLike
They act like they’re choosing her because of how smart she is. This makes no sense. Corgis rank #11 out of all dogs for intelligence and Huskies rank #77.
As a current Corgi owner and a previous Husky owner, I can safely say that this is going to be way harder to film with a Husky. They are not easily trained and love to run away and tell you to go fuck yourself. Corgis are much easier to coax into what you’d like them to do.
LikeLike
It just goes to show how much they DON’T want people to watch.
LikeLike
because changing key things in an anime worked out so well for the netflix deathnote movie
LikeLike
i will do everything in my power to MASS BOYCOTT this movie if they produce the movie with an adorable husky.
LikeLike
yeah, so I don’t watch the show. Works for me.
LikeLike
In Eins episode, the old lady running the black market pet shop clearly identifies the breed. fuck pop culture for ruining all that we love
LikeLike
“and honestly, a reboot that precisely mimics the source material is boring. We’ve already seen that story.””
aaaand you already know it’s gonna suck
LikeLike
Now, first, I should say that Bella is a beautiful girl, a Good Girl and she deserves all the treats, as well as a role that fits her. She is a good girl, Bront.
Now, Bella, however good a girl she is, is simply not a Corgi. She will simply not be Ein. Ein is a Corgi, and Ein being a Corgi was important in several episodes, most notably his introduction episode where he was carried in a suitcase as smuggle ware.
So, is Bella a Good Girl that deserves to star in a movie?
Yes.
Is she, sadly, a bad choice to play Ein?
Also yes.
LikeLike
How many Husky’s in households worldwide are named Ein? How many Corgis? 0-1 In our home.
LikeLike
Well, they just lost one viewer.. I wasnt overly excited about this human casting… now you’re going to fuck this up too. Dont count on this fan, and thos’ll never truly be Cowboy Bebop. Thanks Netflix for screwing up a potentially epic live remake. Just quit now. Your service is turning to shot anyway.. you might as well save your money than waste it on a bologna show like this.
LikeLike
Corgi or we riot!
LikeLike
You realize the thing that “says Ein has to be a corgi” was the fact Ein was a damn Corgi. Just REMAKE the original faithfully. Capture what it did, all these live action adaptations end up terrible and poor quality… atrocious abominations… because some jerk had to take “artistic liberties.”
LikeLike