"Cowboy Bebop" Director Shinichiro Watanabe: I couldn't watch the live-action drama from the beginning

In a recent interview with Forbes, Shinichiro Watanabe, the director of the Cowboy Bebop animation, expressed his dissatisfaction with the live-action adaptation of the series.

While discussing working with Yoko Kanno on Macross and Cowboy Bebop, the interviewer asked him what he thought about live-action adaptations of the series, and apparently, he's not a fan.

Shinichiro Watanabe said: "For the new Netflix live-action adaptation, they sent me a video to review and check. The clip started with a scene in the casino, and it was difficult for me to continue watching. I stopped right there, so I only saw the opening scene."

“It was obviously not Cowboy Bebop, and that’s when I realized that if I didn’t participate (in the production), it wouldn’t be Cowboy Bebop. I thought maybe I should do it. Although the value of the original animation has somehow increased a lot now.”

The live-action series of "Cowboy Bebop" premiered on the streaming platform in November 2021, but the series was canceled after less than a month.