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SYFY WIRE Cowboy Bebop

Netflix's 'Cowboy Bebop' channels 007, Sin City & Tarantino with premiere of jazzy opening credits

By Josh Weiss
Cowboy Bebop opening titles Tudum

Netflix seems to be utilizing the "if it ain't broke..." philosophy when it comes to the platform's live-action take on Cowboy Bebop. During Netflix's virtual fan event on Saturday known as TUDUM, the show debuted its full opening title sequence, which it sticks with the original, jazz-inspired score composed by Yoko Kanno for the 1990s anime. In fact, Kanno is directly involved with the remake alongside original director Shinichirō Watanabe, who serves as a consultant.

Leaning into the old school aesthetic of the source material, these credits (complete with shifting character boxes, dynamic color choices, and bold imagery) seem to promise a marriage between James Bond, the neo-noir of Sin City, and the grind-house of Quentin Tarantino. The teaser video also provides us with more than a few flashes of the team of cosmic bounty hunters led by John Cho's Spike Spiegel: Jet Black (Luke Cage's Mustafa Shakir); Faye Valentine (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom's Daniella Pineda); and smarter than your average Corgi, Ein. 

"It's hard to describe Bebop," Cho said when introducing the sneak peek. "There's jazz, there's action, intergalactic travel, there's a Corgi. You know, I guess it's probably easier just to show you."

Check it out:

André Nemec — an alumnus of Knightfall and Zoo — occupies the dual roles of showrunner and executive producer. Jeff Pinkner, Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Makoto Asanuma, Shin Sasaki, Masayuki Ozaki, Tim Coddington, Tetsu Fujimura, Michael Katleman, Matthew Weinberg, and Christopher Yost are executive producers as well.

"We have gone out of our way, because of all these anime movies that have come out and been accused of being whitewashed, we have really gone out of our way," Adelstein told SYFY WIRE last May. "The characters are all sort of multiethnic, and it’s a great cast. And the two episodes I have seen are so much fun. It’s really fun."

Cowboy Bebop lands on Netflix Friday, Nov. 19. Keep yourself JAZZ-ed up with some new photos and casting intel below:

Click here to watch the full TUDUM livestream