Netflix’s anime announcement frenzy, capped off by live-action Cowboy Bebop

Enlarge / Original production company Sunrise is attaching this image to its announcements about the new live-action Cowboy Bebop. But does that mean the series will look anything like this? There's no telling at this point. (credit: Sunrise)

We only have a teaser trailer and a list of writers, directors, producers, and supervisors, but it's enough to get a certain jazzy anime theme song rocking in our heads. That's right: the late-'90s Japanese cartoon Cowboy Bebop is coming back. As, um, a live-action series?

Netflix posted the news announcement on Tuesday night, though unfortunately, it had nothing in the way of series footage, as the cast hasn't been picked. Plus, the reveal video forgoes music, so there's no telling whether original composer Yoko Kanno will return with her inimitable noir-jazz chops. But the series' premise-four bounty hunters roaming the galaxy in search of hard-boiled hijackery-appears to be intact, according to a followup press release.

Netflix, in an apparent attempt to assuage anxious "uh live action?" responses, immediately informed fans that original animated series Director Shinichiro Watanabe will participate as a "consultant." The press release also confirmed that the series' original Japanese production company will share executive producer duties, but the project otherwise doesn't appear to include other original staffers-and has hinged the first episode's writing duties on a Westerner, Chris Yost (Thor Ragnarok).

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