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Comment by kitsunesoba | Hacker News Reader

I think what threw people off most about the Netflix adaptation is that it had a very different vibe/atmosphere, which is a problem when a large chunk of what made the original a hit in the first place was its vibe/atmosphere.

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I actually thought it really nailed the vibe, though I only watched the original once, several years ago. I was not a huge aficionado, but I experienced the same approximate emotional response that I recalled experiencing, which was what I enjoyed about the original, and why I enjoyed the adaptation.

I was surprised and impressed with just how well they managed to mimic the vibe despite being live action, but I guess everyone experiences these things differently.

What's wild is that the Japanese source is more related to Western cinema of the late 60s and 70s (French New Wave, New Hollywood) than the American adaptation. The showrunners completely missed the existential and noir motifs the show sourced from that era.

Yes, this really surprised me. I would’ve figured that Bebop would be uniquely suited for a stellar western adaptation because of how western it is, but somehow the western studio skipped or greatly minimized many of the original’s western cultural influences!

The live action version also doesn’t have the sense of ennui and has fewer quiet moments to just let things exist and breathe.

I thought the characters lacked the complexity of the anime. They were all Flanderized.

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