Well that was quick. The streamer has decided to walk away from the much-hyped live action anime series, just weeks after its inaugural season's release.
The series was released on November 19, less than three weeks ago. Immediately, it garnered a poor reception from critics, scoring 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. Likewise, audience reviews have not been much better at 56%. This falls below the usual threshold for Netflix's general renewal policy, which is about 60%.
Fans will be happy, however, that they got some new music from the series' original composer, Yoko Kanno.
The show was an attempt to remake a live-action version of the extremely popular anime series, which aired in 1998. Netflix ordered the series back in 2018. It followed similar attempts within this genre, with shows like 'Ghost in the Shell', 'Alita: Battle Angel' and 'Death Note'.
'Cowboy Bobop' starred John Cho, Mustafa Shakir and Daniella Pineda as three bounty hunters trying to outrun the past. From the show’s description: "They form a scrappy, snarky crew ready to hunt down the solar system’s most dangerous criminals - for the right price. But they can only kick and quip their way out of so many scuffles before their pasts finally catch up with them."
After news broke of the series cancellation, lead actor John Cho tweeted this:
