Cowboy Bebop live-action series makes character Gren nonbinary

Ezekiel

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Point number one. Japanese have a fascination of Mixed Japanese characters. They usually have foreign names somewhere in their full names.




.



Point the second. Too old


Keanu Reeves, 49 at the time of shooting John Wick.


Charlize Theron , 42 at the time of shooting Atomic Blonde


Liam Neeson, 55 at the time of shooting Taken.

Penultimate Point. Spike has naturally green hair. No nationality on earth has naturally green hair. Ethnic realism was never going to be that big of a point in trying to perfectly capture the character.

Point the Last. Spike Speigel has been questioned for the entire of the show's popularity, with little to no consensus.




That's all to say... feel free to hate on it. You don't have to have a reason to dislike something. Feelings are subjective.
The actor has to do Jeet Kune Do, which is more physically demanding than what Theron and Reeves did there. I doubt Reeves could swing his legs like he did twenty years ago.
 

Thaluikhain

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Point the second. Too old

Keanu Reeves, 49 at the time of shooting John Wick.

Charlize Theron , 42 at the time of shooting Atomic Blonde
Same directors, as an aside.

Also, lets not forget Steven Seagal, who in his late 60s is still making straight to DVD movies. And supporting Putin, being accused of sexual assault by multiple women and doing his werid police thing. Actually, lets forget about Steven Seagal.

As a separate issue, I think it's fairly reasonable of them to make that change, as the body horror aspect of "i'm a man, but they made me a woman against my will, look at my freakishness and pity me." angle that was in the original....reeeeaaaally doesn't age well in our current world. There was a lot of that in previous decades, and it isn't the best way to try and touch on the issue of gender fluidity, implying it's an assault and whatnot, which is often how it was framed back then.
Yeah, there's definitely an issue there.
 

Trunkage

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Don't they have to make lots of changes, though, or otherwise what's the point? You're making a live action Disney remake type thing if you keep it the same. If you want the original, the original is likely to be more like the original, stick with that.

Now, keeping it true to the spirit of the original, whilst changing (and possibly updating it)...good luck, that's always hard.
I think they updated Aladdin okay but not Lion King. But I’ve heard people say the reverse
 

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His fights when he was younger weren’t that great either
Depends on which films in his younger years. Above the Law, Out for Justice, Marked for Death, and Under Siege had decent to good hand-to-hand/melee action scenes. After that he got lazy and stunt double heavy, starting with Exit Wounds. The last Segal film I ever enjoyed. Even back then, I always prefered Van Damme for actions scenes compared to Seagal. Van Damme is still a cool guy, and has heart. He always put effort in to his action films. The closest you're going to get to Van Damme now is Scott Adkins. I highly reccomend him, and would not mind if he became the next Batman. Dude, has done more than enough to earn his stripes. If he never gets a Batman role; no problem. He's already done two ninja movies as the lead.

Also, lets not forget Steven Seagal, who in his late 60s is still making straight to DVD movies. And supporting Putin, being accused of sexual assault by multiple women and doing his werid police thing. Actually, lets forget about Steven Seagal.
Became just another egotistical jack ass. From primadonna to total creepy scumbag.
 

ObsidianJones

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The actor has to do Jeet Kune Do, which is more physically demanding than what Theron and Reeves did there. I doubt Reeves could swing his legs like he did twenty years ago.
Ok, as someone who has studied in Jeet Kune Do, I must stress that the style is adaptable. If you want to focus more on hands, do that.

but as well, Even Jackie Chan movies had kick stunt doubles.

 
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Trunkage

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Depends on which films in his younger years. Above the Law, Out for Justice, Marked for Death, and Under Siege had decent to good hand-to-hand/melee action scenes. After that he got lazy and stunt double heavy, starting with Exit Wounds. The last Segal film I ever enjoyed. Even back then, I always prefered Van Damme for actions scenes compared to Seagal. Van Damme is still a cool guy, and has heart. He always put effort in to his action films. The closest you're going to get to Van Damme now is Scott Adkins. I highly reccomend him, and would not mind if he became the next Batman. Dude, has done more than enough to earn his stripes. If he never gets a Batman role; no problem. He's already done two ninja movies as the lea.
I’m pretty sure Bloodsport was a better movie than all those
 

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I’m pretty sure Bloodsport was a better movie than all those
If you're referring to all of Seagal's films, yes. Though I admit, even some of VD's straight to VHS/DVD weren't hitters. Sure, better compared to Seagal's straight to home vid output, but not better than the former's own output. I was also never a fan of Sudden Death; too boring. Another thing, Lionheart and The Quest were literally Bloodsport again, but not as good. Ironic, because they were tons of straight-to-VHS sequels Bloodsport & Universal Soldier that had nothing to do with Van Damme. VD had 3 films in that US series that went straight-to-DVD. The Return (later declared non-can, cuz VD did not like the results), Regeneration and Day of Reckoning (which has Scott Adkins as the lead).
 

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Because of course they did.

Wasn't going to watch it anyway. Kind of lost me the moment they cast a middle-aged Asian as Spike. Spike was young (just twenty-seven) and obviously white. Good luck teaching a FORTY-EIGHT year old man how to fight like an amateur Bruce Lee.
I thought that's kinda was Gren ended up being. IIRC the ep in question, Gren was given a bunch of hormone treatments and thus ended up looking hermaphroditic because of it. Not sure exaclty what the actual term would be but he had boobs and it's implied Faye got weirded out seeing that and his dick at the same time.

Also, it's a character that shows up in 2 episodes and then dies, and honestly, Jupiter Jazz was never my favorite eps in the series.

Spike being Asian? Eh, I can see that. He was part of a Triad before he "Died" and the character design leaves it kinda open. Hell, Faye doesn't look like she's from Singapore that much until her flashback episode reveals she is. Hell, Anime is kinda notorious for presumably asian characters not looking particularly asian. God knows what Ed's background is, other then "Raised by Wolves".

I'm more concerned that it won't capture what made the anime work, regardless of casting. I also have to quest what the Live action series is gonna do that the anime didn't, because stuff like this just makes me think this is for people who find anime too offputting. Kinda like how we're getting another Live action Avatar:The Last Airbender for reasons.
 
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Kwak

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I thought non-binary meant something one identifies at, not hermaphroditism. Gren still seems to identify as a man (even if he dresses up as a woman to fool Vicious and make his statement about what happened in the last part of the story).
But then wouldn't it make sense that he does choose the non-binary label, as a way of coming to terms with the weird hand he'd been dealt?
 

Kwak

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Ok, as someone who has studied in Jeet Kune Do, I must stress that the style is adaptable. If you want to focus more on hands, do that.

but as well, Even Jackie Chan movies had kick stunt doubles.

That wasn't a jackie chan double though?
 

Ezekiel

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Chan was at his prime in the eighties. Did he have any kick doubles in Police Story?

Actually, he was already 44 in Who Am I, supporting my point.
 
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Ezekiel

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Funny thing about Seagal is Will Sasso was already making fun of his fake fighting in the very early 2000s.
 

Kwak

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Chan was at his prime in the eighties. Did he have any kick doubles in Police Story?

Actually, he was already 44 in Who Am I, supporting my point.
Those aren't jackie doubles, he's still doing it all himself.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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What with Carol and Tuesday? Or is this a reference to season 2, haven't watched it yet.
Carol and Tuesday has a few side characters who "due to exposure to the Martian atmosphere", have to start hormone therapy and present as a different gender than they had before they came to Mars.
It's pretty obviously a polite euphemism for various flavors of trans folks, which works as both setting information and fools localization teams and censorship boards, like how "confirmed bachelor" was used for gay men back in the day. Language and information has evolved drastically from the long ago times of 1998, when you could walk up directly to the airport gate without a TSA Handshake
 

Trunkage

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Carol and Tuesday has a few side characters who "due to exposure to the Martian atmosphere", have to start hormone therapy and present as a different gender than they had before they came to Mars.
It's pretty obviously a polite euphemism for various flavors of trans folks, which works as both setting information and fools localization teams and censorship boards, like how "confirmed bachelor" was used for gay men back in the day. Language and information has evolved drastically from the long ago times of 1998, when you could walk up directly to the airport gate without a TSA Handshake
I learnt about Boston marriages yesterday
 

ObsidianJones

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Chan was at his prime in the eighties. Did he have any kick doubles in Police Story?

Actually, he was already 44 in Who Am I, supporting my point.
In the video I posted, it was Ron Smoorenburg (At the time, a 23 year old Dutch Karate and Free Fighting expert when he shot "Who Am I?") who couldn't Keep up with Jackie.