The original director of the Cowboy Bebop anime Shinichiro Watanabe may not be as involved with the Netflix adaptation as first thought.

In a resurfaced interview, Watanabe denies having much to do with the Netflix adaptation beyond seeing the original pitch for the live-action show. According to the site Bounding Into Comics, the director also voiced his disapproval for the pitch saying “That would leave a sour taste in my mouth” when asked about what he was shown.

The 2019 interview with Watanabe came back into the public eye thanks to a video by anime YouTuber Hero Hei who lays out the interview for fans that may not read Japanese (the original interview was with Otaquest Taku Takahashi).

Watanabe’s own displeasure echoes sentiments shared by fans when a first look at the series was posted by Netflix. Fans quickly criticized many aspects of Netflix’s involvement including their intention to “tone down” aspects of the original anime.

These criticisms came to a head earlier this month when Faye Valentine actress Daniella Pineda addressed fans and insulted their criticisms as unrealistic to achieve in addition to more personal attacks.

Pineda sarcastically apologized for not matching Faye’s body (“six foot, double D sized breasts, two inch waist; they looked everywhere for that woman and couldn’t find her, it’s kinda weird”), and her costume not being identical to the anime.

She went on to express her belief that it’s difficult if not impossible to perform action scenes well in a skimpy costume. “Y’know we tried, but doing stunts in tissue paper- things disappear, they rip, sometimes just got- [lodged].” After a cut for comic effect, Pineda continues, joking more accurate costumes had been made, but were “slurped up into my various crevices never to be retrieved again.” 

To make matters worse, according to actor John Cho last year, the production team had made no communication with Watanabe despite Netflix parading his name around as a consultant for the series.