Why Cowboy Bebop's Wendee Lee Has A Lot To Say About The New Faye Valentine - Exclusive
Contains slight spoilers for the new "Cowboy Bebop" series
"Cowboy Bebop," the Netflix live-action series based on the anime that originally debuted in the late '90s, was always going to face an uphill battle with fans. The animated series it's based on is synonymous with the words "best," "anime," and "ever" and has been for decades.
Fans had many questions before the live-action series dropped on November 19, but there's one thing they did know: While the costume design for series stars Spike Spiegel (John Cho) and Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir) are almost 100% faithful to their cartoon counterparts, the third member of the Bebop crew, Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda), represents a departure, at least visually. Even the brief appearance of Radical Edward is virtually identical to the character's animated incarnation.
It's not hard to understand the costume changes. The original Faye Valentine's costume barely covered her, shall we say, ample dimensions — hardly the kind of outfit a real, human woman could feasibly wear while actively hunting bounties without near-constant wardrobe malfunctions. Pineda herself joked about fan expectations that she wear a cartoon-accurate costume, saying that it would be "slurped up in various crevices, never to be retrieved again," a both graphic and fair representation of Faye's original wedgie-tastic booty shorts.
We'd heard what Pineda had to say, but we were curious what the Wendee Lee, the actress who voiced the English-language version of the anime, had to say about Pineda's costume and the new Faye Valentine in general. Looper sat down with Lee and her English-language voice-acting cohorts to get their thoughts. In short, Wendee Lee has a lot to say on the subject.
Wendee Lee says to give new Cowboy Bebop a chance
It can be weird sharing characters with new actors after you've been the iconic English-speaking voices for "Cowboy Bebop" for so long. That said, the animated "Bebop" voice cast thinks "it's super important that the fans hear" their thoughts about the new show, according to Wendee Lee. "[Spike Spiegel voice actor] Steve Blum chose to make this a positive from the very first moment we heard there was going to be a new series and a live action series," she explains. "And we know that anime has made many stabs of bringing things to live action before that. And it's a growing experience. They haven't all been wonderful, but give the show a chance."
Lee especially extended that feeling for new Faye Valentine, Daniella Pineda: "Let's shake it up, give the girl a damn chance. I'm feeling very protective of her."
As for Pineda's video about the costume, Lee has seen that, too, and is a fan. "Yes, [Pineda] made a video in a robe and a towel and clearly after some fatigue and let it all hang out and told us exactly how she felt about running around in latex hot pants," says Lee. "You can't do roundhouse kicks in that kind of a costume. So give the girl a chance. Let's see what their inception of Faye is because you can't bring the [animated] Bebop version to life."
The complete "Cowboy Bebop" animated series is available through Funimation and Netflix, and the first season of the live-action "Cowboy Bebop" is streaming on Netflix now.