15 details you missed in Netflix's 'Cowboy Bebop' reboot

Whilst the first episode of Netflix's "Cowboy Bebop" follows much of the storyline from the first episode of the original anime, the opening scene in the casino is clearly inspired by other parts of the anime, including the movie.

The look of the casino pays homage to the design of the casino in the "Honky Tonk Women" episode of the anime. The casino is called Watanabe Casinos, which is different from the anime but could be a shout-out to the anime series director Shinichirō Watanabe.

But the biggest callback is the mission Spike (John Cho) and Jet (Mustafa Shakir) are on. The way the mission plays out is almost just like the first bounty mission in the 2001 "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" except in the movie the almost-failed mission plays out in a convenience store rather than a casino. Netflix's "Cowboy Bebop" even had one of the robbers arrive late because they were in the toilet, just like in the movie.

From the jazzy soundtrack to the names of the episode, music is a key component of the original "Cowboy Bebop" anime. This is not surprising when "Bebop" is named after a style of Jazz music, as explained by Jet in episode 5.

Netflix's reboot is filled with musical references as well. Like the anime, each episode name has references to music such as "Callisto Soul" and "Darkside Tango." "Darkside Tango" actually features Faye Valentine (Danielle Pineda) performing a tango.

Netflix already announced that a big change from the anime was that Gren would be non-binary in the "Cowboy Bebop" reboot. However, it wasn't the only change they made for secondary characters from the anime.

Alisa, the lover that got away from Jet in the anime, is still Jet's former flame in the reboot but this time they had a child together and only broke up because Jet was framed and sent to prison. Alisa's new love is also a cop this time around rather than a criminal.

Annie, the old acquaintance of Spike from his criminal days in the anime, returns as the owner of a bar, instead of a small convenience store. Finally, Manley and Whitney, two people who helped con Faye in the anime, swapped genders for the reboot, turning Whitney into a mother figure to Faye.

Entertainment Weekly revealed that many of the original voice cast of the anime returned to voice the Japanese dubs of the remake.

Koichi Yamadera, Taiten Kusunoki, Megumi Hayashibara, and Norio Wakamoto, who were the voice actors for the three main characters of the anime and the main villain Vicious (played by Alex Hassell), are returning. So are the voices for Spike's love interest Julia, TV hosts Punch and Judy, the Teddy Bomber, Gren, Mao, and the twins, Shin and Lin.

"'Cowboy Bebop' is an important work for me," Yamadera, who voiced the anime's lead character Spike, told Entertainment Weekly. "I have long anticipated a live-action version. I can feel the strong respect it has toward the anime. I hope that viewers will see the atmosphere of the Spike character that I previously portrayed in John Cho's performance, who is skillfully taking on the role in this version.

"I hope that both people who love Cowboy Bebop and those who are new to the title can enjoy this new series!"

In the first episode, there is "Free Titan" graffiti on one of the walls in Tijuana. Titan and the Titan war is part of the backstory of Vicious and Gren in the original anime and in "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie." In "Jupiter Jazz" in the anime, we learn that Gren and Vicious became allies fighting together in the war.

Netflix reimagined Gren as nonbinary because, in the anime, Gren had both male and female body parts after being given an experimental drug. Gren is also Ana's right hand in the reboot, despite the characters never crossing paths in the anime.

Episode one also gives us an easter egg of the three old men that appear multiple times in the anime.

Antonio, Carlos, and Jobim are three characters often appearing as a trio that had multiple encounters with the Bebop crew. Their first appearance is in the anime's first episode, "Astroid Blues," from which the reboot's pilot gets its storyline.

In the original anime, one of the key shots from Spike's flashbacks of his dark past is the rose in the puddle. Whilst this scene is repeated in the reboot, there are other callbacks in the set and costumes. The first is that Julia (Elena Satine) is given a rose tattoo and it's the first thing we see of her when we are introduced to the character in episode one.

Later on in episode nine, when we get the full backstory, Julia's backstage door in Ana's bar also has a rose on it which shows its clear significance to the character.

The second episode's main bounty is a clear callback to the Teddy Bomber from the anime episode "Cowboy Funk." Whilst the story is changed a lot, one of the fun details that Netflix kept was the fact that no one really listened to the terrorist's manifesto for why he is blowing up multiple buildings.

Cowboy Andy who is in "Cowboy Funk" is later referenced by name, but not seen, in the reboot's fifth episode. His name is on the list of bounty hunters who are trying to capture the escaped prisoners. Earl Terpsichore is also on this list which could be a reference to Ural Terpsichore, the legendary bounty hunter in the anime introduced in "Heavy Metal Queen."

At the beginning of episode four, we see multiple references to brands with small changes to their name. For example Dr People instead of Dr Pepper and WcDowell's instead of McDonald's. The most obvious change was when they changed only one letter like Kodac instead of Kodak and Pudweiser instead of Budweiser.

Our first reference of Radical Ed, the child genius hacker of the Bebop crew in the anime, is in episode six where he helps Jet track down Dr Londes. On Jet's mobile screen, there was even the smiley face emoji that appears when Ed hacks stuff in the anime.

Ed finally appears at the very end of the season, implying that there is more story to tell. He tries to get Spike to chase a bounty who he calls the "Butterfly man" and "Volaju." Both of these are references to "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie." "Butterfly" is a song from the soundtrack and Vincent Volaju is the main antagonist from that movie.

At the end of "Galileo Hustle," we see Faye Valentine's videotape, which also appears in the anime. The quotes that the young Faye Valentine says are slightly similar to the speech given in the anime, except the video says it is meant to be seen 15 years in the future, not 10.

Young Faye Valentine also plays the same song from the anime during the tape called "Poor Faye (High Socks)." This is one of the more obvious moments when the reboot used songs from the anime. "Rain" and "Green Bird" were also used in the church scene in the reboot's finale just like in the anime.

Whilst the series finale is named different from the anime episode, it is inspired by "Ballad of Fallen Angels," Vicious references the forgotten episode name by using a lot of angel and devil imagery in his gloating speech.

The set design for the church they use in that scene is also almost a straight copy from one in "Ballad of Fallen Angels."

In the episode, Spike says that one of the slogans for Dr Londes was "Free your mind and the rest will follow," which is a line from the chorus of the hit song by En Vogue. It is also a callback to Dr Londes' origin in the anime. In the anime, the moniker was used by a hacker who pretended to free people's bodies by transferring their souls to the internet.

Spike's dream loop in the machine is also a callback to Julia's death in the anime. Each time Julia dies in the arms of Spike in similar ways to the anime. The fact that she does this in a dream sequence also links to how much the anime refers to the pair's tragic romance as a dream they have to wake up from.

In the anime's finale, Julia last words were "It's all a dream" as she died in Spike's arms. Netflix's reboot does not give Julia the same tragic ending but before she shoots Spike in the finale, Julia also says "you are nothing more than a dream I needed to wake up from."

Speaking to Insider, "Cowboy Bebop's" costume designer explained the minor callbacks with costumes used in the reboot, inspired by the improvisation used in bebop jazz music.

For example, Faye's costume has fastenings that had a "tiny little labyrinth" engraved on it to represent Faye trying to find herself due to her amnesia.

"And then, down the back of her leggings, there's this abstract print. It's the top view of block letters of 'Babes in Arms,' which is the name of the musical that the song My Funny Valentine comes from. And Faye Valentine's episode, when she's cryogenically frozen, [is called] My Funny Valentine," Holland added.

Meanwhile, for Gren (played by Mason Alexander Park], Holland said she had more freedom for the design because the character was being reimagined.

"The ballet was a bit of an influence which came from Mason," she told Insider. "There's the motif of the butterfly on the trophy buckle and jewelry, which is sort of about transformation and freedom."

One of Gren's costumes also has "they/them" written in code put on lapels because Park has a tattoo with those words and Holland says the code references David Bowie's final album which had code written on it.