Netflix released the Cowboy Bebop live-action on November 19, 2021. The series follows the ragtag crew of Spike Spiegel and his fellow space bounty hunters, who will save the world but not for free. However, the series lacked promise and its fans had to endure some traumatizing days because of the live-action adaptation. Thankfully for them, Netflix is home to several movies like Cowboy Bebop that they can explore.

While you can no longer watch more of the adaptation, you can always enjoy movies like Cowboy Bebop on Netflix that inspired the director of original anime Shinichiro Watanabe. So, if you want the same noir vibe of Cowboy Bebop, then keep reading and be sure to blast jazz tunes.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut

First in the list of movies like Cowboy Bebop is Blade Runner: The Final Cut. This might be just like you imagined, robots coming alive and capturing humans. Instead of robots, we have got bio-engineered humanoids called replicants. Rick Deckard serves as a blade runner tasked with hunting down and eliminating these replicants.

Shinichiro Watanabe has credited Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: The Final Cut for inspiring Spike’s character. Watanabe has even directed Black Out 2022, the animated prequel series to Blade Runner 2049.

Desperado

Inspiration comes to Watanabe from faraway places. Desperado, directed by Robert Rodriguez, is the second in the Mexico Trilogy, and it is a classic tale of revenge. A powerful crime gangster killed El Mariachi’s wife and El Mariachi seeks vengeance.

This plot will definitely ring some bells for Cowboy Bebop fans. As a matter of fact, the first episode of the show pays tribute to Desperado. You will also find a resemblance in the gunfights in Desperado and Cowboy Bebop.

Space Sweepers

Space Sweepers follows a crew of misfits with shady pasts onboard the ship Victory. Their fortunes change for good when they find out a rare lethal robot whom they can trade for a major ransom.

It would have been unfair for the space genre fans if we did not add a movie from the space western genre. This movie is even set 20 years after the events of Cowboy Bebop in 2092. Although it isn’t a sequel or spinoff to Cowboy Bebop, it will feel like one for the fans

Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro: Special Edition

While Cowboy Bebop centers on bounty hunters in space, Lupin sticks with the more realistic profession of thievery. Lupin follows Arsene, a genius thief who robs a casino and rescues a princess in that order.

Lupin the 3rd clearly seems to be Watanabe’s inspiration, with Cowboy Bebop also sharing the same type of humor. This was Studio Ghibli’s great Hayao Miyazaki’s debut feature directorial, which adds another reason to watch.

Have you watched any of these Netflix shows yet? Let us know which of these you loved the most.