None of the scary criminals that Spike Spiegel and Bebop’s bounty hunters have encountered over the years are more frightening than Pierrot le Fou. As a result of twisted and prolonged experiments, Mad Pierrot is one of the deadliest and most insane killers in the bebop cowboy universe.
And while Pierrot makes an unforgettable appearance on the Netflix live stream of Cowboy Bebop, the story of the troublemaker and why he hunted Spike has changed dramatically compared to the original animated series.
In the bebop cowboy anime, Spike meets Pierrot, who makes a bloody assassination attempt when he comes out of a pool late at night. As a witness to the murder, Piero mercilessly defeats Spike and prepares to kill him to wipe out all witnesses in front of a stray cat. The quick thought allows Spike to escape the nightmare encounter with his life.
As Spike recovers from his injuries and responds to Pierrot’s invitation to a rematch in an abandoned amusement park, Jet Black discovers that Pierrot has escaped from the test unit, where he received his deadly abilities, but retains a deep fear of cats. His cats a scientists who constantly monitored the invasive procedures he was subjected to during his experiments.
Much of Pierrot’s story is preserved in the live cowboy bebop series. However, the maniac remains imprisoned and not a killer. And instead of being afraid of cats, Pierrot is fearful of dogs because he has been locked inside their cages with many dogs barking. When he is told of Pierrot’s murder potential, Vicious leads a personal revolt to get the super genetic soldier out of captivity.
A grateful Pierrot accepts Vicious’s request to go after Spike and kill him as his first target. And with this change in phobia, he’s Bebop’s loyal companion dog, the one who saves Spike’s life and shows up just in time to chase Pierrot instead of a random stray cat.
This shift in motivation makes Pierrot’s live-action somewhat less frightening. The spontaneity of an unintentional encounter with a killer obsessed with eliminating any witness unlucky enough to cross his path has something scary, like Spike in the animated series.
Much of Pierrot’s physical appearance and the conditions for his last confrontation with Spike have been retained. Still, he also connects this confrontation more with Vicious’ overall story. He tortures Spike as part of his long feud, often from afar, while climbing throughout the season. Join the ranks of the unions.
When Pierrot the Mad was initially portrayed as an assassin, the idea of embarking on a mission to kill Vicious is certainly not beyond the character’s purpose. Unbalanced and grueling as always, Pierrot is a character who fights Spike for his money while continuing to organize a rematch between Spike and Vicious as his revenge becomes more and more explosive.
And while Spike confronts Pierrot alone and does not show up in time for Faye Valentine to distract Pierrot so Spike can launch an effective counterattack, the gray-haired bounty hunter still triumphs during the ordeal.
