Netflix’s New Yellowstone Meets Cowboy Bebop Debuts To Rare Rotten Tomatoes Score

Although much has been said about Netflix’s struggle with original shows, as returning comedies and dramas tend to lose some of their audience each season, animation has been a bright spot. Blue Eye Samurai is returning in January. Devil May Cry, which combines horror with action and adventure, has likewise been renewed.

Bass x Machina, now streaming on Netflix, is another genre-mixing anime. It fuses the Western backdrop of Yellowstone with the neon steampunk stylings of Cowboy Bebop. It’s led by a familiar voice as the legendary Bass Reeves, though it places the historical figure in a very different environment.

Bass x Machina has kicked off with a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The score currently comes from just seven reviews, meaning the numbers could shift as critics continue to weigh in over the coming days and weeks. The Average of Rated Reviews, viewable by clicking the Tomatometer, stands at 8.60 out of 10. This points to an especially strong early critical response.

The latest Netflix Original unfolds in a Steampunk vision of the West where the law has lost its power. Instead, brutal outlaws rule. In this environment, machines and supernatural terrors run rampant. This is where the focus shifts to the title character, who has to become “judge, jury, and executioner, knowing full well that it could cost him his family and all the people that he is trying to save.

The series is created by LeSean Thomas, whose previous credits include Adult Swim’s Black Dynamite, Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra, and the adult-animation satire The Boondocks,hailed as a classic of its genre. Atlanta and Eternals star Brian Tyree Henry leads the cast as Bass Reeves. The Oscar-nominated actor lends his voice alongside Janelle Monáe, Tati Gabrielle, Cree Summer, Chaske Spencer, Currie Graham, and Starletta DuPois.

ScreenRant‘s review of Bass x Machina by Grant Hermanns praises the show’s blend of anime and Western, noting that Studio Mir delivers visuals that will appeal to viewers and shows how the steampunk sci-fi deftly handles themes that might overwhelm in lesser hands. Hermanns notes that, nonetheless, the narrative does feel a little incomplete at just six episodes.

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That may, however, be a selling point for audiences not looking for a big time commitment. That’s especially true since similar praise echoes elsewhere. Early reviews of Bass X Machina often praise how the series stages its action by finding the space between distinctive anime-inspired scenes, while never straying too far from either Westerns or the realm of steampunk sci-fi and science-fiction elements.

Bass x Machina offers more than inventive action and striking visuals, though. The streaming original is co-written by Chad Handley, whose previous work includes HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. It’s at least worth a sample, since it’s shaping up to be a gem closing out 2026.

All episodes of Bass x Machina are now on Netflix.

Bass X Machina