Lazarus - Season 1

Lazarus is a Japanese anime created by animation studio MAPPA and directed by Shinichir? Watanabe, known for Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. Remember that classic 90s anime Cowboy Bebop? If you haven’t seen it, you should do so first. Its director, Shinichirō Watanabe, is back with Lazarus, a new anime that on paper had everything it took to become a hit. An interesting sci-fi story, a team-up featuring Watanabe himself, fight choreography by the man behind John Wick, and a production budget from Adult Swim. Everything seemed to be in place. But somewhere along the line, things went wrong. Why?

In Lazarus, we follow a makeshift team of five criminals who are sent to find Deniz Skinner (Koichi Yamadera, Neon Genesis Evangelion), a neuroscientist who has deceived humanity with his miracle drug, Hapna. In the first episode, and in the promotional material, it is already made clear that everyone who has taken the drug will die after three years. And well, those three years are almost up. Skinner has gone underground, and it is up to team Lazarus to track him down and obtain a vaccine. Small detail: they only have thirty days to do so. So time is literally of the essence.

Although the setting of the story is quite unique, the story quickly falls into a repetitive pattern: the team finds a lead, investigates it, gets stuck… and it starts all over again. On paper, Lazarus sounds very interesting, but so much repetition quickly becomes boring. We do learn a bit more about the team members in the first episodes, but it all remains rather superficial. If you know my other reviews, you know that I like well-developed characters. Lazarus is a bit disappointing in that regard.

Although the setting of the story is quite unique, the story quickly falls into a repetitive pattern

There are attempts here and there to give the story a twist, but not much really changes. The plot is rushed, especially towards the end. Important events are dealt with in a few minutes and emotional moments are barely given room to breathe. For example, there is the death of a character in episode eight. Such scenes deserve much more elaboration and the effects of those scenes should influence the story or touch one of the characters. But yes, that does not work in only thirteen episodes.

What bothered me the most, however, were the final moments. The grand finale. While part of the team is finally getting close to Skinner, the whole point of the team, Axel (Mamoru Miyano, Death Note) is locked in a fight with a random assassin who is obsessed with his necklace. The fight feels pointless, like it was forced in to add some action at the end. It lacks the emotional weight you might know from Watanabe’s previous works like Bebop and Samurai Champloo.

Lazarus certainly has its highlights. The soundtrack is great. Jazzy, funky, stylish. It sets the tone for different scenes perfectly. The same goes for the animation, done by MAPPA. [quote-7959]When I saw the trailer, I was already reminded of Watanabe's earlier work, and that feeling remained while watching Lazarus. MAPPA does give it its own twist, but together with the soundtrack you can clearly see the sources of inspiration. It feels like a kind of homage to Cowboy Bebop. In addition to the solid MAPPA animation that we have become accustomed to, the strong voice cast also brings life to the otherwise colorless characters.

It feels like an homage to Cowboy Bebop.

Lazarus has all the ingredients to become something special, but it ends up in the middle because of a poorly developed story, flat characters and a rushed ending. Where Watanabe had more than twenty episodes to tell his story with Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, Lazarus painfully shows how limiting thirteen episodes can be. The potential is visible, but these moments are unfortunately too few.