Lazarus

An original anime directed by legendary Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy, Terror of Resonance), LAZARUS is a visually compelling anime that has good animation and character design by MAPPA, however is pulled down by weak story and over-the-top plot.

LAZARUS is a story about finding a scientist who disappeared after creating a medicine, which evidently will start killing it's consumers in 30 days time. While the premise sounded strong and the trailer looked good, the execution on the screen fell short. The storytelling is generic, uninspired, and often clumsy. There's no real tension, mystery, or emotional payoff. Everything feels like a rehash of sci-fi ideas that have been done dozens of times before, and done better. Although the anime started well, the second half got confusing with multiple subplot introductions and an inconsistent pace, resulting in an unpleasant outcome.

The best part of the anime is supposedly the music. Jazz, electronic, and ambient styles all come together to elevate scenes that otherwise wouldn't have much emotional impact.

Overall, LAZARUS is a classic case of wasted potential. It boasts top-tier animation, an impressive soundtrack, and a big-name creative team - but fails to back it up with anything meaningful narratively. Lazarus looks like prestige anime, but underneath the polish is a forgettable, soulless experience. A beautiful disappointment.

My Rating : 2.5/5.

Lazarus doesn't really do anything unique or mind-blowing. Like his previous works, the protagonist on a wild goose chase in search of something. In this case, he's in search of a doctor who holds the only cure for a medicine that will eventually kill everyone who took it ever. The premise is actually pretty tame, realistic, and contained compared to other Watanabe's works. The characters aren't really standouts, even the protagonist. I would say it's worth the watch if you like his other works Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy, Samurai Champloo but Lazarus honestly falls short of all of these titles by far. The dubbing also isn't good and breaks the gloomy vibe. I'd suggest the sub if you really want to not break immersion because sometimes the English VA is just...bad. The soundtrack, as per usual from Watanabe, delivers. The score during most scenes helps enhance the gloomy aesthetic that it's going for. Not a bad work by any means but it's not a must watch either.

It was a good show that explored similar themes of loneliness, much like Cowboy Bebop. The animation was solid-Mappa, as always, delivered incredible work. However, I felt the story lacked depth. While the characters' backstories were touched on, there were still many unanswered questions, and I didn't really connect with any of the characters, not even Axel. Given that Cowboy Bebop had twice the number of episodes, that's understandable. I wouldn't call this a bad anime, but I wouldn't say it's a great one either. If you're after action, good animation, a strong soundtrack, and themes similar to Cowboy Bebop, you might enjoy it. I hope that if there's a season 2, we'll see stronger character development.

Within seconds of watching the first episode, the abysmal voice acting was apparent, and not just from one or two characters but across the board. It's very obvious that they did not give the English voice casting an adequate budget. What's shocking about this is the fact that this series was created by the same guy responsible for Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, two of the best voice acted anime series ever created, but this show has bad voice acting even for an average anime.

Aside from that, Lazarus is extremely derivative and has a boring/generic setting. The whole premise of the show (so far, anyway) seems like it was thought up in a matter of minutes. It honestly feels like Watanabe is just kinda over making anime, and this was something he did simply because a really good offer came along.

Definitely don't go into this series expecting something on par with the likes of Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo. It's nowhere even close to that level of overall quality or artistic vision.

I finally finished Lazarus today after watching Episodes 12 and 13, pleased to say it ended beautifully. One of the coolest, satisfying anime endings you'll see in recent days.

While the premise of tasking a young but able crew to find a an ingenious scientist that holds the cure to his own fatal creation which has doomed humanity in 30 days seems an intriguing premise, the lack of style one would expect from a Shinichiro Watanabe anime (as he has somewhat proven with his previous anime animated at MAPPA "terror in resonance" in 2013), makes for a dull lackluster first half of the show, since he chose the story over visual uniqueness.

The melee combat action was good but at times felt like an add-on to the focus of the show. The choice of music in most scenes was really good, especially to note is the synthesizer music used at end of Episode 7 "Almost Blue" which was soo foreboding and heartrending.... Also noteworthy is the international locations the cast visits especially Islamabad!

The girls Christine, Eleina were very pretty, cute and hot but the main character, Axel, drives the badass action of the show and his faceoffs in the last episodes with a rival were enjoyable.

Its not the most mind-blowing TV show around but it was worth watching and you definitely will want to stay to see this "find me before time runs out" story play out. 11:45am 1.7.2025

*SPOILER FOR EPISODE 13* I feel sad for Dr. Skinner he really was a kind old homeless man till the end... And everything made sense when they revealed what happened to him at the airport. Mrs. Hersch crying for him was so pretty, she really did love him. And the music waning down and Axel laying on the couch in the barber shop with the cat... That was one of the most poignant, hearttouching, coolest anime endings I've ever seen 😭 11:02am 1.7.2025.