Shinichirō Watanabe is deemed one of the most respected anime directors currently. Once he’s on the director’s chair—or in other projects that he’s attached to—it automatically becomes one of the most pristine, unique anime, due to his unique direction that went against the waves of norms. He creates a world that blends the familiarity from other genres, while injecting his personal flair—particularly how he structures characters and his prowess in music production. We’ve seen this through his other famous works such as Cowboy Bebop, Terror in Resonance, and Samurai Champloo (My personal favorite). It is due to these qualities that audiences love Watanabe’s work, and a certain quality that has stood against time.

Hence, when Adult Swim and MAPPA declared that they’ll release a brand new anime with Watanabe on the seat—along with various western talents such as Chad Stahelski (Director of the John Wick Franchise)—it has become one of the most anticipated anime of the year. Unfortunately, it had fumbled. ***

Lazarus is an anime that follows various mercenaries looking for Dr. Skinner—a renowned scientist that went missing. In a world building sense, it is absolutely intriguing. The bleak display of the world (especially in the context of the certain “substance” in which the series revolves its lore into) is displayed in an interesting manner, creating an interesting critique and philosophy of a modern dystopian world, in addition to its mystery goose chase. Another highlight—and the show’s main attraction—is its unique action sequences in the anime field, with fluid, dynamic hand-to-hand combat, along with parkour sequences giving it one of the most adrenaline-filled, well-choreographed action sequences in anime in recent times. But alas, that's the extent of praise I can give to this anime. ***

To put things more bluntly, this anime felt passion-less, and there are many reasons for it. For instance, it does not have that distinctly captivating world building Watanabe is known for. Everything felt familiar with moments inspired from other Watanabe’s works, and famous films in recent history, but in these sequences, nothing new was added that made it distinct from the rest. Even the world that it tries to build and its message it preaches to us felt disingenuous, and the urgency the series presents does not show on screen, but rather was only brought in monotonous exposition dialogues. Not only that, it provides a lazy direction with how it reveals its revelations, either through cheap expositions, or viewing the events from afar, or a mix of both. As if the characters didn't really need to be there since the events can progress point-on-point without them anyways like they're just filler nuisance.

And speaking of characters in the series, they are barely interesting to follow. They have their own quirks that can give a bit of personality with them, but they felt like they’re written just to fulfill a stereotypical role in ensemble cast type of action series like these. We barely get to interact at an interpersonal level, or a proper heart-to-heart motivation between these characters in doing their cause, but instead, they're having their own solo realizations and dramatic moments, whist the rest are just bystanders,—barely any memorable cohesion with these characters (other than the ones that were delivered in an uninspiring dialogue), and if the series does attempt to be, it gets overshadowed by another sequence that's happening simultaneously, or the delivery is half-baked.

There are moments in Lazarus, but the journey to get those moments is a tedious slow-burn with a reward that doesn't fully satisfy the viewer, as if it feels like the series was supposed to be a 24 episode series that had to be condensed down in order to fit the needs of a corporate entity. For such talent behind this anime, and the huge potential this series proposes, watching it feels like the names behind this project is just a facade of a marketing ploy. Lazarus feels like it's directed by a committee, asking to copy the best elements of previous Watanabe works, create an interesting idea, and mish-mash them all together without wovening the threads—creating a jumbled mess of an anime. ***

Conclusion

For all the divisive opinions this anime got, it is safe to say that the anime does have an captivating plot that tingles the thoughts of viewers, but you are only left with your imagination to expand the world and deepen its lore. Lazarus only gave you the framework of a potentially amazing series that’s crushed by a premise and philosophy that I wished was given more time to explore. ***