Lazarus is a new anime series set in the near future, but despite some great action sequences, the first five episodes feel incredibly slow. Set in the year 2055, Lazarus follows a special task force created to track down a genius scientist who, three years earlier, created a miracle drug capable of eliminating all pain and disease. However, when Dr. Skinner, creator of the Hapna drug, reveals that it will eventually kill everyone who took it, five misfits who make up Team Lazarus, named after the vaccine, must race against time to save the world.
The announcement of a drug that kills people is shocking in itself, and what's worse is that Skinner is nowhere to be seen. Team Lazarus searches for Skinner to find a cure, but with less than a month until people start dying, things aren't looking so good.
Creator: Shin'ichirô Watanabe
Stars: Mamoru Miyano, Makoto Furukawa, Maaya Uchida
The first season of Lazarus, created by Cowboy Bebop director Shin'ichirô Watanabe, unfolds over 13 episodes, representing the final 30-day countdown before people begin to die. With so much at stake, the series was expected to reflect the urgency and intensity of the situation, but progress is slow. The team reunion happens quickly in the first episode, but once they're together and set out to find Dr. Skinner, they don't move quickly.
To try to compensate for this slower pace of the story, the episodes contain intense action sequences that focus primarily on Axel, one of the core members of the team, an experienced escape artist, athlete, and fighter. Axel can fight people seemingly with both hands behind his back, while moving swiftly to avoid capture and injury. The action sequences are one of the best parts of the series, which makes sense considering that legendary John Wick director Chad Stahelski was directly involved in their design.
The action is great, and Axel is a compelling protagonist, but among the five-person team, he doesn't have enough relevance. The team dynamic doesn't mesh well, and the story suffers. And while the main plot revolves around the mystery of Dr. Skinner's whereabouts, the first five episodes barely advance the discovery of what's going on. There's a chance the rest of the season could move forward, but based on what's happening early on, it seems unlikely things will move quickly enough.
Lazarus has an incredibly compelling central premise. Unlike many other anime series, it's an original concept rather than an adaptation. This offers a double-edged conclusion, with the potential for the story to go in any direction and be completely unexpected. However, it also means it can't benefit from a pre-existing history for the characters. There's no backstory for the Lazarus team, so the series must delve deeper into their narratives and motivations. And while these themes are addressed for each character, none are particularly well-defined or fleshed out.
Considering the diversity and uniqueness of their abilities, there's still a lot of potential to be explored in the remaining episodes of the first season. Unfortunately, after spending hours with them, there's very little to generate a connection or a sincere commitment to these heroes. And with people about to die, there's no sense of urgency. Everything still feels mundane, boring, and ordinary, with the occasional reference to how nothing matters because everyone will die soon.
Visually, the series doesn't stand out much from other anime. The characters are less enigmatic, and the pacing feels incredibly sluggish. The concept is interesting, and the team has the potential to be special, but so far, Lazarus hasn't fully exploited either of them in its first five episodes. And with so much time to develop the story, it could lose a lot of interest before the series really delves into the nitty-gritty of the plot involving Dr. Skinner.
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