The first thing that strikes us about Lazarus is the relative silence surrounding the launch of the series – on Max in France with one episode per week – when on paper, it should make a big splash. It is, after all, the new baby of Shinichirō Watanabe, father of a work that has entered the Pantheon of Japanese animation (yes, it's a fact): Cowboy Bebop. A man who has managed to reinvent himself several times while retaining his recognizable style, notably around productions like Samurai Champloo or Space Dandy. On Lazarus, he even benefits from the help of Chad Stahelski, a name now well known to fans of the John Wick license, on the action sequences. So what more could you ask for?
It's 2055, a future far removed from our reality, but not far enough away that we can't feel the depths of truth that will follow. Three years ago, Dr. Skinner created a miracle drug that eliminates all pain and cures many diseases, Hapna. The whole world jumped on it while Skinner mysteriously disappeared. Today, Skinner has reappeared with a sinister message: Hapna will kill anyone who takes it within thirty days. He alone has the antidote. A secret organization sets up a cell of five agents to find the scientist before humanity is doomed.
1 / For those nostalgic for Cowboy Bebop…
From the opening credits, fans of Spike, Faye, Jet, Ein, and Ed will feel right at home. Watanabe, who has never been afraid to release diverse creations, seems to want to look in the rearview mirror by offering a series whose inspiration is never far from his greatest masterpiece. And we're not just talking about a jazzy soundtrack and a motley group of heroes, which are more of a trademark. No, the similarities play out on several levels. The most obvious is in the composition of said group. Although there are nuances, it seems difficult not to compare his Axel, a kung-fu and parkour enthusiast, to Spike's nonchalant demeanor. Doug is a cool-headed team leader reminiscent of Jet. Eleina is a young hacker with her eye on Ed...
The same story is told in terms of artistic direction. While the environment is different, we find this desaturated, metallic aspect, with certain settings reminiscent of the carcass of the ships of his model. The introductory and closing credits seem to echo the codes of those we so appreciated years earlier. In the five episodes that were offered to us, although the narrative structure is completely different, there is still this taste of failure. And then what about the little countdown concluding each episode, whose font recalls the famous “See you Space Cowboy”.
2 / … who don’t want to stop at Cowboy Bebop
Presented like that, Lazarus actually suggests that Watanabe is caught red-handed for a lack of originality. Nevertheless, the series develops its own weapons that allow it to allow references while avoiding copying. The creator, like society, has evolved and remains in step with the concerns of his time. Pharmaceutical companies, the powerful, the poor, tabloids, ecology… The author uses his initial situation to scratch a system and asks the question of whether humanity really deserves to be saved, not to turn the matter into derision at times. Far from the nihilism of Bebop, Lazarus is a modern concern.
The show also stands out in its approach, and Chad Stahelski's contribution to the project is evident, especially in the first episode, which is resolutely action-oriented, with Axel's spectacular escape, a mix between Chad's concern for realism and Shinichirō's dear theatricality. Likewise in the third episode, where the fight strengthens the bonds between the characters and takes the form of a dance. The MAPPA studio (Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen) did a lot of work to make everything as fluid as possible. One of the most relevant examples of the distance between Watanabe in Bebop and that of Lazarus lies in the character of Chris, a femme fatale far removed from the sexualization of Faye Valentine.
3 / An Ocean of Promises
Not everything is perfect in Lazarus, at least in the five episodes we've seen. The urgency of the situation never seems like a real problem, the consequences of the announcement on the population – aside from a narrative sequence introducing each episode – remain mostly invisible, and character development is, for the moment, reduced to the bare minimum. Except that this doesn't manage to spoil the pleasure taken in front of the series because we feel that the answers are coming, that Lazarus still has many cards to play and that they promise great things.
A hope carried by our faith in Watanabe, obviously, but, above all, because we see that the show has an established direction, offering us some elements of answers to the drop by drop, revealing the past of our protagonists in the course of a sentence... As soon as we think it's going to go around in circles, the plot takes a step forward, announcing that our expectations will be rewarded. We'll be there. See you Lazarus.
Note that Max only offers the series in English or French version and not the original Japanese dub. A bad point for the platform.
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