Review of Lazarus
Lazarus is an interesting show. From the legendary creator of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, Shinichiro Watanabe and other big names including Bonobo for the OST and Chad Stahelski of the John Wick fame, it was one of the most anticipated shows of the year. Yet it turned out to be a disappointment for many and did not reach the potential that it had. Despite its flaws, I found it to be quite enjoyable. Is it as bad as the other reviews says? No. Is it worth watching? Yes it is. The story starts with a genius scientist who creates a drug that relieves anyone ofsadness and pain without any side effects. As such it spreads across the globe. But then he mysteriously vanishes, emerging after 3 years announcing to the world that the drug is basically a poison and it will kill it's first users within a month as designed unless they find him. A task force codename Lazarus is assembled to locate the scientist and get the cure. Already you have a great concept. But it lacks proper execution. The episodes are somewhat inconsistent in quality. There were some really good eps, quite cinematic actually. But then you also have the team going on wild goose chases without making much progress. They were fun but would have been better if it were episodic and not a continuous story as it was. It also felt like the 1st half and 2nd were very different with its priorities and plot. The pacing was good as it moved at a brisk pace. The biggest highlight of the show however were the fights. Choreographed by Chad Stahelski, the man behind John Wick. He carried that essence over here and absolutely killed it. It easily had some of the best fights of the year. Fluidly animated, realistic, hand to hand combat, gun fights and some parkour too. Lot of movement and dynamic cinematography which made it enganging. They were exciting and hype as hell.
The characters were fine. Axel the prisoner breaker, Eleina the Tech wiz, Doug the Black Guy, Christine the Hot chick and the Leland the Kid. Instead of his usual trio, they opt for 5 MCs and thats problematic. They didn't have enough time to cover all of them in 13 eps. There were some character moments but they lacked depth. They did as the plot ordained. Axel was the most interesting one. Like a free flowing guy, unchained by the world. Yet he felt like a shadow of Shinichiro's former MCs.
The animation was fantastic. The backgrounds looked almost photo realistic with its 2.5 or 3D animation if I'm not mistaken, along with some great cinematography and storyboarding all blending together to create some really stunning sceneries and aesthetics. I loved the artstyle. There were some inconsistencies with the character models towards the latter half of the show but thats MAPPA as usual. As I already mentioned the fights were incredibly animated and a treat to watch.
The soundtrack was goood with Bonobo, Kamashi Washington and Floating Points. Bonobo was the biggest surprise as I'm very familiar with his work for quite a long time now. While the songs themselves are good, they seemed to lack direction. It's like someone just told them to do their thing without the when and why. The musical placement/choices seemed to be off at certain places. The OP was nice, aesthetically and musically. The Ed was aight. Saying all of this in Shinichiro Watanabe's show is mindboggling since he's a man of music with top notch musical taste.
The writing was heavily flawed. Coming to action writing, initially it was fine to me with its Hollywood logic and tropes like a gun not running out of ammo or enemies missing aim. But then it got ridiculous like guy surviving a fall from the rooftop with minor scratches lol. Bigger problem has to do with the plot writing as there multiple instances of dumb writing choices and lack of explanation. Humanity is facing a race against time yet there is a lack of urgency and everyone goes about their day like its Sunday lol. Lack of tension is an understatement. Then you have this Assassin sub plot shoe horned at the last min and all you can ask is Why.
I had fewer problems with the show, that was till the ending. I make it a point to talk about endings given how many shitty endings we got in recent times. They had a chance to resolve stuff but you get the most underwhelming finale of like the year. It felt rushed. Skinner's plot line was skinny as hell, the bad guys get dealt with very easily, everything gets resolved like fk it. It's like were winging it till the end like flappy birds.
I believe I know what the issue is. It has to do with too many cooks ruining the broth and some greasy fingers. I present you with the hitlist for all the atrocities starting with one Jason DeMarco. He's the producer for this along with other anime like Uzumaki, Ninja Kamuy, the Suicide Squad anime etc. Its like everything this guy touches turns a train wreck. The show's affiliated with Adult Swim and licensed by Warner Bros. But it looks like they just wanted their greasy hands on the anime pie since everyone and their mama wants one now. They seem to have influenced the show's making. As such it lacks the creative freedom like it usually does.
It's interesting that the english dub seemed to be the only one available in some places. I've listened to both of them and gotta say sub wins. With Mayoru Miyano as Axel doing what he does best and Makoto Furukawa as Doug also killed it amongst others. Compared to that the eng dub sounded rather wooden and more like an Ai. I hear it's because of an incompetent dub director which is likely the case here. Its a shame since his shows are usually great in dub.
Tl;Dr - Good show if you're looking amazing fights and animation. Bad if you're looking characters, plot and writing. All style and no substance kinda thing.
Similar shows: The obvious ones would be the Shinichiro trio: Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy. But this goes into the great premise, bad execution territory, maybe having great production values: Terror in Resonance, Kabeneri of the Iron Fortress, Babylon.
Rating:
Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2.5-3/5
Animation: 4.5/5
Music: 4/5
Overall: 2.5-3/10 or 7.5-8/10