Adult Swim's New Sci-Fi Action Anime Is Perfect For Cowboy Bebop Fans

Spoilers for "Lazarus" follow.

Shinichirō Watanabe is an anime auteur, most famous for directing 26-episode Space Western "Cowboy Bebop." The legacy of that show colors his career beyond just people remembering it as one of the best anime ever. Watanabe's later projects have sometimes felt like a response to or evolution of "Bebop." (His science-fiction musical drama "Carole & Tuesday" is set on the same terraformed Mars that "Bebop" often visited.)

The same can definitely be said of Watanabe's latest directorial project: "Lazarus." The series, animated at studio MAPPA ("Attack on Titan," "Jujutsu Kaisen") and produced by Sola Entertainment, is a 13-episode science-fiction action-thriller. Set in 2055 — similar to "Bebop," this future is within our lifetimes — the crux of the show is a miracle painkiller, Hapna.

Its inventor, Dr. Skinner, announces that the drug was designed to mutate after three years and soon, Hapna will kill everyone who took it. That means everyone in the world, or at least enough people that it might as well be. Skinner has disappeared, so a five-person task force, "Lazarus," is assembled from a group of criminals and secret agents: chronic prison escapee Axel, the all-business Doug, femme fatale Christine, the naive Leland, and master hacker Eleina. Their mission is to locate Skinner in 30 days, before the Hapna's lethal effects start hitting, and deliver his promised cure.

Crooks being roped in as secret agents obviously calls to mind "Suicide Squad" (which recently got the anime treatment itself), or even "Charlie's Angels." But if there's one lesson learned from "Cowboy Bebop," it's that you can't outrun your past. I'm comparing "Lazarus" to "Bebop" a lot here, but only because the show invites the comparison. The "Lazarus" marketing has leaned hard on the "Cowboy Bebop" connection. One "Lazarus" poster, showing close-ups of characters in one color each, even mirrors a famous "Cowboy Bebop" poster:

Sunrise Entertainment

Adult Swim

"Lazarus" will also have its American run on Adult Swim, the channel that made "Cowboy Bebop" into a favorite for millennial anime fans growing up in the U.S. 

Adult Swim has shared the first five episodes of "Lazarus" with /Film. Watanabe has said that five episodes is enough for a viewer to judge a TV show (hence why he made "Bebop" episode 5, "Ballad of Fallen Angels," such a slam dunk). Do the opening five episodes of "Lazarus" live up to the name of their director?

The title "Lazarus" is appropriate, because watching this anime will jolt you back to life! It's animated with the exact sort of energy and vibrancy Watanabe fanatics should expect.

Music is the soul of Watanabe's work. "Cowboy Bebop" takes its name from music, and is beloved in large part for Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts' jazz score, but it doesn't end there. All of the first five episodes of "Lazarus" are titled after famous songs (and presumably the remaining eight will be too):

1. Goodbye Cruel World

2. Life in the Fast Lane

3. Long Way From Home

4. Don't Stop The Dance

5. Pretty Vacant

In fact, with each new anime Watanabe directs, he pulls from a different musical genre. "Bebop" was jazz and the blues. "Samurai Champloo" saw him move onto hip-hop. The "Lazarus" score has some jazzy sounds (especially thanks to saxophonist Kamasi Washington), but it mixes that with more electronic music from the DJ Floating Points. "Cowboy Bebop" brought the music of the 1970s to the 2070s, whereas "Lazarus" is mixing old and modern for a just as unique sound.

The "Lazarus" title sequence, scored to "VORTEX" by Washington, resembles the "Cowboy Bebop" title sequence, "Tank!" and "Samurai Champloo" opening "Battlecry." Like those, "VORTEX" uses silhouetted characters, text as background art, and strong primary/secondary color palettes matched against strong blacks. The song, though, is rather lo-fi, fitting the visuals of each of the "Lazarus" leads falling down an abyss.

Before the title sequence, each "Lazarus" episode opens with an abstract montage; the visuals stay the same, but the voiceover changes. One of the main characters will monologue about why they took Hapna, how they feel about the end of the world, or some other philosophical musings. (Speaking of voiceover, the English dubbing of "Lazarus" is pretty seamless.)

Those opening monologue-montages are all the time that "Lazarus" has to sit still. "John Wick" director Chad Stahelski (who homaged the ending of "Cowboy Bebop" in his own film, "John Wick Chapter 4") designed action sequences on "Lazarus," and Watanabe animating Stahelski's choreography does not disappoint; Axel is as light on his feet like Spike Spiegel was, but takes it to the next level with Parkour. In episode 4, he spins Christine like they're dancing so she can shoot two men coming at them from opposite sides.

The action and mystery will be what keeps you hooked on "Lazarus." This is a globe-trotting spy thriller, with tastes of James Bond and "Mission: Impossible." While each episodes tends to focus on an individual Lazarus missions, the series' arc revolves around the single goal of finding Dr. Skinner.

Compare this to "Cowboy Bebop," where bounties were short-term contracts and characters didn't have a goal beyond just keep making it to the next day. "Samurai Champloo" was slightly more serialized, because the characters were searching for the "samurai who smells of sunflowers," but even there they weren't on a strict timetable. In "Lazarus," they've got thirty days before they fail. "Cowboy Bebop" signed off every episode with the message "See you, space cowboy," suggesting this adventure has closed but there'd be more coming. Each "Lazarus" episode ends with an updating countdown, reminding the viewer how many days are left until the Hapna turns lethal.

The trade-off for more immediacy results in "Lazarus" lacking many of the quieter moments that lifted "Bebop" and "Champloo" up. The "Lazarus" characters are a bit thin so far, falling mostly into familiar archetypes or echoes of previous Watanabe characters. Granted, some of these differences are by design; "Lazarus" will only be half the length of "Bebop" and "Champloo," and the genre its working in usually puts action before character. 

Ultimately, "Lazarus" is a fun thrill ride that will get your adrenaline pumping. Though a fantastic showcase for Watanabe as an action director, five episodes in, it doesn't have the melancholy of his past anime.

"Lazarus" premieres on Adult Swim on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Episodes will stream on Max the day after their Adult Swim premiere.