Forum - View topicLazarus (TV).
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Edjwald
 Posts: 3507 |
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Lazarus (TV) Source: Original (by Shinichiro Watanabe) Demographic: Seinen Animation Studio: MAPPA Genres: action, adventure, comedy, drama, mystery, science fiction, thriller Themes: apocalyptic, detective, factions, future, secret organization, technology, United States, virus Plot Summary: The year is 2052 - an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity prevails across the globe. The reason for this: mankind has been freed from sickness and pain. Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Dr. Skinner has developed a miracle cure-all drug with no apparent drawbacks called Hapuna. Hapuna soon becomes ubiquitous… and essential. However, soon after Hapuna is officially introduced, Dr. Skinner vanishes. Three years later, the world has moved on. But Dr. Skinner has returned - this time, as a harbinger of doom. Skinner announces that Hapuna has a short half-life. Everyone who has taken it will die approximately three years later. Death is coming for this sinful world - and coming soon. As a response to this threat, a special task force of five agents is gathered from across the world to save humanity from Skinner's plan. This group is called "Lazarus." Air Date & Platform: April 06, 2025 (Sunday) Available on: Adult Swim, HBO Max Episode Count / Runtime: 13 episodes [EDIT: Fancy opener stuff edited. -TK] |
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smurky turkey
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The trailer and synopsis have me pretty interested, I do question the plan to leave hummanity's fate in the hands of five people though.
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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Even if *I* was one of the five?
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Edjwald
Posts: 3507 |
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Well, sure, you need somebody to test the experimental cure on once you find the darn thing, but that still only leaves 4 people.... |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4990 |
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Plus the very large risk of him getting distracted by some cute girls.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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Episode 1
That might be the best animated foot chase I've ever watched. I can't imagine the show has the budget to do that kind of thing every episode but it certainly made for a spectacular introduction. This definitely seems like it's going to be delivering on the slick action front. I find Axel to be a knob... somebody offers you a chance to get out of prison but that's not fun enough, so you have to break out. Plus, the prison administration are clearly idiots... you let a prisoner known for his desire and ability to escape out of his cell in just a pair of handcuffs to have a visit in an open area? Gee, what can go wrong? Anyway, I'll be watching this, for sure. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 3507 |
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I agree that the guy doesn't seem to have much in the way of long term thinking or sense of community. It makes me wonder exactly what he did to get an 800 + year prison sentence since he doesn't seem to be the murderous type. Maybe he stole the crown jewels, or more likely, some politician's flash drive.
And I agree that the action was friggin' fantastico, with a great premise too. With Kowloon Generic Romance, Sword of the Demon Hunter, and Anne Shirley that make 4 anime pilots that I've seen for the new season that I'd consider top of the line, premium quality, and all for different reasons. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4990 |
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Yeah, while last season was pretty great this one has started off even stronger. Lazarus is another must see with a rather interesting plot, great animation and a group of unique individuals trying to save humanity. I do wonder about Hapuna though, I can buy a wonder painkiller being used by the majority of humanity eventually but it has only been three years plus there are lots of people who do not use painkillers right?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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I had the same thought, smurky. Plus, you have to assume a whole bunch of children haven't had it either, so the premise doesn't really make a ton of sense, but I'm just going with it.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 3443 |
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#1
THE action spectacle for this season, what with the director and production case having proven track records for this kind of show. Rumours about a tie up with live action choreographer specifically for this show seem to be borne out by those outlandish parkour sequences as well. A genius pharmacist makes a drug that's too good to be true, and it turns out it is. With most of the world scheduled to start dying in stages within 30 days, even if the young are spared due to lack of the drug in their bloodstream the best case would be civilization regressing several decades as the survivors fend for themselves with what resources they can scavenge (after all it's assumed farming and food production will have collapsed with most adults capable of doing so with the knowledge and skills no longer around). Whatever the motives of Dr Skinner, the time pressure he's imposed means it's more practical to just find him within the time limit and hope he isn't lying about the cure. The organization Lazarus appears to be a motley crew of specialists assembled to hunt Skinner down, and the main focus is on the indefinitely incarcerated inmate and serial jailbreaker Alex Gilberto. I would expect he's not taken Hapna since he's already in prison when it's in circulation, so they press ganged him for both his skills and his likely immunity to the impending doomsday. The others vary, but the kid who opted to give up schooling appears to be an expert drone pilot and like Alex is unlikely to have consumed Hapna. As an action spectacle, this original work is worth the price of admission on its set pieces alone. Watching Alex vault his way through just about anywhere is great entertainment, and most of the pilot episode is focused on him and his hijinks. Problem is, this kind of action cannot be repeated indefinitely or it'll get boring, so there has to be more than that to keep viewers interested. The story has a decent hook if a little cliched, so how the action is dovetailed with the plot will go a long way towards the final assessment of this work. Last edited by Harleyquin on Thu Apr 10, 2025 9:07 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 12058 Location: Frisco, TX |
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The Cowboy Bebop vibes were almost uncanny with Episode 01, aside from the plot (which felt more like something out of Terror in Resonance). That whole chase sequence was very reminiscent of the animation in Knockin' on Heaven's Door, and this isn't even a movie! The choreography, cinematography, and music had me all giddy, and I'm also liking the cast of characters a lot. Also good to hear Bebop veteran seiyuu play some of the support characters. I'm a little bummed this is only scheduled for 13 episodes. But with that quality animation (and hopefully a great story to go with it), here's hoping for a ride as wild as that foot chase.
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ACｘS
 Posts: 1226 |
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1:
(DontSayCowboy, DontSayCowboy, DontSayCowboy) ...is this Cowboy Bebo--, ah sh*t. I'll be honest: the show looks like Cowboy Bebop, but it doesn't feel like Cowboy Bebop. I know it's the same director, but I only get reminded of that show in bits and pieces. The motley crew, the jazzy tunes, the dystopian future, and all that. But do you know which other shows reminded me more of CB than this? Baccano. Space Dandy. Yeah, Shinichiro Watanabe was behind that show too. Maybe it's because the show is more drab and more laid-back, so yeah, I get the same vibes as Terror in Resonance. So wait... in the future, Dr. Skinner developed this "ultra-fentanyl", then houdinis, then reappears, claims that it was just poison, and everyone will die in a month. Nobody else can fix it because Dr. Skinner is too big-brain. Meantime, the world goes to sh*t. Hmm... hmm... wait, what? Nah, this is wayyyy too convenient. Feels like CB: Knockin' on Heaven's Door and Ready Player One rolled into one. There are so many holes in the premise, but you know what, sure, let's roll with it. We have our Suicide Squad and Amanda Waller so LFG. I'm not blown away by the first episode, but man, MAPPA is *not sparing any dime producing this show. Gonna be a fun ride nonetheless. *Man, how much was Megumi Hayashibara be paid to come back from retirement, goddamn. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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Episode 2
Well, that's a cool hide-out and cool cars. Show is slick as hell. I'm enjoying the ride by not trying to think too deeply about things. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 3443 |
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#2
Although the show is helmed by the person made famous by Cowboy Bebop and the animation studio is Mappa, the style and presentation of the show is less anime and more like what Netflix would do with its original animation projects which don't have Japanese involvement. Regardless, everyone signed up for it seems plenty motivated to bring out something flashy. Unlike last week's pilot, this week's action sequences are shorter and more "traditional" (if one could call a free for all shootout cum brawl traditional). Even then, the set piece isn't even the focus for the episode. The exposition (in particular who the target is) takes centre stage. So the world being depicted is even more of a dystopia than the one we live in and a scientist with prodigal IQ, plenty of material means and enough seething outrage at the rest of civilization's self-destructive tendencies takes matters into his own hands. He will still do good in his own way with the people he can interact it with personally, but he'd rather see human beings wiped off the planet to give any survivors (human or animal) a better chance at long-term survival. The self-serving youth in this adaptation don't help their cause, with just about everyone on a drug addiction which guarantees that enough of a critical mass of humanity dies at the same time that the survivors will die of attrition or violence in the aftermath. To top it off, he like a bit of sport and is well aware of the capabilities the rest of the world has to try and catch him now that the gauntlet has been laid down. As for the rest of our ragtag team, we know about the prison-break Parkour prisoner and the genius hacker supporting the team from the back office. The others in the team are all in it because they've committed some crime or another and have a unique skill which has interested the handler enough to recruit them. The school dropout seems to have the gift of the gab, being able to get hostile debt collectors and unpaid vendors to drop their weapons and laugh out their frustrations. I imagine the rest of the team backgrounds will be explained in more detail as the series progresses. Two days in-universe and not much progress as any lead available by electronic means appears to be suspect and unreliable. Yet it's the only thing they have bar deux ex machina, which is unlikely at this point. The multiple faces match itself could be a lead, but the genius hacker Elaine has work to do if she wants to find anything traceable from the subterfuge. An early lead is a dud, but the series seems to have a knack for throwing in seemingly random action set pieces into the show and somehow keeping the storyline going. Perhaps something similar for next week? |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4990 |
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Talk about a stylish show. From the opening to the credits it is amazing looking visuals plus a lot of style. Not thinking too deeply about things is likely the best option since there are several story aspects that do not make a lot of sense. I do wonder what Skinner's plan is though. Is it supposed to be some kind of test for humanity to prove that they can come together and are thus fit to survive? You could say that he simply wants humanity to go extinct but why warn them at all if that is the case.
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