is an original

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series produced by

MAPPA is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Nakano, Tokyo (formerly in Suginami, Tokyo). Founded in 2011 by Madhouse co-founder and producer Masao Maruyama, it has produced anime works including '' Terror in Resonance'', '' Yuri!!! on I ...

and Sola Entertainment that was created and directed by

Shinichirō Watanabe is a Japanese anime television and film director, best known for directing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful anime series ''Cowboy Bebop'', '' Samurai Champloo'', '' Space Dandy'', '' Terror in Resonance'', and '' Carole & T ...

. The series premiered in Japan on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.its affiliates and in the United States on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...

programming block in April 2025.

Plot

In the utopian year 2049, the world-renowned

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

Dr. Skinner has discovered a miracle analgesic drug known as "Hapna" that completely relieves the user of any pain, shortly before disappearing off the face of the Earth. Three years later in 2052, Skinner resurfaces to the public in an online video to announce that the drug has a three-year

half-life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay. Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to: Film * Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang * ''Half Life: ...

and soon everyone who took it will die. A task force of five agents, called "Lazarus", is assembled to locate Skinner within 30 days before the first wave of Hapna users die and create a vaccine.

Characters

; : : A 23-year-old Brazilian man who was originally in jail for three years on a minor charge, but has since racked up several life sentences totaling 888 years due to his habit of finding ways to break out of whatever prison he's sent to. Incredibly agile and seemingly fearless, he can use his wits and his physical

parkour Parkour () is an athletic Training#Physical training, training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called ''traceurs'') attempt to get from one point to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment ...

abilities to escape almost any situation. He's a straightforward and friendly person, but he also exudes a somewhat solitary persona. ; : : A 23-year-old Nigerian man who's intellectual and the coordinator of the Lazarus team. He has great physical abilities and stays calm and collected under pressure. He's sensitive and delicate, paying attention to the small details. He also has a high level of pride. In college, he majored in physics as a student and once looked up to Dr. Skinner as a role model before the Hapna revelation. ; : : A young Russian woman who's generally cheerful and frank, talking to anyone in a friendly manner. She's a gun specialist skilled in many kinds of firearms. She drinks a lot, is optimistic, and has a rough big-sister type personality that doesn't flatter men nor women. ; : : A 16-year-old teenage boy from Canada who's skilled in piloting drones. He reads the situation and speaks accordingly, but he doesn't say what he really thinks. He also doesn't like to talk about his family due to his complicated background. One of his hobbies is

egosurfing Egosurfing (also vanity searching, egosearching, egogoogling, autogoogling, self-googling) is the practice of searching for one's own name, or pseudonym on a popular search engine in order to review the results. Similarly, an egosurfer is one who ...

. ; : : A 15-year-old teenage girl from Hong Kong who has communication issues and has trouble joining in with people's conversations, but is also a world-famous covert hacker known as the "Mad Screamer". ; : : The commanding leader of the Lazarus team, an older woman who acts as their point of contact with the U.S. government. She has many connections with large corporations and national organizations. She is efficient and does her job without being swayed by emotions. She can be frightening when angry. ; : : The current director of the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

(National Security Agency). He's unfazed and always remains calm. His overly rational way of thinking has led to his colleagues spreading rumors that he's actually a human AI. ; : : A three-time

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

recipient neuroscientist who has deceived humanity with his seemingly cure-all wonder drug, Hapna, which is later revealed to be a deadly poison that will kill everyone who has taken it after three years. He claims that the first wave of people will die in approximately 30 days following his announcement, unless they can track him down.

Production and release

The series was announced by

in July 2023, and is directed by

, most notable for directing the ''

Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 Japanese neo-noir space Western anime television series that aired on TV Tokyo and Wowow from 1998 to 1999. It was created and animated by Sunrise (company), Sunrise, led by a production team of director Shinichirō Watanabe, ...

'' anime television series. Chad Stahelski, who is notable for directing the ''

John Wick ''John Wick'' is an American media franchise created by Derek Kolstad. It centers on a neo-noir action thriller film series featuring titular character portrayed by Keanu Reeves. Wick is a legendary hitman who is reluctantly drawn back int ...

'' film franchise, designed the action sequences. For music composition, the series features a score by jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and producers, DJs, and musicians

Bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee (less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee), is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus ''Pan (genus), Pan'' (the other bei ...

and

Floating Points Samuel Shepherd (born 1986), known professionally as Floating Points, is a British electronic music producer, DJ, and musician. He is the founder of Pluto Records, co-founder of Eglo Records and leader of a 16-piece group called Floating Poin ...

. Animation for the series is done by

, while Sola Entertainment handles general production. A teaser trailer for the series was shown at Adult Swim's "Toonami on the Green" panel at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

two days later on July 22. In July 2024, it was announced that the series would air in 2025. In an interview conducted in October 2024, Watanabe said that the

opioid crisis The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse or abuse, and Drug overdose, overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates or opioids since th ...

was one of the inspirations he had for creating the anime. He mentioned that the production team worked closely with Stahelski so they could be provided with fight scene choreographies and on how the team needed to recruit animators outside of Japan due to a lack of experienced animators they could recruit domestically for such sequences. In a November 2024 interview, Watanabe mentioned that he held the ''John Wick'' films in high regard on how the fight scenes were done. In December 2024, a new visual was released along with the announcement that Kamasi Washington would compose the opening theme song "Vortex", while

The Boo Radleys The Boo Radleys are an English alternative rock band who were associated with the shoegazing and Britpop movements in the 1990s. They originally formed in Wallasey, England, in 1988, with singer/guitarist Simon "Sice" Rowbottom, guitarist/songwr ...

perform the ending theme song "Lazarus". "Dark Will Fall" performed by Bonobo featuring Jacob Lusk and "Beyond the Sky" performed by Bonobo featuring Nicole Miglis were used as insert songs at the respective beginnings of the first and ninth episodes. In January 2025, it was announced that the series would broadcast in Japan beginning in April 2025 on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

that the series would also air the same month on its network. In February 2025, it was announced the series would air on April 6, 2025, in near-simultaneous broadcasts in both Japan and the United States. Each episode title is directly named after music

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

extended plays An extended play (EP) is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 15 to 30 minutes. An EP is usually less cohesive ...

from around the second half of the

20th century The 20th century began on 1 January 1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December 2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the 2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of ...

Episodes

Reception

''Lazarus'' received mostly positive reviews. It received an average approval rating of 90% on the review aggregator ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

''. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Recalling the entrancing atmosphere of Shinichirō Watanabe's past works if not quite matching their high bar for originality, Lazarus is a kinetic anime with no shortage of provocative ideas''." Ryan Gaur of ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' gave the first five episodes of the series a score of 5/10. He described the anime as a disappointing directorial return for Watanabe, as he felt the work was deprived of the energy and joy of his newer projects. He criticized the lead characters as acting too unbothered and invulnerable to the dangers they've faced so far. However, he also stated that the apocalyptic stakes provide an intriguing concept, and that the action scenes show a few instances of creativity, leaving the door open for a possible revised opinion once all the episodes are released.

Notes

References

External links

* at

* * {{Shinichirō Watanabe 2020s Japanese LGBTQ-related television series 2025 anime television series debuts Adult Swim animated television series Adult Swim original programming Anime and manga set in the United States Anime with original screenplays Fiction set in 2052 LGBTQ-related anime and manga MAPPA Television series set in the 2050s Toonami Originals TV Tokyo original programming