Saving the World from Big Pharma Never Looked So Slick – ‘Lazarus’ Review

Shinichirō Watanabe is responsible for some of the best anime of the last three decades. 

Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Carole & Tuesday are on the top of my list of best anime for newcomers to the format right up there with Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Haikyuu. Y’all have been here long enough to know when I’m invoking those two, it’s *real* good. But these are series that need little to no introduction. When I type Tank!, a nontrivial amount of you are currently hearing a series of brass instruments followed by “Okay, three, two, one, let’s jam” followed by more brass.

You are more than likely here because you already know that Watanabe is one of the greats and this is his first project in six years, and it’s got Chad Stahelski of John Wick fame directing the action sequences, more jazz, and animation from MAPPA. Lazarus, by pedigree alone, was always going to be good, so the question that is really on everyone’s mind is Lazarus going to be great? I’ve watched the first five episodes, and my answer is a solid “maybe.”

The moment the show starts, the animation is ethereal and atmospheric. The opening narration quickly explains the premise of the show: Dr. Skinner released Hapna, the best painkiller ever developed to the world, and then vanished for a bit, before coming back and informing the world that anyone who took the drug was gonna end up dead unless t…