lazarus (TV Program)

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    How an Anime Master Perfects the Cool Guy Action Hero

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    When it comes to creators who have defined contemporary anime, Shinichiro Watanabe is no less than a television auteur. His anime series, which include the renowned “Cowboy Bebop” and “Samurai Champloo,” are known for thrilling fight scenes, propulsive musical scores and fun, unpredictable characters.Watanabe’s signature is his magnetic Joe Cool protagonist. He’s a cowboy, bounty hunter, itinerant with some moral gray areas, but he’s ultimately a good guy who’s loyal to his crew. While loafing around at a bar he may give the vibe of an impassive layabout. But during a mission he is a suave, athletic fighter with a hybrid style of tussling that draws from various martial arts forms and alludes to several of the great movers and fighters from history.“Lazarus” is Watanabe’s latest series, about a scientist whose miracle drug may wipe out humanity and the ragtag team of miscreants who must track him down. Recruited to that team is Axel Gilberto, a fresh yet familiar take on Watanabe’s typical hero. Here’s how the latest version of Watanabe’s always athletic, always stylish leading man fits into his history.‘Cowboy Bebop’ (1998)The OriginalSpike Spiegel, the cool guy prototype, is known for his laidback style.Watanabe’s original cool-guy hero is Spike Spiegel, the centerpiece of his popular space Western “Cowboy Bebop.” Spike’s attitude and style are a mix between two well-worn cinematic tropes: the unflappable Old West gunslinger and the cynical down-on-his-luck film noir detective. His body language conveys a sense of nonchalance, even indifference. When he’s relaxed, his gangly frame is often reclined, and when he’s up and about he saunters around, hands in pockets, arms akimbo, with a smooth, uninterrupted gait.His fight style reflects this same fluidity; Spike is a master at evasive movement, great at narrowly dodging hits. Though he excels at both close range fighting and taking shots at a distance, his legs and footwork are really the stars of his combat style:We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Cowboy Bebop’ Creator Discusses His New Anime ‘Lazarus’

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      In an interview, Shinichiro Watanabe discusses his latest anime, “Lazarus,” a pharmaceutical mystery set in the near future.Shinichiro Watanabe’s first anime, “Cowboy Bebop,” was quite an opening act. A story of space bounty hunters trying to scrape by, its genre mash-up of westerns, science fiction and noir, with a jazzy soundtrack, was a critical and commercial success in Japan and beyond. Its American debut on Adult Swim, in 2001, is now considered a milestone in the popularization of anime in the United States.Not one to repeat himself, Watanabe followed up “Bebop” with a story about samurai and hip-hop (“Samurai Champloo,” 2004); a coming-of-age story about jazz musicians (“Kids on the Slope,” 2012); a mystery thriller about teenage terrorists (“Terror in Resonance,” 2014); an animated “Blade Runner” sequel (“Blade Runner Black Out 2022,” 2017); and a sci-fi musical show about two girls on Mars (“Carole & Tuesday,” 2019).Now, he has returned to the kind of sci-fi action that made his name with “Lazarus,” streaming on Max and airing on Adult Swim, with new episodes arriving on Sundays. The show is set in 2055, after the disappearance of a doctor who discovered a miracle drug that has no side effects. Three years later, the doctor resurfaces with an announcement: The drug had a three-year half-life, and everyone who took it will die in 30 days unless someone finds him and the cure he developed.Watanabe has never been shy about being a fan of cinema. “Cowboy Bebop,” for instance, makes specific references to films like “Alien” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” For “Lazarus,” Watanabe went further, teaming with a Hollywood filmmaker, the “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski, to design the thrilling, kinetic action sequences of the anime.In a video interview, Watanabe, speaking through the interpreters (and co-producers on the series) Takenari Maeda and Saechan, discussed the making of “Lazarus,” the timeliness of the show’s story and how watching the original “Blade Runner” inspired his multicultural and inclusive anime casts. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Unlike your previous sci-fi projects, “Lazarus” takes place not on a distant planet or far into the future, but in our world just 30 years from now. Why was that important?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Lazarus’ Is a Dark and Kinetic Adventure

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      This anime series on Adult Swim is filled with fantastic fight sequences but also deeper musings about the nature of existence and divinity.A scene from “Lazarus.”Adult SwimRight on the heels of “Common Side Effects” comes another animated pharmacological thriller, this time the Japanese anime series “Lazarus,” which premieres, dubbed, on Saturday at midnight, on Adult Swim. The show is set in 2055, and a miracle pain killer that claims to free people from all suffering has become ubiquitous. Years after the mysterious Dr. Skinner released this drug, Hapna, he re-emerges with a second bombshell: After three years in your system, Hapna will kill you.Humanity has 30 days before everyone who has taken it — which is just about everybody — succumbs. Unless, of course, someone can find Dr. Skinner and the antidote only he can share.This calls for a ragtag team! Of course it does; “Lazarus” was created and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, best known for his work directing “Cowboy Bebop,” which is also a dark, funny, futuristic ensemble adventure. The show’s other big draw is its fight choreography by the “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski. The action sequences are the highlight of the five (of 13) episodes made available for review: a big jailbreak in the pilot, lots of urban scrambling, a zippy comeuppance for a sex-pest sleaze.Our snappy hero and newest member of the crew is Axel Gilberto, an escape artist and underbelly-dweller who is serving 888 years in prison — your sentence is doubled every time you escape. He is recruited out of his cell and into a shadowy group that is determined to find Dr. Skinner and has the requisite position players to do so, including a hacker, a researcher and an icy boss.Each episode of “Lazarus” begins with the same visual montage, but each opening narration and narrator is different. The episodes end with a countdown of how many days are left until the Hapna apocalypse. This repetitive yet iterative framing feels like a ritual, and the show is filled with religious imagery and musings about the nature of divinity.If Dr. Skinner can both cure and kill everyone, does that make him a god? Or just the world’s most powerful drug peddler? If pain is a part of life, and there is no more pain, maybe we’re already dead, and there’s nothing left to pray for. If you thought the end was coming, would you change course or just surrender? More