2049. Dr. Skinner
creates the ultimate feel good drug, Hapna, relieving all users of any kind of
pain. After disappearing from the public
eye for three years, Skinner returns and announces that in 30 days time,
whoever has taken Hapna will die. The
race is on for a cure but only Skinner might have the only one in
existence. To this end, the government
assembles a group of criminals with various skills to hunt down the illusive
doctor before the 30 day time limit is up.
It cant be easy being Shinichio Watanabe.
After playing a key role in the production of
Macross Plus then hitting it out of the universe with Cowboy Bebop, every time
a new project is greenlit with him at the helm is going to have serious
expectations.
Samurai Champloo.
Carole and Tuesday.
Space Dandy.
I’ve only seen 2/3 but nothing has ever quite reached Bebops level of
perfection.
I bring this up because when
I saw Lazarus being advertised on HBO Max I didn’t pay it much mind until a
friend requested a First Impression and told me he was the Director.
So do the first two episodes surpass the
pressure?
I’ll give Lazarus credit, the premise is
interesting.
There’s a very 24 kind of
race against the clock element to having a timer on the lives of people around
the world.
It means that things are
going to be running at a breakneck pace with the unexpected lurking around the
corner.
Only…it really isnt.
Yeah for such dire stakes it doesn’t seem
like there’s much tension with the situation.
Heck the most of what we see, everyone’s pretty chill from the team
assembled to locate Dr. Skinner to the world at large.
Sure we see news reports of the expected
riots breaking out but in the central location where Lazarus is based, it’s
life as usual.
Also, Dr. Skinner’s plan
reminds me of Blue Submarine No.6 and his sudden heel turn to send humanity
down the toilet just feels like I don’t care what his actual explanation is,
it’s going to be stupid.
As for the main cast, they don’t really stand out save
for the main character who, like Mugen from Samuari Champloo before him is
another would be Spike Spiegel. Except
while Mugen was a wild child with savage skills, Axel is just a guy who is so
high on his own legend it’s more annoying than amusing. He rushes in like he doesn’t think he can be
killed and that’s even without the 30 day time limit hanging over him. He’s got Spike and Mugen’s devil may care
attitude but he has none of their likeability or charisma in his first couple
of episodes. Like I said, no one else
really stands out among the Lazarus group nor do we really get a sense that
some of them are actually good candidates for a worldwide search for a mad
man.
I’ll give the first episode this, the action is still
something Watanabe excels at. Much of
Axel’s prison escape and city wide chase all have nice visual echoes of the
work Watanabe did for his couple of entries in The Animatrix from the lighting
to the slow mo. All it’s missing is the techno song used in one of those shorts
and it’d be really great. As for the
second episode, things are a lot less impressive. Like I said, I’m not enamored with Axel’s “Im
invincible” mindset. So watching him
dance around hapless agents in what turns out to be a huge misunderstanding
with guns isnt exciting. It lacks Cowboy
Bebop’s smooth jazz laden combat and gunplay and Samuari Champloo’s sharp
swordplay.
While there’s always a chance I’d give this one a review,
I might pass on Lazarus for now. It
feels like an Anime version of a TV Series called Scorpion about a similar
group of skilled individuals being assembled to handle global threats (not sure
if they were all criminals though). The
premise has promise but the stakes should feel instantaneous and immense
instead of chilled out. But hey I guess
it’s just the end of the world and Lazarus just feels fine. (also Samurai Champloo’s been long overdue
for review on my blog and if it’s one Watanabe series that deserves to be
covered before Lazarus, it’s that).
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