Shinchiro Watanabe made an appearance during New York Comic-Con 2024 for their Adult Swim Panel. Watanabe was ready to show off his next action anime project, Lazarus.
Shinchiro Watanabe
Shinchiro Watanabe is highly known for creating and directing action anime. His famous two series are Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. His last known work in animation was 2014’s Space Dandy, a space comedy about a man named Dandy. He was a hero tasked to discover new alien life while touring the universe. When the anime ended in two seasons, Watanabe got involved with Netflix’s planned Cowboy Bebop live-action adaptation.
Unfortunately, the series was not up to Watanabe’s standards when it aired in 2021. In a 2023 Forbes interview, he told them that the producers in charge were The Wachowskis and Spencer Lamm. They previously worked together on The Animatrix back in 2003. While Watanabe loved the original director, Andrew R. Jones, he found his successor Lamm unlikable. He constantly asked for many things to be changed for Cowboy Bebop’s adaptation despite Watanabe having free creativity reign. After a year of being unheard, he is ready to make his return.
Lazarus Story
On October 18th, the Adult Swim Panel at NYCC 2024 provided more information about their upcoming shows including Common Side Effects. Then, Shinchiro Watanabe walked on stage alongside his show producers, Joseph Chou and Takeinari Maeda. They presented a sneak peek of their new action anime, Lazarus.
Animation Magazine offered insight into the show’s plot: “In 2052, neuroscientist Dr. Skinner created the miracle drug Hapna. This medicine has no side effects and will free you from pain. Hapna is believed to be responsible for the world’s new peace era until Skinner disappeared. Three years later, Hapna is discovered to have a fatal effect, killing consumers one by one. It is now up to Lazarus’ agents to find Skinner for a cure before humanity dies in 30 days.”
The Anime’s Preview
The preview showed promising signs of a great mystery. It starts with the chase of Alex Gilberto, a wanted fugitive. Viewers were also introduced to three of the Lazarus agents who are working with police enforcement. The young woman with the cap is Eleina, a gadget geek who uses drones from her home console. The dapper gentleman is Doug whose abilities are unknown at this time. And the blonde on the motorcycle is Christine who will search for runaway targets.
For only a two-minute preview, Lazarus’ animation gave Cowboy Bebop fans a nostalgic feeling. The cyber synth music and scene pacing flowed naturally with the action. Axel is shown to be very agile through his parkour and carefully determines where to move next. Patrick Maloney of AIPT Comics said, “It felt familiar, yet modernized.”
Final Thoughts
Shinchiro Watanabe is a respectable director and artist in the anime industry. Seeing his return is refreshing to many 2000s anime watchers. Making a comeback after a disastrous adaptation of Cowboy Bebop is a genius move of vengeance. The positive reception of Lazarus is welcoming as Watanabe showed proof that he will continue his anime legacy. The show is set to air on Adult Swim and will stream on Max next year.
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