Shinichir Watanabe is deemed one of the most respected anime directors currently. Once hes on the directors chairor in other projects that hes attached toit automatically becomes one of the most pristine unique anime due to his unique direction that went against the waves of norms. He creates a world that blends the familiarity from other genres while injecting his personal flairparticularly how he structures characters and his prowess in music production. Weve seen this through his other famous works such as Cowboy Bebop Terror in Resonance and Samurai Champloo My personal favorite. It is due to these qualities that audiences love Watanabes work and a certain quality that has stood against time. Hence when Adult Swim and MAPPA declared that theyll release a brand new anime with Watanabe on the seatalong with various western talents such as Chad Stahelski Director of the John Wick Franchiseit has become one of the most anticipated anime of the year. Unfortunately it had fumbled. Lazarus is an anime that follows various mercenaries looking for Dr. Skinnera renowned scientist that went missing. In a world building sense it is absolutely intriguing. The bleak display of the world especially in the context of the certain substance in which the series revolves its lore into is displayed in an interesting manner creating an interesting critique and philosophy of a modern dystopian world in addition to its mystery goose chase. Another highlightand the shows main attractionis its unique action sequences in the anime field with fluid dynamic handtohand combat along with parkour sequences giving it one of the most adrenalinefilled wellchoreographed action sequences in anime in recent times. But alas thats the extent of praise I can give to this anime. To put things more bluntly this anime felt passionless and there are many reasons for it. For instance it does not have that distinctly captivating world building Watanabe is known for. Everything felt familiar with moments inspired from other Watanabes works and famous films in recent history but in these sequences nothing new was added that made it distinct from the rest. Even the world that it tries to build and its message it preaches to us felt disingenuous and the urgency the series presents does not show on screen but rather was only brought in monotonous exposition dialogues. Not only that it provides a lazy direction with how it reveals its revelations either through cheap expositions or viewing the events from afar or a mix of both. As if the characters didnt really need to be there since the events can progress pointonpoint without them anyways like theyre just filler nuisance. And speaking of characters in the series they are barely interesting to follow. They have their own quirks that can give a bit of personality with them but they felt like theyre written just to fulfill a stereotypical role in ensemble cast type of action series like these. We barely get to interact at an interpersonal level or a proper hearttoheart motivation between these characters in doing their cause but instead theyre having their own solo realizations and dramatic moments whist the rest are just bystandersbarely any memorable cohesion with these characters other than the ones that were delivered in an uninspiring dialogue and if the series does attempt to be it gets overshadowed by another sequence thats happening simultaneously or the delivery is halfbaked. There are moments in Lazarus but the journey to get those moments is a tedious slowburn with a reward that doesnt fully satisfy the viewer as if it feels like the series was supposed to be a 24 episode series that had to be condensed down in order to fit the needs of a corporate entity. For such talent behind this anime and the huge potential this series proposes watching it feels like the names behind this project is just a facade of a marketing ploy. Lazarus feels like its directed by a committee asking to copy the best elements of previous Watanabe works create an interesting idea and mishmash them all together without wovening the threadscreating a jumbled mess of an anime. Conclusion For all the divisive opinions this anime got it is safe to say that the anime does have an captivating plot that tingles the thoughts of viewers but you are only left with your imagination to expand the world and deepen its lore. Lazarus only gave you the framework of a potentially amazing series thats crushed by a premise and philosophy that I wished was given more time to explore.