Lazarus is a Story About Nothing...*

#lazarus (through 6 episodes) has been disappointing - which is especially heartwrenching since it serves as Shinichiro Watanabe's newest project since Carole & Tuesday and a return to a more action focused series like the brief foray into Blade Runner: Black Lotus and of course the classic Cowboy Bebop. But it is in Cowboy Bebop that we can understand so many of Lazarus's failings through these opening episodes, how it has failed to capture the same magic even in a project like Samurai Champloo. And tragically, it results in a series that has nothing to say, especially about its characters where Watanabe's previous outings felt at their strongest.

The following video is the culmination of my genuine frustration with #lazarusanime and taking a look at it, on its own terms, and through the lens of many of Watanabe's other projects, including #cowboybebop

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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:00 - Narrative Structure (Episodic)
4:38 - Bebop Characters vs. Lazarus Characters
9:41 - Lazarus's Love vs. General Disinterest
14:01 - Asterisk.
17:29 - Conclusion

Music:
Prologue - (Bonobo) Lazarus OST
G.P. - Great Pretender OST
Counting Stars - Samurai Champloo OST
A Sensational City (Night) - Octopath Traveler II OST
Hard Way to Wonder - (Kamasi Washington) Lazarus OST
Distant Embers - Adi Goldstein
The State of My Life - Psycho Pass OST
Evanescent - Tamuz Dekel
Where do I go from here - Va11-Hall-A OST