Lazarus Anime

I KNEW That Was Where Skinner Was!

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews , , , , , , , , ,

Lazarus Ep 12 Review

We are reaching the climax of the story of Lazarus, and things are coming down to the wire. The team has a solid lead on Dr. Skinner’s location (and you won’t believe where he’s hiding), but rogue government agents threaten to ruin everything. Eleina’s collapsed with a fever. Doug’s been captured by INSCOM agents working for the deplorable Schneider, who has also taken Hersch captive. And to top it off, Axel’s clinging to life after a near-death experience fighting the mysterious Soryu. But when you hit rock bottom and survive, the only way to go is up. Now it’s time for Lazarus to make their counterattack, find Skinner, and save the world!

Popcorn Wizard is So Nice

Despite how dire things looked for several members of Lazarus, luck/plot armor has ensured that all of them has weathered the worst of the storm. Thanks to Popcorn Wizard, Eleina safely recovers from her fever until it breaks. The fact that she even recovers from what should be a fatal Hapna fever is even lampshaded by the fellow hacker, who jokes how she might be immortal. That might not be the case, but more likely, Eleina might have an immunity to Hapna. More importantly, Popcorn Wizard, AKA Lin, admits that she’s working to keep Skinner safe. And the reasons are rather heartwarming.

Who would have thought that Popcorn Wizard was one of the islanders with analgesia? Since Skinner enabled her people to move away from their doomed islands, though, her gratitude makes sense. Skinner isn’t an inherently bad person, just one fed up with the self-centered people in the world. Given how Schneider is almost certainly the reason behind the attack that led to Skinner’s crash out, though, one cannot blame him. In fact, this episode makes us hate Schneider even more now.

The Ego on Schneider is Ridiculous

As it turns out, there’s a reason why Schneider chose to go after Lazarus in the first place. Somehow, he got it into his head that there was another purpose behind the team’s formation beyond finding Skinner. He thought that they were secretly attempting to gather blackmail information on the government, namely him. Given how his crimes include using Hapna for illegal experiments on prisoners and covering up a botched seizure as a terrorist attack, he must have thought finding Skinner would expose him somehow.

…Yeah, me and Aaron both agree that Schneider is dumb as freak. He thought that exposing his crimes was more important than preventing the end of the world? Whatever he has done doesn’t matter if the majority of mankind wouldn’t be around to see judgement passed on him. Furthermore, Lazarus may have never thought to look into his dealings until he decided to get in their way. He brought on a self-fufilling prophecy, and almost doomed the world in the process. And while he has yet to face justice, his back is already against the wall. Abel of the NSA was able to convince the President (who’s dying from taking Hapna in the clinical trials) to sign an Executive Order to move on Schneider. The man can only keep INSCOM in the dark for so long. And once Lazarus finds Skinner, he’ll either die or rot in jail forever.

I KNEW THAT WAS SKINNER!

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In the meantime, thanks to some help from Popcorn Wizard, Doug and Eleina turn the tables on their pursuers and elude them. Even better, Lin gives them what they were looking for: Dr. Skinner’s location. Remember back in the third episode, when Axel and Doug went to that homeless camp and I thought I saw a background character who looked like Skinner? As it turns out, I WAS RIGHT! Skinner has been hiding out with the homeless the whole time right under Lazarus’ noses! Thanks to some fast-travel, though, Eleina, Doug, and Chris start to converge on Skinner’s location, and without a moment to spare.

So, What About Soryu?

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That just leaves one last problem: Soryu. After Abel’s assistant bails Dr. 909 out of jail to help them, they manage to confirm Soryu’s identity: he’s the same man that Schneider was speaking to pretending to be Soryu’s handler. In reality, Soryu has a split personality brought on by trauma of something called the “Hundun Project.” It’s not made clear what it is, but it sounds like an illegal government assassin program. And having lost his quarry the first time, Soryu is determined to finish the job. Not for the money, but for the love of the game. The good news is that Axel is still alive and in the care of Skinner’s doctor. The bad news is that the preview for the series finale reveals that he’s headed to a final confrontation with Soryu. Worse, it looks as though the doctor he was sent to find is already dead.

The end is finally in sight for Lazarus, but the stakes are at their highest. If they don’t find Skinner in time, or Axel dies, then they could trip at the finish line, and billions will die. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see how this story ends! It’s had its ups and downs at times, but the past month (in-show) has been a heck of a ride. Let’s hoping the finale proves worthwhile.

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I Give “Close to the Edge” a 4.5/5

Lazarus has a Beach Episode

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews , , , , , , , ,

Lazarus Ep 7 Review

There are only so many people that planet Earth can accommodate before things start getting messy. Humankind is already taking up so much space and using up so much of the planet as it is, and if things don’t change, or we don’t start taking deep space colonization seriously, the planet will hit its breaking point. It will lose many of the plants and animals that call it home, and our world will feel all the worse for it. Given how Lazarus takes place decades into the future, it shows us how bad things could get as the global climate starts to collapse. And as the team of Lazarus sees for themselves what it is that they threaten to lose, they start to wonder if maybe Dr. Skinner has a point.

The short answer: yes.

Under the Sea, Under the Sea!

After the debacle with the AI cult, Lazarus is back to square one for the umpteenth time because Skinner had nothing to do with Naga the AI beyond serving as its template. The one thing they had to show for it is Naga’s memory banks, which pumps out coordinates to four separate islands, all owned by Skinner. The twist is that each of them has since sunk beneath the ocean, a victim of global warming. Left with no other leads, the team (minus Eleina, who works the chair) heads to the tropical islands.

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From the outset, this episode of Lazarus is different from the others for two reasons. Firstly, there’s a notable lack of action. No fight scenes, no high-stakes hacking, no epic chases. It’s a very serene and peaceful episode, which, considering humankind is facing extinction, might sound weird. Secondly, the setting is different in that it takes place almost exclusively in nature. It wasn’t noticeable until now, but the majority of Lazarus has, thus far, taken place in the confines of civilization. Even the trip to the cult could count as civilization, given the human and AI presence. In contrast, this episode focuses on locations that humanity has been forced to abandon thanks to global warming. And the results are something to behold.

As the Lazarus members travel to the sunken islands, there is an atmosphere to them that seems both eerie and relaxing. This is emphasized by the overwhelming use of blue in the form of clear skies and crystal-clear oceans. The sight of modern human buildings lying just below the waves, while disturbing, also feels tranquil and otherworldly, as they serve as home to sea life. It’s like that 90s film Waterworld, but without the stakes.

Please, Don’t Let this Happen in our Timeline!

Unfortunately, the fate of these islands is set against the reason why they got this way: a news report came out saying that the last ice in the Artic had melted away. Global Warming had claimed the North Pole less than thirty years from now. That may seem like a long time for humans, but in a planet’s history, that’s faster than the time it would take to blink, and that is terrifying. Even worse, Skinner had predicted that this would happen almost to the day. Now people are starting to consider him like a prophet. Most chilling of all, the episode reveals that, in his initial message, Skinner mentioned being the seventh trumpeter. In the New Testament, that’s said to be the seventh and final angel who will herald the arrival of Judgement Day for the world. It’s like we said at the start of the series: Skinner has seemingly given up on mankind and thinks its time for us to die.

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And…is he really wrong?

As terrifying as the idea of humans going extinct is, it’s not hard to see where Skinner’s coming from. Unless we pull our act together in the next couple of decades, the future of Lazarus could become a reality. It’s why many people are sounding the alarm, and it’s why some even advocate us moving offworld once it’s feasible. The fact that the blue skies that the team sees during their journey is telling about how bad things might get. So, is Skinner even wrong to think things like he is? Even the team starts to question that.

Chris is in trouble!

Their trip wasn’t a total loss, because they manage to learn three things. Firstly, Skinner actually bought the islands from its poor residents so they could move elsewhere. Secondly, all those residents have a genetic inability to feel pain, meaning that they never took Hapna. Which means that not all of humanity could potentially die, so that’s comforting. It also means that Skinner likely used their DNA to create Hapna. Lastly, Eleina digs up something major about their leader, Dr. Hersch: she was a former researcher that worked alongside Dr. Skinner.

The fact that Hersch kept this info secret from the team is a potential game-changer, as it means that her motives might not be as altruistic as everyone has thought. Unforutunately, we may have to wait to learn her true colors, as the episode ends with Chris running into someone from her past. And judging by the preview for the next episode, it’s not a very happy reunion.

Fourteen days are left, Lazarus doesn’t know if it can trust its leader, and one of its own gets captured. This could be a problem!

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I Give “Almost Blue” a 4.5/5

The Dangers of Nightclubbing on Lazarus

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews , , , , , , , , ,

Lazarus Ep 4 Review

Thanks to Lazarus’ efforts in the last episode, they managed to get a few leads on Dr. Skinner. Axel and Leland managed to track down Skinner’s grandmother in Istanbul and got a better idea of what the man behind Hapna is like. Meanwhile, Eleina managed to discover that the one responsible for covering Skinner on cameras everywhere is another hacker, Dr. 909. The bad news is that not even the FBI knows who 909 is. The good news, though, is that Eleina has a plan to catch them. However, to pull it off, they have to go to his contact at a swanky nightclub. Lazarus is going clubbing, and that in and of itself carries a number of risks!

Time to Go Clubbing

Thanks to getting 909 to take Eleina’s bait, Lazarus has learned a few things about them. Firstly, that they somehow knew ahead of time that Hapna stocks would crash. Secondly, they worked with a stockbroker to make a ton of money off it. The good news is that they know who the stockbroker is; they’re the owner of a popular nightclub.

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The bad news? This guy, Sam, is a creep, a sexist, and just cringe. The Lazarus team even admits it! Unforutunately, the only way to get to him is by having the girls dress up and get picked up by him at his weekly party. Though, in this case, that means Chris…and Leland dressed as a girl.

Club at Your Own Risk

Clubbing is often a high-energy, potentially high-risk activity. On the one hand, the bright lights, thumping music, and party atmosphere can suck people in. On the other hand, if you’re not careful, bad things can happen to you. Lazarus does a great job of capturing both aspects of the nightclub, and capture them well. The background art alone is praiseworthy and eye-catching, but it’s the smooth animation of the club-goers that makes the place really entertaining. It’s very much like the kind of club that you would expect the young and hip to attend…and for creeps to try and take advantage of people.

From the start, Sam and his guy posse are portrayed as nothing but one-dimensional sleazebags trying to take advantage of women. Sam himself drugs the women he brought with him, which is morally reprehensible and disgusting! His hired DJ, Visionary, is no better, trying to hit on a disguised Leland. Not to mention how the man has no respect for his craft, leaving it up to AI to do all the heavy work for him! And, as Eleina figures out, he’s also the hacker they’re after.

A High-Stake Helicopter Chase!!

The entire experience at the nightclub is capped off by something that is a staple of many a good action film: an honest-to-goodness nightclub shootout. Axel and Doug make short work of the guards, while Chris gives Sam some well-deserved karma for being an enemy of all women.

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And Watanabe continues the trend of beautiful women who can kick men’s asses. All of this culminates in yet another staple of the action film genre: a high-speed chase on a helicopter with Axel flying a drone after them like he’s the Green Goblin!

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Hapna is the Real Deal, and Really Dangerous

Sadly, their efforts prove to be for naught. Neither Sam nor Dr909/Visionary/Donald McDonald know nothing about Skinner. They were just taking advantage of the chaos to earn money, like the wastes of space they were. The one consolation is that these events confirmed that Delta, a medicinal company, was aware of the dangers behind it. Only 24 days remain before Hapna becomes lethal, and if people were doubting this fact, the episode gives major proof otherwise. In the final scene, we see a group of monkeys in a lab that were likely used to test Hapna start to die. In other words, this drug is the real deal.

This was a fun episode in a series that, thus far, has been fun to watch. People seem to love Lazarus so far!

I Give “Don’t Stop the Dance” a 4/5