Watanabe

Government Conspiracies are the Worst

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

Lazarus Ep 11 Review

One would think that the threat of most of humanity dying would be enough to get everyone on the same page. One would think that the threat of mankind being reduced to a small fraction, less than 1% of its total population, would be enough for our species to get its act together for a short time. Yet even in the face of unprecedented death, there’s still some fool who wants to profit from it. And if it wasn’t made clear by now, then Schneider, the man from INSCOM (Army Intelligence) is not only trying to stop Lazarus from finding Dr. Skinner. He’s willing to let the majority of humanity die.

Schneider’s a Jerk!

The team of Lazarus is scattered and divided. Eleina and Doug make it to Pakistan to find Popcorn Wizard, who might have the key to finding Skinner. And with Eleina starting to succumb to the effects of Hapna, they dont have time to waste. Unfortunately, this episode marks the moment when Schneider of INSCOM decides to drop all pretenses and tries to kill Lazarus altogether.

As Hersch manages to put together, Schneider is the one responsible for setting the events of the series in motion. He was the one who caused the incident at the airport that released the prototype Hapna by attacking Skinner. He likely used that as cover for him to steal the prototype and conduct illegal tests on life sentence prisoners and death row inmates. All of that likely wound up being Dr Skinner’s breaking point, prompting him to turn Hapna into a deadly trap, endangering the majority of humanity. Now, he’s trying to keep Lazarus from finding Skinner for whatever reason, likely because he’s got some means of surviving so he can gain power in the aftermath. And he’s proven willing to bribe a minor, hire an assassin to cover up his experiments, and abuse his power to sic INSCOM on Doug and Eleina.

Oh, and to top it off, when Hersch tries to blackmail him into standing down, he detains her for treason. The fact that he doesn’t even try to think of a reason shows how much he doesn’t care.

Eleina is in Peril

Schneider disgusts me. He is the absolute worst of humanity. Even in the face of possible extinction, he is willing to throw his entire species under the bus, condemn entire cultures to oblivion, all so he can be on top in the aftermath. It’s people like him that make people like Skinner lose faith in the world. If nothing else, I hope that we at least get the satisfaction of seeing Schneider get his just desserts. Alas, some members of Lazarus may not live to see that happen.

In Pakistan, Doug stays behind to give Eleina a chance to make it to Popcorn Wizard, leaving himself to be captured. Unfortunately, by the time Eleina makes it to the hacker, she’s all but collapsed from the effects of Hapna. Unless Popcorn Wizard helps her in time, then Eleina is going to die, and with her, any chance of finding Skinner.

Axel Just Got Run Through!

The real draw of the episode, though, is the fight between Axel and the phantom assassin Soryu. It takes place throughout the entire episode, interspersed between everything else that has been happening. Upon seeing the compilation of whats happening, though, its obvious the anime means for it to be the big fight of the series. Assuming that the final episode won’t see it get topped, that is. And while TV Tropes would say that Schneider is the second coming of Vicious, Soryu still contains plenty of Spike Spiegel’s rival in him.

And unfortunately for everyone, Axel ends up losing the fight. The only reason he doesn’t die is because Chris arrives in time to save him. That, and Soryu freaks out when he sees Axel’s necklace and has flashbacks to his training days. Its doubtful that we’ll learn more about it in the time we have left, though. And frankly, I wouldn’t care.

So, Lazarus is under attack on all sides. Eleina is about to die. A madman is willing to let most of humanity die. And the man who might be the key to its salvation is clinging to life with only five days left. The one consolation is that the preview for the next episode reveals that Axel is alive. Fingers crossed, the last two episodes pull off a miracle. Mankind is going to need it!

I Give “Runnin’ With the Devil” 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

How was This Trap Supposed to Work?

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

Lazarus Ep 5 Review

At this point in the story, it would be safe to say that Lazarus’ hunt for Dr. Skinner has been nothing but a wild goose chase. The elusive creator of Hapna has hid himself so thoroughly, every potential lead the team’s found has been a dead end. In the last episode, though, the team learned that Delta Medicinal, the pharmaceutical that approved the trials for Hapna, had some idea about its true purpose. With that in mind, Lazarus comes up with a plan to try and lure Dr. Skinner out into the open. A plan that, in hindsight, was so desperate that someone like Skinner would know not to take the bait.

In keeping with the trend of having characters open the episode monologuing about their thoughts on Hapna, this episode’s choice is Axel. He never saw the appeal behind the drug, only taking it once while in prison. The irony that even that was enough to damn him like almost everyone in the world is not lost on him or the audience, though.

Another Lead?

With the team having gotten evidence that the company that cleared Hapna for clinical use knew something was up, Lazarus’ next step is to confront them about it. They try to come up with a plan to get inside the building, but in true rebel fashion, Axel brazenly walks in the front door, re-enacts the elevator battle from Captain America: the Winter Soldier, and walks out like a boss. Watanabe and his team truly were attempting to make Axel into the second coming of Spike Spiegel, and so far, it might be working.

Sadly, the CEO of Delta is as left in the dark about Hapna as everyone else is. They tested the drug on monkeys, and confirmed its lethality, but that’s about it. They want to catch Skinner as much as everyone else does. Left without any other option, and with the government wanting results soon, Lazarus has no choice. They team up with Delta to devise a trap to lure Skinner out.

How Was this Plan Supposed to Work?

Their plan is simple: they have Delta stage a fake conference claiming they’ve created a cure for Hapna. Their hope is that this will be enough to have Skinner, or someone affiliated with him, sneak in to see if its true. While the plan might seem clever on the surface, though, there are multiple flaws to it.

Firstly, Lazarus and Delta are operating on the assumption that Dr. Skinner will take the bait. Given everything revealed thus far about him, he’s not the kind of person who would. He was confident enough that no one would realize Hapna was a trap, he went into hiding two years before revealing it. The chances he would fall for Delta’s bluff are slim to none.

Second, they fail to take into account the fact that claims about there being a cure would be enough to entice other people to try and get it, not just Skinner. They do implant a GPS in the fake cure, but that relies on thief getting outside the building.

Lastly, they fail to account for the fact that in their current day and age, anything that’s electronic and can run on a network, no matter how small, can serve as a means for a skilled hacker to get inside remotely. They could then mask their cover using something else and slip away undetected.

Complete Waste of Time!

In the end, everything about Lazarus’ plan that could go wrong does. The only guy who tries to steal the cure is someone random who uses it on himself, only to look like an idiot. Worse, the inevitable hacking attempt uses a blind spot so well hidden to the point of being laughable to break in. The hacker, Popcorn Wizard, runs circles around Eleina before making their big getaway. Eleina gets the last laugh by revealing it was a bluff, that’s little comfort to Lazarus. They essentially wasted theirs and everyone else’s time.

There are twenty-one days left before the first people who took Hapna start dying, and Lazarus is no sooner to finding Skinner. With the series approaching the halfway point, it’s not a good idea to continue with this wild goose chase. The series needs to start giving people solid leads on Skinner sooner rather than later. Otherwise, people are going to start to lose interest.

I Give “Pretty Vacant” a 3.5/5

Oh, Skinner, Where Art Thou?

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

Lazarus Ep 2 Review

Twenty-nine days. That’s all the time that humanity has to find Dr. Skinner and the cure for Hapna. Otherwise, everyone who has ever taken the “miracle” drug is going to start dying. And since almost everyone has taken the drug, the human race faces extinction. Now, it’s up to Lazarus, a ragtag task force of misfits, to get to Skinner and save the world like superheroes.

There’s just one problem: they have no idea how to find Skinner!

Firstly, though, let’s gush over the OP to Lazarus. Whether it was Watanabe himself or the people who worked with him to create the anime, they must have been taking a page from Cowboy Bebop. From the way it makes extensive use of big, stylized text in the background while having the main characters remain shadowed or in black-and-white in the foreground, “VORTEX” takes a lot from Bebop. In addition, the music, while more subdued compared to “TANKI,” still has the notable inclusion of the jazz music that Watanabe is so fond of. It’s clear that Watanabe is aiming to make Lazarus the spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop, and so far, he’s succeeding!

A Ragtag Bunch of Misfits

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The first half of the second episode is largely focused on one of two things: introducing us more to the members of Lazarus and exploring Dr. Skinner’s motives. When it comes to the former, the show seems to adopt a “less is more” attitude regarding their backstories, though it does establish that each of them has things in common. They’ve each committed crimes of some sort, ranging from petty theft to hacking on a global scale. Each of them is insanely talented in an area of expertise:

  • Axel is an all-rounder and a genius escape artist.
  • Doug is good in combat and can think well under pressure
  • Christine is skilled with multiple firearms
  • Leland is an expert on piloting drones
  • Eleina is a master hacker notorious around the globe

Furthermore, each of them admits to having taken Hapna, meaning they’ve got skin in the game and a reason to locate Dr. Skinner.

As for Dr. Skinner himself, the premiere already established that he made Hapna a deadly trap because he was fed up with humanity. This episode elaborates on that by giving us an exposition dump about his backstory, and it soon becomes obvious why he came to this mindset. He devoted his entire life to helping others, to the point where he gave up the money he could’ve gotten off patents for his drugs. In addition, he was a major voice in the fight against climate change, urging people to do everything they could to undo the damage humans have done to the Earth. As is often the case in real life, his pleas were met by apathy and silence from those in a position to do something about it. Hence why he likely made Hapna a trap; he decided mankind wasn’t worth saving.

And I don’t blame him.

Look, Mankind Needs to Get its Act Together

As much as I want to see mankind’s continued existence, there are times when I cannot help but wonder if it would be better if we weren’t around. That being said, I feel the ultimate solution is for us to spread across the stars so the Earth can have some breathing room. I still have faith in mankind’s ability to grow and change, and it feels like Lazarus is being set up as a symbol of that optimism.

In a layman’s terms, Lazarus might be a story of optimism vs cynicism, but we won’t know until the story is finished.

Oh, and Lazarus has armbands that will melt their hands off if they try to go AWOL. They’re basically the Suicide Squad meets the Avengers.

A Wild Goose Chase

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The back half of the episode sees the entire group splitting up to track down leads on Dr. Skinner. Unfortunately, the man seems to have covered his tracks very thoroughly to make things as hard as possible. Case in point, Axel and Chris head to a survival shelter they think Skinner purchased, while Leland and Doug head to the office of the company he bought it from. At first, the deserted atmosphere of both makes it seem like there’s a greater conspiracy at work, especially when people show up and start threatening the team. In a humorous twist, though, not only is the person they find not Dr. Skinner, but the people shooting at them weren’t even looking for him. They spent a whole day on a wild goose chase for a man who ran out on his debts.

This is going to be harder than we thought, and there are only 28 days remaining. It can be easy for someone of Skinner’s intellect to disappear, and it could take years to find him. Lazarus has less than a month before humanity faces extinction. In the meantime, though, I’m going to be enjoying this potential second coming Cowboy Bebop.

Join the chase. Catch an all new episode of #Lazarus next Saturday at midnight! Only #Toonami, on adult swim.

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— Toonami Squad (@toonamisquad.com) April 13, 2025 at 12:38 AM
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I Give “Life in the Fast Lane” a 4/5