Adult Swim and Shinichirō Watanabe, director and creator of the original Cowboy Bebop, are teaming up once again with a new Toonami anime series running on jazz, sci-fi concepts, and action sequences designed by the John Wick mastermind, Chad Stahelski. Lazarus, produced by Sola Entertainment and animated by Studio MAPPA, follows a team in the near future chasing down the mad scientist behind a miracle drug exposed as a deadly, slow-acting poison. Watanabe’s teasing the show with a first look at Adult Swim Festival on Saturday, July 22.
Watanabe’s directed works span genres, from high-school drama (Kids on the Slope) to hip-hop chanbara (Samurai Champloo) to political thriller (Terror in Resonance), but his most acclaimed series remains Cowboy Bebop, an eclectically musical space-bound action anime that oozes cool. “As I embark on this creative journey, I can’t help but feel that this project will serve as a culmination of my career so far,” Watanabe said of Lazarus. “I hope you enjoy it.” Joining him on that journey are Stahelski, working on the action sequences, but also a host of electronic and jazz musicians including Kamasi Washington, Floating Points, and Bonobo.
Watanabe’s not shy about expressing his particular tastes. Earlier this year, he threw shade at the god-awful Netflix adaptation of his most famous work — which he wasn’t involved with but did get a producer credit on — in an interview with Forbes, calling that the live-action series starring John Cho “not Cowboy Bebop.”
No word yet on a release date, but below, Adult Swim’s full synopsis for Lazarus:
The year is 2052 — an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity prevails across the globe. The reason for this: mankind has been freed from sickness and pain. Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Dr. Skinner has developed a miracle cure-all drug with no apparent drawbacks called Hapuna. Hapuna soon becomes ubiquitous… and essential. However, soon after Hapuna is officially introduced, Dr. Skinner vanishes.
Three years later, the world has moved on. But Dr. Skinner has returned — this time, as a harbinger of doom. Skinner announces that Hapuna has a short half-life. Everyone who has taken it will die approximately three years later. Death is coming for this sinful world — and coming soon.
As a response to this threat, a special task force of 5 agents is gathered from across the world to save humanity from Skinner’s plan. This group is called “Lazarus.” Can they find Skinner and develop a vaccine before time runs out?
