Lazarus

Plot

In the utopian year 2049, the world-renowned neuroscientist Dr. Skinner has discovered a miracle analgesic drug known as "Hapna" that completely relieves the user of any pain, shortly before disappearing off the face of the Earth. Three years later in October 2052, Skinner resurfaces to the public in an online video to announce the drug has a three-year half-life and that soon, everyone who took it will die.

A task force of five agents, called "Lazarus", is assembled to locate Skinner within 30 days and get him to divulge a vaccine before the first wave of Hapna users die.

Characters

Lazarus

Axel Gilberto (アクセル・ギルベルト, Akuseru Giruberuto)

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese); Jack Stansbury (English)

A 23-year-old Brazilian man who was originally in jail for three years on a minor charge, but has since racked up several life sentences totaling 888 years due to his habit of finding ways to break out of whatever prison he is sent to. Incredibly agile and seemingly fearless, he can use his wits and his physical parkour abilities to escape almost any situation. He is a straightforward and friendly person, but he also exudes a somewhat solitary persona.

Douglas "Doug" Hadine (ダグラス・"ダグ"・ハディン, Dagurasu "Dagu" Hadin)

Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa (Japanese); Jovan Jackson (English)

A 23-year-old Nigerian man who is intellectual and the coordinator of the Lazarus team. He has great physical abilities and stays calm and collected under pressure. He is sensitive and delicate, paying attention to the small details. He also has a high level of pride. In college, he majored in physics as a student and once looked up to Dr. Skinner as a role model before the Hapna revelation. During his collaboration within Lazarus, he develops a friendly, playful relationship with Axel, even jokingly rejecting him during one of the dialogues.

Christine "Chris" Blake (クリスティン・"クリス"・ブレイク, Kurisutin "Kurisu" Bureiku)

Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (Japanese); Luci Christian (English)

A young Russian woman who is generally cheerful and frank, talking to anyone in a friendly manner. She is a gun specialist skilled in many kinds of firearms. Chris drinks a lot, is optimistic, and has a rough big-sister type personality that does not flatter men nor women. Her original name was Alexandra (アレクサンドラ, Arekusandora), but she changed her identity after faking her death to escape a Russian special forces unit and to protect her former lover Inga from potential execution for betraying her homeland. Chris was affectionately referred to by Inga as Sashenka (サーシェンカ). In the second half of the show, it seems that Chris developed some feelings for Axel after he protected and saved her, giving him a kiss as a final wish when she and the other characters were almost resigned to the death of the world.

Key antagonists

Dr. Deniz Skinner (デニズ・スキナー博士, Denizu Sukinā-hakase)

Voiced by: Koichi Yamadera (Japanese); David Matranga (English)

A three-time Nobel Prize recipient neuroscientist from Turkey, who has deceived humanity with his seemingly cure-all wonder drug, Hapna, which is later revealed to be a deadly poison that will kill everyone who has taken it after three years. He claims that the first wave of people will die in approximately 30 days following his announcement, unless they can track him down.

Schneider (シュナイダー, Shunaidā)

Voiced by: Kensho OnoEp. 9 credits (Japanese); N/A (English)

A lieutenant in the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), he is deeply involved in the development of Hapna for use as a bioweapon and is secretly planning to disrupt Lazarus' activities and eliminate Axel, a key figure in the project and the lone survivor of INSCOM's confidential Hapna clinical trial on inmates at an Arizona prison. He personally hires a ghost assassin known as Soryu to kill Axel.

Soryu / HQ (双竜 / HQ)

Voiced by: Koki UchiyamaEp. 9 credits (Japanese); Scott GibbsEp. 9 credits (English)

Soryu is an assassin known as the Ghost Assassin (幻の殺し屋, Maboroshino Koroshi-ya), and HQ is his agent who negotiates with clients. In reality, they are actually the same person suffering from dissociative identity disorder due to the Hundun Program that was conducted on him back in his homeland of China. He accepts Schneider's murder-for-hire request of killing Axel for US$30 million. Some of the weapons he uses on the job are string, throwing knives, grenades and rocket launchers.

Other characters

Kobayashi (小林)

Voiced by: Yōji UedaEp. 2 credits (Japanese); Jay HickmanEp. 2 credits (English)

A businessman who owns survival bunkers in the U.S. state of Arizona and whose company, Kobayashi Shelter Sales, owes a lot of money.

Jill (ジル, Jiru)

Voiced by: Yuichi NakamuraEp. 3 credits (Japanese); Kiba WalkerEp. 3 credits (English)

A transgender woman who was an acquaintance of Axel's during their time in prison. After her release, she adopted a female appearance and now runs a homeless village.

Claude Klein (クロード・クライン, Kurōdo Kurain)

Voiced by: Yutaka NakanoEp. 3 credits (Japanese); N/A (English)

Doug's mentor in college. He collaborated with Skinner, but became jealous of Skinner's talent and fabricated research results, leading to his firing as a professor and his eventual homelessness.

Billinda (ビリンダ, Birinda)

Voiced by: Toshiko SawadaEp. 3 credits (Japanese); Marcy BannorEp. 3 credits (English)

Skinner's grandmother who lives in Istanbul. She raised Skinner after he lost his parents. She is known for her baklava, a baked confectionery.

Sam Stephenson (サム・スティーブンソン, Samu Sutībunson)

Voiced by: Tomokazu SugitaEp. 4 credits (Japanese); Brandon HearnsbergerEp. 4 credits (English)

Production and release

The series was announced by Adult Swim in July 2023, and was directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, most notable for directing the Cowboy Bebop anime series. Chad Stahelski, who is notable for directing the John Wick film franchise, designed the action sequences. For music composition, the series features a score by jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and producers, DJs, and musicians Bonobo and Floating Points. Animation for the series was done by MAPPA, while Sola Entertainment handled general production.

A teaser trailer for the series was shown at Adult Swim's "Toonami on the Green" panel at San Diego Comic-Con two days later on July 22. In July 2024, it was announced that the series would air in 2025.

In an interview conducted in October 2024, Watanabe said that the opioid crisis was one of the inspirations he had for creating the anime. The effects of climate change also played a major role in the series.

Watanabe also talks about how the production team worked closely with Stahelski so that they could be provided with fight scene choreographies and on how the team needed to recruit animators outside Japan due to a lack of experienced domestic animators that could animate such sequences. In a November 2024 interview, Watanabe mentioned that he held the John Wick films in high regard on how the fight scenes were choreographed.

In December 2024, a new visual was released along with the announcement that Kamasi Washington performed the opening theme song "Vortex", while the Boo Radleys performed the ending theme song "Lazarus". "Dark Will Fall", performed by Bonobo featuring Jacob Lusk, and "Beyond the Sky", performed by Bonobo featuring Nicole Miglis, are used as insert songs at the beginnings of the first and ninth episodes, respectively. "Dark Will Fall" is also used as the ending theme for the final episode.

In January 2025, it was announced that the series would broadcast in Japan beginning in April 2025 on TV Tokyo and its affiliates, accompanied by the release of a new visual. Adult Swim followed up with an announcement shortly thereafter on Instagram that the series would also air the same month on its network. In February 2025, it was announced the series would air on April 6, 2025, in near-simultaneous broadcasts in both Japan and the United States.

Reception

Critical response

Lazarus received mostly positive reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 92% based on 24 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, "Recalling the entrancing atmosphere of Shinichirō Watanabe's past works if not quite matching their high bar for originality, Lazarus is a kinetic anime with no shortage of provocative ideas." The series was on the top 10 streaming charts worldwide, with its Netflix Japan streaming peaking at sixth place. The series was also in the top 10 on Amazon Prime Video Japan, HBO Max in several international countries, and Vidio in Indonesia.

Ryan Gaur of IGN gave the first five episodes of the series a score of 5/10. He described the anime as a disappointing directorial return for Watanabe, as he felt the series was deprived of the energy and joy of his previous directorial works. He criticized the lead characters as acting too unbothered and invulnerable to the dangers they faced at that point. However, he also stated that the apocalyptic stakes provided an intriguing concept, and that the action scenes showed a few instances of creativity, leaving the door open for a possible revised opinion once all the episodes were released.

Accolades

On July 16, 2025, Lazarus was nominated at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music". In 2026, the series won "Best Original Anime" at the 10th Crunchyroll Anime Awards. The series' composers Kamasi Washington, Bonobo, and Floating Points won "Best Original Score for Animation" at the Music Awards Japan in the same year. The series was nominated in the Daruma for Best Anime, Suspense Anime, and Original Soundtrack categories at the Japan Expo Awards in the same year.

Potential sequel

Despite Adult Swim promoting the final episode as the series finale, Watanabe mentioned the possibility of a potential sequel in July 2025, stating "Since there are still many problems left in the world, the team will continue to be active. Their story is far from over."