On Friday, the creative team behind Lazarus convened at NYCC 2024 to chat about the upcoming Adult Swim anime set to premiere next year. Moderated by Gil Austen, producers Joseph Chou, Takenari Maeda, and anime legend Shinichirō Watanabe came on stage to have a conversation about the world they are building for the new anime.
The first episode of what Watanabe described as the “first part of a larger story” instantly hooked this anime novice. There’s music in this first episode that feels like Cowboy Bebop but modernized and reengineered. The main character Axel Gilberto fits the show’s score like a glove with his effortless fighting skills and irresistible charm.
On the sound of Lazarus, Watanabe described bringing in the team that worked on Dune and Blade Runner who he had “admired for some time.” He got his chance to work with them when he started developing this series.
The series is meant as “fundamentally” different from Cowboy Bebop, which the convention audience faintly agreed with (I, for the record, think it’s very different from what I know of Cowboy Bebop). Watanabe said he collaborated on some ideas with Cowboy Bebop’s Keiko Nobumoto. Unfortunately, she passed away before any real progress could be made. Nobumoto is the reason you will find “traces” of Cowboy Bebop throughout the new series. The series has a central mystery that will hook fans instantly as opposed to Cowboy Bebop’s episodic nature.
As the panel winds down, Watanabe revealed his work on a Blade Runner short made him realize it was “the right time to return.” Chad Stahelski was the spark that lit the flame under Watanabe to give Lazarus form.
With work that includes “Cowboy Bebop” in his portfolio, Shinichirō Watanabe is gearing up for his next project — building a whole new world for fans. Watanabe doesn’t feel “his works have disappeared into oblivion,” and Lazarus is a great way to prove that. Watchers can witness all the high octane conspiracies and the futuristic splendor of Lazarus on Adult Swim and Max when it comes next year.
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