Adult Swim and ShinichirŠWatanabe, 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.â€
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.
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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.
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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?