It’s quite common for an anime to start off big, only to fade away into nothingness as more episodes get released. People only remember them as series that had great potential but couldn’t deliver on it. Still, Lazarus from Spring 2025 might be the biggest upset fans have ever faced.
The series was like a dream project for the anime community. Some of the most highly acclaimed industry stars were lined up together to bring this project to life, especially names like Shinichiro Watanabe, John Wick director Chad Stahelski, and MAPPA studio. But now it seems Stahelski is the only reason a few people are sticking to it.
John Wick director is now the only saving grace that Lazarus has
Despite being the vibe merchant as we all know him as, Shinichiro Watanabe couldn’t live up to fans’ expectations this time around. For someone of his caliber, people would naturally expect nothing less than a masterpiece, and in fact, the starting episodes of Lazarus also seemed extremely promising.
However, it has now become more like a mirage than anything else. The hype fans were chasing is nowhere to be found. The only viewers who are still coming back to the series are here only to see Stahelski’s sick choreography for the action scenes.
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His action scenes are the only aspect of Lazarus that’s actually trending now. Anyone who hears about the series and hasn’t watched it yet comes after knowing the John Wick director is part of the project. On paper, the story should work, but in execution, only the action scenes seem to be working now.
Unlike Cowboy Bebop, which was more like an anthology series with each episode being starkly different from the previous, Lazarus has a more cohesive narrative. Fans may even say Axel’s fight scenes are miles better than Spike’s, but the real issue here is that the characters in Lazarus feel as dull as concrete.
How the production team signed up Chad for this ambitious project
When the news first got out, a fraction of the anime fans couldn’t even believe their ears. How in the world could the John Wick director be directly connected to the production of an anime made by a Japanese author and studio? Just the thought of it gave fans goosebumps.
However, it was later revealed that Stahelski himself had been a big fan of Cowboy Bebop or Shinichiro Watanabe’s works in general since he was a kid. So he also wished to have worked with the guy who shaped his childhood. So it was like a win-win situation for both ends of the production team.
Which is why, when the Lazarus team had talks with the John Wick director, it went rather smoothly, according to the reports. They even let the studio cut some costs for working with Stahelski, only because it was Watanabe who was behind this grand project.
Lazarus is currently airing on Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
