A short musical trailer for Cowboy Bebop director Shinichirō Watanabe’s new anime series has been released online.
Available on YouTube, the Lazarus trailer combines a meditative score with moments of conflict and combat while also revealing sci-fi elements of the story. The video showcases a multitude of different characters, but at the time of this writing, no members of the anime’s voice cast have been announced.
The trailer confirms that MAPPA, the iconic animation studio behind series like Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan: The Final Season and Hell’s Paradise, is producing Lazarus. In addition, Chad Stahleski – a stuntman and director of the John Wick series – is also involved in the project and will design many of the action sequences of the story. Saxophonist Kamasi Washington and producers/songwriters Floating Points and Bonobo will work on the show’s score.
Lazarus joins the late-night lineup of adult swimming
Lazarus’ initial plot synopsis reveals that the series will take place in the not-so-distant future. Set in the year 2052, the story will follow the famous task force responsible for finding a vaccine for a miracle drug that is said to threaten to wipe out much of humanity. Lazarus will eventually be part of Adult Swim’s late-night lineup. Jason DeMarco, head of Anime and Action Series for the programming block, described Watanabe as “one of the greatest living artists” when discussing his excitement for the project. He also praised Lazarus, saying that the anime “contains big ideas, incredible characters, and a lot of heart.”
Watanabe is perhaps best known for the neoclassical space western animated film Cowboy Bebop, which follows a group of bounty hunters as they try to survive and make some money in a dystopian universe. The series was the cornerstone of the 1990s anime scene, and it helped build the anime community in the United States, with some describing Cowboy Bebop as a gateway series to the medium.
Anime is still so influential that Netflix has tried to adapt it into a live-action series. However, the streaming service that received Cowboy Bebop was not well received by fans and critics. Watanabe also disparaged Netflix Original, saying in an interview with Forbes that “it’s clearly not Cowboy Bebop.”
Currently, the official launch date of Lazarus has not been set and the trailer does not reveal a potential release date. For those who want to watch Watanabe’s work in the meantime, Cowboy Bebop is available to stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix.
Source: YouTube