My opinion of Lazarus after two episodes is largely unchanged. It’s certainly competent, but I don’t get a sense of commitment to anything. At best it’s misogynistic maybe, but the whole thing has a very by the numbers quality to it. I’m not sure this production model is the best bet for producing something genuine to begin with, but Watanabe Shinichirou himself may be the larger problem. Maybe there’s still stuff he really wants to do in anime – stories he’s dying to tell. But you don’t get the sense that Lazarus is one of them.
Indeed, there’s so little emotional heft to the plot and cast that I’m largely left with speculating on what – if any – political message Watanabe is trying to send here. Some have tried to claim it as an anti-vaxxer advocacy piece but I really don’t get that at all. In a larger sense there seems to be a sort of “pox on all your houses” mindset here – a condemnation of humanity in general as weak and adrift. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call it anarchist but Lazarus sure doesn’t think much of authority.
Beyond that I just don’t see that much there. Does the series want us to find Skinner? Does it even think Skinner is in the wrong? I’m not sure, but the hunt for him is sort of a lark. There’s a kind of road trip montage, and a set piece set in an abandoned nuclear shelter supposedly purchased by Skinner but inhabited by a guy fleeing debt collectors. All this is set to a vaguely cool jazz soundtrack (it should be noted that Lazarus has no less than three official soundtracks out). And mostly played for comedy, which is certainly a choice given the premise.
That’s about all I really get at this point, to be brutally honest. I don’t see any evidence that Watanabe is really trying hard here – not the way he did in something like Sakamichi no Apollon or Space Dandy (even if that was largely delegated, the care he took in assembling talent reflects a great deal of passion for the project). Watanabe is good enough at this that he can produce something watchable and even entertaining without really committing but if he doesn’t care that much, I don’t see why any of us should either.
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