Shinichiro Watanabe's Lazarus is definitely an outstanding anime in more ways than one. With incredible music, smooth animation, and some awesome fight choreography, the series is one of the most stylish out there, but when it comes to characters and dialog, it's extremely lacking.

Watanabe, of course, is well known for his work on several other classic anime, including Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Space Dandy, to name just a few. However, the one thing that all three of these series really had which Lazarus lacks is a focus on character. At the time of writing, Lazarus has aired 7 of its 13 episodes already, and yet the characters largely remain as unknown and mysterious as they were in the first few episodes. It's certainly interesting to compare Lazarus to Bebop and other Watanabe works, as they had well-established characters by now.

Lazarus' Characters Just aren't as Compelling

Axel Gilberto is No Replacement for Spike Spiegel

It's hard not to immediately compare Lazarus's Axel to Cowboy Bebop's Spike, as both protagonists are skilled martial artists with messy hair and a loner personality. However, by this point in Bebop, Spike had already tipped his hand; episode 5 of Bebop is "Ballad of Fallen Angels," which reveals some of Spike's backstory and his rivalry with Vicious. Spike barely survives, and it's immediately clear that this won't be the last time that Spike and Vicious clash in this series. While fans don't fully understand Spike's character at this point, there's at least a sense that Spike has an arc going on.

Axel, on the other hand, hasn't really had anything resembling a character arc so far. After breaking out of jail once again, something he's well-known for, he's recruited into the Lazarus group to help hunt down Skinner and prevent, essentially, the end of the world. However, Axel is pretty easygoing about this particular task, suggesting that he's not all that invested in actually solving the problem. Indeed, they had to twist his arm to get him to participate in the first place, and Axel is easily frustrated with the lack of progress they've made in catching up with Skinner.

Axel isn't the only character who hasn't gotten much development. While some of the other characters have fared a little better, this is really a problem that afflicts the whole cast of the series. They have no real relationships with one another, since they were just randomly assembled into a team by force, and the series hasn't put much time into building relationships between them, either. Even the dialog is quite generic, and doesn't do much to instill personality into the characters. Whether that's down to localization or the original writing is up in the air, though.

Lazarus May Be ed For Its Action, But Not Its Characters

Lazarus' Cast Isn't Living Up to Watanabe's Past Heroes

It is important to at this stage that Lazarus hasn't ended yet; there's six more episodes to come, as of time of writing, and any number of things could happen in those episodes which could radically change how the first half of the series is regarded. Episode #8 does seem to be working to remedy this somewhat, offering some backstory for Christine and revealing her true identity for the first time, but it is late in the series to be doing this. So far, the characters have only failed to track down Skinner, so little progress in the actual plot has been made, either.

Lazarus, as it stands right now, seems to exist as a criticism of the modern world, reflecting our inaction on serious subjects like climate change (as evidenced by the loss of the last glaciers in the series). Watanabe says the Hapna situation was inspired by the Opioid Crisis in the US and other countries, drawing a parallel between the marvelous effects of the drug and the damage it's caused to society. It's focused far more on Skinner as a character than any of its heroes, exploring his mindset and what was important to him. Perhaps Lazarus is a character study in disguise.

Despite the series' failure to capitalize on its cast of characters the way previous Watanabe anime have, Lazarus is still well-received by many fans, who are willing to overlook its failings in favor of the excellent animation and music. It's certainly hard to discount Lazarus entirely when so many aspects are so good, but the series really needs to up its game when it comes to characterization.