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Lazarusis the latest anime fromCowboy Bebop’s Shinichiro Watanabe, and after almost two years, its premiere is finally on the horizon. Between Watanabe’s legendary pedigree and the incredible staff involved in the production, both in English and Japanese, there are few anime in 2025 with more hyped surrounding them, and with the track record of everyone involved, there’s little reason for it not to become a major hit.
What Time Lazarus Episode 1 Releases
Lazarus Episode 1’s Release Schedule Explained
Lazaruswill be aToonami original anime, meaning that cable or other forms of TV service are required for watching new episodes live, although new episodes will be streamed the next day on Max.Lazarusepisode #1 will premiere on Saturday, April 5 at 9:00 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST), 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST), and 5:00 AM British Summer Time (BST), and it should be available on Max relatively early the following day.
Lazarus’ Story Explained
Everything To Know About Shinichiro Watanabe’s Lazarus
Shinichiro Watanabe’s Lazarustakes place in the near future where a miracle drug called Hapna has been used to cure all diseases, creating what appears to be a utopia for all. Years later, however, Dr. Skinner, the creator of Hapna, reveals that Hapna will kill anyone who takes it after three years, and with it almost being three years to the day since Hapna was first administered,the government assembles a secret task force known as Lazarus to track down Dr. Skinner and force him to make a cure for Hapna before humanity is wiped out.
Lazarus Will Be The Perfect Return To Form For Shinichiro Watanabe
Why Lazarus Is Perfect For Longtime Fans Of Shinichiro Watanabe
There are plenty of reasons to be excited aboutLazarus, and chief among them is the kind of work it’s meant to be. While Shinichiro Watanabe can sell nearly any genre with his directing style, most people agree that stylish action stories likeCowboy BebopandSamurai Champlooare where his talents shine, and that was largely absent fromTerror in ResonanceandNetflix’sCarole & Tuesday. Those shows weren’t bad, of course, butLazarusbeing another action-packed story with stylish art and animation is more in line with Shinichiro Watanabe’s most noteworthy anime, and that’s something to look forward to.
Lazarus’ soundtrack also feeds into it being a return to form. Shinichiro Watanabe’s anime always have soundtracks with incredible vocal and instrumental tracks, with him even collaborating with Western artists on occasion, and sure enough,Lazarusis set to have one of the best soundtracks for a Shinichiro Watanabe anime, thanks to it being a collaboration between the incredible talents of Kamasi Washington, Bonobo, and Floating Points. That, combined with the great animation that’s been shown off in every trailer, setsLazarusup as a classic Watanabe production, and it will be great to watch it all play out.
Lazarus Is Exactly What Toonami Needs Right Now
Why Lazarus Is Perfect For Toonami
Lazarusis one of themost-anticipated anime of 2025, and the fact that it’s going to air on Toonami is all the better. Recent years haven’t been all that kind to Toonami, with various licensing and scheduling changes severely limiting their programming year after year to the point that they can’t even finish some shows likeMy Hero Academia. However, between the incredible production and how it’s another anime premiering on Toonami before anywhere else in the world,Lazarusis the perfect anime to give modern Toonami some much-needed attention.
Most anime fans have Toonami to thank for getting them into anime in the first place, and while they probably don’t watch it nearly as much as when they were kids, or even when it came back in 2012, it should feel no less frustrating to see such an iconic part of anime lose so much of the prestige it once held.Lazarus, of course, would only be a temporary boon, butany increased attentionLazaruscould bring to Toonami would be great to see in any context, and there’s no reason not to be excited about that.
Even with so little known aboutLazarusbeyond the basic plot summary, there are plenty of reasons to be hyped about it. Between the incredible animation and visuals, the gorgeous soundtrack, and the simple fact that it’s a new anime from legendary director Shinichiro Watanabe,Lazarusalready has all the makings for the best anime of the spring 2025 anime season, if not 2025 as a whole. There’s plenty to be excited about, and hopefully, onceLazarusformally premieres, it will live up to all of that and more.
