I'm just gonna say it: I'm tired of the same old dystopian neon city type settings that are common these days, and I entirely blame Cyberpunk 2077 for causing them to become so homogenized. I was hoping Lazarus, the recently announced collab anime between Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe and John Wick director Chad Stahleski, to go for a different vibe, and it looks like it did.

Cowboy Bebop explored a lot of cyberpunk themes like transhumanism,  transferring consciousness from people to machines and hypercapitalist nightmares, they gelled well with the space-faring space western vibes. There are more characters that wouldn't look out of place in the nineties than there are huge ass cyborgs or guys with robot limbs. From what we've seen of Lazarus so far, it looks like it follows suit.

The character designs here are fairly grounded, and the aesthetics look more modern-futuristic than any specific sci-fi subgenre. The animation looks fluid, too. Studio MAPPA animating John Wick-level fight scenes sounds like a dream, and this bodes well so far. We don't have a release date yet, but apparently staff are aiming to finish this series by the end of this year for release in 2024.

What do you guys think of this Lazarus trailer? Are you on board so far? Is it close to your expectations? Leave your thoughts below!