Shinichiro Watanabe's Lazarus anime gets action-packed trailer ahead of April premiere

Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe’s new anime Lazarus is coming this April, and recently, we got a new trailer filled with action.

It has been years since Watanabe’s last anime Carol & Tuesday, so this new project with MAPPA is no doubt an exciting one. While many fans of Watanabe’s work were already looking forward to Lazarus back when it was first announced in mid-2023, for those who missed its reveal, this new trailer is convincing.

After all, while Watanabe’s previous work was a comfy series about music, Lazarus is a sci-fi action show, complete with a jazzy soundtrack that will no doubt remind you of his masterpiece, Cowboy Bebop.

Check out the new trailer here:

While the show’s visuals don’t look exactly like Cowboy Bebop, the score is definitely reminiscent. From the looks of it, the Bebop feel of it is by design, especially as the show’s latest key visual is straight out of Watanabe’s iconic work.

The new artwork was shared on the Lazarus anime’s official X account, and you can see just how much it looks like a promo piece for Cowboy Bebop:

To go along with the visuals and the music, the Lazarus anime also has a stacked voice cast which includes:

Mamoru Miyano (Light Yagami in Death Note) as Axel
Makoto Furukawa (Saitama in One-Punch Man) as Doug
Maaya Uchida (Hiyori Iki in Noragami) as Christine
Yuma Uchida (Megumi Fushiguro in Jujutsu Kaisen) as Leland
Manaka Iwami (Akane Kurokawa in Oshi no Ko) as Eleina
Megumi Hayashibara (Rei Ayanami in Neon Genesis Evangelion) as Hersch
Akio Otsuka (Rider in Fate/Zero) as Abel
Koichi Yamadera (Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop) as Skinner

Finally, the show’s story is described as:

The year is 2052 – an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity prevails across the globe. The reason for this: mankind has been freed from sickness and pain. Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Dr. Skinner has developed a miracle cure-all drug with no apparent drawbacks called Hapuna. Hapuna soon becomes ubiquitous… and essential. However, soon after Hapuna is officially introduced, Dr. Skinner vanishes.
Three years later, the world has moved on. But Dr. Skinner has returned – this time, as a harbinger of doom. Skinner announces that Hapuna has a short half-life. Everyone who has taken it will die approximately three years later. Death is coming for this sinful world – and coming soon.
As a response to this threat, a special task force of 5 agents is gathered from across the world to save humanity from Skinner’s plan. This group is called “Lazarus.” Can they find Skinner and develop a vaccine before time runs out?

Lazarus will premiere on April 6, 2025, on Adult Swim in the US. The show will have 13 episodes.