Did you hear that? Echoing across the binary canyons of the internet? That was the sound of me screamcrythrowingup.
There are few things in this world that can cause me to screamcrythrowup. I think the last was Elon Musk’s unfortunate Twitter rebrand, and in that case, I screamcrythrewup with despair. There are also things that have made me screamcrythrowup with rage, such as when Newt Gringrich rears his ugly head. But today, my dear anime friends, I screamcrythrowingup with JOY.
Why? Because my FAVORITE anime creator is teaming up with the stunt choreographer of my FAVORITE action movie to create what I can only assume will become my new FAVORITE anime. That’s right, Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo creator Shinichiro Watanabe is joining forces with John Wick stunt choreographer Chad Stahelsk in order to bless the world with an anime called Lazarus. And it’s gonna be AMAZEBALLS.
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But don’t take my word for it! Take the official description from Adult Swim:
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.
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?
Better yet, don’t take THOSE words for it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a TRAILER must be worth a million. Two! Billion!
It’s got EVERYTHING. A retro-futurist landscape! Smooth neo-jazz! Hot protagonists! Dudes getting kicked in the face! Guns! People jumping off of tall things! Religious imagery! And DOVES! LOOK AT ALL THOSE DOVES.
The series is being animated by god-tier animation studio MAPPA, whom you may know for their gorgeous and gruesome work on Attack on Titan and Chainsaw Man. MAPPA is responsible for some the best animated fight sequences of ALL TIME. Don’t believe me? Just watch Commander Levi take on Kenny and his assault squad in Attack on Titan and you’ll see what I mean.
“As I embark on this creative journey, I can’t help but feel that this project will serve as a culmination of my career so far,” said Watanabe in a press release for the series. “I hope you enjoy it.” I’m pretty sure we will. Even if only for the score. Which is stacked. The score is set to include jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, producer/DJ/musician Floating Points, and producer/DJ/musician Bonobo. Yes, BONOBO, one of the chillest electronic producers of all time, and one of my personal faves. Listen to his track “Cirrus” and tell me it doesn’t want to take a sexy nap or ace an exam or quietly neck with somebody.
The Head of Anime and Action Series at Adult Swim Jason DeMarco’s hopes for this project fly higher than a Canada goose on cannabis. “Shinichirō Watanabe is simply one of the greatest living artists, and it’s a dream come true to be able to collaborate with him on a new original series,” he said in the press release. “Like all of his work, Lazarus is packed with big ideas, incredible characters and a ton of heart. We can’t wait for anime fans to see this world.”
As for the cast? We don’t know anything yet, but I personally am gonna screamcrythrowup in a fit of RAGE if my favorite voice actor Steve Blum is not included. You may also know him as Spike Spiegel and Mugen in the English dub of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo respectively. He’s also Wolverine in a slew of animated X-Men titles and the villain Amon in The Legend of Korra, and literally every side character in any other animated series ever made. If you tell me this man and his bar-of-soap-slathered-in-cocobutter smooth vocals don’t belong in this series, I’m gonna screamcrythrowup all over you.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go screamcrythrowup again.
(featured image: Adult Swim)
