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The legacy of Cowboy Bebop looms large in Japanese anime, and its influence is still felt in Shinichiro Watanabe’s newest anime, Lazarus. Developed in part with Cowboy Bebop writer Keiko Nobumoto, Watanabe’s Lazarus show feels at home with the sense of groove that Cowboy Bebop is known for. 

Ahead of Lazarus’s release, we sat down with Watanabe at New York Comic Con 2024 to discuss how Lazarus was developed, and what fans can expect from his new show.  

Can you talk about Lazarus and how this production started?

So, I did a show called Space Dandy about ten years ago, and that show had an involvement by the Cartoon Network, small involvement, by Mr. Jason DeMarco. And after that show, he got an offer to do an original series, totally financed by Cartoon Network. And at the time, we had a few things also that he was working on. So, I said, “I will do it after they’re finished.” But those few, other projects that I was working on, dragged on. So that it took a long time before we could start. I doubt whether Jason thought it would take ten years for the series to be finished. 

I also started this project together with Keiko Nobumoto who was the script writer for Cowboy Bebop. So the two of us, sort of, worked on the initial concepts and stories for Lazarus. But unfortunately, Keiko passed away from illness, before the project really got going into the scriptwriting stage. So we hired other writers and then proceeded to complete the story. So there's some people I've heard from, some people who've seen Lazarus, that they get the same impression or the same vibe as Cowboy Bebop, in Lazarus.  And, this was not by intention or by some others’ intention. But I suppose that since both of them are both Keiko Nobumoto and I worked on the Lazarus, that that connection, the project, took on, sort of a similar kind of vibe.  Since it was the last work that Keiko worked on, I really want to make a success of it as Lazarus.

Watanabe-san, I think what some of your previous work, such as Cowboy Bebop, is known for is its music. Can you all talk about the music and what fans can expect of the sound.

So at times, working on animation projects, there are those projects that he doesn't have complete control of the selection of music. But in this case, for Lazarus, he was able to do what he liked with choices of music.

Kamasi Washington.

Yeah, yeah. So from among the artists and musicians that you can use in previous works, compared to them, I think the two other, you mentioned Kamasi, but the two other artists do have a sound that could be considered as somewhat futuristic.

And as for Kamasi Washington, having listened to his music, knowing and feeling that there's a sense of very large scale in his music. And even though Lazarus starts out as sort of small scale, it will eventually grow to include a very large setting and events, so that's the kind of connection.

For season one, is there a particular episode or character you are most excited for fans to see?

So in this series, there are five main characters. And as the story begins, we only see them as they just met each other. Throughout, maybe up to, like, episode eight or so, you will see their relationship develop and grow. And that's something that we would really like people to see and enjoy. 

And personally, I think that episode eight became very emotional and resonates the story. So I would like people to see it that way. But it doesn't mean that from episode nine onwards, that the story is not emotional. But it's true that in episode nine, this story takes on sort of a separate turn. And it's there that we first encounter a new character, a sort of an invincible assassin. I've always liked sort of a hitman character, but I was able to, at last, spring this new assassin character to life. And that's something that I really enjoyed in the creative process. So I would like people to enjoy it as well.

It's not that I like real killers like that. I just enjoyed creating this character. It's an interesting character I was able to create. So people who see it up to episode eight thinking in a certain way may get a surprise after seeing episode nine.

My final question is, Lazarus is a new original anime. Do you have the whole story blocked out beyond season 1? 

So what I would really like to do is to make a sequel, as a theatrical feature. But that would depend on how successful the series is. I really hope and want people to enjoy and see Lazarus. 

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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