Lazarus 1×12 and 1×13 Review: “Close to the Edge” and “The World Is Yours”

Lazarus anime season one episode 12 ‘Close to the Edge’ and episode 13 ‘The World Is Yours’ concluded the team’s search for Skinner and their attempt to save humanity.

So, yeah. What began as an interesting premise quickly fell into weeks upon weeks of filler content that did nothing to portray the main team as competent individuals tasked with finding the genius scientist who wanted to destroy human civilization because he thought humanity didn’t deserve to live. Though the anime concluded with Team Lazarus being offered to stick around to help solve and fix other issues, frankly, I hope the series doesn’t return for a second outing unless it goes through a complete creative overhaul.

Anyway, talking about episode 12 ‘Close to the Edge’, it dealt with Eleina interacting in person with the elusive Popcorn Wizard somewhere in Islamabad, Pakistan. We get to learn that Popcorn Wizard’s real name was Lin. She’s one of the inhabitants (with analgesia) of the sinking islands Skinner bought years ago while researching Hapna. As far as Lin’s concerned, she was willing to help Skinner in any way possible because he saved her life as well as the lives of the islanders. I liked how Eleina brought up what Lin thought of Skinner wanting to kill everyone who consumed Hapna. While I felt Lin’s answer could have been a lot better, it did showcase her continued loyalty to Skinner.

I enjoyed Eleina’s dynamic with Lin. The two young women understood each other. As Lin put it, Eleina was her biggest rival and her new best friend. The sentiment reminded me of Ash’s way of thinking in the Pokémon anime. Upon getting the greenlight from Skinner, Lin revealed his location to Eleina. So, yeah, turns out, Skinner was in… drumroll… the homeless community Axel and Dough visited back in episode 3. He’s been hiding under the team’s noses all along in Babylonia City. I have read some fan theories about Skinner being in the homeless camp, but I didn’t think the creative team would go such an unimpactful route. But they did. Sigh!

As for the rest of the characters, ‘Close to the Edge’ had Axel recover from his intense confrontation with Soryu from the previous episode. Abel worked on getting Hersch away from INSCOM while also arresting the leader because of how he tested on prison inmates and was creating bioweapons.

While all of that was okay, the thing that made me roll my eyes was how Abel recruited Dr. 909 to investigate Soryu. Considering Dr. 909 was okay with Sam preying on women, I didn’t like how Dr. 909 was asked to help the good guys in such a manner. However, it wouldn’t be the first time skilled men like him are called in to assist the government, regardless of their creepy behaviour.

The finale, ‘The World Is Yours’ was about Eleina, Doug, Abel, Hersch, and Leland making their way to the homeless camp while (a still recovering) Axel decided to confront Soryu. The fight between Axel and Soryu made for a cool action sequence as both injured characters tried to win their final battle. Having said that, adding Soryu to the story along with the mystery concerning the Hundun Program… like, why? What was the purpose of all of that? Also, Soryu’s death-by-falling-debris was very anticlimactic. In the end, Soryu came across as an excuse for a character the creative team needed to throw in some action sequences.

Lazarus season one has been full of side missions that got a whole lot of focus compared to the main mission to find Skinner. At first, I was okay with it because I thought the side missions were going to be used to flesh out the main cast (Heavens know they needed it!). But with a season consisting of only 13 episodes and most of the clues leading to dead ends, the side missions began coming across as filler content, making it seem the creative team couldn’t think of a way to keep the main mission engaging enough to justify the 13-episode runtime. In a way, Lazarus could have worked a lot better as an action-heavy feature anime film that honed in on exploring mortality, big pharma, corruption, and the collapse of society.

The writing team had one last chance to save the narrative when it came to Team Lazarus finally confronting Skinner at the homeless camp near the final moments of episode 13. But even that conversation fell short of what it could have been. The major reveal was how the main cast was present at the airport when the prototype-Hapna was released due to INSCOM’s interference, killing numerous people. However, Axel and the rest of the crew experienced a change in their DNA, making them immune to Hapna. Skinner lost his trust in humanity after the incident and decided to announce how everyone who had consumed Hapna (including himself) was going to die soon.

Skinner gave away the cure to Team Lazarus after Axel mentioned how the world still deserved to exist even if it had faults. The entire thing felt rushed, and the thematic exploration about humanity vs Mother Nature was surface-level. I was expecting a lot more from a premise that was based (and marketed) on preventing humanity’s extinction because of a scientist possibly experiencing a God complex.

With Team Lazarus being given their freedom (even though they didn’t do much to find Skinner, in my opinion), the finale showed Leland going back to his family mansion to spend time with his sister. Doug needed to recover from the injuries he experienced in Islamabad. Eleina confronted Dr 909 for using her computer. And the world was saved because the cure was created and globally administered ASAP.

Episode 12 did have Chris kiss Axel, but that moment wasn’t brought up again during the finale. So, I’m not sure if they’re going to be a thing or not. As far as the fandom’s concerned, Axel is way better off being shipped with Doug.    

All in all, Lazarus anime season one was disappointing. The flashy visuals and cool action sequences couldn’t make up for an interesting premise that the creative team didn’t explore much of. Also, the main cast needed a lot more development to justify why they were recruited to Team Lazarus in the first place. So much lost potential.

Oh well.

What did you think of Lazarus? Do you want a second season?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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