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Cowboy Bebop meets Black Lagoon meets Cyberpunk 2077.

Lazarus takes the best of these titles and breathes new life into the uninspired and stagnating action-drama genre. Set in America, Lazarus finds much inspiration from the real-world - the likes of an apathetic self-interested government and eco-terrorism - then dials it up to 11 (well, at least the latter). Briefly imagine how humanity would be with a panacea? This show will almost certainly go down in history as one of the greats of its time.

The series has great exposition, complemented by an incredibly talented VA cast - the likes of Steins;gate's Okabe, Chuunibyou's Rikku, Fruits Basket's couple ... and OPM's Saitama) - giving each character a personality unique to only themselves. Though, until the story concludes, I couldn't tell you how much depth there is to each character. And lastly, Lazarus uses a wide variety of music genres, from bebop jazz to 90s techno-trance, and they pull it off flawlessly each time.

The only flaw right now is through no fault of its own, but Lazarus has opted to do an ensemble-cast style exposition with the constraints of a weekly 13-episode series. I can imagine this show being an incredible series to binge at its conclusion, but to chase it weekly, I'll leave it as 'recommended' cause it has the capacity to be THAT good but I wouldn't recommend watching it at this moment - because as some aptly put it, "It's like waiting a whole week for nothing to happen".

I will continue to update this review as episodes come by.

(slight spoilers - nonspecific):

When you first pick up this manga you find yourself rooting for MC, his decisions seem completely childish and irrational but then again - it makes you question yourself: "Would I have done that?" While this manga has great art that depicts almost every female character as a bishoujo of sorts, you have to remind yourself that she is only average.

Eventually, the story moves on and you find MC in extremely tough situations - being lead on, misinterpreting intentions, etc. You will definitely start to sympathize with his predicaments.

Soon, you start to realize that MC never grew out of his mindset of ... indecisiveness and childishness from earlier on in the manga and it will really starts to piss you off. Of course, your emotions will be suppressed because you will be reading the best arc - Makino Tsukuchi Arc - maybe it's just me, but I truly empathized with MC despite knowing full well he's crashing and burning. It was exceptionally well written.

As the chapters continue, you find yourself reading just for the sake of knowing what the ending will be, because you're halfway through already and probably know exactly which girl you want "her" to be.

MC will still not grow out of his persona and you'll have to deal with it and he applies it into his working life - at this point the manga drops a little in quality but not without reason as his life, was also going downhill by that point.

In the mid-late chapters, you'll find MC in more relatable positions: seemingly unsuccessful job searches, dealing with a failing relationship, etc. Your heart will hurt a little as you read on.

By the last arc, you realize that the story goes to shit and honestly, if it wasn't for the entirety of this arc and a better ending, I would've given in a 10/10 in a heartbeat. The only plot-device here was: learning how to reject someone and sex. Throughout the entire series, MC was never a shallow person (with the exception of one chapter, after which he immediately recovered because he felt shallow himself). Yet in this arc, the story combines both the personality of a high-school girl and a high-school boy. Like what the fuck why would you ruin this top-tier manga at the very end?

The ending was honestly gibberish with zero realism. I which I could continue rambling without spoiling but it's quite difficult.

//

TL;DR: Story got ruined at the end, otherwise superb read.

//Read this part after you complete the manga, contains spoilers.

Personally, I think Makino Tsukuchi should've been the person he ended up with - not Sam-soon. Sam-soon straight up abandoned him at his most difficult point in life, though with reason, for her ex. Her persona was also not elaborated much on apart from the fact that she was pretty and could get any person she wanted until she got dumped, after which she went for a sugar daddy.

If you want a better ending, imagine this: Makino's sister and his friend meet MC, they tell him about her sister's life post-MC. He goes on feeling down about not knowing her true feelings then as he walks home. She shows up wherever he lives to his surprise and hugs him. Makino tells him she's been looking for him. MC, who just found out about her post-MC life, tells her about his own life and that he regretted not loving her but he is still happy for her. Makino is dumbfounded by what MC meant when he said she was married, only then, MC realizes her sister and his friend had pranked him to rile up his past emotions. Makino then asks if what he said about regretting not loving her is true - to which he smiles and kisses her. Then it can end there or a post-marriage epilogue, whatever but man why they gotta ruin the ending, making him go back for a thot.

Story: 9
Being a romance enthusiast, I was actually quite intrigued why this anime was tagged under that genre after watching the first few episodes. To me, it felt almost as if it was simply an obsession from a girl who can hardly control her emotions. My perspective was greatly altered towards the end of the anime.

The plot is fairly interesting, not too many anime of similar genre focus on the chemistry between and instead, decide to spend too much time developing solely on the main character

Art: 7
Far exceeds my expectations of a 2007 anime. Nevertheless, not too imaginative as compared to more recent shows.

Sound: ... 10
YES CLASSICAL MUSIC!

Character: 10
Thoroughly enjoyed the different personalities the creator was able to provide, it is not easy to portray a 'weird' character or 'cold' character without getting progressively more annoying each time you see them.

Also, the focus on other characters create 'arcs' which allowed greater development outside of the MC's life.

Enjoyment/Overall: 8

Not a masterpiece but would definitely recommend to other like-minded people.