English Dub Review: Lazarus “The World is Yours”

Did it come with a receipt

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

It’s down to the wire as Axel deals with unfinished business and Skinner’s location is finally revealed.

OUR TAKE

Well, there you have it, another Shinichiro Watanabe anime done and dusted, and as expected, its ending is uh…not great. If I were to focus on the positives right out of the gate, it at least feels like an ending. That may seem like a backhanded compliment, or not even a compliment at all, but with how so many of these Adult Swim original anime have concluded, it’s unfortunately not something that’s always guaranteed. Thankfully it is the case here, even if said ending is more about spectacle with a sprinkle of resolution thrown in as a treat. The main event is the final fight between Axel and Soryu which is quite well animated but feels more like the writing cared more about wrapping up Soryu’s story than Axel’s, who walks away basically clean despite still very much recovering from getting speared in their last encounter. And of course we finally reveal Skinner’s location, with it turning out he was in the homeless camp from the second episode with Axel’s trans friend (they even flash us back to a shot from that episode that shows he was there back then, so at least it’s not a hasty retcon). It also is revealed that the incident involving the Hapna prototype also involved every core Lazarus member, who were all there as kids and as a result became immune to the effects of Hapna. They literally died and came back from the dead so…Lazarus. Do you get it?

This leads us to Skinner asking them if he thinks humanity is worth saving, having given them every opportunity to see it at is best and its worst, which of course Axel says it is. I mean, what the hell else was he going to say? I do agree with that sentiment (despite definitely given reason to feel differently these past few months) so I’m more or less okay with the show ending on that note, but it doesn’t really change the fact that this has been, on the whole, a pretty unsatisfying show, and as such, a pretty unsatisfying finale. If not for the reasons listed, than for the fact that, with less than a day to go before they found the cure, there is NO GODDAMN WAY they were able to get it to everyone who needed it in time, especially knowing how many people in the real world refuse to get the COVID vaccine NOW. So, much like Skinner, Lazarus proves to be well intentioned, but ultimately a zero sum.