REVIEW: ‘Lazarus’ Episode 3 — “Long Way From Home”

The largest concept that Lazarus, the anime created and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and animated by MAPPA, deals with is humanity. More particularly, do you need pain to feel alive? In Lazarus Episode 3, “Long Way Home,” the titular team regroups after their last lead was a bust.

Deciding that Dr. Skinner hasn’t undergone any facial reconstruction, Hersch (Megumi Hayashibara/Jade Kelly) sends the team out to find the doctor by visiting his home and other locations that may have information about Him. One of the most interesting elements of Lazarus Episode 3 is that Doug (Makoto Furukawa/Jovan Jackson) and Axel Gilberto (Mamoru Miyano/Jack Stansbury) have teamed up to find an old mentor, while Leland  (Yuma Uchida/Bryson Baugus)  and Christine (Maaya Uchida/Luci Christian) head to Skinner’s old home disguised as cleaners.

This team shakeup allows the audience to see the different ways the characters interact, which helps map out their personalities. But, none more so than for Doug and Axel. For Doug, we learn that his mentor, Dr. Claude, knew Skinner. As he heads out with Axel to find him, we learn more about why Doug ended up where he is with the team. A former academic-researcher, he was told by a dean that there would never be a Black Einstein. Doug punched him.

It’s a moment where anyone in the audience can empathize with Doug, especially when he adds that he was kicked out of the university for his actions. But it’s here where we learn that Doug’s fondness for finding Claude isn’t just to find Skinner, but also to reunite with the one man who had his back through everything.

When it comes to Axel, he really isn’t worried about anything. As the two search for Doug, Axel takes them to a homeless encampment, where they hope to find the mentor-turned-leader of the homeless community. Where Doug is apprehensive, at least on the outside, Axel is just looking for an old friend he met in prison and doesn’t see anyone in the homeless community as different. Instead, Axel just blends in.

Lazarus Episode 3 continues Shinichiro Watanabe’s dedication to a diverse future that informs dynamic storytelling.

This also goes a long way toward showing the homeless community that the duo finds itself searching in a compassionate light. There is no focus on crime, drugs, or any other stereotypical visuals. They’re all just people, but where Axel sees them as such, others may look away. And it makes it the perfect place for  Skinner to hide, and one white-haired man just may be him.

Watanabe’s entire filmography has envisioned a future where everyone exists, regardless of language, nationality, and identity. Shinichiro Watanabe’s work is usually cited in the majority of lists about diversity in anime. And as the first half of Lazarus Episode 3 shows, this new Watanabe anime is continuing that trend. Primarily by showing a trans person as more than a butt of a joke, and not in the stereotypical make-up and patterned clothes we often see when anime and manga creators include them in stories.

Lazarus doesn’t just offer different representations of the diverse world we live in and the one that Watanabe sees in the future, but the experiences and hurdles people experience help make it essential to the story being told. Lazarus Episode 3 brings this all to the forefront, particularly with Doug and Axel.

Here, Doug’s backstory is that of an academic who lost his path because he pushed back and wouldn’t let a racist dean belittle him. And Axel, his friend Jerry, has transitioned; she now goes by Jill. Instead of shock and awe, the scene is of the two coming together.

We don’t spend much time with Jill, but what we do establishes her as a leader of her community as well as their protector. And that’s because of her life experience and the systemic hurdles she has to overcome. Additionally, the dialogue adds one more perspective to the mix for the series: people who are happy the world is ending, because of their circumstances.

Compassion in a world that’s looking to forget pain is central in “Long Way From Home.”

Throughout the first three episodes of Lazarus, Axel is starting to be pieced together. We know that he trusts his lucky charm to keep him from death, and he just really likes escaping prison. But Jill adds one more piece to who Axel is: he can be at home anywhere. Still, even when he finds that place to call home with people who accept him, Axel just vanishes.

Leland and Axel team up in the back half of the episode, and where Leland is scared of the SWANA-coded area, Axel is right at home. Just like he was in the homeless encampment, and just like he is everywhere else he’s been. This shows the audience the comfort that Axel feels in any situation and any community, instead of leaving it all to just one comment from Jill.

Axel’s speed is Lazarus’ biggest strength. It’s clear that Shinichiro Watanabe likes his action protagonists to incorporate floor moves and elements of dance into their sequences, with Cowboy Bebop’s Spike, Mugen, and even Dandy coming to mind. That said, MAPPA continues its ability to harken to Watanabe’s filmmography when it comes to style, but never finds itself as something that warrants direct comparison.

Additionally, Mugen’s fighting style in Samurai Champloo incorporated heavy b-boy influences, whereas Axel is more driven by the need to utilize his entire body as a resource. When he goes to the ground, he does so hoping to tie up the people he’s fighting, and the speed with which he runs creates a unique style all his own.

Slow-paced, this MAPPA-animated series still has the potential to be an Adult Swim best. 

Lazarus Episode 3 also brings the audience and the crew closer than they have been to Skinner. Leland and Axel eat baklava with their grandmother and learn more about their tragic backstory. This is where the episode’s introduction comes into focus.

Like other Watanabe works, each episode of Lazarus is fitted with an introductory narration, often reflected in the story we see in the episode. Lazarus Episode 3 opens up by discussing grief. While some have taken Hapna for a painless world, that pain means different things for each person. Hapna can cure cancer, but it can also cure heartache. But if you’ve ever felt grief, as much as you want to make your way through it, you also wish you never had to feel it in the first place.

Lazarus Episode 3 isn’t going to win over any people who have been frustrated with the series’ slow pacing. That said, this episode is driven by emotional moments that pull the reality of a painless world into focus. And also, what it means to come to terms with the end when your circumstances can barely be called a life.

This MAPPA-animated series may be slow-paced, but the story dedicates time to the world, its circumstances, and the characters in a way that gives the audience a comprehensive picture. I understand the world that Hapna has created in Lazarus Episode 3 more deeply than I did in the other two, and this builds value to the narrative. With emotional moments and gorgeous animation, Lazarus Episode 3 may be slow, but it’s pulling me deeper into the world.

Lazarus Episode 3 is streaming now on MAX (formerly HBO Max) with new episodes every Saturday.

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