Shinichiro Watanabe's Lazarus anime reveals theme song info and key visual

On Friday, December 13, 2024, the official X (formerly Twitter) account for Shinichiro Watanabe and MAPPA’s Lazarus anime series revealed a new key visual and the theme song info. Per the latest announcement, the anime’s opening theme song will be Vortex, performed by Kamasi Washington, while the ending theme song will be Lazarus, performed by The Boo Radleys.

The decision is particularly notable because neither theme song is performed by a Japanese artist, which is rare for television anime productions like the Lazarus anime series. The Boo Radleys are an English alternative rock band originally from the 1990s, while Kamasi Washington is an American jazz saxophonist who founded the West Coast Get Down jazz collective.

Lazarus anime enlists non-Japanese artists for both its opening and ending theme song

Unfortunately, the new key visual for the Lazarus anime is not as informative as the news regarding the anime’s theme song information. The visual features the hands of 10 different characters, each reaching out for an object in the center. It appears to be a case with several white spheres pouring out and spreading across the key visual. Some of these spheres are right next to some of the hands, still reaching for the case-like object.

The key visual also features some Japanese text underneath this scene and the anime’s title logo underneath. The entire visual is also bathed in a purple light, giving it a unique appearance and helping to make a memorable impression. It’s unclear exactly which hands in the key visual belong to which characters, but it can be presumed that this is meant to represent the series’ central-most group of characters.

Likewise, the anime will star Mamoru Miyano as Axel, Makoto Furukawa as Doug, Maaya Uchida as Christine, Yuma Uchida as Leland, Manaka Iwami as Eleina, Megumi Hayashibara as Hersch, Akio Otsuka as Abel, and Koichi Yamadera as Skinner. The series is scheduled for a general 2025 release window but has yet to provide a full release date as of this article’s writing. This news is expected to come sometime in early to mid-2025.

Shinichiro Watanabe, best known as the director of Cowboy Bebop, is confirmed to be directing each episode of the Lazarus anime series. This was confirmed by Jason DeMarco, senior vice president and head of the anime and action series at Adult Swim. Chad Stahleski, the stuntman and director of John Wick, is designing the action sequences.

In addition to performing the opening theme song, Washington is scoring the music for the series alongside producers, DJs, and musicians Floating Points and Bonobo. Sola Entertainment is producing the series, with Akemi Hayashi as the character designer, Stanislas Brunet as the concept designer, and Miho Sugiura as the art director.