Is Lazarus Anime English or Japanese? Where to Watch

Shinichiro Watanabe, the legendary director behind Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, is back with a new anime that already has fans excited. Lazarus isn’t just another sci-fi series, it’s a thrilling new story packed with fancy shots, suspense, and some philosophical touch to it.

Animated by the powerhouse studio MAPPA and co-produced by SOLA Entertainment, Lazarus first premiered on Adult Swim’s Toonami in April 2025. Since its premiere, one question has kept popping up: is Lazarus an English anime or a Japanese one? And if you want to watch it with subtitles or in English dub, where should you go?

Is Lazarus an English Anime or a Japanese One?

At its core, Lazarus is a Japanese anime. It’s directed by a Japanese creator, animated by a Japanese studio, and follows many of the visual and narrative traditions anime fans know and love. But the way it’s being released makes things a little more interesting. The show is debuting in English first, with the dubbed version airing ahead of the original Japanese-language version.

In other words, while Lazarus is very much a Japanese production, its first audience is English-speaking. The English dub, featuring voice actors like David Matranga and Luci Christian, is airing in the United States before the Japanese-language episodes are released in Japan. The Japanese version, with voice talents like Mamoru Miyano, Maaya Uchida, and Akio Otsuka, follows about a month later.

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This isn’t the usual route for anime, which typically premieres in Japanese first and gets dubbed afterward. But Watanabe has always played with structure and style. With Lazarus, he’s once again exploring how storytelling can cross borders, this time by flipping the script on how anime reaches its global audience.

Where to Watch Lazarus With English Subtitles or Dubbed Audio?

If you’re in the United States, you can catch the English dub of Lazarus every Saturday night on Adult Swim’s Toonami block. Episodes air around midnight and are added to Max for streaming the next day.

If you prefer watching in Japanese with English subtitles, you’ll need a bit of patience. Each subtitled version arrives about a month after the dubbed episode. Those versions will also be available through Adult Swim’s digital platforms and on Max once they drop.

Meanwhile, viewers in Japan started seeing Lazarus on TV Tokyo beginning April 6, 2025. After airing, those episodes are made available on local Japanese streaming platforms. So wherever you are, and whichever language you prefer, you’ve got options, you might just need to plan your watchlist accordingly.

What Lazarus Is All About

The story of Lazarus is set in the year 2052, in a world that seems to have cracked the code to human suffering. A wonder drug called Hapna, created by the brilliant Dr. Skinner, has eliminated disease, pain, and struggle. For three years, it looks like humanity has entered a new golden age.

Then Dr. Skinner returns with a horrifying announcement. Hapna wasn’t a cure at all. It was a trap. In thirty days, everyone who took it will die.

With the clock ticking, a global task force is formed. Its name? Lazarus. The team is made up of five elite agents from around the world, and they have one mission: find Dr. Skinner and stop the countdown before it’s too late.

What follows is part action-thriller, part futuristic mystery, and part philosophical deep dive into the price of human ambition. The series moves fast, hits hard, and keeps its tension high. It’s not just about the world ending. It’s about what people do when they realize it might.

The New York City Vibe

Even if you didn’t know where the inspiration came from, you’d feel it. Lazarus carries the heart of New York City in its design, energy, and attitude. Watanabe has always had a talent for blending global culture into his storytelling. In Cowboy Bebop, it was jazz and space noir. In Samurai Champloo, it was hip-hop and samurai drama. In Lazarus, it’s a futuristic world that feels unmistakably shaped by the outline of NYC.

You’ll see it in the towering architecture, the neon-lit backstreets, and the meeting point of people and influences. The world that feels familiar, even as the story takes you into uncharted territory. It’s a subtle but powerful thread that ties the series to a place only New York can inspire.

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And honestly, it kind of works. After all, if the world really was on the brink, New York is a good place to stage the final showdown.

Episode Release Timeline

Season 1 of Lazarus features 13 episodes, with new episodes airing each Saturday night on Toonami. The first episode, titled “Goodbye Cruel World,” premiered on April 5, 2025. Episodes then hit Max the following day for streaming.

Assuming no mid-season breaks, here’s a release schedule for Lazarus Season 1:

Episode	Title	Air Date (Adult Swim)	Stream Date (Max)
1	Goodbye Cruel World	April 5, 2025	April 6
2	Life in the Fast Lane	April 12	April 13
3	Long Way from Home	April 19	April 20
4	TBD	April 26	April 27
5	TBD	May 3	May 4
6	TBD	May 10	May 11
7	TBD	May 17	May 18
8	TBD	May 24	May 25
9	TBD	May 31	June 1
10	TBD	June 7	June 8
11	TBD	June 14	June 15
12	TBD	June 21	June 22
13	TBD	June 28	June 29

For those waiting on the Japanese audio version with English subtitles, each episode will arrive roughly one month after its English counterpart. So, for example, the subtitled version of Episode 1 is expected to become available in early May.

This out-of-pocket approach might feel a little unusual for anime fans who are used to simulcasts, but it’s also kind of exciting. It gives the show room to breathe and keeps the conversation going week after week.

Conclusion

With Lazarus, Shinichiro Watanabe is doing what he does best: building a world that feels both futuristic and grounded. The decision to launch in English first is a bold one, but it fits the show’s global tone and broad ambitions.

So is Lazarus English or Japanese? It’s Japanese in origin, no question. But it’s made with a global audience in mind, and it speaks fluently to both sides. Whether you’re tuning in for the English dub or holding out for the Japanese with subtitles, one thing’s for sure: this is going to be a ride worth sticking with.

And hey, if the end of the world is coming, at least it looks this cool.

About Lazarus

Lazarus is an upcoming original anime series that is set to be directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and will be produced by MAPPA. The director of John Wick, Chad Stahelski, is working on the action pieces.

Adult Swin describes the story: The year is 2052 – an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity prevails across the globe. The reason for this: mankind has been freed from sickness and pain. Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Dr. Skinner has developed a miracle cure-all drug with no apparent drawbacks called Hapuna. Hapuna soon becomes ubiquitous… and essential. However, soon after Hapuna is officially introduced, Dr. Skinner vanishes.

Three years later, the world has moved on. But Dr. Skinner has returned – this time, as a harbinger of doom. Skinner announces that Hapuna has a short half-life. Everyone who has taken it will die approximately three years later. Death is coming for this sinful world – and coming soon.

As a response to this threat, a special task force of 5 agents is gathered from across the world to save humanity from Skinner’s plan. This group is called “Lazarus.” Can they find Skinner and develop a vaccine before time runs out?