Dr Skinner who invented the drug Hapna to ease mankind's suffering from both mental and physical pain suddenly re-appears after going missing 3 years ago. Not only that, he makes the surprise announcement that Hapna would kill all who have taken it within 30 days as punishment for humanity's sins.

Axel Gilberto who enjoys throwing himself into danger is sentenced to 888 years prison (his sentence doubled every time he tried to break out), escapes one day only to find himself rounded up by a team who called themselves, "Lazarus". He discovers they were all criminals like himself tasked in finding Dr Skinner in exchange for their freedom. And so, the team of 5's hunt for Skinner begins.

Decided to watch this because it was touted as by the creator Shinichirō Watanabe of Cowboy Bepop which I enjoyed. I also quite like the Anime take on New York. Most who did the same seem to be disappointed judging from reactions on TwitterX.

Sci-fi side is up-to-date. Instead of having giant holographic neon signs, robot servants, it's AI services running tasks usually done by humans such as financial investing and DJing. Jazzy music and action scenes are good which is probably expected from Mappa. Team has a lot of gadgets to play with including a hideout with cars that resemble the Bat Mobile.

Main plot and characters seem to be a bit flat; rogue scientist, cheeky easy going superhuman villains doing good. Fight scenes are smooth but dull. It's kind of like watching someone doing parkour and one hit KOing everyone. It feels a lot like rehashed ideas that aren't taken any further to give them their own spin. It also feels silly how riots would suddenly break out when it's pretty common for people to see videos as AI generated or fake news these days so, why would something cause a panic so easily in a futuristic sci-fi world? Even the anti-vaccine protests weren't so bad in the real world.

Each episode counts down by a day to humans demise. Each new episode also gives them a new clue to close in on Skinner and each character reveals their past with Hapna as part of the intro. Other than that, it feels pretty shallow. It took the same number of group members, 5 episodes before it moved on from the clue hunting; just enough for each to give summary of their past. Then it starts all over again...

It's watchable for the aesthetics, music and odd bit of snarky comedy. Maybe the gang growing into a family too. Just don't expect something ground breaking or original.