In episode 6 of Lazarus , released on May 11th, the group finds a magazine published 15 years ago and discovers that Dr. Skinner visited a religious community where they treat an AI called Naga as a deity. Furthermore, the episode reveals more details about Elaina's past, which is connected to this same community visited by the scientist.
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The anime Lazarus is opting to maintain a similar premise in each episode, which is the search for Dr. Skinner. However, the events of each episode retain their own particularities. Furthermore, even though they don't succeed in finding Skinner, the team undertakes secondary missions during the search, such as in the episode where Axel, Doug, Cris, and Leland infiltrate the nightclub and, in the end, help capture Sam, the owner of the place, and the hacker Dr. 909.
The Lazarus team meets Naga, the power-hungry AI
At the beginning of the episode, Doug discovers that Dr. Skinner visited a religious community, isolated from the world, 15 years ago. The place worships an AI, capable of mimicking the human neural network, called Naga. When Naga was created, the scientist's brain was used as a model, and that is why he has a connection to artificial intelligence.
Furthermore, the MIT researcher who created the AI is the leader of the religious community. The episode shows that his obsession with Naga was so intense that he abandoned the research center and founded a community to treat her as a deity.
After discovering that Elaina was born, raised, and escaped from this community, the team members agree to the girl's idea of infiltrating the place. Therefore, Elaina and Leland go together to find Dr. Skinner.
When they arrive in the community, they realize that, for those people, the Naga AI is the only thing that matters. Therefore, when they discover that the two plan is to investigate the artificial intelligence system, they are arrested and sentenced to a purification, which, according to one of the community residents, is the same as being burned alive.
The scene where they are trapped and the fire slowly approaches Leland and Elaina is unsettling, given that the community members show no reaction. The alienation of the people is visible, and in the name of an AI and their beliefs, they decide to burn two young people without any remorse. Even Elaina's mother witnesses the entire scene, and her only reaction is a small, distracted smile.
The group fails to find Skinner and is back to square one
Once again, the team is back to square one. Now, only 17 days remain, and they need, more than ever, to find the scientist to save humanity. There are still unanswered questions, but I believe the main one is: why would Skinner create a deadly painkiller?
The episodes of Lazarus spark curiosity, and the characters are fun and charismatic, especially Axel Gilberto. Furthermore, the animation style differs somewhat from those currently being released. The combination of elements such as character design, the presence of a narrator, and the more subdued color tone of the anime, make the work reminiscent of older animations, such as Cowboy Bebop , which is by Shinichiro Watanabe, the same creator of Lazarus . The series is available on the MAX streaming platform, dubbed in Portuguese.
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