Japan Society has announced that it will add Shinichiro Watanabe for an upcoming discussion series titled “Foreign Exchange 2025: Cross-Cultural Conversations with Anime Visionaries.” Watanabe is the beloved creator behind anime such as Lazarus, Cowboy Bebop, and Samurai Champloo.
The event will take place from November 17-22 at the Japan Society auditorium at 333 E. 47th Street in New York. According to the official website, the “Foreign Exchange explores the cross-cultural dialogue between Japan and the U.S. through the popular arts. It spotlights creators blending borders and recognizes the art of Japan’s popular arts in unique creator-to-creator conversations. Join us for a weekend of talks and screenings with trailblazing anime visionaries Shinichiro Watanabe, Justin Leach and LeSean Thomas.”
Lazarus, Watanabe’s latest anime, is available to watch now on HBO Max. The original sci-fi anime is produced by MAPPA for Toonami with action sequences by John Wick stuntman and director Chad Stahelski. The Boo Radleys perform the ending theme song “Lazarus.” The first episode of the series premiered on April 5. The series features the following cast members:
- Mamoru Miyano as Axel
- Makoto Furukawa as Doug
- Maaya Uchida as Christin
- Yuma Uchida as Leland
- Manaka Iwami as Eleina
- Megumi Hayashibara as Hersch
- Akio Otsuka as Abel
- Koichi Yamadera as Dr. Skinner
Other cast members include:
- Yūichi Nakamura
- Tomokazu Sugita
- Shōya Chiba
- Neeko
- Daisuke Ono
- Kazuhiko Inoue
- Satoshi Hino
- Sumire Uesaka
- Hidenori Takahashi
- Kōki Uchiyama
- Kenshō Ono
- Aoi Tada
- Ayane Sakura
- Yoshiko Sakakibara
Recently, Watanabe also helped to provide supervision for Ghost of Yōtei‘s aptly named “Watanabe Mode.” The mode features lo-fi music inspired by the creator’s previous anime creations. The game is available now to play on PlayStation 5.
