Shinichiro Watanabe has created some of the greatest anime masterpieces of all time, from Cowboy Bebop to Samurai Champloo. His latest anime series, Lazarus, retains a very similar flavor to his other great works, including its excellent musical score, awesome fight choreography, and nonchalant protagonist. All these similar elements have understandably gotten fans thinking about how each series could be interconnected, and Shinichiro Watanabe recently gave fans the answer to those questions.

In an interview with Anime News Network, Watanabe stated that he always liked to think all his series took place in the same universe. This already changes everything fans knew about Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop, and it could also help inform how audiences view Lazarus with each new episode as well. Given this newfound connection, one shocking Lazarus detail revealed in Episode 2, “Life in the Fast Lane”, redefines the setting of Watanabe’s shared anime universe, including that of Cowboy Bebop.

Lazarus’ lead protagonist, Axel, is someone for whom actions speak louder than words. He shoots, kicks, punches and runs first, and asks questions second, and much of what he says is cryptic and hard to take at face value. However, one silly joke he makes in Lazarus Episode 2, reveals a shocking revelation about how his Universe relates to the real world. In it, Douglas explains to the rest of the team that Lazarus was formed for one reason, and one reason only: to save the world. To this, Chris sarcastically comments that they’re like “superheroes”, to which .”

While it seems like a pointless reference at first, the reality of what Axel’s reference to the Avengers implies is that the same fictional stories, comic books, and potentially even movies that exist in the real world also exist in Lazarus’ world. This is extremely important, because it confirms that Lazarus is anything but a pure fantasy story. Lazarus is a science fiction series intended to take place in a very realistic version of the planet Earth, set in the not-so-distant future. The kind of fictional stories that exist in any given world actually say a lot about the world itself, because fiction is still rooted in an aspect of reality, even if the author is trying their absolute hardest to make something truly fantastical.

That being the case, if the Avengers exist, then Lazarus’ world is much more like the real world than it is a fantasy world. This fits with Watanabe’s overall desire to make the series’ story feel like an expression of something that is really possible in the near-future for humanity. The Avengers existing in the series’ lore further grounds the story in reality, making it feel more connected to real life. Furthermore, if Watanabe’s statement about Bebop and Lazarus existing in the same Universe is true, then it also confirms that the Avengers, and by extension, modern American cinema (or at least, the original comic book characters), exist in Cowboy Bebop as well.

Theoretically, this further grounds Bebop in a more realistic version of the world, even if aspects of its lore (such as an important event in the year 2021) have already been proven fantastical by the passage of time. This makes sense, though, considering another one of his series, Samurai Champloo, is historical fiction based on a real period in Japan’s history. Still, even in Samurai Champloo’s case, the story isn’t a retelling of any particular historical event, so it’s easy enough to write it off as pure fantasy.

Now that Lazarus has all-but-confirmed Watanabe’s universe is more deeply rooted in reality than ever, it offers a new lense through which to look at his other works, including Champloo and Bebop. Still, it’s worth noting that - even though Watanabe claims he thinks of his series as a shared Universe – that might not mean much coming from him. Much of what Watanabe states about lore and theorizing has to be taken with a grain of salt. For example, he once said during a panel discussing Cowboy Bebop that to people who ask if the series takes place in a dream, he tells them it doesn’t; but to those who say it doesn’t take place in a dream, he tells them it actually does.

In this way, Watanabe likes to have fun with the fandom, and he likes fans to come up with their own interpretations of his series to take from it their own meanings. It’s highly unlikely he really thinks about in any serious way how the series might connect, and it’s even more unlikely that he takes those connections into account when crafted a new story. Still, many fans have theorized for years that series like Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy and Samurai Champloo all take place in a shared Universe. Some even theorized that Mugen could be a distant relative to Spike long before Watanabe ever stated the series share this universal connection.

Shinichiro Watanabe’s claim that Cowboy Bebop and Lazarus take place in the same continuity is exciting to consider, especially since it makes fun fan theories like Axel potentially being related to Spike seem more feasible. Unfortunately, as enjoyable as seeing this connection can be, there’s plenty of reason to believe that the two anime can not possibly coexist in the same world. Just looking at Cowboy Bebop and Lazarus alone, it’s clear they couldn’t possibly take place in the same galaxy with the same planet Earth, though there’s always the possibility Watanabe’s Universe is itself full of innumerable universes with parallel planet Earths that are quite similar to each other.

There are already plenty of inconsistencies between Cowboy Bebop and Lazarus' backstories, even with only two episodes of Lazarus out so far. However, the most overt is also the only one needed to put the proverbial nail in their shared universe's coffin. Lazarus takes place in the year 2052, in America. In this version of the future, the world has reached new levels of technological advancement, and people mostly thrive thanks to Dr Skinner’s miracle painkiller, Hapna. However, things aren't quite as promising for the future as shown in Cowboy Bebop. Cowboy Bebop takes place in the year 2071, nearly 20 years after the events of Lazarus.

In terms of time period, the two stories could technically fit, but there’s a huge problem with the two series taking place in the exact same timeline. Namely, in Cowboy Bebop’s lore, the world essentially ended in 2021 after a cataclysmic event known as the Astral Gate Accident destroyed the Earth’s moon. Pretty much every major city on Earth was destroyed in this catastrophe, and most of humanity migrated from the planet or moved underground. Given the Astral Gate Accident would’ve taken place only 30 years prior to the start of Lazarus, and there has still been absolutely no mention of anything like it in the series, it’s highly unlikely that the two series directly coincide.

With the Earth in ruins and society trying to rebuild itself after having been left in shambles, it’s hard to imagine that Hapna would be the biggest thing people were worried about on Earth in the year 2052. On the other hand, perhaps a drug like Hapna could explain why people act like everything’s okay, even though they have been dealing with the largest cataclysm in history on Earth. Maybe Hapna has put people in such a daze they have been able to ignore the problems arising around them, and have convinced themselves that everything is okay.

This theory would make sense if it weren’t for the fact that even before Lazarus and the Hapna incident occurred, Dr Skinner is shown giving speeches to the United Nations about the dangers of climate change and war on Earth. This doesn’t seem like it would be a concern anymore in Cowboy Bebop’s version of events, since most of the infrastructure that leads to climate change would’ve already been almost completely destroyed 30 years prior. Logically speaking, it would make no sense whatsoever for Lazarus to take place in the same world as Cowboy Bebop, since its time period happens much too close to those in Bebop for all the events to fit the same way.

No matter what it seems like, though, if the actual creator of both series perceives them to take place in the same Universe, then that’s just the reality of it, whether things fit or not. All Watanabe’s works can be thoroughly enjoyed on their own for their individual merits without having any interconnecting threads whatsoever, and that’s perfectly fine. Still, it’s fun to imagine that in some way, the characters of the Cowboy Bebop Universe and those of Lazarus could’ve already be existing simultaneously twenty years before Spike Spiegel’s story began. Maybe Spike’s ancestors even watched the Avengers when they were younger, just like Axel.

Lazarus is currently streaming on HBO MAX.