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THIS IS A PRELIMINARY REVIEW.

Style, absolutely. Substance, we'll have to see.

Story: 5/10 - It's servicable. The protagonists have to hunt down a scientist to save the world. The concept of a drug that virtually erases pain and misfortune is neat. I hope they actually get into the finer details of the drug, seeing as the primary objective is to obtain the cure from the aforementioned scientist.

Animation: 8/10 - The animation and music are easily the best parts of the show.
The animation is definitely MAPPA-quality; the environments and fight scenes are the best examples of this. Each environment feels lived-in and realistic. The choreography of the ... fights and parkour stands out by far. You can feel the weight of every hit, which is complemented by our main guys hopping and bouncing off of their surroundings.

Music: 8.5/10 - The soundtrack is a mix of electronic, ambient tracks and jazz. Think Mirror's Edge meets Persona meets Cuphead, with a hint of Dying Light. I occasionally found myself not even paying attention to what was happening on screen because I was too busy enjoying the music. Music is something I personally pay a lot of attention to in the shows I watch, and this soundtrack does not disappoint at all. My favourite track is Relativity.

Characters: 3/10 - The characters are bland. I have yet to feel anything about any of our main characters. And you know what? I could overlook this if the story were better. If a story and its events are engaging enough, you don't necessarily need intriguing, exceptional characters to have a fun time. With regards to the story, nothing substantial has happened. Just a slow chase punctuated by cool, one-off fights. The story has room to grow, though. What I'm having a much harder time overlooking is the script and voice acting.

Both are pretty rough, but the voice acting is worse. To clarify, I'm talking about the English dub, as the odd decision was made to come out of the gates with an English dub on Adult Swim instead of a Japanese sub. If the dub were good, this wouldn't bother me; I primarily watch dubbed anime anyway. The dub is not good. None of the voice actors sound like they want to be there. Most of the line deliveries are flat and monotonous. Eleina especially sounds like a robot whenever she speaks. This is not at all helped with the script.
"Hey. Put some music on for me."
"What kind of music would you like?"
"How about something with the vibe of a man who sold his soul to the devil. Along those lines. That's what I wanna hear."

I do want to chalk it up to a majority of the cast being relatively new or inexperienced, with the only clearly experienced voice actress being Julia Kaye as Christine. Maybe they've been given poor direction. Maybe we'll get some silly in-universe explanation that hapna has dulled the senses of most so much that they can't be bothered to not sound like they're giving course material to a class on a Friday afternoon.

Overall: 6/10 - I'll likely finish this season at the very least. It's generally mediocre, but I can see potential. If you just want a show to pass the time, there are much worse options than Lazarus.

Wow. Dandadan is good.

I won't bore you with excessive details, as doing so would likely just be reiterating the plot synopsis, as well as the many first reactions to this show. Here's the gist:

Story: Simple and fun. Ghosts, aliens, romance, action, adventure, good vibes, creepy vibes, all of the vibes.

Characters: Ayase and Okarun are a fun duo. They bounce off each other with chemistry and personality. It is a touch hard to comment on the characters to great degrees due to this being a preliminary review, but the interactions between the cast thus far have made the show feel very chaotic and enjoyable.

Art: I hope ... the folks behind this show are compensated very well, as the animation is stellar. Fun visual comedy, fluid action scenes, and vibrant colours.

Music: Both the opening and the soundtrack are very fun. Creepy Nuts obviously did well by the opening, but even in the first scene of the show, the backing track is bouncy and fitting.

The voice acting is great, both subbed and dubbed. The opening is catchy and captivating. Everything about this is consistent in quality and presentation.

It may be too early to say with certainty, but I think we're in for a thoroughly engaging story.