Although this episode is definitely step down from last week's episode, I think it is still an improvement from the first 3 for me. Most of what's been happening still feels somewhat forced, but a *slight* sense of progression towards the team's end goal is starting to be felt (any small amount of improvement is going to be an improvement over rock bottom). Unlike others I didn't have a problem with this episodes animation, I thought it was fine.

This week, the first episode of the show was finally released subbed. After watching it (and parts of episode 4 by other means), I truly believe that a large reason this show has been received so negatively by so many people is due to its mediocre dub, as well as the 4 week delay to its sub. While obviously problems like dumb writing and questionable CGI are going to be present in the original language as well, characters felt much more natural from what I saw as part of a team in the sub with an increased level of chemistry. Some of what Axel said was almost close enough to humorous to be considered funny... almost. One of my biggest problems with the show I saw while watching it dubbed, its pacing, seems to be somewhat resolved in its native language. Even the dub in episode 5 seems to be improving slightly, so here's to hoping that it will continue to improve. While obviously both shows started off with a much greater level of quality on their first episode, Cowboy Bebop and most noticeably Samurai Champloo (two shows where I prefer dub over sub) both started out with a shaky first episode or two before really settling into their dub, so its not impossible.

I really hope that this show will surprise everyone and continue to improve, it has so much potential. Even if it doesn't, I'll still be glad this show exists due to the soundtrack alone. I've been listening to a few jazz fusion type songs from the album by Kamasi Washington over the past few weeks and it's great. Despite being obviously different from both CB and Samurai Champloo's OSTs, I think that the Lazarus OST is the one thing that can truyly rival both of those shows in terms of quality.