By story I mean review.
Neo Yokio is like a Bugatti car crash in six, twenty-minute episodes. Posh, expensive and heading for disaster. But you can’t help but stare.
Well, you probably can after episode one. But not me! This was a show too weird to pass up!
Created by Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig, this luxury, low budget anime follows number one bachelor Kaz Kaan (voiced by Jaden Smith, which is probably all you’ll ever hear about this show) navigating his demon-fighting life in the mythical city/island/thing of Neo Yokio. By the way, demon fighting has very little to do with anything. It’s just an occupation for our Kaz. The real “plot” lies around our protagonist dealing with past relationships and his social standing within the city.
I just want to interrupt really quickly and say that I actually do like this show. At first I thought ironically, but now I’m not so sure. Let me explain.
The animation is bad, the voice acting is terrible (with some exemptions, thank you Jude Law) and the through-line narrative is limper than the spaghetti I’m cooking while writing this. However, all these shitty pieces might be working together to parody something I’ve seen online far too much. Anime dub parodies! That’s not an actual genre, I made it up, but I’m referring to the hilariously overacted dubs by groups like TeamFourStar and PurpleEyes.
I found a quote from a TV Tropes page categorizing this genre as an “Abridged Series.” I’m going to provide the quote and back away slowly:
“A Sub-Trope of Gag Dub and a type of Crack Fic, that deals specifically with shortening works of fiction, and making fun of it.”
If that made sense to you, maybe you can explain it to me after class.
Anyways, Neo Yokio almost mirrors this abridged genre to a tee: Animation solely based on mouths opening and closing with little to no expression. Starkly contrasting voices (seriously, they got Susan Sarandon and Steve Buscemi in this show) coming out of stagnant anime faces. Sight gags galore. It’s got everything you need for the next DBZ Abridged.
From what I can tell, this was NOT the intention of Ezra Koenig, or anyone on the Neo Yokio staff, but if you can keep that “abridged” idea in the back of your mind when watching the first episode, you might find some humor in it.
Other than the occasional joke that hits, most feel like misses. I enjoy the quipping between Kaz and his rival Arcangelo (voiced by Jason Schwartzman, I know, this cast keeps getting WEIRDER), and some of the Twitter-esque lines that Kaz utters get to me. But the show still has the hurdle of combatting what Neo Yokio is about and what it can do for its audience.
There’s something to be said about Kaz’s slow, increasing ambivalence towards his luxury lifestyle and the separation of classes within Neo Yokio, but the show doesn’t go there until episode six and by then it’s season finale time. There’s an opportunity for Kaz to step down from his pedestal and venture into the less-glamorous areas of Neo Yokio for some much-needed societal education. But that probably won’t happen until a season two.
And I do want a season two! Maybe not a 24-episode season two, but another 6-episode attempt would put Neo Yokio on the right track if it decided to follow those themes. The show has protentional, but even if it fails to use it, there is still a case to be made about the sheer bizarreness this show inhabits on the Netflix Originals lineup.
It’s weird. I like weird. If you do too, check out Neo Yokio. Just pretend it was made by a couple of dumb YouTubers and not Netflix with all of its money.
Spaghetti’s done!
