“Short on story”

Neo Yokio: Season One

Network Netflix

Release Date 22 September 2017

Episodes 6

Binge Time 2 hrs 30 mins

Neo Yokio is a new American-Japanese animation for Netflix, created by Ezra Koenig known best as the front-man of the band Vampire Weekend. The show is set in the New York City of an alternate reality in which everything is almost the same but just a little bit cooler (like having a whole underwater suburb), and Magicians protect the public from demons which occasionally rear their heads after once terrorizing the world.

Set amongst the high-society of Neo Yokio, Jaden Smith stars as the voice of Kaz Kaan, a young “Magistocrat” of the city who competes to be the most eligible bachelor alongside fighting the occasional demon for the cash-grabbing Aunt Agatha (Susan Sarandon).

Basically, the series follows Kaz dealing with a breakup, hanging out in high-society with his friends, looking out for former-fling and fashion-blogger-turned-terrorist Helena, and dealing with a demon once in a while. There are a stack of other great names lending their voices to the show, including Jude Law as robot butler Charles, Jason Schwartzman as Kaz’s arch nemesis Arcangelo, and Willow Smith, Alexa Chung, Stephen Fry, Steve Buscemi, Richard Ayoade as various others, plus many more.

As well as awesome voices, the show had a concept that caught my attention initially and an art style and backdrop that is absolutely beautiful. I actually found Neo Yokio quite mesmerizing at times, and honestly has to be one of the most alluring settings I’ve seen in animation.

It had the same “Upper-East Side” feel as Gossip Girl, mixed with a little bit of an Archer thing going on (reluctant and ignorant hero, stern older female relation as boss), and anime-wise also reminded me of Ouran High School Host Club. The characters are interesting superficially, and in general Neo Yokio had a lot of potential.

However, to be blunt the show is scattered and imbalanced. Primarily I think this is due to a lack of weight placed on the magic and demon side of things.   Kaz’s character, and why he is even so important as to be the one asked to get rid of demons at all, is never fully established which I found frustrating.

There were some good, funny moments, but they were few and far between. Kaz himself is annoying and unlikable, and in terms of typical main characters that in itself isn’t a problem for me, but there is no one else who really gets interesting enough to like. Other than Charles, I really liked Charles.

With only 6 episodes I don’t think this show had enough time to realise its full potential. There are a lot of elements that could have been fantastic if any attention was paid to them, but they just aren’t. I also think that in a video game setting, exploring Neo Yokio would be incredible, but the story really isn’t there.

I would recommend watching the first episode because I’m sure some people will just love it, but personally, I found that Neo Yokio just didn’t pull me in the way I had hoped.