Season Review: Neo Yokio Season One

Possibly the worst animated series on Netflix, and that’s including the kids show where German background designers drew a penis on a boulder.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Neo Yokio is the greatest city in the world. Imagine a futuristic version of New York City inhabited by an aristocratic society. Young men compete for the title of “Most Eligible Bachelor” while concerning themselves with the important things in life, like designer wear and social status. This is where our hero comes into play, a young man named Kaz Kaan. Kaz is special, he’s a magistrate. You see, back in the 18^th century, the city of Neo Yokio was plagued with demons. As an act of desperation, the city allowed magicians to have citizenship within Neo Yokio in trade for ridding the city of the demons. Kaz is a descendant of one of the magician’s families and is charged with the task of fighting demons to this very day. But he’s also a young man and has a social life to balance at the same time. He’s the second most eligible bachelor in Neo Yokio and also the star of his field hockey team, the Westside Gentlemen. Although it’s his job to exorcise demons and keep the aristocrats safe from evil, he is often looked down upon and called names such as “rat-catcher”. The aristocratic snobs look down upon the boy who protects them from evil, but that doesn’t stop Kaz from doing his job.

When Kaz isn’t fighting demons, he’s vying for the top spot as Neo Yokio’s most eligible bachelor, a coveted position in society. Of course, this means he must be seen at all the dance parties, social gatherings and is in the eye of the public most of the time. It’s funny, while he is hailed as demon-hunter by the public, he is scorned by those that he protects at the same time. Also, while he may be the star of his field hockey team and a demon hunter, Kaz is not without his own troubles as well. His girlfriend left him for an accounting job in San Francisco. He deals with pressing and complex issues, like how it might affect his “Bachelor Ranking” to be seen wearing a midnight-blue tuxedo to a black-and-white affair, and the best way to deal with demonically possessed Chanel suits. His saving grace is his two friends, Lexi and Gottlieb, as well as his mech-butler known as “Charles”. Lexy and Gottlieb play on the field hockey with Kaz and often serve as a means to keep the character grounded and help Kaz to have fun. Charles serves as nothing more than a robot butler. There are also the characters of Helena St Tessoro, who is the world’s number one fashion blogger in the world, and Archangelo Corelli, Kaz’s number one rival in the quest to be Neo Yokio’s most eligible bachelor.

Our Take

Neo Yokio was filled with a star-studded cast – such as Jaden Smith as Kaz, Jude Law as Charles, and Tavi Gevinson as Helena St Tessoro – produced by Production IG, Studio DEEN and MOI, and had storyboards done by Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Rurouni Kenshin) and Junji Nishimura (Ranma ½). That’s the high point of the entire series. The series failed to draw me in, to say the least. None of the characters were relatable and the plot of the episodes was quite trivial. At times it felt like the series as a whole was just thrown together and had no real direction at all. I mean literally, when the most pressing issue of an entire episode is “Can I wear a midnight blue tuxedo to a black-and-white affair”, coupled with “Should I take number one fashion blogger as my date or the number 1 pop singer as my date” I just can’t invest into the characters or their struggles at all. This was literally the plot for an entire episode. I felt like I was watching some rich kid’s anime show about himself, where his parents just said “You want your own anime? We’ll buy the best people for this our money can buy” in EVERY episode.

I understand Neo Yokio was supposed to be a parody/comedy, but this was more of a travesty than anything. There were a few moments that paid homage to other anime. For example, Kaz strikes a pose similar to a “Kamehameha” from Dragonball Z when throwing his own energy attack at his adversary, once. In another episode, when Lexy and Gottlieb fell into an enchanted Infinity Pool, one turned into a girl version of their own self, while the other turned into a panda – a nod to Ranma ½. I did not laugh even once while watching this six-episode series, and I hate to say it but to me, it even seemed like Jaden Smith under-performed as Kaz. I didn’t feel like there was much invested into this series at all on anyone’s part.When Netflix asked me “Are you still watching ‘Neo Yokio’ ?” after episode three finished up, it was painful to push “yes”. It’s hard to say what this series was aiming for if anything at all.

Without giving away the entire story behind this season of the series, I guess you could say there may have underlying message about how even Neo Yokio has a dark side, possibly hinting at some bourgeoisie/elitist  attitudes that I’m sure are found in our own society but even that is reaching for something that probably isn’t even there. If I had to define this series in two words, it would be “cliche” and “boring”. I was glad when the final episode came to an end.