Netflix has dropped the trailer for its East-meets-West original animated series Neo Yokio — launching exclusively on the streaming platform on September 22. The project from creator, writer and exec producer Ezra Koenig (lead vocalist/guitarist of Vampire Weekend), writer/EP Nick Weidenfeld and his Friends Night banner, the show is an adult-targeted, postmodern mash-up of anime tropes, Western couture culture and English literature, starring Jaden Smith.
As the promo reveals, the series is set in a glittering modern metropolis which manages to attract the envy of the known world — and parts of the unknown world. Smith voices Kaz, a fashionably disaffected, philosophical young hero tasked with defending Neo Yokio, while putting up with snobbish peers, family pressure and a recent heartbreak.
Neo Yokio also stars Susan Sarandon, Jude Law, Tavi Gevinson, Jason Schwartzman, and Desus & Mero, with Richard Ayoade, Ike Barinholtz, Steve Buscemi, Alexa Chung, Stephen Fry, Katy Mixon, Annet Mahendru, Kiernan Shipka, Willow Smith and Amanda Stenberg.
The series is produced collaboratively by Japan’s Production I.G and Studio Deen, with Seoul-based MOI. Storyboard artists for the series include Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Hunter x Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin) and Junji Nishimura (Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, Pro Golfer Saru).
(Trailer contains some strong language.)
