User reviews

A smart and funny caricatcher of modern life played out with a great voice cast including Jaden Smith who voiced his part of a spoild brat perfectly and The Kid Mero and Desus Nice who's every other line was delivered hilariously. Definitely worth your time if you are either a fan of anime or dry humour.

It's understandable that a lot of people didn't get what this show was trying to be and voted 1. Yes the animation wasn't the best, yes the voice acting was equally not the best.

If you grew with animes in the 80s and 90s, it's likely that you will get at least some of the tropes and references this show is making fun of. And speaking of references, it's full of them. Some of the more obvious being from Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon. Toss in a mockery of Taylor swift and Ralph Lauren, and you're set. It manages to be a parody without losing its own identity.

I don't think it's for everyone, but I had a blast with it and I hope there will be more of it.

Now let me go enjoy my big toblerone.

This is a fun and original show, not at all what I expected actually. The main character is a melodramatic douche and it's animated so you don't have to see his face, in many ways this is the role Jaden Smith was born to play. The voice acting and animation is not stellar but I recommend it completely unironically. This is just a fresh and fun show, better than most comedy anime.

With obvious anime roots, this show is a western version of an eastern style that often tries to emulate western values and iconography. As such you get a uniquely self-referential style of series that simultaneously celebrates western aristocratic capitalism, while at the same time questioning it.

There is a distinct American Psycho vibe, where class, stature and the latest accessories often take precedence over sane character choices and are emphasised throughout as the be-all and end-all of the constructed world of Neo Yokio. While there is often humour derived from these situations the show also seems to be trying to make some real points about materialism and shallow social climbing. The problem is that all these points have been made a thousand times before, and they overshadow any 'demonic' goings-on, which are really just background noise to the social politics of the world created.

Overall Neo Yokio has its own style for a western show, and is a decent watch. It is mostly a shame that it only has a six-episode first series since none of the themes are explored anywhere near enough. With some more time this could have been a cult hit, as it is it requires a lot more expansion since nothing really happens in the six episode span past scratching the surface of the world.

I legitimately had no idea what to expect. I was just thumbing through Netflix and came across this on their recently added. Neo Yokio is very, VERY different from anything else you have seen, and it is important to keep this in mind while watching it.

It feels like Wes Anderson, the anime, so there is very little precedent for the show in general. The show keeps the mood light and rarely takes itself or its characters seriously. Don't try to take it seriously, but instead focus on the comically unfitting soundtrack, the deadpan delivery of ridiculous lines, and the hilarious commentary on how out of touch the social elite can be. 6 episodes is by no means an investment, and you may enjoy it!

I have an inherent negative disposition to Jaden Smith, as if you listen to the things that come out of his mouth that aren't scripted, you'll usually end up finding your face in your palm, but fortunately I didn't know that his was the voice that I was listening to until I finished the series and went to rate it. Overall this wasn't anything special as an "anime" if you can call it that (which I think you can), as I view anime as a medium for telling a story, not some specific set of rules that an show must fall into, to meet the spectacular term we call anime.

In regards to the story, I didn't feel like it was a "One Punch Man" ripoff at all, it was most definitely it's own thing! The plot doesn't revolve around the protagonist having too much power, so much so that he's driven to boredom. This show however was definitely very interesting, to see what a fully americanized anime looks like. This is it, and for that reason alone I'd recommend giving it a watch, but if you're a man or woman with very limited time who doesn't get to watch much TV / anime, I'd advise you to probably not put this one at the top of your list. All in all it was a fun and watchable anime, just for the different American feel it gives, and seeing the generation Z slang in an anime. If you have nothing better to do, it's a quick fun watch, by no means is it the best, but definitely watchable.

Only peev with the show is that the girl's voices were almost all, strangely, very deep... Besides this it a very watchable 7/10 full blown "hip" American anime.

edit- Another user put it perfectly: "Western anime that's not actually trying to mimic eastern anime" which is quite a unique thing, that we really don't get to see much of, so that's why I recommend a watch :)

I was initially excited to see a new anime on netflix and even more so excited to see that it was in English. But after only two episodes, I was more annoyed and furious about this anime simply existing. The concept behind the plot is vague and unfortunately abstract. With a veiled reference to what seems to be modern New York, but set in a futuristic time line.

The animation was absolute garbage. It was very reminiscent of the mockery pokemon anime South Park did or the very accurate insults Robot Chicken portrayed of Speed Racer. Each scene only moved the lips and eyes as needed, everything else was animated as little as necessary.

In summation, the animation is pathetic, voice action is repulsive, and the story plot and character development is amateur at best. When I found out that Jaden Smith was the lead character in this train wreck, it only seemed to pull together all the strings of this disaster.

My final recommendation: AVOID AT ALL COST!!!!

I really enjoyed the campy-Zoolander-style of this show. If you're in the mood for a funny lighthearted show that doesn't take itself too seriously this is a great watch. It has been called pretentious, but the pretentiousness (or lack of true pretentiousness) is the reason it is funny. It doesn't take itself seriously. It knows its characters are ridiculous and that's part of the fun. If you love and prefer violent horror anime like Ajin you're probably not going to like it. A lot of anime lovers complained about it, but I found it refreshingly funny compared to the overly serious and excessively violent anime that I have seen lately. If you liked Zoolander you will probably like this show. I had to give it an 8 out of 10 since the actual animation is not that great, but in a way, the animation reflects its lack of seriousness. I watched it for the comedy and the story. It's not perfect, but it is good. It's something new and original and it made me smile. If you want it to be serious you're missing the fun.

The show has the right idea for a Western Cartoon very obviously inspired by anime.

But for me my main problems with the show stem from the lifeless feel of some of the voice acting and maybe the not so well matched up voice acting with certain characters. Jaden isn't bad but I feel with a little more effort and life added to his acting as his character, would make his character Kaz seem more engaged with the plot that's going on in the cartoon. Also the actress for Helena could use a bit more life to her character's role as well because she just sounded too disinterested most of the time.

Then there's the actors who play Gottlieb and Lexy actually do kind of well with the voice acting, the actress for Aunt Agatha who does well with the voice acting and feels well suited, Charles' actor feels well suited, and even the actor who plays Arcangelo seems well suited for his role.

But even some decent voice acting can only take you so far with your characters. Sometimes they feel a bit 2 dimensional but there's definitely room for development.

That's some of my small gripes with the voice acting and characters now to the plot.

It feels like something I've kind of seen in anime, but just add all these different things about the futuristic city, fashion, and popularity (Hierarchies) that Gen Z kids are really into with it. I mean if the story decided to expand more with the main plot instead of focusing so much on the fashion and popularity stuff maybe it wouldn't feel a bit underwhelming for me.

Don't get me wrong I like the show, but really I can tell there is room for improvement. And because it has only 6 episodes so far, so there's maybe a chance of improvement occurring during the show's future production.

And if you enjoyed the show that's good for you!! I just hope my review was somewhat helpful!! Thanks for reading!! ^_^

The absolute worst Netflix Original by far. Me and my friends are huge fans of Jaden Smith's pretentious garbage, and this is pure Jaden Smith Twitter levels of that. Must see for fellow lovers of garbage.

From story, to animation, to voice acting this piece is incredible. A true meme treasure chest, Jaden Smith deserves all the Big Toblerones in the world for his performance. The only disappointing part is that it's only 6 episodes long, the story and world deserves more time than this. Netflix should halt all production on other shows to focus on this.

It's not the worst thing ever, but it's not the greatest either. Honestly, I understand everyone's opinions on the show, and I completely agree with most aspects of them. However, this show has much more potential than people think. This could not only have been a good parody, but if they decide to, we might actually get a good plot sometime in the future. I know people might not agree with my opinion,but this show has the potential to be something that's at least decent. It's a shame the first season wasted most of it though.

Neo Yokio is an anime parody, except the jokes aren't funny, and even if the lines themselves are well-written, the delivery and directing ultimately kill the joke.

First, I'll get the easiest weakness out of the way. The animation and design of this show is terrible. At first, the animation seemed poor, but not outright bad. After a while though, it become unbelievably cheap that I'm shocked if it even had a budget. While animation in normal, serious anime can be just as lazy in some places, they at least have the benefit of their key-frames being visually appealing, which is not the case for Neo Yokio. The poor animation in some anime is meant so they can spend more on action and fight scenes, where as in Neo Yokio, the show is consistently terrible with its animation.

The voice acting is terrible, which is especially weird considering that so much of the shows cast are incredibly talented people, such as Jude Law and Steve Buscemi. The poor delivery of the dialogue ruins many of the jokes, and makes it incredibly obnoxious to sit through.

The show tries to be a comedy, but I didn't even realize that they were even telling jokes until halfway through. All of the jokes are delivered as if they were normal dialogue, and go unnoticed by the viewer. It's clear that the joke is that the show isn't as interesting or deep as it's appears to be, but the joke gets old, and because of the terrible directing, none of the other jokes hit, except for minor exceptions.

I know what some people might be saying "Neo Yokio is trying to be bad, so that makes it okay!", but no, that's just incorrect. It might make me less harsh on those involved, but it doesn't mean the show is any better, it just means they were self-aware.

The best way to enjoy Neo Yokio, is to not take it seriously, and keep your expectations as low as you can. However, in my own opinion, Neo Yokio is something I won't ever watch again.

I never realised before how much I hate Jayden Smith. The fact that I never watch anything with him in it must have been why. I don't like everything WILL Smith does, but, he is a great actor. He is cool, funny and charismatic. His son clearly is not. Jaydn's voice acting is terrible. He sounds so bored the entire time. The show looks great. Anime usually does. It has some nice classical music. The main problem is that the main character is so unlikable I find myself rooting against him. In Death Note the main character does some terrible things, but, I still root for him, because, he is written and performed so well. This is just pretentious anime for the sake of making anime, because, it is in fashion now. There is also tons of SJW propaganda in it if you are paying attention. Don't let this put you off anime. Some of it is actually good. This is politically correct hipster cartoon trash.

Neo Yokio is a real treat to sit through! I'm pretty picky when it comes to anime/anime offshots and hardly ever watch the genre, but I decided to check this out on a friend's recommendation (plus the fact Ezra Koenig is a wildly talented dude and I was interested to see his foray into television).

Main character Kaz, voiced by Jaden Smith (who's easily the weakest voice actor in the cast but charming enough), is a Shakespeare-esque protagonist, constantly mourning his bourgeois social standing and heartbreak in writing so ironic and hilariously pretentious (in a good way) it feels like a cartoon designed by Wes Anderson. The supporting cast is equally memorable, especially Kaz's robot butler voiced by Jude Law, his rival Archangelo voiced by Jason Schwartzman, and friends Lexy and Gottlieb donned by comedy duo Desus and Mero. You also have solid characters from Steve Buscemi, Susan Sarandon, and Tavi Gevinson.

The plot line is punchy and entirely paradoxical in nature, balancing Kaz's high-society lifestyle of field hockey, expensive shopping, and brunch, with bouts of Formula 1 Racing, demon-hunting, and the undercurrents of a Marxist revolution.

I think most people finding fault in the show have more of an issue with the relatively new-to-voice acting cast and unconventional, borderline mockery of anime tropes. But if you're not a die-hard anime fan like myself, and want to enjoy a hilariously written and totally unpredictable show with both an adult and Saturday-morning cartoon feel, check it out. I'm crossing my fingers for a Season 2!

Critics are being far too harsh on this show this show reminds me of shows like golden boy or flcl it's weird, strange, kirky and odd not to mention hilarious and it knows what it is from the first episode. Im what most would consider a hard core anime fan and I thoroughly enjoyed this. Kaz isn't the most likable main character at first but his character development is definitely there i thought the ending to the first season was a smart move although it was a little odd it did feel it stayed true to the shows overall feeling. I'm interested to see how Kaz develops in future seasons.

This show so so funny and great. I love the characters

Anti capitalists complain in a show that only exists because of

Will Smith's fame everyone paying for their crappy Netflix subscription

Neo Yokio is so good because it manages to perfectly balance satire (both making fun of high-society capitalists and playing homage to anime of the 90s) and a serious message of questioning the system in which you reside.

The point that Neo Yokio is making is an anti-capitalist one. This is made most obvious in the last episode with Kaz's own revelation, but is evident from the beginning in the complete ridiculousness of these rich kids and how they care so much more about clothes and drinks than the very real problems happening around them, the so-called "demons" specifically attacking the rich in order to demolish high society (including the obvious reference to McCarthyism with the fear of "demon sympathizers"), and the very obvious lessons against selfishness and using others as a means to your own ends. The main serious moments of the show ("I feel no synergy" being one of my favorites) come during moments of disillusionment; when Kaz is losing his faith in the society of elegance he worships.

(Gonna take a moment here to say that these are all good things the show is doing. Capitalism is bad. Just thought I'd put that out there in case any stupid idiots are reading this and think that I'm making any sort of criticism.)

In contrast, part of the humor comes from mocking that very society and the way people uncritical of it act (placing so much importance on fashion and useless competition, trying to hard to be intellectuals but just coming off as dumb and pretentious); the main characters are fundamentally unlikable because they buy so much into the society from which they come. Even Helena in her rebellion against capitalist society is mostly ineffective outside her own circles because she can only see the world from the point of view of the extremely wealthy. It doesn't matter that they're unlikable, though, because they're absolutely hilarious. It's part of the charm. But most of the charm comes from the overall aesthetic directly referencing Saturday morning cartoons.

Look: If you were born in the late 90s and your parents couldn't afford cable, you grew up watching shitty 4Kids dubs of YuGiOh and Dragonball. Everything about the quality of Neo Yokio is reminiscent of the Americanized anime of my childhood. Bad dialogue and voice acting, the most basic communication of the original plot and concepts, poor lip syncing from the original Japanese to English, even things like onigiri being called "snacks" (or "jelly donuts"-- thanks, Pokemon) are part of Neo Yokio. The joke, of course, is that there is no "original" to butcher-- the failing philosophy undergrad dialogue, the over/under acting, the cultural disconnect-- are all how the show was meant to be. And that's hilarious! It's f*cking amazing! It's ultimate form is to be a parody of itself, and it's honestly incredible.

I would highly recommend this show to anyone who grew up watching 4kids, have a sense of humor, and/or can understand when people are mocking the capitalist system.

The animation is good but the main caracter is boring as the story. If you want good anime, watch cowboy bebop and skip this

Let me just say I made a pointed effort to try to go into this open minded and was almost immediately disappointed. The whole thing is a weird attempt at both mocking and glorifying classic anime tropes, only done so with no real purpose. It's like it's trying to hide the fact it doesn't know what it's doing behind an "artistic" facade that's about as flimsy as Jaden Smiths unfathomably flat voice acting.

This whole thing just sways from pointless whining to incredibly contrived conflicts to just long swaths of pseudo-intellectual mumbling. It's just awful, clearly whoever wrote and directed this was given far FAR too much creative control and there was no one to reign them in cause almost every moment of this show just seems off. In addition this really does have no soul, no point, no gravitas no nothing really, it's literally just a self indulgent foray into anime for the sake of well... I don't know why.

Take away, it's bad, very bad. It tries to be a lot of things and fails to be anything other than incredibly whiny (mostly about the burdens of being rich), about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face and just kind of annoying.

Objectively, this show is terrible. It has bad animation, poor voice acting, a nonsensical story, and little character development. If you're looking for something interesting to take seriously, then you're not going to enjoy this.

However, if you spend a lot of time on the internet and enjoy memes and parody series, then you are going to love this. Its so bizarre and nonsensical that it becomes the ultimate meme.

First anime-like series I've watched and I must say I really enjoyed it

Remember when you were 14 and into Sherlock holmes / Agatha Christie / James bond / Anything at all high brow and British?

Whatever self indulgent, pretentious, Mr. Perfect let me cram all the cool tropes into this one guy you came up at that age is this show.

The dialogue is beyond badly written. The voice acting is dead and the character's animation is lifeless to match. To make it worse there is no point to the show other than name drop things you might know (Mostly Brands) to show how above it they are...

A part of me thinks this is parody but I'm not sure of what. The show is too pointless and aimless. It also plays into the tropes rather than do something with it.

Don't waste your time. This is what's lurking at the bottom of netflix's barrel. Leave it there.