Ezra Koenig, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Vampire Weekend has officially announced his new anime series for Netflix entitled NEO YOKIO. The upcoming animation series boasts a rather impressive voice acting cast, with stars such as Jaden Smith, Jude Law, Susan Sarandon, Tavi Gevinson, Jason Schwartzman, the Kid Mero, Desus Nice, Steve Buscemi, Kiernan Shipka, Willow Smith, Richard Ayoade, Stephen Fry, and Amandla Sternberg all contributing to the Production IG, Studio Deen, and MOI series.
Created, written, and executively produced by Koenig, NEO YOKIO is a semi-satirical anime set in a hipster-infested future New York City. Smith voices the character of Kaz Kaan, who's described as "the #1 most eligable bachelor and demon slayer." In the show, Kaz will be joined by his faithful mecha-manservant as he pursues his aspirations for love, high fashion and supernatural forces amid Neo Yokio's sinister high society. Here's the official press release for the forthocming series:
From creator, writer and executive producer Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), writer/executive producer Nick Weidenfeld and his Friends Night banner, Neo Yokio is a new animated series starring the voice talents of Jaden Smith, Susan Sarandon, Jude Law, Tavi Gevinson, Jason Schwartzman, and Desus & Mero, along with Richard Ayoade, Ike Barinholtz, Steve Buscemi, Alexa Chung, Stephen Fry, Katy Mixon, Annet Mahendru, Kiernan Shipka, Willow Smith and Amandla Stenberg. A collaboration with Japanese anime studios Production IG and Studio Deen, along with MOI, the Seoul-based animation studio, the series is a postmodern collage of homages to classic anime, English literature and modern New York fashion and culture. 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).
I'll be honest, at first I was like, "Um, no," However, then I remembered that some really worth while projects have come from musicians with a passion to move beyond the music. Hell, just look at the amazing things that Gerard Way of the emo-punk outfit My Chemical Romance has done with his DC-based comic book label, Young Animal. For real, you should check out some of YA's books like Shade, the Changing Girl, Doom Patrol, and Mother Panic. Each are wildly creative and well worth your time to read, if I do say so myself. Here's hoping that NEO YOKIO will turn out to be a lot of fun.
NEO YOKIO will begin streaming on Netflix starting on September 22nd.