Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig has a surprise new animated series coming to Netflix, and from the looks of it, it’s a strange one. Jaden Smith voices Kaz, a young man from a family of demon-slayers in Neo Yokio, “the greatest city in the world.” But Kaz is much more interested in doing normal teenager activities, like playing field hockey, going shopping, and just angsting about in general, than in fighting spirits. The supporting cast includes a dizzying list of vocal talents, including Susan Sarandon as Kaz’s Aunt Agatha and Jude Law as his mecha-butler. Other voices are provided by Tavi Gevinson, Jason Schwartzman, Desus & Mero, Richard Ayoade, Steve Buscemi, Alexa Chung, Stephen Fry, Willow Smith, and Amandla Stenberg.
Neo Yokio is described as a “postmodern collage of homages to classic anime, English literature and modern New York fashion and culture” and is a collaboration between Japanese anime studios Production IG and Studio Deen and Seoul-based animation studio MOI. The trailer shows the influence of its writer and creator with lines like, “Win, lose. We’ll all be equal in the grave” and “You’re wearing a black tuxedo against a midnight blue sky, and it’s sparkling,” which are both very Ezra Koenig-y things to say.
Neo Yokio debuts on Netflix Sept. 22.
