Back in 2015, Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig tweeted a picture of himself with Jaden Smith captioned "things are bubbling in the sea beneath 14th street," along with a section of what seems to be a storyboard. Two years later, Koenig shared another tweet with information on something called Neo Yokio.
In his tweet, Koenig thanks Japanese animation centers Studio Deen and Production IG, as well as anime director Kazuhiro Furuhashi. He also shared a portrait of a pink-haired anime character, leading some to speculate that Neo Yokio is an anime television series. Read his tweet below.
Koenig followed this tweet with a short video clip featuring the same pink-haired character, as well as a different one, voiced by The Kid Mero of Viceland's Desus & Mero.
One of the Instagrams from Koenig's screenshots, @neoyokio, contains possible premiere date and network. It can be found in a slideshow on an image reading "September 22 – Netflix."
With no official announcement from Netflix, details like casting are unknown. However, the @NeoYokio Twitter account suggests who could be involved: Rookie's Tavi Gevinson, Desus & Mero, Amandla Stenberg, John DiMaggio (Adventure Time, Futurama), and Willow Smith. Nick Weidenfeld, head of programming for Viceland, has added the show's handle to his Twitter bio.
The name Neo Yokio is derived from "Neo Tokyo," the setting of the landmark anime film and manga Akira.
Reps for Netflix and Jaden Smith were not immediately available.
