Some might say that Neo Yokio isn't really anime. It was produced by Japanese studios, but it was created and written by Americans. There is no original Japanese audio track. The argument could be made that this is an American cartoon, set in New York, starring Jaden Smith. I might have even made that argument myself, once upon a time.1
If anime can be understood as both a medium and a supergenre that collects and contains all the tropes and recycled figures used throughout that medium, then Neo Yokio might just be the ultimate exemplar, the new prototype, the anime ideal. It is nothing but anime's most tired tropes, and boy does it cram them in. Just when you think you've filled every corner of the episode with tropes, and surely, between the terrible robot butler and the psychic powers and the overly dramatic sports game, there must be no room left, the episode ends with a reference to cherry blossoms blooming. "It's springtime in Neo Yokio." (Uh, guys, you do know that's not how Japanese people would say "New York," right? Right?)
This show is a trainwreck from the get-go, and it's downhill from there. That said, it's a very compelling trainwreck. Despite the abysmal visuals (why would Production I.G. sign their name on this?!) and the atrocious voice-acting, or maybe spurred by those flaws, I lapped up the first episode in confused joy. The real jewel here is Jaden Smith's delivery of impossibly angsty zingers. Other characters ask him about eating lunch or playing field hockey, and he says something about the fundamental absurdity and meaninglessness of the world. My favorite scene is the one in which he visits his own grave in a cemetery(?!?!?), encounters an old widower, and then monologues about how the guy should spray his wife's headstone with trendier perfumes.
Recommend: 100% all day every day watch. this. shit.