Motorcycles and anime have a long history together. I mean, it's nearly 2025, and the seemingly infinite influence of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira still can't possibly be overstated.
We also can't forget less well-known creations over time, like the giddy exercise in pure moto-nerdery that is Bakuon!, or the Honda Super Cub anime (both of which, incidentally, were based on pre-existing manga).
Upon learning that Yamaha collaborated with Netflix to help in creating a new limited anime series called Tokyo Override, you could be forgiven for expecting it to be a giant Yamaha commercial. But, I'm here to tell you that it's quite a bit more than that.
Sure, there's an R1 and a VMax, and sure Yamaha provided not only digital models but also audio files of the engine and exhaust sounds from both bikes for use in the series. (And yet curiously, that doesn't sound like a crossplane R1 ... listen for yourself and see what you hear.)
There's also the world premiere of Yamaha's latest prototype machine, the Y/AI, just a week before it's set to debut in the three-dimensional human meatspace at the 2024 Bangkok Motor Expo, which runs from November 29 through December 10 in Bangkok.
Understandably, Yamaha is hyping the heck out of the Y/AI concept, and talking about the future of racing through the streets of a hyper-optimized vision of Tokyo that's set 100 years in the future. About how the rider who pilots this machine in the show, named Amarin, is a racer who wants to integrate both AI and her own manual inputs to realize Yamaha's continued vision of becoming one with your machine.
All this is to be expected. But at the same time, it's also far from all that this show is. And if you're a fan of sci-fi/cyberpunk dystopias in your visual entertainment, you'll probably enjoy the heck out of all six episodes.
There are inevitable nods to all the great touchstones that have come before this series, but they feel like good-faith homages more than anything else. A dash of Tron Uprising here, some Blade Runner there, a bit of Wipeout in the racing sequences, even a liberal smattering of I, Robot in how the autonomous trucks operate. Maybe even a little Voltron in the ragtag team the series focuses on, and I won't go too deeply into that because I don't want to completely spoil it for you just when you're getting intrigued.
Instead, I'll give you some broad strokes to hopefully pique your interest enough to check it out. The first episode does an excellent job of drawing you in if you're of a mind to appreciate this show in the first place, so that's probably all you need.
Tokyo Override is set in a vision of Tokyo after great disasters have happened, approximately 100 years in the future. Everything and everyone has been optimized (a word and a concept they use repeatedly), to the point where people move around the city on little floating discs, sort of like hoverboards that neatly and efficiently carry them to their destination. Most transportation is autonomous, including self-driving cars, buses, and trucks. There are no more traffic lights, because everything flows along on algorithmic waves.
But of course, all this optimization comes with a distinct downside: Everything and everyone is tracked, monitored, surveilled, and controlled (either subtly or not). People are either tagged, or tagless. Giant algorithmic walls divide areas of the city from one another.
Rich folks still have access to internal combustion engine vehicles, including cars and motorcycles. And of course, they have to take them to a specialty garage to get them serviced. That's where our hero fleet comes in, consisting of a Yamaha R1, a Yamaha V-Max, and what appears to be a Honda CB1100 RS with a Road Comet-esque front fairing. Another bike shows up later, but I won't spoil the surprise for you by telling you anything further.
And that's not counting the bikes that race in a single episode, the one featuring the heavily hyped Yamaha Y/AI prototype that you can see in these photos.
These ancient vehicles, because they're not dependent on electronics, computers, algorithms, or any of the dreaded optimization that every other vehicle in this universe is, aren't able to be remotely controlled. They can't suddenly be stopped in their tracks, or tracked (unless you manually install a tracker, of course), or 'optimized.'
Gallery: Yamaha Y/AI in Tokyo Override
They're hearts on wheels, and they're powerful, and that's really what this show is about. It's clear that whoever wrote the story for this show and fleshed out these characters gave a lot of thought to why enthusiasts love riding. And even more than that, why a person new to this world might want to pursue it in the first place. What moves them?
It's more than just an engine; it's a state of mind. It's a lifestyle. It's an answer to an existential question. It's a part of you.
Go on, give it a try. What do you have to lose but 26-ish minutes you might otherwise have spent doomscrolling on your phone? OK, maybe you'll end up watching all six episodes and not just the first one, but then again, I hope you do.
