Yoko is a new preschool TV series focused on outdoor play patterns with a social curriculum that mixes friendship, nature, and imagination. Yoko follows the adventures of Oto, Mai and Vik - three children who simply love to play outside. The enthusiasm and energy they put into their games awakens the magical creature called Yoko, who takes ordinary children’s games and turns them into extraordinary adventures, where playgrounds become spaceships, or the sun switches off because camping is just more fun in the dark, making every day in City Park a new and exciting challenge!
The series is aimed towards kids 4-7 and is co-produced by Russian production company Wizart TV Series (the television department of feature producers Wizart Animation), Spanish animation studios Somuga and Dibultoon, and Spanish broadcaster TVE. Jetpack Distribution serves as the property's global distributor.
Yoko made its world debut at the Russian Cinema Stand at MIPTV in April 2015, and made its world TV debut on Russian national channels CTC and Karousel at the end of 2016. The series also recently launched in Spain on TVE’s kids’ channel CLAN and made its Basque language premiere on ETB.
Yoko is written by an international team, including Andy Yerkes (Pocoyo, Jungle Junction), Kevin Strader (Jelly Jam), Evgenia Golubeva (Luntik), Leo Murzenko (Kikoriki) and Edorta Barruetabeña (Unibertsolariak).
Season one of Yoko features 52 12-minute episodes, and a second season is currently in production.
Somuga’s Juanjo Elordi, one of Yoko’s producers, told Variety: “Yoko is about playing outdoors with your best friends. It is the dream of all children. Yoko uses large doses of fantasy and imagination to place its characters in extreme situations. Maintaining friendship in difficult conditions is the goal of our characters. It is the goal of all children in the world to be part of a fun-loving group of friends.”
Elordi added: “Co-productions present many challenges, but when you work shoulder to shoulder with hardworking people such as the Wizart team, it is a rewarding experience.”
Ahead of its TV debut, Yoko was named “Animated Series with Highest International Potential” by Reed MIDEM, the organising body behind global content markets MIPTV, MIPCOM, MIPJunior and MIPFormats.
Yuri Moskvin, the series’ producer for Wizart, told Variety: “We are very happy to receive this award from Reed Midem, and we expect that broadcasters will also appreciate ‘Yoko’s’ potential for international markets. We are also in negotiations with licensing partners.”
On Yoko's licensing front, Bauer has been named master toy partner in Russia and will launch construction sets based on the property. Pacts have also been signed with Russia’s DUM (wooden toys) and Alliance (creativity kits). Additionally, Bizak will serve as master toy partner in Spain with a range of items including plush, action figures and construction sets launching next winter.
Additional sources: jetpackdistribution.tv, wizartanimation.com, Animation Magazine (I, II), Wikipedia.
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