After the conclusion of Rick and Morty season 7 on Sunday, Adult Swim is turning its attention to the franchise's next endeavor, Rick and Morty: The Anime. A sneak peek of the show was circulated after the season finale to promote the spin-off. Check it out in the video below.
Rick finds himself surrounded by several versions of himself from alternative universes while flying near space distortion.
After the unexpected popularity of special anime shorts that were initially broadcast in 2020, Rick and Morty are returning with a full-blown anime season from Telecom Animation Film (Lupin III, Shenmue the Animation).
Back in 2020, the show collaborated with Studio DEEN to release the 6-minute short Samurai & Shogun, which piqued the interest of the anime fans in the possibility of a show. Over the next year, five more anime shorts would be released.
Takashi Sano (Tower of God) will write and direct the 10-episode series after previously helming the anime episode Rick and Morty vs. Genocider for the series.
The Rick and Morty anime should be familiar to fans of the series as it will retell key moments from the ongoing adult cartoon series but it will put an anime spin on things.
Previously, Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim, said, "We're incredibly excited to expand the Rick and Morty universe with this anime series. It's an amazing opportunity to explore the characters and stories in a different way, and we're excited to see what the talented team at Telecom Animation Film does with it."
Sano also added, "I'm a huge fan of Rick and Morty, and I'm honored to have the opportunity to work on this project. I'm excited to see how the Rick and Morty universe translates to anime, and I can't wait to share it with fans."
The voice cast for the series features Yōhei Tadano as Rick Sanchez and Keisuke Chiba as Morty Smith. The show will also star Manabu Muraji as Jerry Smith, Akiha Matsui as Summer Smith and Jun Irie as Beth Smith.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2023, Adult Swim released the opening song or OP for the anime, performed by OC from Code of Zero and Cameron Earnshaw. At the conclusion of the video, Sano shared a special message with fans.
"Hello. I'm Sano, the director of Rick and Morty: The Anime, and as the director, I would like to assure you that I'm also a huge fan of the original Rick and Morty. I believe there are many Rick and Morty fans all over the world. And I'm truly honored to be chosen to create a new Rick and Morty story out of all of them. But with that honor comes a lot of pressure, because the original is just so well made. What I've tried to accomplish in these 10 episodes is to take all my favorite parts of watching Rick and Morty, compress them down to extract their essence, and then add a unique Japanese twist."
Rick and Morty: The Anime was originally announced for a 2023 release date but it seems the show is now set for release in 2024.