The official Adult Swim YouTube channel has shared a new preview of Rick and Morty: The Anime.
The latest preview — labeled a "first look" even though Adult Swim shared another preview of the anime back in December — sees a giant ship being blasted out of the sky and the alien population celebrating Morty as the hero.
"Space Morty, otherwise known as Morty Smith, is to be recognized as an honorary citizen at the independence ceremony," the radio voice says before the preview ends. The video concludes with confirmation that Rick and Morty: The Anime will come to Adult Swim and Max this year.
Announced back in 2022, Rick and Morty: The Anime features 10 episodes of original stories, some of which take inspiration from the main Rick and Morty cartoon.
Rick and Morty: The Anime actually stems from a six-minute short film titled Samurai & Shogun that aired unannounced on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block back in March 2020. The short film — written and directed by Kaichi Sato, and produced by Koji Iijima and Studio Deen and executive producer Maki Terashima-Furuta — aired during the hiatus of the fourth season of Rick and Morty, and was heavily inspired by anime. After it debuted, it was uploaded to Adult Swim's YouTube channel.
A second short film titled Ricky & Morty vs Genocider also aired unannounced a few months later in July 2020. This one was written and directed by Takashi Sano, produced by Sola Entertainment, and animated at Telecom Animation Film.
Sano directed a third short film, Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil), which was released in August 2021. That was followed by a fourth short, Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara, in October 2021.
In November 2021, a fifth short film, Samurai & Shogun Part 2, was released and featured the return of Kaichi Soto as writer and director.
The popularity and positive reception of these five films sparked Adult Swim to order a 10-episode anime series, which brings us to the newest teaser. It comes just a few months after Adult Swim shared a sneak peek preview that finds Rick surrounded by multiple versions of himself from parallel universes after flying near some space distortion.
Ricky and Morty: The Anime is directed by Takashi Sano and produced by Jason DeMarco of Adult Swim and Joseph Chou of Sola Entertainment. Animation production is being done by Telecom Animation Film with Sola Entertainment handling general production.