In just a few more days, Rick and Morty: The Anime will premiere on Adult Swim. Ahead of its debut, we've got a new promo trailer for the highly anticipated spin-off anime series.
Written and directed by Takashi Sano (Tower of God), Rick and Morty: The Anime follows the titular duo on an intergalactic adventure spanning 10 episodes of original stories, some of which are inspired by the main animated series.
"In Rick and Morty: The Anime, a new series from the world of “Rick and Morty,” Rick relaxes in a pseudo-world between multiverses, Summer helps Space Beth fight the evil Galactic Federation, and Morty falls in love with a mysterious girl who happens to be an atemporal being," the synopsis teases. In the latest trailer, we get a glimpse of some of these situations and more.
The Rick and Morty: The Anime series will premiere on Adult Swim this Thursday, August 15th. New episodes will also be available to stream on Max and purchase on digital the following day after their Adult Swim debut. The episodes will be released in English followed by a Japanese encore airing of new episodes with English subtitles the following Saturday at midnight on Adult Swim's Toonami block.
As previously announced, here is the cast of Japanese and English voice actors for each of the main characters:
- Rick – Youhei Tadano / Joe Daniels
- Morty – Keisuke Chiba / Gabriel Regojo
- Summer – Akiha Matsui / Donna Bella Litton
- Jerry – Manabu Muraji / Joe Daniels
- Beth – Takako Fuji / Patricia Duran
With Season 8 of the official Rick and Morty animated series probably not returning until next year, this upcoming anime series — while completely unrelated — should helpfully hold fans over until then.
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 was done by Telecom Animation Film with Sola Entertainment handling general production.
While this is the first official anime spin-off series, it's not the first time we've seen Rick and Morty appear in an anime. The concept actually stems from previously released anime short films that originally aired on Adult Swim's Toonami block back in March 2020.
The original "Samurai & Shogun" short film was written by Kaichi Sato and released on March 29, 2020. The following two short films — "Rick and Morty vs Genocider" and "Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)" — debuted in July 2020 and August 2021, respectively, and were both directed and written by Takashi Sano. The "The Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara" short aired in October 2021, followed by "Samurai & Shogun Part 2" in November 2021.
With positive reception to the anime short films, anticipation is high ahead of the debut of Rick and Morty: The Anime next week.