The popular Adult Swim sci-fi comedy, Rick and Morty has announced their upcoming anime spinoff will be airing sometime during the summer of 2024. Fans of the duo are wondering, “How in the hell is the network going to make an anime out of Rick and Morty?”
The answer is a simple one if you can believe it. After its attention grew to the millions, the anime was greenlit in 2022. Here’s the development story of how Rick and Morty got into Japanese animation.
From Anime Spoof Beginnings
On May 31st, 2020, Rick and Morty finished airing the fourth season ending on episode 10, Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri. The series’ creators, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, decided to return a year later for Season 5 as 2020 became a harsh year for the entertainment industry as COVID-19 continues to spread.
While the excited fans patiently waited for the next adventures of the grandfather-grandson duo, an unexpected Rick and Morty short dropped on July 26th. Adult Swim aired an anime short on YouTube called Rick and Morty vs. Genocider.
The 8-minute short featured Morty searching for Rick in Japan to possibly warn him about the threat known as the Genocider. Little did Morty know that the Genocider is the Citadel of Ricks led by Evil Morty. Rick gives him a strange blue vile to drink that will turn before getting abducted by the Citadel’s UFO.
Rick successfully destroys the UFO at the cost of his own life. Morty notices a call in Rick’s office from his father, Jerri, who informs Rick about a baby being named Morty!?
Morty’s hand grabs Rick’s flask and places the now empty vial on the desk, becoming the new Rick. At the time, the Rick and Morty short was theorized that the new Rick would be the one for the upcoming season.
Summer Meets God
During Season 5, fans were caught off-guard to see a Rick and Morty anime special. The plot focuses on Morty’s sister, Summer, and Jerri. Summer’s date wasn’t going well until a mysterious AI that called himself Delta drove her home by hijacking her date’s car.
Meanwhile, Jerri was selected by the Population Control Center, which is the undercover name for the Exodus. The Exodus’ mission is to search for the best candidate who will save Earth. Jerri soon becomes a pilot for the hero-fighting mech, Gotron, a ferret parody of Voltron.
Before this special aired, Rick and Morty Season 5 Episode 7 was named after Voltron and the popular sci-fi gundam anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion, with Rick wanting to collect the ferret mechs of Gotron. The special connects with Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion with the family value concept.
In the episode, Summer wanted to help Rick fill the void of losing her giant baby, Naruto Smith on Rickdependence Day to the US Government. She soon reunites with Naruto after helping him escape and defeating Gotron.
Jerri gets lobotomized by the Exodus to drive the Gotron until he becomes overwhelmed by the thought of young Summer. He shows his fatherly love in a battle against interdimensional monsters and destroys most of the planet with an emotional wave.
The Anime Director
Who’s responsible for the anime production of Rick and Morty? Meet Takashi Sano, an anime storyboard artist behind Lupin the 3rd: Crisis in Tokyo, Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street, and Tower of God.
At San Diego Comic-Con 2023, the shocking trailer footage dropped on July 21st. The trailer revealed new plot development surrounding the cast of Rick and Morty in the anime style. The trailer shows Morty traveling through time and space with a mysterious blonde girl who turns out to be an extraterrestrial.
After the opening ended, Takashi Sano introduced himself as the one who assisted Harmon and Roiland’s anime specials. According to himself, he is a devoted fan of Rick and Morty as Sano shows off his Rick shirt.
He was excited to hear that the anime series got greenlit by Adult Swim in 2022 and hopes fans will love the new direction while staying true to the show’s chaotic nature. So far, we don’t know when it will air except the series will kick off with a 10-episode season.
Rick And Morty: Anime Lineup
The latest HBO Max news has announced their 2024 summer animation lineup is anime versions of their popular intellectual properties. Alongside Sano’s Rick and Morty, Scooby and Shaggy are heading to Japan to face Japanese monsters with their new Mystery Inc. in Go-Go Mystery Machine.
And Harley Quinn is joining in on the fun in the new Suicide Squad ISEKAI which will premiere on July 27th of this year. You can catch a sneak peek of Sano’s Rick and Morty on YouTube to see how the story begins. If you are interested in the original show, you can stream it on HBO Max and Hulu.
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