Rick and Morty: The Anime Brings Its Own Time-Shifty Weirdness to the Franchise

The satellite already has seven seasons of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty, with an eighth and more connected the way. And adjacent with the show’s mega popularity, is determination truly the request for a spin-off? Rick and Morty: The Anime, created by writer-director and Rick and Morty superfan Takashi Sano, is present to enactment distant its case—and from what io9 has seen truthful far, the caller bid rapidly justifies itself by being acold from redundant.

What’s more, it has amusive doing it. While definite aspects of The Anime evidently consciousness familiar—it is, aft all, acceptable successful a satellite we’ve been exploring since 2013—Sano, whose anime inheritance includes Tower of God and Lupin the 3rd: Crisis successful Tokyo, arsenic good arsenic erstwhile Rick and Morty shorts, isn’t present conscionable to play the hits. He and his squad trade a unsocial communicative portion making bully usage of tweaked versions of characters and themes fans volition easy recognize, arsenic good arsenic bringing caller faces and situations into the mix.

io9 watched the archetypal 2 episodes, “The Girl Who Manipulates Time” and “Fighting Mother,” successful some the English dub and Japanese-with-English-subtitles versions, and however you take to acquisition Rick and Morty: The Anime feels similar much of a idiosyncratic penchant successful this case. The casts are arsenic appealing, an important information since the main Rick and Morty bid has been done the wringer with its ain dependable cast. In some languages, Rick (Youhei Tadano successful Japanese, Joe Daniels successful English) is appropriately gruff and boozy, and it feels similar an anime-correct prime that Morty (Keisuke Chiba, Gabriel Regojo) is simply a batch much emotionally expressive than helium is successful the regular series.

© Adult Swim

A large favoritism truthful acold seems to beryllium that The Anime is much episodic; mainline Rick and Morty does person play arcs and canon elements, but it leans much into standalone stories. “The Girl Who Manipulates Time” begins with Rick connected the tally from the Galactic Federation, which dearly wants his caller instrumentality that makes clip spell backwards. Back successful the Smith house, Summer’s got her headset connected arsenic Rick’s anxious but adjuvant tether to reality; Space Beth is besides portion of the enactment team, kicking ass successful heavy abstraction portion besides keeping tabs connected her dad. Less progressive truthful acold are non-Space Beth and Jerry, though from what we’ve seen truthful acold Jerry mightiness beryllium adjacent dorkier successful anime form.

Meanwhile, Morty is obsessed with a Rick-created VR crippled that not lone contains his mysterious imagination girl, but besides appears to beryllium a nebulous portion wherever existent alt-world timelines person started bleeding together. “Reality is convenient each the time, but I ever get saddled with the occupation of making it marque sense,” Rick groans, but earlier “Fighting Mother” is implicit we besides spot that adjacent Rick doesn’t rather person a grip connected the existent authorities of abstraction time.

Much similar the archetypal series, The Anime presents a rapid-fire onslaught of visuals—in keeping with its mean shift, the creation benignant is acquainted but besides distinctively different—as we zip betwixt universes and versions of the characters. It’s propulsive and feels deliberately confusing astatine times, peculiarly erstwhile we’re pursuing Morty’s trippy, non-chronological journey. Not for thing is the upbeat taxable song, composed by Otonez, titled “Love Is Entropy.”

Throughout, creator Sano’s heavy affection for Rick and Morty is rather evident. You tin spot it successful The Anime‘s excitement astir inter-dimensional hijinks, outer abstraction battles, and fan-favorite supporting characters that popular up present and there. Also, here’s a tip: conscionable similar Rick and Morty, The Anime leaves 1 past country astatine the extremity of the credits that’s ever worthy waiting astir for.

© Adult Swim

Starting today, August 15, caller episodes of Rick and Morty: The Anime premiere Thursdays astatine midnight connected Adult Swim; you tin watercourse them connected Max and acquisition them connected integer the adjacent day. Then, Japanese encore airings of each caller occurrence get Saturday astatine midnight arsenic portion of Adult Swim’s Toonami programming.

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