A new sneak peek into Rick and Morty: The Anime revealed a short scene for the upcoming spin-off series.
Rick and Morty fans continue to get snippets and teases for the next big spin-off project of the show. The sneak peek teaser that dropped today was no exception. Adult Swim dropped a quick 1-minute clip from the upcoming Rick and Morty: The Anime special. This built upon what was revealed a few months ago when they showed off the new series’ opening title sequence, which looked amazing! It appeared to be a tease of what could be a major plot point for the anime adaptation.
The small look into one of the episodes saw Summer warning Rick from her base of sorts to his spacecraft that he was flying near a space distortion. The scene quickly elevated in tension as multiple bogeys appeared on their radars. Rick almost collided with one and realized it was an alternate-universe version of himself! Rick found himself surrounded by hundreds of versions of himself from parallel universes. Nothing much else could be extracted from the short clip, but it is intriguing to see the tone they are going for with this anime version.
The OG voice cast of the main Rick and Morty series have become so famous, and to match that energy for the anime was no small feat. As a result, they have Yōhei Tadano as Rick Sanchez, Keisuke Chiba as Morty Smith, Manabu Muraji as Jerry Smith, Akiha Matsui as Summer Smith, and Jun Irie as Beth Smith. Other notable Japanese voice actors will also make special appearances. While the series has only a 10-episode debut, the show’s director Takashi Sano (Tower of God), had a reassuring message in the first look video.
He explained how he was a big Rick and Morty fan himself, and was “truly honoured” to take on this endeavour. He elaborated on how he wanted to make something for the fans of the show by concocting a Rick and Morty special brew of episodes that contained the “essence” of the original series, with a “Japanese twist.” Apparently, newcomers (like me) will not need to know anything about the original series since the anime will have its own timeline and is a fun, independent project despite using the same main characters.
The art style continued to blow me away as art director Arisa Matsuzwana (Lupin III) and color designer Maikio Kojima (Ghost in the Shell) were tapped into this project. The series also has major Japanese studios who have worked on the series: Studio Deen (Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre) and Sola Entertainment (Crunchyroll’s Blade Runner: Black Lotus).
While there is no official release date yet, I am sure one is imminent and is expected to drop in 2024. This will be a nice treat for both returning and new fans of the series. The series is expected to stream on Max and Adult Swim. Anime adaptations seem to be a hit, with the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off anime having its own version that had a fairly successful launch last month.
