Part of the appeal (and occasional frustration) of Adult Swim’s Rick And Morty is that it can functionally be a show about anything; one blast of Rick’s portal gun, or some wild new invention, and Justin Roiland, Dan Harmon, and the rest of the show’s writers can make any episode about pretty much anything. (If all else fails, there’s always an alternate reality to fall back on; truly, the show was ahead of the game in the field of “Fuck It, It’s The Multiverse” studies.)
Even so, the announcement today that the network was giving a greenlight to Rick And Morty: The Anime was a bit of a noodle-twister. Some nifty short films? Sure. A full episode? We can see it. An entire 10-episode series? Huh.
And yet that’s exactly what Adult Swim announced today, as part of its portion of Warner Media’s upfronts. Specifically, Takashi Sano—whose credits include both Tower Of God and also the two extant Rick And Morty anime shorts, “Rick And Morty Vs. Genocider” and “Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)”—will be helming the series, which will operate in its own continuity, distinct from the mothership show. (Which just began writing on its eighth season this week, apparently, because Adult Swim knows where the money is.)
Sano is apparently a big fan of the series, stating that “The multiverse-straddling exploits of Rick and the gang pose challenges to the family bond, but they always rise to the occasion.” (Yes, he clarified, even Jerry.) It’s not clear yet whether Roiland and Harmon will have any creative involvement in the show. The series will run on both Adult Swim and HBO Max.
The Anime is just the most eye-catchingly weird reveal from today’s Adult Swim upfronts; the network also announced a new series called Ninja Kamui, revealed that The Eric Andre Show is coming back, and announced that Sacha Baron Cohen, Mike Judge, Greg Daniels, and Michael Koman are teaming up for a new animated special called Chelm.
