Rick and Morty: The Anime

Rick and Morty: The Anime revolves around the adventures of the Smith family, in particular mad scientist Rick Sanchez, and his grandchildren, the 14-year-old Morty Smith and the 17-year-old Summer Smith, whose parents, Jerry and Beth Smith (Rick's daughter), disapprove of their adventures. As Morty meets "time warrior" Elle, parallel storylines set sometime during the events of the sixth season of the main series explore the final months of the lives of the alternate reality spacefaring hero "Space Morty", and Morty's original father Jerry Prime. Different versions of the characters (including the bespectacled genocider, President Morty Smith) inhabit other dimensions throughout the show's multiverse, with their personal characteristics varying from one reality to another. == Cast ==

Main Guest • Manabu Muraji (Japanese) as AI Driver and Hologram Transvestite • Yuki Minami (Japanese) as Hologram Girl • , Daiki Kobayashi, Hodaka Mieno, Nanami Yamashita, and Kazuya Saji (Japanese) as Future Beings • Misa Ishii (Japanese) as Jessica • (Japanese) as Cyborg Tammy Gueterman / Phoenixwoman • (Japanese); Andrew Love (English) as Birdperson, a freedom fighter and Rick's best friend • (Japanese); Shawn Hamilton (English) as Andre Curtis / The President, the U.S. president • (Japanese); Brandon Hearnsberger (English) as Mr. Nimbus, Rick's nemesis • (Japanese) as Birddaughter, Birdperson's and Tammy's child • Takeshi Hayakawa (Japanese); Shawn Hamilton (English) as Mr. Goldenfold, Morty's teacher • Kaori Nakamura (Japanese); Annie Mai (English) as Dr. Ellen Wong • Takeshi Hayakawa (Japanese); Andrew Love (English) as Story Lord • Saki Kobari (Japanese); Brittney Karbowski (English) as Maria Smith, Morty's and Elle's daughter == Episodes ==

Short films (2020–21) Season 1 (2024) == Production ==

Short films A six-minute short film titled Samurai & Shogun aired unannounced on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on March 29, 2020, during the hiatus of the fourth season of Rick and Morty, before being uploaded to Adult Swim's YouTube channel the following day. Written and directed by Kaichi Sato, and produced by Koji Iijima and Studio Deen and executive producer Maki Terashima-Furuta, the episode features a different animation and art style than usual, and is heavily themed around anime, specifically Lone Wolf & Cub. The short stars Yōhei Tadano as "Rick WTM-72" and Keisuke Chiba as "Shogun Morty", the pair reprising their roles from the Japanese dub of the animated series. The English subtitles were produced by Sentai Studios, who would later produce the subtitles the rest of the short films. Another eight-minute short film titled Rick and Morty vs. Genocider aired unannounced on Toonami on July 26, 2020, debuting on YouTube slightly after. Written and directed by Takashi Sano, produced by Sola Entertainment, animated at Telecom Animation Film, and starring Tadano and Chiba as Rick and Morty, Manabu Muraji as Jerry, "AI Driver", and "Hologram Transvestite", and Yuki Minami as "Hologram Girl", the episode explores the conflict between President Morty and Rick C-137. A third short film, titled Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil) and also written and directed by Takashi Sano, was released on YouTube on August 2, 2021, and aired on Adult Swim the following day. A fourth short film, titled The Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara, directed by Masaru Matsumoto and written by Naohiro Fukushima, was released on YouTube on October 10, 2021, and aired on Adult Swim the following day. A fifth short film, titled Samurai & Shogun Part 2 and featuring the return of Samurai & Shoguns Kaichi Sato as writer and director, was released on YouTube on November 12, 2021 as part of the 2021 Adult Swim Festival. Development In May 2022, Adult Swim announced a 10-episode order for Rick and Morty: The Anime, an anime television series from Telecom Animation Film. The series is written and directed by Takashi Sano. == Release ==

The anime series premiered on Adult Swim English dubbed on August 16, 2024 and on its Toonami programming block in Japanese with English subtitles on August 18. Both the English dub and sub were produced by Sentai Studios. == Reception ==

The premiere episode received 192,000 viewers. The series received mixed critical reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 6 critics' reviews for the first season were positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. Polly Conway of Common Sense Media gave the series a 2-out-of-5 star rating, stating, "Language, sci-fi violence in confusing anime spin-off". Matt Mahler of MovieWeb states, "it's a bizarrely incoherent disaster and a staggering disappointment". == Notes ==