You’ve seen anime get live-action adaptations. You’ve seen live-action properties get anime adaptations. Now, we’re switching things up again, with an animation-to-anime adaptation. 

Yes, we’re talking about Rick and Morty: The Anime.

The project comes from Takashi Sano (Tower of God). Sano previously directed two anime shorts for Rick and Morty, “Rick and Morty vs. Genocider” and “Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)”. Like the original Rick and Morty series, the anime will be an Adult Swim series. 

Rick and Morty: The Anime has been greenlit for a “10 episode adventure.” The project is described as separate from its flagship series, but it “will adapt themes and events from the original title.” 

The series comes from Telecom Animation Film, and represents another phase of Adult Swim’s expansion into anime; The Adult Swim anime series Blade Runner: Black Lotus premiered in November 2021 on Cartoon Network and Crunchyroll. Rick and Morty: The Anime will premiere on Cartoon Network and stream on HBO Max.

So…does anyone else think this is a weird choice?

I have to say, I don’t really get this one. Rick and Morty: The Anime, really? 

It’s not that I think the series can’t work as an anime. It just seems like a weird choice to make a Rick and Morty anime now. Sure, I could see doing one down the line after the original show has been off the air for a while. It could be a way to revisit or reboot the series in a fresh way. 

But Rick and Morty is still an active series, planning new episodes. So that means Adult Swim will have TWO Rick and Morty animated shows running at the same. That’s worked for some franchises before with spinoff series, but it doesn’t seem like that’s exactly the plan for R&M: The Anime. The (admittedly brief) details revealed at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfronts make it sound like the anime is just remaking bits of the series in a different animation style. I don’t really see the point in that.

But maybe I’m missing something. What do you think? Will you tune in for both Rick and Morty and Rick and Morty: The Anime? Let me know in the comments below.

Source: Deadline

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