Tower of God director Takashi Sano takes on Rick and Morty's giant monsters and reinterprets their universe in Rick and Morty: The Anime. Based on the first two episodes, the anime is a fresh take on the decades-old series. Director Takashi Sano's charming designs and smooth animation style breathe new life into Rick and Morty, presenting a completely different take on the series while staying true to its various characters and storylines. After seven seasons of the original series, the spin-off faces an uphill battle when it comes to constant comparisons to the main series.
Rather than being a spin-off of the series of the same name, Rick and Morty: The Anime is meant to be a completely separate series, highlighted by its English dub. None of the original series' voice actors reprise their roles, and Sentai Studios has done the English dub. There will be a slight adjustment period for you to get used to hearing this cast, but the voice acting and direction match the way the characters are portrayed in the series.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros.
Jason DeMarco, SVP of Adult Swim and Warner Bros. Animation, made it clear at the SDCC 2024 panel that the show was always designed as an extension of Rick and Morty. “This show is a little weird as a spinoff of a popular series because it’s not designed as a spinoff; it’s designed as an extension.” With the cross-dimensional exploration in the original series, the reality where the characters exist in the anime fits their canon. “For us, we wanted Director Sano to be able to tell his own Rick and Morty show and make it feel like the Takashi Sano show.”
Right away, there's a noticeable tonal shift from the series' famously cold open. There's a strange sense of calm as we see the familiar faces of the Galactic Federation's Gromflomites preparing to take over a planet. Instead of slapstick banter with guns blazing, the episode builds tension and delivers exposition, marking a departure from the usual Rick and Morty episode structure. True to the referential nature of Rick and Morty: The Anime, there are plenty of pop culture nods and other episodes from the series.
Other than the obvious change in visual style—from character designs, animation, and elaborate backgrounds—the dialogue reads like a localized English anime dub. The “anime” part of the spin-off’s title is easily heard through the emphasis on the occasional sighs, grunts, and other noises inherent in an anime character’s speech patterns. Since Sano also does the writing, the dialogue is his way of explaining the characters, including the side characters. The second volume smooths out any noticeable awkwardness as the overarching story unfolds.
You can easily watch the anime without keeping up with all seven seasons of Rick and Morty. However, keen-eyed fans will catch every little reference and Easter egg. Sano is also a self-proclaimed fanatic, as he confessed to watching every episode multiple times during his presentation. If you’re a die-hard Rick and Morty fan, consider this season dedicated to Multidimensional Cable.
Image provided courtesy of Warner Bros.
At SDCC, Sano mentioned how the influence of his previous works would naturally spill over into this season. After years of working on Lupin III, it's no surprise that one of the Ricks looks like a blue-haired Goemon while Rick and Morty runs like Lupin and Jigen. His eye for movement and color allows him to display an incredible amount of visual information on screen with contrasting lines, flat shadows, and in as few frames as possible.
“When I design characters, instead of having a black outline and then coloring them, I actually start with brown,” Sano said at the Rick and Morty SDCC panel. “Then I think about how to bring the world and its colors in. Once that's decided, it's a matter of trial and error to give art direction in terms of the backgrounds and figuring out what works for the characters and the colors.”
Sano creates smooth yet complex sequences that don't waste a single shot transitioning from one motion to the next. A prominent quality in Sano's signature line art style is texture, which is often hidden in other anime series that rely on shading and shadows to look polished. While he claims that he didn't consciously take any inspiration from any particular series he was working on, he did note the inherent distortion and elongated action style of anime.
Given the tumultuous transition between seasons six and seven, naysayers and the uninterested will likely skip this spinoff entirely. From these two episodes, Rick and Morty: The Anime appeals to both anime and new Rick and Morty fans alike. Sano incorporates his version of the characters as he understands them while still adhering to previously established canon. As with the main series, stick around until the end for some post-credits scenes.
Rick and Morty: The Anime will premiere in English on Adult Swim at midnight on August 15 and will stream on Max the following day. A subtitled Japanese version will then air at midnight on August 17 on Toonami's programming block.
