Rick And Morty is getting a 10-episode anime spinoff
Wubba-lubba-dubba-we-don't-really-understand-why-either, honestly.
Aux News Rick and Morty
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.
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The reasoning is twofold. One, Jason DeMarco can essentially approve any project he wants. Two, Toonami desperately needs content now that Funimation/Crunchyroll and Sentai Studios have more or less blacklisted them. And before anyone brings them up, Attack on Titan is from a contract signed during Season 1, Made in Abyss is before Sentai was off-limits, while One Piece and Lupin were from the Japanese studios directly.
Going to the Japanese studios directly is probably going to be how Toonami acquires most of its shows from this point on. At least they’re still on good terms with Viz, so the new Bleach series is very likely to end up on Toonami…unless Netflix outbids them again.
I missed it. Is this because Crunchyroll etc. are building their own streaming platforms out and want to keep all the rights to themselves? Or did adult swim do something to make them angry?
Crunchyroll apparently never liked working with Toonami for whatever reason (hence why Mob S2, Konosuba, and Shield Hero never appeared on the block) and once they got sold to Sony, Sony basically told them “LOL, no” to any future licensing. Even before then, they jacked up the Demon Slayer Season 2 price significantly due to the popularity of the movie.
Two, Toonami desperately needs content now that Funimation/Crunchyroll and Sentai Studios have more or less blacklisted them.Is that because they’re boosting another streaming service (such as Crunchyroll), or was there some shenanigans on Toonami’s part?
They feel they’re above Toonami now, so they price the shows far outside Toonami’s budget.
That make sense. The revenue from TV distribution on Cartoon Network must not be worth losing exclusivity on the Crunchyroll streaming service (I didn’t know before checking that Crunchyroll had absorbed Funimation).
This is some real monkey paw bullshit. I hope whoever wished for this drowned in their fucking Szechuan sauce hot tub.
lmao
A hot tub full of Szechuan sauce? That’s a great idea! I’m glad monkey paws have more than one finger. Time for another consequence-free wish!
I just came to say that this fucking show man…. I used to be obsessed with it. I just dunno wtf happened. I’m literally embarrassed to display any Rick and Morty swag in my house.
It’s gonna take awhile before I stop being generally upset about what’s happened to Rick And Morty.
What happened is that they ran out of ideas somewhere around the midpoint of season 3 and the show’s been running on fumes since then.
There’s still the occasional gem here and there, and though they find newer lows every season, it is still the best animated show “on tv”
It has always been and still is a fun, wacky cartoon. Nothing super different. Having actual swag was always embarrassing, sorry.
Um, I could accept 5 or 10 more 2 to 5 minute shorts, sure, but a 10 episode anime series is an absolutely awful idea. This will probably be terrible.
But will there be crows?
I’d rather have more of that April Fools Australian version.
That versions was surprisingly culturally sensitive and accurate. At least for Ipswich.
“Samurai & Shogun” is one of the worst things I’ve seen, so this doesn’t bode well honestly.
This seems extremely not surprising to me…