''Rick and Morty: The Anime'' is a Japanese

adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

series created, written and directed by Takashi Sano, produced by Sola Entertainment and animated by Telecom Animation Film for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

. The third series in the franchise, based on the American animated series of the same name by

Justin Roiland Mark Justin Roiland (born February 21, 1980) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, and producer. He co-created the Adult Swim animated sitcom ''Rick and Morty'', for which he voiced the protagonists Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith from 2013 ...

and

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV series), Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast ' ...

, set between the fifth and sixth seasons of the main series, it stars Yōhei Tadano as

Rick Sanchez Rick Sanchez is one of the two Title character, eponymous characters in the Adult Swim animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' and resulting Rick and Morty (franchise), multimedia franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, he i ...

and Keisuke Chiba as

Morty Smith Mortimer Chauncey "Morty" Smith Sr. is one of the Title character, eponymous Character (arts), characters from the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty''. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, and voiced by the former for the ...

, reprising their roles from the Japanese dub of the original series. None of the cast of the English version of the original series reprise their roles for its English dub. Following five

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s released from March 29, 2020, to November 12, 2021, the series itself premiered on August 16, 2024. It received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

''Rick and Morty: The Anime'' revolves around the adventures of the Smith family, in particular

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...

, and his grandchildren, the 14-year-old

and the 17-year-old Summer Smith, whose parents, Jerry and

Beth Smith Bethany "Beth" Smith () is one of the main characters of the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' and the resulting franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, Beth is a veterinarian who specializes in horse surger ...

(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 The multiverse is the hypothetical set of all universes. Together, these universes are presumed to comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describ ...

, 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 is a Japanese voice actor and singer from Toyonaka, affiliated with 81 Produce. He is known for starring as Saki Mizushima in '' The Idolmaster SideM'', Niko in '' Nanbaka'', Steve Kanamori in '' 100% Pascal-sensei'', Subaru Hoshiyomi in '' Fu ...

, 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 Brittney Marie Hernandez (nee Karbowski ; born June 26, 1986) is an American voice actress who has voiced in a number of English-language versions of Japanese anime series. Karbowski was born in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston and since 2004, ...

(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 Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...

programming block on March 29, 2020, during the hiatus of the fourth season of ''

Rick and Morty ''Rick and Morty'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated science fiction Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadvent ...

'', before being uploaded to Adult Swim's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel the following day. Written and directed by Kaichi Sato, and produced by Koji Iijima and

Studio Deen is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by former Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa, along with a team of ex-Sunrise animators. The studio owns three subsidiaries: Danny Donghua (), a Chinese sub-contracting studio; Megumi (め組), a di ...

and executive producer Maki Terashima-Furuta, the episode features a different animation and art style than usual, and is heavily themed around

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

, 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 Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

'' aired unannounced on Toonami on July 26, 2020, debuting on

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) ''Rick and Morty: ~SUMMER meets GOD~ (Rick meets Evil)'', also known simply as ''Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)'', ''Summer Meets God'', and ''Rick Meets Evil'', is a Japanese-language, Japanese anime short film based on the American televisio ...

'' 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

television series from Telecom Animation Film. The series is written and directed by Takashi Sano.

Release

The anime series premiered on

English dubbed on August 16, 2024 and on its

programming block in Japanese with English subtitles on August 18. Both the English dub and sub were produced by Sentai Studios. The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 29, 2025 from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.

Reception

The premiere episode received 192,000 viewers. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 50% of 6 critics' reviews for the first season were positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The series received negative critical reviews. Polly Conway of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' gave the series a 2-out-of-5 star rating, stating, "Language, sci-fi violence in confusing anime spin-off." Matt Mahler of ''

MovieWeb Valnet, Inc. is a Canadian media company established in August 2012 by Hassan and Sam Youssef in Montreal, Quebec. It operates primarily in the entertainment media industry, where it has sought to acquire producers of content in this space. In ...

'' states, "it's a bizarrely incoherent disaster and a staggering disappointment."

Notes

References

External links

* * * ; Short films * * * * * {{Portal bar, Anime and manga, Cartoon, Animation, Japan, United States, Speculative fiction, Science fiction, 2020s 2020s American animated comedy television series 2020s American adult animated television series 2020s American comic science fiction television series 2020s American satirical television series 2020s American sitcoms 2024 anime television series debuts Adult Swim animated television series American adult animated comedy television series American adult animated science fiction television series American animated sitcoms American anime-influenced animated television series American English-language television shows American teen animated television series Animated films based on animated series Animated television series about dysfunctional families Dark comedy anime and manga Japanese adult animated science fiction television series Japanese adult animated space adventure television series Japanese television series based on American television series Rick and Morty short films Rick and Morty Science fiction anime and manga Television shows set in Japan TMS Entertainment