If you’re a fan of Rick and Morty and the amazingly zany universe the franchise presents to us, you may have heard about the show’s anime spin-off. It has been in the works since 2020 when the YouTube shorts Rick & Morty vs. Genocider and Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil), went viral and garnering nearly 12 million views.
The comments were generally positive, with many appreciating the fresh direction the anime shorts were taking the show’s flagship characters.
“This is weirdly one of the most wholesome Rick and Morty episodes,” one commenter says—with 13,000 people liking the comment. Others expressed excitement about the prospect of a full-fledged Rick and Morty anime series.
The shorts were directed by Takashi Sano (director of Tower of God Season 1) and animated by Studio Deen and Telecom Animation Film.
It tracks that the anime spin-off would land a 10-episode anime series with Adult Swim. From the start, it was established this wasn’t exactly a continuation of the original series but a detour into the original series’s multiverse. The anime’s storyline takes place sometime between Seasons 5 and 6.
Rick and Morty, Anime Edition
The show kicks off with our main characters scattered in unfamiliar, chaotic settings. On a Galactic Federation warship poised to obliterate a planet, Summer steps in, hacking their system and shutting the operation down.
The next scene cuts to a Galactic Federation fleet abducting Rick from the Smith family, who turns out to be a decoy Rick. The real Rick is out in space hunting his elusive ‘enemy’ with Space Beth.
Meanwhile, Morty finds himself trapped in some sort of chaotic VR simulation of alternate universes. As viewers, we’re drip fed fact-paced vignettes of Morty’s plot line, each more disjointed than the last, leaving us scrambling to piece together the madness and wondering, what the hell is going on?
As a devoted Rick and Morty fan who’s seen every episode, I feel qualified to say this: whatever this is trying to be, it’s missing the mark.The end of episode one left me with a whole lot of confusion, and not a lot of desire to stick around for the next episode.
It seems I’m wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The show is currently pulling a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (by comparison, the original show has a 90% rating). Reddit came alive with discussions lamenting what many saw as a missed opportunity for the show.
Initially, I agreed. But a few comments convinced me to stick around to see how it ends.
Why So Serious?
Right off the bat, it’s apparent that what made the short special was how it stood alone and deviated from the Western cartoon style and that the story was serious and emotional. As a standalone, the anime retains its jarring, colorful aesthetic but sharply contrasts the main series. The animation style is colorful in a jerky, low-quality way that can distract you from focusing on what is happening.
It trades the goofy energy integral to the original for a more serious tone, emphasizing the gravity of the situation over the humor fans have come to expect.
However, Rick and Morty thrives because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The jokes and funny moments oftentimes were the main focus, with the plot feeling like a distant concern. And to some degree, this is at the heart of the original series’ charm: it finds moments of joy and meaning in an otherwise brutal, random and cacophonous universe.
The anime version inverts that. It’s very drama-heavy with action and suspense. It comes off like the story is deliberately designed to confuse you, as it deals with time and the multiverse; there’s almost no humor to be found. What it does preserve from the original series is the pandemonium of plotlines and characters. But without the humor that normally peppers the madness, it just doesn’t hit the same.
With barely 20 minutes per episode, the anime spinoff struggles with the pacing of the episodes. It feels choppy in some places, and while Sano attempts to incorporate the customary, drawn-out scenes in anime, it seems like he picks the wrong scene to do it in. Some scenes were overdone while others should have lasted longer or provided more detail. Watching it often feels like a frenetic sprint toward an ending that you somehow already know will leave you unsatisfied.
Tapering Expectations
The show’s redeeming quality is that by the time you reach the final episode, enough pieces start to fall into place, making it worth a rewatch to uncover all the Easter eggs and connections hidden throughout.
Going into this show expecting it to be similar to the main show will be doing yourself a disservice. The anime shifts away from the source material, diving deeper into the Rick and Morty mythos with a seriousness that’s a departure from its signature irreverence.
Unlike the original series, the episodes here are sequential, weaving a larger, interconnected story. Gone is the episodic nature we’re used to — now, nothing can be dismissed as a throwaway joke. The anime constantly reminds you of past events, as connections can crop up at any time.
Overall, I won’t say it was a bad show. But it wasn’t what I expected when I imagined an anime Rick and Morty.
Fans who want to give it a try should go into it checking their expectations of what Rick and Morty “should be” at the door.
You’ll get more out of this by going in with a clean slate—taking in a whole new universe with a few familiar faces.
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