Wikipedia

Rick and Morty: The Anime

(Redirected from Samurai & Shogun)

Not to be confused with Rick and Morty: The Manga.

Rick and Morty: The Anime is an adult animated science fiction sitcom series created and developed by Takashi Sano and produced by Studio Deen, Sola Entertainment and Telecom Animation Film for Adult Swim. The third series in the franchise, based on the animated series of the same name by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, set between the fifth and sixth seasons of the main series, it stars Yōhei Tadano as Rick Sanchez and Keisuke Chiba as Morty Smith, 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.

Rick and Morty: The Anime
Genre
Based on
Directed byTakashi Sano
Voices of
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Japan
Original languages
  • Japanese
  • English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes3 + 5 shorts
Production
Executive producerMaki Terashima-Furuta
ProducerKoji Iijima
Running time17–21 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkAdult Swim
ReleaseAugust 16, 2024 (2024-08-16) –
present
Related
Rick and Morty (franchise)

Following five short films released from March 29, 2020, to November 12, 2021, the series itself premiered on August 16, 2024.

Plot

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Set between the fifth and sixth seasons of the main series, while portal travel is shut down, Rick and Morty: The Anime revolves around the adventures of alternate universe versions of the members of the Smith household, in particular mad scientist Rick Sanchez, and his grandchildren, the 14-year-old Morty Smith and the 17-year-old Summer Smith, whose parents, Jerry and Beth Smith (Rick's daughter), disapprove of their adventures. As Morty meets "time warrior" Elle, a parallel storyline explores the final months in the life of Jerry Prime.

Different versions of the characters (including the bespectacled genocider, President Morty Smith) inhabit other dimensions throughout the show's multiverse, with their personal characteristics varying from one reality to another.[1][2]

Cast

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Main article: List of Rick and Morty characters

Main

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Guest

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Episodes

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SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
Shorts5March 29, 2020 (2020-03-29)November 12, 2021 (2021-11-12)
1[3]10August 16, 2024 (2024-08-16)October 18, 2024 (2024-10-18)

Short films (2020–21)

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No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Samurai & Shogun"Kaichi SatoKaichi SatoMarch 29, 2020 (2020-03-29)
In feudal Japan, Rick WTM-72 is a lone samurai protecting the Shogun Morty. After a tranquil moment together, they are ambushed by a group of Ninja Ricks who demand the surrender of Morty. Rick WTM-72 refuses, leading to a brutal, blood-soaked battle, where Rick WTM-72 defeats wave after wave of enemies, using both traditional samurai weapons and advanced technology hidden within his body. The battle intensifies as the Ninja Ricks call in reinforcements, but Rick WTM-72 continues to fight, even when heavily outnumbered, before continuing on his journey.
2"Rick and Morty vs. Genocider"Takashi SanoTakashi SanoJuly 26, 2020 (2020-07-26)
After the disappearance of his own Rick, a Morty is tasked by the Council of the Citadel, overseen by President Morty, to travel to Japan and stop "The Genocider" from attacking Ricks and Mortys. After arriving in Japan, Morty activates an inflatable beeper given to him by his Rick. This leads him to an old apartment in Tokyo. There, he meets Rick C-137, who instructs Morty to drink a potion that will make him Urashima Tarō (subtitled as Rip Van Winkle). After trapping Morty in a bubble and bidding him farewell, laughingly addressing him as "Rick Sanchez", Rick is pulled into the sky towards the ship of the Genocider, and then surrounded by various Ricks. Laughing at them, Rick activates several anime boosted power-ups, becoming "Super Rick". During the ensuing battle, he sets off a explosion which destroys the ship, the city, and Rick himself. It later turns out that President Morty was controlling the Genocider with a similar device to the one he uses to control "Evil Rick" in "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind". After being informed that Rick C-137 dies in the explosion, President Morty asks his subordinates to erect memorials for the fallen Ricks and secretly destroys the device. The Morty trapped in the bubble, consumes the potion—consisting of Rick's memories and the excretions of the alien parasites from "Total Rickall"— and transforms into Rick C-137, the potion having allowed Rick to take over his body. In his answering machine, Rick discovers a voicemail from Jerry several years prior informing him of Morty's birth and asking him to visit his daughter.
3"Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)"Takashi SanoTakashi SanoAugust 2, 2021 (2021-08-02)
Summer begins dating Delta, a godlike A.I. she speaks with through her smartphone. Meanwhile, after a meeting with Dr. Wong, Jerry is taken as a host of a Gotron (which Delta is the operating system for) by a collection of Future Beings, leading to their world being reduced to an apocalyptic state, which Summer plans to rule with Delta as "RickWorld".
4"The Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara"Masaru MatsumotoNaohiro FukushimaOctober 10, 2021 (2021-10-10)
Rick and Morty travel to Akihabara, Tokyo's famous electronics district, searching for an old rare screw to fix a toaster. As Morty immediately leaves for a maid café, Rick frees his former partner Yamada Q-saka from their lab he locked him in 30 years earlier, and he unleashes a group of yokai, supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore, upon the city. The yokai attack, and Rick brings Morty into a giant robot to fight them, leading to a frantic battle through the streets of Akihabara. After recovering his screw, Rick quickly disposes of the yokai before leaving the city in ruins to fix his toaster.
5"Samurai & Shogun Part 2"Kaichi SatoKaichi SatoNovember 12, 2021 (2021-11-12)
The sequel picks up where the first "Samurai & Shogun" short left off. Rick WTM-72 and the Shogun Morty he is charged with protecting continue their journey through a war-torn landscape, but their peace is short-lived as they are ambushed by a group of Glorzo-wearing Ninja Ricks and a single Kunoichi Summer, whose Rick that Rick WTM-72 had killed.

Season 1 (2024)

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No.Title [3][4]Directed byWritten byOriginal air date [3]U.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Girl Who Manipulates Time"Takashi SanoTakashi SanoAugust 16, 2024 (2024-08-16)0.192[5]
While portal travel is shut down across the Central Finite Curve,[b] one Galactic Federation warship is about to destroy a planet giving up all means of armed confrontation, but it is interrupted as Summer hacks into their spaceship systems. The story jumps to a timepoint which a Galactic Federation fleet abducts a Rick from one version of the Smith family. They are seeking for his new invention that can reduce time entropy and reverse time flow. This Rick turns out to be a dummy arranged with the help of Summer, and the real Rick is at somewhere else tracking down his enemy along with Space Beth. Meanwhile, Morty is using a virtual reality gaming device given by Rick in his room, and enters into simulation of multiple universes all at once. He uses different tactics against his first enemies; may or may not be saved from an attacking monster; encounters a time warrior girl named Elle, a man named Frank or Mullet Rick who lost his Morty; may or may not be clear that the game world he experiences is fictional; treasures the Nander Dragon's tear gifted from Elle or Frank; lives an ordinary life or serves as the President until his death; and may or may not have a touching reunion with Frank or Elle. As Rick is returning home to pick up Morty, Summer terminates Morty's simulation in the end, while he is reuniting with Elle.
Post-credits scene : Cronenberg versions of Morty and Elle recreate the reunion scene, before they are both hunted down by Jerry Prime[b] as dinner.
2"Fighting Mother"Takashi SanoTakashi SanoAugust 23, 2024 (2024-08-23)TBD
Rick gets into temporal paradox during his return trip, and eventually leaps to one universe which Morty is still a baby at its time. He encounters Mullet Rick, who is planning to leave this universe. Mullet Rick recognises Rick as Rick C-137 that stealed the device and Smith family from him before. Rick chases and fights Mullet Rick, because he suspects Mullet Rick invented the entropy device to bring in Beth's miserable life and her marriage to Jerry. Mullet Rick denies himself to be the inventor despite used it to reset universes, and he does not want to get involved in further trouble. The inter-dimensional contact leads to their constant shift in space fissure and potential annihilation of the universe presented in form of a growing energy core. The President has to defend invasion from other countries attempting to capture the core, until the core disappears when Rick is convinced to spare Mullet Rick and continue his trip to meet Summer and Morty. Meanwhile, Space Beth successfully intrudes the capital ship of the Galatic Federation fleet, but gets into a trap set up by Tammy, who is resurrected with cyborg parts like Phoenixperson. The two have a tough fight, before the dummy Rick activates self-explosion and the rebels recruited by Space Beth attacks the fleet. Space Beth spares Tammy considering she has family business to catch up with, and successfully escapes.
Post-credits scene : Tammy returns home after her duty, and she finds Birdperson and Birddaughter are waiting at the snowy street.
3"Alien Elle"Takashi SanoTakashi SanoAugust 30, 2024 (2024-08-30)TBD
As Rick has not yet returned, Morty go back to the virtual reality universe in search of Elle, but only find the Mullet Rick he encountered before. Mullet Rick explains that Elle is from a species perceiving all conceivable future branches since they are born, and they bear the concept of time flows from future to past. Mullet Rick know this because in his native universe, his grandson Space Morty teamed up with Alien Elle, the lone survivor of her species, to defeat Galatic Federation from stealing Mullet Rick's wormhole technology and invading planet Yalahreyta. Space Morty was labeled as the planet hero and galatic rebel leader after fighting down a warship, while Alien Elle was not as welcomed. Nevertheless, Space Morty trusted Alien Elle for bringing him the best life, and Alien Elle would save Space Morty from whatever crisis before the end she knew arrives. Mullet Rick concludes that Morty should not have any chance to meet Elle in normal circumstances, but what Mullet Rick and Rick did to time and dimensions seems to bring some changes that Elle could newly observe. Mullet Rick soon leaves without a trace, and Morty's simulation is once again terminated as Summer wants him to rescue Rick proactively.
Post-credits scene : Rick persuades Mullet Rick not to abandon the Smith Family he stayed with before leaving. Mullet Rick laments on how he affects Morty's life, and makes a decision.
4"Memories"TBATBASeptember 6, 2024 (2024-09-06)TBD
5"Family"TBATBASeptember 13, 2024 (2024-09-13)TBD
6"Free Will"TBATBASeptember 20, 2024 (2024-09-20)TBD

Production

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Short films

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A six-minute short film titled Samurai & Shogun aired unannounced on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on March 29, 2020, during the hiatus of the fourth season of Rick and Morty, before being uploaded to Adult Swim's YouTube channel the following day. Written and directed by Kaichi Sato, and produced by Koji Iijima and Studio Deen and executive producer Maki Terashima-Furuta, the episode features a different animation and art style than usual, and is heavily themed around anime, 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.[6][7] The English subtitles were produced by Sentai Studios, who would later produce the subtitles the rest of the short films.[citation needed]

Another eight-minute short film titled Rick and Morty vs. Genocider aired unannounced on Toonami on July 26, 2020, debuting on YouTube 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.[8][9][10]

A third short film, titled Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil) 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 & Shogun's Kaichi Sato as writer and director, was released on YouTube on November 12, 2021 as part of the 2021 Adult Swim Festival.[citation needed]

Development

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In May 2022, Adult Swim announced a 10-episode order for Rick and Morty: The Anime, an anime television series from Telecom Animation Film.[11] The series is written and directed by Takashi Sano.[12]

Release

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The anime series premiered on Adult Swim English dubbed on August 16, 2024 and on its Toonami programming block in Japanese with English subtitles on August 18.[13] Both the English dub and sub were produced by Sentai Studios.[citation needed]

Notes

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  1. ^ Sentai Studios was commissioned to produce the English dub and sub
  2. ^ a b Between the events of "Rickmurai Jack" and "Solaricks"

References

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  1. ^ Jung, E. Alex (September 12, 2017). "Here's What We Know About Rick and Morty's Evil Morty". Vulture. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  2. ^ Puchko, Kristy (September 5, 2022). "'Rick and Morty' Season 6 premiere explainer: All your mind-blower questions answered". Mashable. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Shows A-Z - Rick and Morty: The Anime on Adult Swim". The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  4. ^ "Adult Swim Schedule". Adult Swim. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  5. ^ ToonHive [@ToonHive] (August 22, 2024). "The series premiere of 'Rick and Morty: The Anime' debuted with 192k viewers on Adult Swim" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Joho, Jess (March 29, 2020). ""Rick and Morty" Are "Samurai & Shogun" in New Adult Swim Short [VIDEO]". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  7. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (March 29, 2020). "Studio DEEN Produces 5-Minute 'Samurai & Shogun' Short for Rick and Morty Animated Series". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  8. ^ "'Rick and Morty Vs. Genocider' is a Beautifully Weird Anime Road Trip". July 26, 2020.
  9. ^ "The Latest Rick and Morty Anime Short is a Time-Twisting Tokyo Thriller". July 26, 2020.
  10. ^ "Evil Morty Returns in New Rick and Morty Short".
  11. ^ Hibberd, James (May 18, 2022). "'Rick and Morty' Anime Spinoff Announced by Adult Swim". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  12. ^ "All-New Series "Rick and Morty: The Anime" Premieres August 15 on Adult Swim". The Futon Critic. July 11, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  13. ^ Loo, Egan (July 11, 2024). "Rick and Morty: The Anime's Trailer Confirms August 15 Debut, Bilingual Casts". Retrieved July 11, 2024.
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Short films
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