Rick & Morty bring chaos to Akihabara in a new short produced by the studio behind the Ultraman anime.
Entitled The Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara, the new eleven-minute short was released directly to Adult Swim's official YouTube channel and will also air on Toonami on Oct. 16. The short was produced by Sola Digital Arts, the CG animation studio behind Netflix's Ultraman anime, which will debut its second season in spring of 2022. The studio is also handling the animation for Blade Runner: Black Lotus, the new Blade Runner spinoff from the creators of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Black Lotus is being produced as a co-production between Adult Swim and anime streamer Crunchyroll. The short was directed by Masaru Matsumoto, who previously directed the Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars animated movie.
The new short sees Rick and Morty traveling to the otaku paradise of Akihabara in order to locate a specific type of screw that Rick needs to repair his malfunctioning toaster. Once they arrive, Morty gets predictably addicted to Japan's maid cafes, while Rick is reunited with his Japanese rival, Yamada Q-Saku, a scientist who was sealed in an underground laboratory by Rick 30 years ago. Rick and Q-Saku's argument eventually escalates into a Pacific Rim-style, all-out giant robot versus kaiju battle.
The short is presented with a Japanese audio track, which features Yohei Tadano as Rick and Keisuke Chiba as Morty. Tadano has previously starred in a variety of anime franchises, including Getter Robo, Edens Zero and Psycho-Pass. The Record of Grancrest War's Akiha Matsui also provides the voice of Summer, while Space Battleship Yamamoto's Yoshito Yasuhara provides the voice of the mad scientist Q-Saku. Miho Sakurazaka plays the role of Milk-Chan, the maid cosplayer of indeterminate age.
This isn't the first time that Rick & Morty has tapped an anime studio to produce a short for the series: Studio Deen, the animation company behind Fruits Basket and Made in Abyss, previously created a five minute short for the comedy show that aired in 2020.
Rick & Morty was created by Justin Roiland and Community's Dan Harmon. The series was developed from an animated short created by Roiland that parodied the Back to the Future movies. The series originally premiered in 2013 and has become one of Adult Swim's most popular shows. The series recently aired its fifth season, which concluded in early September. The first four seasons of the show are available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: YouTube