Samurai Rick. Image : Cartoon Network/Studio Deen

Really? Oh. Uh. Yeah, okay, that’s definitely what they did.

Rick and Morty is known for its heavy pop culture riffs and strong parody energy, and so it’s not necessarily surprising that the show would do a riff on samurai films. But it is surprising that, while the show is not currently airing on Adult Swim, the people behind it decided to release that riff as a standalone short film, a six-minute burst of fairly straightfaced samurai warrior pastiche, with bits of Rick and Morty flair thrown in as flavor.

It’s even in Japanese! And was created by Studio Deen, who have made such anime productions as the Junji Ito Collection, Umineko no Naku Koro ni, and Ranma 1/2. It’s honestly incredibly impressive, and visually arresting to boot. This Samurai version of Rick is pretty tough. Would that every Rick was this cool.


And, of course, there are portals. What would Rick and Morty be without portals?


The fourth season of Rick and Morty is currently on hiatus, with the rest of the episodes set to premiere sometime this year on Adult Swim.

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