First ‘Rick and Morty: The Anime’ trailer fully lives up to what you’d expect from such a phrase

They did it; the absolute maniacs actually did it.

Indeed, it was nothing short of surreal when we found out that Rick and Morty, the beloved Adult Swim cartoon that can be neatly summed up as “everything that Dan Harmon can’t do with Community,” would be getting an anime series. Fast forward to a little over a year since the announcement, and we’ve finally gotten a closer look at what the uncanny beast that is Rick and Morty: The Anime might look like, and it’s everything that we could have never imagined.

Helmed by Tower of God director Takashi Sano, the Rick and Morty anime will be based on the anime shorts released between 2020 and 2021, in which Rick Sanchez, local multiverse scientist and samurai, recruits his grandchildren Morty and Summer for harrowing adventures throughout the multiverse.

Suffice to say, it’ll be business as usual in the expanding multiverse that is the Rick and Morty franchise, albeit with a much more pronounced art style, surprisingly kawaii theme song, and — as Takashi has alluded to — a “unique Japanese twist.” Whether it will capture the hearts of Rick and Morty fans the way the cartoon has done for so long remains to be seen, but if there was ever a direction that made the most sense for the franchise to go, this would be it.

At the time of writing, it’s unclear when in 2023 the new series will be releasing on Adult Swim, though we do know it will consist of 10 episodes.