Everyone Already Forgot The Biggest Anime Flop of 2024 – & For Good Reason

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Posted 3 hours ago by inuno.ai

Rick and Morty is easily one of the most iconic adult animated TV shows of the 2010s. Its bizarre, off-beat humor and universe-hopping storylines will have a massive influence on other animated comedies still felt today. After all, no other series at the height of its popularity would convince dozens of people to flock to McDonald’s to track down a limited-time condiment sauce. So, when an anime spin-off was announced in May 2022, fans were intrigued by what it could do to set itself apart from the original.

Unfortunately, the anime failed to meet many fans’ expectations upon its release. There’s still a decent attempt to do a different take on the series’ art style and humor. These attempts fell flat for several reasons. A combination of unfunny jokes, lack of a coherent plot, and horrible pacing makes Rick and Morty: The Anime feel like all its potential was wasted right in front of its dedicated viewers.

The Rick and Morty Anime Removes All the Original’s Comedic Charm

Many of the Anime’s Jokes Fall Flat & Feel Forced

The anime’s humor is serviceable at best, something that should never happen to a Rick and Morty spin-off. Rather than crank up the absurdity of the original series, the anime takes a more grounded tone with its setting. This isn’t a bad thing on paper, but the humor feels far less playful. This makes gags that would normally feel right at home in the original series seriously fall flat. Even if the anime inserted a laugh track after its gags, it still wouldn’t come close to touching the humor of the source material.

In trying to do a different take on the same show, it feels like the show tries too hard to take itself seriously. Rick is far more melodramatic in the anime, feeling genuinely sorry for not taking better care of Morty. While this still makes Rick interesting to follow in the show, it takes away the cynicism and snark that made him funny. What little jokes he makes in the anime lack the energy and charisma that Rick is known for.

Rick and Morty Live-Action Concept Trailer Imagines Christopher Lloyd as Rick

A fan-made concept trailer for a live-action Rick and Morty adaptation has Christopher Lloyd leading the cast.

Various versions of Morty are seen throughout the show, and all the jokes surrounding them revolve around how miserable their lives are when he isn’t helping the other characters. Morty befriends a mysterious girl named Elle, only to die heartbroken or be forced to help Summer and Rick. Morty being in a perpetual state of suffering isn’t out of place for the series, but the more serious tone and fast pacing of the show make viewers more bored than entertained. Rick is also far more stern, and his plethora of punchlines don’t hit nearly as well with the direction the series takes him.

Everyone in the Rick and Morty Anime is Out of Character

Many Characters’ Personalities are Lost in Translation

Rick Sanchez flies his ship in Rick and Morty: The Anime

The anime suffers from most familiar faces acting completely differently from their counterparts from the long-running cartoon. Morty is given almost nothing to do in the series and mopes around looking for his girlfriend Elle. Beth also has nothing to do with the story being told and doesn’t get drunk at all. The only character with a decent reinterpretation is Rick, who is far more lax about the madness engulfing the universe than his original incarnation.

These wildly different versions of the characters can jar long-time fans. For a show that sold itself as a fun spin-off of the original, the anime versions of the characters act nothing like them. Scenes like Rick being concerned that he’d never see Morty again fly in the cartoon’s face’s logic, where it’s established that there are dozens of versions of Morty in the universe. It also doesn’t help that none of the cartoon’s voice cast returned to dub the characters in the anime. While the voice work of the replacement VAs is still decent, it just makes the show feel even more disorienting to watch.

The show’s new characters are also poorly handled. Elle is barely fleshed-out as anything other than the object of Morty’s affection. Frank, another new character who wears mysterious armor, also does little other than enter a romantic relationship with Morty. Frank also pops in and out of the story randomly and often has little to do. Often, it’s a struggle to remember any of the new characters’ names because of how haphazardly they’re inserted into the story. Even if some seasons are better than others, the original Rick and Morty cartoon still felt far more consistent than the ten episodes of the anime that are available to stream.

Multiple Viewings are Required to Make Sense of the Rick and Morty Anime

The Anime’s Convoluted Plot Squanders its Potential

Frank from Rick and Morty_ The Anime, looking down at a fallen Morty

Right from the 1st episode, many viewers will be surprised by how much the anime throws at its audience all at once. The anime has a bad habit of telling events out of order, and many episodes only raise questions that the show never properly explains. Instead, many fans will be forced to watch all 10 episodes of the series a second time if they want to properly piece together the full timeline of events. These do nothing but confuse new fans and give older fans migraines.

Split Images of Morty, Naruto and Summer Smith from Rick and Morty are spliced together in this custom image.

10 Questionable Storylines in Rick and Morty

Rick and Morty go on some weird adventures, but some are too weird, even for the scientist and grandson’s usual shenanigans.

The convoluted storytelling also does nothing to add to the world of Rick and Morty at all. It would be one thing if the series was parodying other series with complicated plots like Neon Genesis Evangelion. But since the story plays it straight, that potential is wasted on more boring monologs about fate and destiny. If the plan was to make the anime serve as a gateway for newer fans to get into the Rick and Morty series, then it failed miserably. Ironically, the anime might do more to get viewers to watch other anime series like Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft than staying invested in the spin-off’s storyline.

The Rick and Morty Anime’s Animation Leaves A Lot to be Desired

Many Action Scenes Feel Static or Happen Off-Screen

If there’s one thing that sticks out about Rick and Morty: The Anime, it’s the poor animation quality. The art style isn’t bad, but most scenes have the characters standing in place or moving in slow motion. Something as exciting as Morty running away from a giant monster looks awkward when it barely seems like he’s jogging, much less sprinting for his life. Most action scenes also feel very sluggish and boring. When Rick fights an alternate version of himself, none of their punches feel like they have any weight to them. Viewers would think that a fight that has two people hitting each other while skiing and surfboarding would be more creative, but even that becomes dull to watch.

Other action scenes seemed promising at first, only to cut into an unrelated scene and resolve itself off-screen. Fight scenes with Space Beth will often tease her fighting against aliens, only to swiftly cut to an unrelated scene with Rick or Morty as the focus. For a series that is known for its fast-paced comedy, its anime spin-off focuses far too much on action. It would be fine if the show had decent fight scenes, but the results are mediocre at best.

This lack of any coherent fight scenes makes Rick and Morty’s latest spin-off look laughably bad compared to other Japanese series based off Western media properties. The fights in a show like Terminator Zero or Cyberpunk: Edgerunners feel and look light years ahead of Rick and Morty’s poor attempts to emulate popular shōnen series like Dragon Ball. With the bar being raised much higher for anime adaptations of Western media, it’s hard not to notice Rick and Morty’s lackluster visuals. With more Rick and Morty content on the horizon, it’s hard not to look back on the anime as something more than wasted potential.