Rick and Morty arguably isn't as good as it used to be. For its first three seasons, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's cartoon was one of the funniest and most creative series on TV, but its quality started declining around the time Adult Swim decided to order seven seasons at once. Season 4 still had impressive highs ("Never Ricking Morty," "The Vat of Acid Episode") but the lows ("One Crew over the Cuckoo's Morty," "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty") were lower. Seven episodes into Season 5, the average quality has dropped further without any truly great episodes (the season premiere, "Mort Dinner Rick Andre," comes closest).
While the main show has grown more formulaic, a growing number of Rick and Morty short films from artists around the world have kept the adventurous spirit of the first few seasons alive. There was the Australian April Fools prank "Bushworld Adventures," the pixel art adventure "Rick and Morty in the Eternal Nightmare Machine" and now three anime short films. The first, "Samurai and Shogun," was a straightforward Lone Wolf and Cub parody, but the second, "Rick and Morty vs. Genocider," was a genuine mindscrew that played with the series' lore in fresh and surprisingly sweet ways.
Adult Swim just released a third Rick and Morty anime short, titled "Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)," to coincide with the premiere of the main show's anime parody episode "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion." Written and directed by Takashi Sano, who also made "Rick and Morty vs. Genocider," the new short film utilizes the series's GoLion/Voltron parody mech Gotron for the purposes of a more thought-provoking and twisted story than the episode it premiered alongside.
"Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)" packs so many ideas into its 15-minute timeframe that it can get hard to keep track of upon first viewing, but it's the sort of anime so bizarrely compelling that you'll want to rewatch it. The basic set-up: Summer is dating an artificial intelligence called Delta, Jerry has been selected for a special eugenics "treatment" and Rick is busy plotting the end of human civilization. These three plots intersect in unexpected ways, with philosophical discussions, dirty jokes, mecha battles and the entirety of history all coming into play.
Whereas "Rick and Morty vs. Genocider" played like a less-cynical version of Rick and Morty, "Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)" is in some ways even more cynical than the main show. It's the most unambiguously evil Rick has ever been, manipulating all of his family members towards apocalyptic ends. However, it also allows the Smiths to challenge Rick's attitudes in their own ways. Similar to an increasing number of episodes over the past few seasons, the short does involve a prominent incest joke, but this one actually works on a level beyond just gross-out value, actually connecting to the inherent tragedy of the characters.
Takashi Sano's two Rick and Morty anime short films are among the best content to emerge from Rick and Morty's popularity, surpassing much of Season 4 and arguably all of Season 5 so far. With a little over a year between the premieres of "Rick and Morty vs. Genocider" and "Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)," it seems possible that Sano's shorts could become an annual treat for Rick and Morty fans. If the shorts keep up their high quality and the show itself keeps steadily losing steam, then these new anime installments might just warrant more excitement than new seasons of the main series.
Rick and Morty's interdimensional exploits continue in new episodes of Season 5, which air Sundays at 11 p.m. ET on Adult Swim.
