Rick and Morty fans were gifted a new short in anime style during Toonami last night. Titled “Samurai and Shogun,” the nearly six-minute short pays homage to the revered manga Lone Wolf and Club about a samurai-turned-assassin and his young child who must regularly fight for their lives. Rick plays the samurai, of course, and Morty is a simpleton child.
Produced by anime production house Studio DEEN, the short features multiple Rick ninjas from other dimensions who surround Rick and “Shogun Morty” via portals and then try their best to kill Rick. The action is what one would expect from a classic samurai anime complete with blood splatters on the camera.
“Samurai & Shogun” was written and directed by Kaichi Sato. Rick was voiced in Japanese by Yohei Tadano and Keisuke Chiba played “Shogun Morty” with subtitles in English.
Toonami and Adult Swim have taken a creative approach to advertising and marketing for many years. The self-promotional short was dropped as a surprise reward for the Toonami faithful. Rick and Morty fans are patiently waiting for the five final episodes of Season 4.
LONE WOLF AND CUB
First published in 1970, Lone Wolf and Cub was written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima. If you’ve never read the manga, your local library probably has the first omnibus printed by Dark Horse which collects and translates the first three volumes of Lone Wolf and Cub. You can try to find copies of the translated omnibuses on eBay and Amazon, but be prepared to pay a bundle as many of the Dark Horse omnibus books go for $100 and more.
Altogether, the adventures of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga was published in 28 volumes. Dark Horse published the volumes across 12 Omnibus collections from 2013 to 2016.
Check out the Rick and Morty short “Samurai and Shogun” below and then let us know what you think.
