The new Rick and Morty: The Anime series has taken one of the original show’s already disturbing elements and made it even more twisted. Although the first episode of the anime has received mixed reactions from fans, it has undeniably made significant strides in expanding the already vast Rick and Morty multiverse. While several nods to the main series are present in the premiere, one storyline in particular dramatically darkens a joke from the original show.
In this new narrative, Rick is on the run from the Galactic Federation, leaving Morty to take the spotlight as he becomes captivated by a new virtual reality (VR) game designed by his grandfather. The game operates similarly to “Roy,” a video game in the Rick and Morty universe where players live the life of an ordinary man named Roy, scoring points by navigating his mundane existence. However, this iteration of the concept takes a much darker twist as the narrative begins to leap through time.
As it turns out, Morty’s VR game is linked to every reality within the Rick and Morty universe, as explained by another Rick in the virtual environment. The most unsettling aspect is that everything Morty experiences in the game is actually occurring in real life.
Rick’s VR Game Connects Morty to Alternate Realities
Unlike “Roy,” which is purely fictional and designed to immerse the player in Roy’s life, this new VR experience created by Rick takes a far more sinister approach. The story shifts constantly from one alternate reality to another, with Morty forming connections with a man named Frank and a woman named Elle. As the game progresses, Morty lives out various timelines, even experiencing his own death numerous times in a sequence that pays homage to Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.
The sequence is both trippy and dark, as Morty confronts the lives and deaths of countless other versions of himself across the multiverse. These alternate realities are visually marked by changing costume colors, which signify the different outcomes in each scenario. It remains unclear whether Morty and the other characters actually battle a monster in their reality, but the game becomes increasingly realistic as these alternate Mortys diverge into different paths after their encounter with the beast, often ending up with either Frank or Elle, even in the infamous Cronenberg reality, as revealed in the episode’s post-credits scene.
A Twisted Prelude to the Main Series
What’s particularly intriguing about the VR sequence in Rick and Morty: The Anime is how it foreshadows future events in the series. Trailers suggest that Elle will play a significant role in the first season, making this entire episode a prologue for what’s to come. Morty’s experience in the game gives him insight into the correct and incorrect paths he and Rick should take when reality begins to mirror the game.
As the series progresses, it will be fascinating to see how each episode ties back to Morty’s virtual experience. Although the anime’s debut is undeniably unconventional, the darker twist on one of Rick and Morty’s most twisted jokes serves as a fitting introduction to this new chapter in the franchise.