One Adult Swim Classic Should Be The Next Anime Spin-Off After Rick & Morty

Summary The Venture Bros. could seamlessly transition into an anime thanks to its story structure and popularity.

Adult Swim is open to more anime adaptations, with the classic 2003 series holding the most potential.

An anime reboot for The Venture Bros. seems inevitable given its brand recognition and fan anticipation.

Adult Swim's The Venture Bros. should be a natural fit for an anime spin-off in the vein of Rick & Morty, which is only weeks away from premiering. While the programming block has plenty of works deserving of an anime treatment, this long-running adventure parody has a story structure and popularity that is well-suited for being reenvisioned by a Japanese creative team.

In an interview with ComicBook.com, Adult Swim vice-president Jason DeMarco said that there was "definitely a possibility" that more of the channel's original properties could get an anime treatment after Rick & Morty's adaptation by Sola Entertainment. Adult Swim has aired many shows, but in terms of recognition and potential, it feels like its classic 2003 series has the most to offer.

If the programming block truly is considering more anime spin-offs, it is hard to imagine the misadventures of Team Venture not being shortlisted for a reappearance.

Venture Bros. Is a Natural Fit For a Japanese Reboot

Popularity and Long Silence Make It Perfect for Fresh Adventures

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While the original show began life as a biting parody of adventure stories like Johnny Quest, that still makes it easier to adapt compared to the rest of Adult Swim's catalog. Amusing as it would be to see Aqua Teen Hunger Force as an anime, its signature minimal animation and strange topics feel harder to transfer to a new medium compared to the familiarity of Brock Samson getting into absurd fights that are interspersed with black humor. The show's many seasons also provide more than enough material to reference, compared to some Adult Swim experiments that lasted for only one.

Moreover, The Venture Bros. simply has the same sort of brand recognition and broad popularity that Rick & Morty has enjoyed, the sort that can take advantage of a marketing trick like "made by a Japanese studio". Casual viewers can at least recognize the name "Venture", or their nemesis, The Monarch, making the allure of seeing them redrawn by a Japanese studio self-evident. The series has been sitting quietly since The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, a feature-length movie that came out in 2023, as well. An anime adaptation would be precisely the sort of thing that would excite fans as it would allow them to watch fresh Venture Bros. media after so long.

A Venture Bros. Anime Feels Inevitable

If there is any series Adult Swim would ask studios to try their hand at, it would certainly be their other most successful property. That being said, DeMarco has also gone on record to say any adaptation would have to happen "organically", with a studio offering genuinely interesting concepts. Nonetheless, Adult Swim has heavily incorporated anime - not only broadcasting but now actively involving itself in getting original works off the ground, like Ninja Kamui and now Rick & Morty. If Sola Entertainment's anime takes off, it really should only be a matter of time until The Venture Bros. gets its turn.

Source: ComicBook.com