- Rick and Morty as an anime?
- Pickle Rick!
- Whoa, Summer. My goodness, behave.
♪ (dramatic intro) ♪
- Aw. Anime?
- Rick and Morty as an anime?
- is this Rick and Morty anime?
- It's Japanese Rick and Morty.
- This is an anime Rick and Morty.
- I was gonna say, I haven't seen this
on Netflix yet.
- Is this anime Rick and Morty? - Oh, oh, I hope this
is what it is. - Oh my God.
- How did I miss this?
- Okay, I will say, I don't know anything
about Rick and Morty.
- Ooh, hello.
- Everyone's in such great shape.
Oh, and that ass.
- Oh my God, Summer.
- Whoa, Summer. My goodness.
Behave.
- Where's Pickle Rick?
- I know some people have gotten feels
from Rick and Morty, but I just never did.
- ♪ (Japanese singing) ♪
- Oh, he went through too many time loops.
- The music's on point.
- Ah, beat drop.
- Wow.
- Oh my gosh. - This is insane.
- Dang, I need to go to these guys' gym.
- He gets strong so fast. Oh, and Pickle Rick.
- Wow, the one arm. Pickle Rick!
- Giant cucumber man, of course.
Gotta have that.
- Look, it's Pickle Rick. - Yeah.
- Pickle Rick looks so much better in hentai form.
- My goodness.
- There's a lot happening here.
- What an interesting idea.
- Man, I need to catch up on all the new Rick and Morty.
- Wow. - (sitting character) What?
- Oh my goodness. What was that?
Oh wow. - Wow, that was art.
I wanna see anime versions of all my favorite cartoons.
- That end part is like a reference, a through line
with this person's creation.
- I thought the animation was pretty bad at some points,
but I get it. It's just a joke.
- That's some high quality content right there.
Why do I make videos?
- I think I've seen this channel before.
They take certain things and make them anime-esque.
It's beautiful. It's an interesting kind
of art form. I'm really behind him.
- (FBE) So, that was If Rick and Morty
Was an Anime by animator Malec.
In just a little over a week, the video racked up
over three million views. - Yeah, it should have even more.
- (FBE) So, earlier in the year, we covered another viral
crossover, SpongeBob SquarePants Anime Op 2
from a different animator named Narmak
and that video also has millions of views.
- Jeez, so I gotta start making my videos into anime.
- So, this isn't the same person coming up with these.
This is almost like a new art form that's emerging.
- (FBE) Why do you think these types of videos tend
to do so well on YouTube? - Everybody loves anime,
or most people, at least when they're younger.
- It's just cool to see your favorite things
in different styles and vibes.
- I've been watching more anime lately,
so if my personal experience is representative of
the entire world's population as a whole,
then it's definitely more popular now
and that's probably why people wanna watch it.
- Anime's such a specific and distinctive genre
that crossing something with it, it's just
a whole new world and a whole new way
to reimagine something that you feel like
you're already so familiar with.
- It's different. Obviously, if Rick and Morty's
a big thing, whoever's a fan of it would like it.
Anything I'm a fan of, I search up
and then if there's different versions of it,
I love watching, not to go back to Hamilton,
but high school productions of Hamilton,
so you just wanna watch all the things.
You know, what people do.
- We all just love covers, right? And when you reimagine something
in a different art, it's basically like covering
a song in a different genre. It's just really fun to take
something you know and love and make it into something else
that you really love. It's just so beautiful.
- 'Cause there's already such a big fanbase for Rick and Morty,
so when you see it in this anime style,
it just is really exciting to fans. - It's just exciting.
- (FBE) The creator of the video, Malec, is actually
based in France. - Okay.
- France? - Wow.
Oh, bonjour. - Oui.
- (FBE) He is French, creating a crossover
of an American show that is mixed with Japanese
style of animation. - Oh wow.
- Global. He's Mr. Worldwide.
- He gets it.
- (FBE) So, do you think this type of international
crossover would have happened and become
successful if it wasn't for the massive worldwide
reach of YouTube? - I'd say probably not.
- YouTube does help stoke the fire of making things viral,
but things were viral back before the internet.
You would just hear about it. You'd talk about it
and it would spread.
- Where would this go on TV? If the creators liked it enough
and they decided, "Okay, let's just put it
as a pre-roll to the show." Then maybe,
but otherwise, YouTube is basically the only platform
that your grandma is gonna go watch a video on,
so it's the most accessible.
- YouTube sounds like it's pretty instrumental
in the materialization of something like this.
I don't know if it would have been as successful
without it. I don't know.
That's how I've heard of this stuff
was through YouTube.
- What I love about YouTube is it does empower people
anywhere in the world to be able to make
something that anyone else in the world can just see.
That's never been a thing. Everybody has the same
opportunity, which is really cool. - And it lets you express
what you particularly are passionate about.
- (FBE) So for a while now, YouTube has been a place
where independent animators display their content
and several creators have actually found a huge audience
and success on the platform. - And good for them.
If YouTube wasn't around, there's so much talent
we wouldn't know about.
- (FBE) As a creator yourself, what do you think
YouTube has meant for independent animators
like Malec? - I think it's meant everything
because it gives them a voice that they didn't have before.
- You don't need to have someone approve you
to get through. You just need an audience
and then other people will pay attention.
- If you'd wanna see someone's short cartoon
20 years ago, you'd only be able to see it
maybe at a festival and then you'd be like,
"Wow, that guy's really talented." And then you'd never
hear from him again, but for YouTube now,
it's great.
- Animation has an outstanding reach.
It's always gonna have that ability to transcend
just one specific audience.
- People like myself and other creators
that I'm sure are on this show wouldn't have an opportunity
in the industry the way things are still.
It's nice to see an entrepreneur be able
to grow their art on their own.
- It's cool on YouTube that people can find
their audience and it's not only people that like cartoons,
but you can have an appreciation for the art of it
and just the creativity behind it and you have a name
to attach to it now.
- YouTube allows people to have a palette to work with
and a place to spread their stuff when they just
wanna share things with their friends
and I personally watch a lot of Domics,
he's an animator on YouTube. He's a really great animator
and I think-- not only he's about
animation though, he's a great storyteller.
- It's really difficult when you make really short form content
to make it work on YouTube, 'cause YouTube likes
their watch time so much. It's much more conducive
to things like video game let's plays, because that'll
hold people's attention for a very long time
and it's much easier to produce that content than a two minute,
high quality animation.
- Certainly the algorithm hasn't been benefiting animators
for a really long time. So to keep up,
animators these days have to--
unless they have a big company or something,
have very simple animation that's easier than
something like that, 'cause YouTube wants
you to upload so frequently and wants longer videos
to get more watch time, so animators just can't commit
what I think they wish they could.
- (FBE) So, Rick and Morty is not just a successful TV show,
but also a viral sensation. Earlier this year,
we covered with our elders cast when McDonald's
released limited quantities of schezuan sauce
after a joke in an episode of Rick and Morty
made the sauce go viral. - Yeah, that was a nightmare.
- Dude, you love Rick and Morty. - I love Rick and Morty
and I love the schezuan sauce. - I've never tried it.
I heard it's good.
- I don't think that's ever happened before
where a cartoon makes a company like McDonald's
actually bring back something from 20 years ago.
It was for Mulan. It was a special sauce
they made for Mulan.
- (FBE) Why do you think the show continues to be
such a big deal, not just on TV, but in different ways
online as well? - Well obviously, it's because
if you can understand Rick and Morty,
it means you have a very, very high I.Q.
You're a very intelligent person. It's a show that makes you--
no, I was gonna say, it's a show that makes you
feel very smart.
- With Rick and Morty, even though it's probably
one of the most popular cartoons, people still
kinda feel like it's their little secret, you feel me?
They feel like they're in a secret club,
since they love Rick and Morty so much,
even though it's all over the place.
- People like to show off how smart they are,
so when you have a show like Rick and Morty,
it allows them to flex their muscles and say,
"Oh, I got this." and "I got that."
And that's the perfect place for the internet,
where people can share ideas and talk about in-jokes
that they got that other people wouldn't get.
- They do a lot of things that really cater to
internet audiences. They don't just release a trailer
for their newest season, they'll do a viral surprise
video thing. - I think also,
in a similar way to Futurama, that has a lot of
very, very nerdy humor just woven into this bonkers show.
- Rick and handles sci-fi on both such a comedic level
and it's so brilliant. It's so smart
and it's always one step ahead of you,
which you don't see in a lot of comedies,
certainly not animated comedies.
Anime's already-- it's already an ingredient
that people love. It's like butter or sugar.
Just add it to anything else that everyone already loves
and it's a recipe for success.
- (FBE) So finally, this video proves yet again
that videos with creativity and innovation like this
really blow up on various platforms.
- Yeah. You know it's good.
Quality always rises to the top,
even if it's from the middle of nowhere.
The stuff that's really special finds its way to you
through YouTube.
- (FBE) So, Malec already has a Game of Thrones
anime intro, but if he were
to do this again, what show do you hope
gets a new anime inspired intro?
- I think it would be-- I think To Catch a Predator
would be hilarious.
- Bob's Burgers anime would be sick, yeah.
Especially since Linda's so hot.
- Suits. - Suits?
What's with you and Suits? - I wanna see Suits.
- I guess that would be kinda interesting.
- Harvey Specter. - Stranger Things
is a wonderful show. I'd love to see an anime of that.
There's so many colorful characters and monsters
that I think anime could really do justice.
- Bojack Horseman comes to mind because that's kind--
it's animated in a similar way to Rick and Morty.
- Hamilton. - That's actually really good.
90 Day Fiance. That would be good.
- God, they're gonna-- Yeah, that'd be a good anime.
- 90 Day Fiance anime.
- I want Harry Potter anime. I'm just imagining
an Avatar: The Last Airbender sort of saga animated.
Please.
- Kim's Convenience, great show.
Honestly, that as an anime makes perfect sense
because in the show, the Koreans
hate on Japanese people, so it all makes sense.
- Here's what actually would blow up,
if you did Riverdale as anime. - Oh, the Great British Bakeoff.
Anime draws food beautifully, so they'd be able
to really crush it with the Great British Baking show.
- Family Guy anime intro, that would be insane.
They already do crazy stuff in the show,
so anime, that would just intensify it times ten.
Note to self, make an anime Family Guy,
post it on YouTube, and take over YouTube.
- Thanks for watching this episode of YouTubers React.
- Gotta Subscribe to all the wonderful creators
featured in this episode. I believe the links
to their channels are featured below.
- What viral videos should we react to next?
Let us know in the comments.
- Goodbye!
- Hey guys, Vartuhi here, producer at FBE.
A big thank you to all the YouTubers
that came out to shoot with us.
Make sure to check them all out.
Links in the description below.
Bye, guys.