Amin Abbas

DUBAI: Japanese director and writer Kaichi Sato has most recently worked on a Rick and Morty animated short, Samurai & Shogun part 2, a sequel to the original Samurai & Shogun part 1.

Speaking to Arab News Japan, Sato said he had started working on Samurai and Shogun around November 2010, after he has directed previous shorts for Adult Swim, including Yaki-Gote & Rick and Morty season 3 promotion GEAR HEAD.

“I received a request from Production I.G. USA, who originally co-produced ‘Samurai and Shogun Part 1’ with Adult Swim, to create another one with Studio DEEN, since so many people enjoyed the last short more than I could have ever expected,” he explained.

“From there, I weaved in other Japanese movies, new references from Rick and Morty, and my own ideas and aimed to create a more expansive plot, however I ended up having a harder time than I expected. By January of this year, I was spinning around in circles (laugh),” Sato added.

About the differences between the second and first parts Sato said: “The biggest differences are probably the appearance of Kunoichi Summer and the presence of Haraki Rick. I like the main series Summer and definitely wanted to put her into the short and the Japanese dub voice actress Ms. Akiha Matsui is an incredibly talented individual and I wanted to work together with her.”

“Mr. Seiji Hotta was in charge of the musical composition in the last short. Following the direction of the previous short, I had ordered for ‘70s Kung Fu movie-esque music and he ended up composing something quite cool. In addition, he expresses all of the musical tones of Japanese instruments with Western instruments, so I feel that it’s quite ambitious and interesting in terms of sound,” he added.

Sato said that the reaction to the second short was better than the first part.

“I was under a lot of pressure, so for the time being, I guess I’ve accomplished my task…Furthermore, I’m happy to have heard comments about the action sequences far exceeding the last short,” he explained.

“Although I made compositions for these sequences, Mr. Hiroshi Watanabe, who directed the storyboard, made a huge contribution by applying them to the actual animation. Without his veteran experience as a director and his talented skills as an animator, having been previously involved in works such as ‘Fist of the North Star,’ I don’t think we would have been able to make these action scenes come to life,” Sato added.

“Samurai & Shogun is an original project that’s composed and produced based off of the original Rick and Morty, so I would be grateful if you could rewatch the past seasons after watching this short. I think you’ll see there’ll be new discoveries on both sides,” he said.