Animation isn't just for kids. It never really was, but for decades, the mainstream media treated anything hand-drawn or CGI-rendered like it belonged in a playpen. That’s changed. Honestly, if you look at the landscape of television right now, the most daring, emotionally resonant, and visually inventive storytelling is happening in the world of animation.
We are living in a golden age of great animated tv shows.
Think about the sheer impact of a show like BoJack Horseman. It’s a show about a talking horse who was a 90s sitcom star, yet it managed to explore depression, generational trauma, and the toxicity of fame better than almost any live-action prestige drama on HBO. It wasn't just "funny for a cartoon." It was devastating. That’s the power of the medium. It allows creators to bypass the physical limitations of reality to get at something much more visceral and human.
The Shift From Saturday Mornings to Primetime Prestige
There was a time when animation was strictly a 7:00 AM affair. You had your cereal, you watched your colorful mascots sell you toys, and you moved on with your day. Then The Simpsons happened in 1989. It broke the mold by proving that adults would tune in for satire that actually bit back.
But even then, for a long time, "adult animation" just meant "crude jokes and swearing." Shows like Family Guy or South Park pushed boundaries, but they still lived in the shadow of the "it's just a cartoon" stigma.
The real shift happened when networks and streaming giants realized that animation could be used for high-concept genre storytelling. Look at Arcane on Netflix. Based on League of Legends lore, it could have been a shallow marketing exercise. Instead, Fortiche Production delivered a masterpiece of Shakespearean tragedy and stunning art deco-meets-steampunk visuals. It didn't just win over gamers; it forced serious TV critics to acknowledge that the "best drama on television" happened to be animated.
Why We Connect So Deeply With Drawings
It sounds counterintuitive. Why do we cry over pixels or ink?
Scott McCloud, in his seminal work Understanding Comics, talks about the concept of "masking." When a character is drawn simply, it’s easier for the viewer to project themselves onto that character. A photorealistic human face is specific; a few lines for eyes and a mouth are universal.
In great animated tv shows, this abstraction allows for an incredible amount of empathy. When Adventure Time transitioned from a silly show about a boy and his dog into a sprawling epic about a post-apocalyptic world and the tragedy of memory loss (the Ice King's backstory still hurts), it worked because the world felt limitless.
Animation can visualize the internal. In Undone, the rotoscoped animation style isn't just a gimmick. It’s used to represent the protagonist’s fracturing reality and her potential experience with schizophrenia or time travel. You can't do that with a camera and a green screen—at least, not with the same seamless intimacy.
The Heavy Hitters You Need to Watch Right Now
If you’re looking for the absolute pinnacle of the medium, you have to start with Bluey.
Wait. Don't roll your eyes.
Yes, it is a show for preschoolers. But Bluey is arguably one of the most well-written family dramas ever produced. It captures the frantic, exhausting, and beautiful reality of modern parenting with a precision that is almost eerie. Episodes like "Sleepytime" or "The Sign" tackle growth, letting go, and the passage of time in ways that leave grown adults sobbing. It’s a masterclass in economy of storytelling.
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Then there’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. While it’s technically a "kids' show," its exploration of genocide, imperialism, and redemption arcs—specifically Zuko’s, which is widely considered the gold standard of character writing—makes it essential viewing for anyone who likes good stories.
The Sci-Fi Revolution
- Pantheon: This show is criminally underrated. It deals with "Uploaded Intelligence" and the terrifying implications of digital immortality. It’s hard sci-fi that refuses to hold your hand.
- Scavengers Reign: A surreal, beautiful, and often horrifying look at an alien ecosystem. It feels like watching a David Attenborough documentary filmed on another planet where biology has gone completely sideways.
- Rick and Morty: Despite the internet discourse, the show’s early seasons fundamentally changed how we view nihilism in comedy. It’s smart, fast, and occasionally very bleak.
Breaking the "Western" Bubble
We can't talk about great animated tv shows without looking at the massive influence of Japanese anime, which has moved from a niche subculture to a dominant force in global entertainment.
Attack on Titan isn't just a show about giant monsters; it’s a grueling, complex political thriller about the cycle of hatred and the cost of freedom. Pluto, based on the work of Osamu Tezuka, is a noir murder mystery involving robots that asks deep questions about what it means to have a soul.
The barrier between "Anime" and "Western Animation" is blurring. You see the influence of Japanese cinematography in shows like The Legend of Korra or the frantic action of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This cross-pollination is making the entire medium better.
The Economic Reality of Animation
It's not all sunshine and masterpieces. The industry is in a weird spot.
Even though these shows are popular, they are incredibly expensive and time-consuming to produce. A single episode of a high-quality animated series can take months—sometimes over a year—to complete. We’ve seen streamers like Max (formerly HBO Max) and Netflix cancel critically acclaimed projects mid-production to save on taxes or licensing fees.
The "Animation is for kids" bias still exists in the accounting departments of major studios. This often leads to lower pay for animators compared to their live-action counterparts, despite the fact that in animation, the "actors" (the drawings) are created entirely by the artists.
Spotting Quality: What to Look For
So, what separates a mediocre cartoon from a truly great one?
Consistency of Vision. When you watch Samurai Jack, you can feel Genndy Tartakovsky’s fingerprints on every frame. The use of silence, the cinematic framing, and the pacing are deliberate. It’s not just filling time between commercials.
Voice Acting That Isn't Just "Celebrity Voices." There’s a trend of casting big-name movie stars who just talk in their normal voices. Truly great animated tv shows use voice actors who understand that their voice is the only tool they have to convey emotion. Think of Mark Hamill’s Joker or the entire cast of BoJack Horseman. They disappear into the roles.
Visual Storytelling. If you can turn the sound off and still understand what’s happening emotionally, the animation is doing its job. A show like Primal does this literally—it has almost no dialogue, yet it’s one of the most gripping things on TV.
Moving Beyond the "Cartoons" Label
Maybe we should stop calling them cartoons.
The word "cartoon" carries the weight of 1940s slapstick shorts. While those are great, they don't describe what Vinland Saga is doing. They don't describe the haunting beauty of Over the Garden Wall.
We are seeing a shift toward "Adult Animation" as a respected genre in its own right, sitting comfortably next to "True Crime" or "Period Drama." When you look at the viewing habits of Gen Z and Millennials, the distinction between live-action and animation is almost non-existent. They just want good stories.
If a story is better told through the fluid, surreal lens of an artist's pen, why would we want it any other way?
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring Viewer
If you've been away from the medium for a while, don't just dive into the deepest end of the pool.
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- Start with a "Bridge" Show: If you like prestige drama, watch Blue Eye Samurai. It’s a brutal, beautiful revenge story set in Edo-period Japan. The choreography is better than most live-action action movies.
- Check Out Anthology Series: Love, Death + Robots is a great way to see different animation styles (CGI, traditional, stylized) in short, 15-minute bursts. You'll quickly figure out what aesthetic moves you.
- Don't Ignore the "Kids" Stuff: Seriously. Watch Gravity Falls. It’s a tight, two-season mystery with more heart and better foreshadowing than Lost.
- Support Original IP: The industry is leaning hard into reboots. If you see a weird, original animated project on a streaming service, watch it. Numbers are the only thing that keep these risky projects alive.
Animation is the most versatile tool in the storyteller’s kit. It can go anywhere, do anything, and make you feel things that reality simply can't capture. The next time you're scrolling through a streaming app, don't skip over the "animated" section thinking it’s for someone else. It might just be where your new favorite story is hiding.