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Contrary to popular knowledge, animation was an adult-oriented medium at first.
Before the Hays Code in 1922, the first cartoons were actually quite risque.
In 1989, The Simpsons premiered and became a massive hit on web link television.
It was only with cable television and streaming TV in the ensuing decades that explicitly made-for-adults animation flourished.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
MEATWAD!
Metalocalypse
The over-the-top excesses of heavy metal music and culture get roasted (with love) in Metalocalypse.
(Their concerts are also a riot, in a rather literal sense.)
Comically violent that satirizes the heavy metal scene and celebrity worship, Metalocalypse slays.
Rick and Morty
For a moment, audiences couldn’t get enough of Rick and Morty.
Controversy around Roiland led to his exit from the show in its seventh season.
Ugly Americans
Welcome to New York City… in Hell.
Drawn Together
At the height of empty calorie reality shows in the 2000s, Comedy Central unleashed Drawn Together.
But what about the people working, you know, in the lower decks?
Inside Job
What if global conspiracies were, in fact, all controlled by a shadowy organization?
And what if that shadowy organization was a dead-end job?
That’s the hilarious conceit behind Netflix’s Inside Job, a critically-acclaimed workplace comedy.
While there is a voice cast, most of the show is completely nonverbal.
With over 320 episodes and counting, there’s almost no stopping South Park, not even ManBearPig.
In 2024, the show won Outstanding Animated Program at the Primetime Emmys.
(The exact geographic location, whether it’s Illinois or Maryland, is actually up for debate.)
Love, Death & Robots
19.
Archer
What if James Bond was an overgrown mama’s boy?
He’d be Sterling Archer.
A live-action movie starring Charlize Theron hit theaters in 2005, to disappointing reviews.
Smiling Friends
Spreading happiness can be a slog.
Majestic and visceral, Blood of Zeus is a standout in the small but notable canon of Western-made anime.
Among them is Daria, one of the most realistic portrayals of adolescence and high school in a cartoon.
The Legend of Vox Machina
Talk about a critical hit.
Castlevania
Sink your teeth into Netflix’s Castlevania.
Attack on Titan
There are lots of Japanese anime that make a splash with Western audiences.
In the early 2010s, no anime was bigger one might even say, colossal than Attack on Titan.
Arcane
From the world of League of Legends comes Arcane.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Never mind all those “Get in the robot, Shinji!”
memes Neon Genesis Evangelion is perhaps one of the greatest if not most important Japanese anime of all time.
Beavis & Butt-Head
Is Beavis & Butt-Head actually one of the best animated shows ever?Eh-hehehehe.
(Seriously, the show gets so much mileage out of grunty giggles and good timing.)
Cowboy Bebop
Three, two, one,let’s jam.
(You’vegotto hear Diane’s ringtones.)
