Some other good animated series · 4:50pm Oct 19th, 2015
I learned about some of these from a soundslikeponies' blog post.
Over the Garden Wall
This is my #1 must-watch pick. I won't say it's my favorite--that would probably be Rick & Morty. But it's the one you gotta see, because it's so different, and short. The animation is a cross between 1930s Max Fleischer / Ub Iwerks and 1940s Disney (very expensive to make). Some segments deliberately recreate the 1930s style exclusively. It's also got that 1930s creepy feeling, before animation producers had decided to focus on kids and stop producing sequences that terrified them. (This is not one of those cartoons to watch stoned or on acid. You'll end up curled up in a ball in the corner, screaming.) But it's all broken up with 1990s snark and ironic humor. Most episodes go somewhere dark, then suddenly deflate the darkness at the end. Except the last several episodes, in which you learn what's going on, partly. The ending's been done before, and is a bit of a cheat, but it's still pretty powerful.
I didn't like the first few episodes. They seemed too random, and the two kids irritated me. One was just stupid and the other was just a pushover. But trust it. The entire series is only 100 minutes long. Or turn on captions and watch it at double speed. Then it's less than an hour.
Rick and Morty
Another show that I didn't like at all after the first episode. I thought it was just more of the randomness-and-misanthropy-is-funny garbage that's been taking over animation. Rick and Morty are both one-dimensional for several episodes. The shows are violent and disgusting. They're also intelligent and funny.
And there are character arcs. Once you get a few episodes in, they focus more on the characters. I'm not sure how I feel about the season 2 finale. It's got a little of the problem bookplayer ascribed to "Lost Cutie Mark" in her Agency post: It rewrites Rick, giving him a bit of an excuse for how he's acted, which may negate his character arc, which was until then the best thing about the show.
I don't know what to expect from season 3. It will have to be a completely different show with the same people.
Steven Universe
Another show that I didn't like much at first. Well, I liked it for about 15 episodes, then I realized it was kinda shallow and the characters were boring. Then they got more interesting, and the plot got interesting. Stay with it.
Probably not for little kids. Which is funny, because unlike a lot of kids' shows, it stars a kid who acts like a kid instead of a little adult.
... or maybe that's not what kids want.
Plus, canon lesbian ships! What more could a brony want?
The Adventures of Puss in Boots
This one, and the ones after, I found for myself, mostly going thru Wikipedia's list of animated series on TV, trying to find ones I could write for. This one is fine for kids. It's a spin-off from Shrek. Similar humor, but less cynical and "adult". This is just fun. Puss is like Rainbow Dash, but with a refined, elegant style, and more sympathy and responsibility towards others. I recommend the golem episode.
Archer
This is NOT for kids. Or any kind of decent people. Only people like me whose passports to Hell have already been stamped should watch this cartoon. It's hilarious.
The Awesomes
I've only seen a couple episodes of this. It's another in the "deconstructed superhero" genre that's already getting old. It's pretty funny, but requires tolerance for watching superheroes accidentally kill civilians in gruesome ways, and I didn't see anything really distinctive about it.
Good animated shows I assume you already know about: Wallace and Gromit, Gravity Falls, Samurai Jack, Avatar and its spinoffs
See that? I mentioned Gravity Falls. You can stop telling me to mention it now.
Shows that didn't make the cut:
Wander Over Yonder
Wander, a guy who wanders the galaxy, wants to make friends with Lord Hater, a guy who roams the galaxy killing people. The individual episodes and shorts are all great on their own, but the idea gets repetitive. If you're a Coyote and Roadrunner fan, maybe this will work for you. "The Breakfast" is very clever, & was probably technically hard to pull off.
Littlest Pet Shop
Sorry--there's lots to like here, but the setup, having the whole huge cast present for every episode, plus the modus operandi of spending half of each episode bouncing from one character to another, giving each 30 seconds to drop one bad joke, killed it for me. Drop the stupid jokes and use just half of the characters in each episode, and you might have something. Oops; too late.
Sofia the First
A little girl who's a princess, with talking animals and pegasi! What could go wrong?
Everything. EVERYTHING.
Just for example: The first episode is the obligatory "girls can do things boys can do" episode, in which the boys say girls can't ride in pegasus races. The problem is that everybody knows that it's Sofia's horse's fault that it keeps losing. It's the smallest and slowest of all the pegasi, by a huge margin, and shouldn't be racing at all. And yet everyone simultaneously says this proves girls can't race.
In the grand finale, the bad guy, not content with knowing that she's going to lose because she's failed to even finish the course in every practice so far, takes time to knock her out of the race, and we see her stunned on the ground for at least 10 seconds, in a race that takes 20 seconds to finish.
Then she gets back on her pegasus and wins. No explanation, no magical assistance, her horse just suddenly flies very very fast, passes everypony, and wins. And this proves that girls can do anything boys can do.
They could've fixed the script by making her pegasus a mare. It was a talking pegasus. They could've talked about it with each other. It would've been a richer approach to the idea. But no; all of the horses doing the flying were male. But a girl can ride to victory on a male. AAAARGH.
Excuse me, I have to go kick a minion.
This is a stupid show that assumes the kids who watch it are even more stupid than it is.
Just for once, I want to see the reverse of episodes like this, where a boy wants to do stereotypically girly things like, I don't know, hold hands with his friends, tell them his secrets, and admit his weaknesses, and see how that goes.
Regular Show
Meh.
Family Guy
You know who you are. Stop it.
Adventure Time? :O
Adding onto PresentPerfect, also Gravity Falls. Also Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
EDIT:
Oh, never mind on the first suggestion.
3481872 I haven't seen enough episodes to have a valid opinion. The ones I saw were too random for me. But people tell me it starts making sense if you watch it long enough.
(Maybe like snorting bleach stops hurting, if you do it long enough.)
I'll just keep watching Justice League. My TV time is fairly limited. I'm barely halfway done with the first season of Once Upon a Time (dvd), which is... interesting, although somewhat slow at times.
3481892
It starts off in a very odd place, and unfortunately I feel like you have to give it a whole season until it starts getting good. Then it's good, then it's really good, then it's scary good. And then it starts getting metaphysical and weird again, and that's where we are right now. :B But up through season 5 at least? One of the best cartoons I've ever seen.
3481904 Can I skip season 1?
3481909
Not really, because it introduces the major characters. It does help that, like SU, they're half-size episodes.
I emphatically agree with the first three you mention. I'm a little surprised you didn't mention Gravity Falls. The episodes on GF can be hit-or-miss, but the characters are great, it has depth to it, and there's a lot of hidden content. I recommend it (we're both behind on it at the moment, though).
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3481909
I agree with the randomness but PP is right on the depth and development. That's one we have saved up but haven't wandered into. I've seen the first two seasons of Bravest Warriors, though, and you'd love those (it's a web side project by the same guy). Oh, and Over the Garden Wall is his too, I believe.
It might have been me. If not, here's a list with a few more suggestions.
Blahg post
3481909
To expound on my earlier comment and urge you to watch the show, I've gone through the list of episodes, and I think there are a few you can skip:
"The Jiggler" isn't important, though it's a good example of how AT mixes random with slice of life. "Business Time" isn't important to later developments, I don't think, but it is pretty funny. "City of Thieves" and "The Witch's Garden" aren't plot important, but teach us stuff about the main characters. "Dungeon" was weird and can be skipped. "The Duke" shows some stuff about Princess Bubblegum, but that's it. "Donny" is skippable unless you like bizarre puns. "Rainy Day Daydream" should absolutely be skipped, it's inexplicably awful and the worst episode ever. D: For all that it's the last episode of the season, "Gut Grinder" isn't plot important.
So there's a way to trim it down if you're unsure. Hopefully my memory isn't too far off.
3481899 Oh my god I love that show!
3481892
Adventure Time has an arc, and plot... eventually. However, even later on, something like a third of the episodes are still "random", and the series could very well have the random tag on it as a whole. It probably isn't worth the time it takes to get into it. but I ended up eating the suckiness and have continued watching it with my friends, but I have no reason to continue to do so, really, other than socialization. I am not presently compelled to keep watching.
Steven Universe kind of didn't feel that great to me at first, but it got better over time. The first time I watched it, I quit after... 9 episodes? 10 episodes? Pretty much the same amount as I quit MLP after, ironically. But it does get better, and now that I got over the hump, it is pretty good. I don't know why you think it isn't for kids; do you think it is too mature? Because it seems like it would be reasonably entertaining to young me.
By the looks of Gravity Falls, it is going to end this season, but yes, it is quite good and has been well worth my time.
Over the Garden Wall was weird but worth my time.
I need to check out Rick & Morty and Puss In Boots.
Incidentally, if anyone is looking for a superhero show to watch, Young Justice was quite good. It had interesting characters and character arcs, made excellent use of Captain Marvel, and got cancelled because it appealed too much to girls.
Gargoyles. How could you have missed the brother series to MLP FiM? It was the other time a kids cartoon was watched by a huge number of adults.
One I've enjoyed:
Is Bee and Puppycat. I think it's only available on the web and only has a couple episode, but it's quite pleasantly odd.
Mike
I recently rewatched Samurai Jack, and I was amazed that not only it still holds up well, but that I seem to appreciate it even more as an adult. It is amazing how it manages to make the stillness as exciting as the action.
I'm going to make a few suggestions but they're all sort of Randumb so they're probably not your cup of tea. But I loved these series, so they might help explain... *motions down at himself* all of this.
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Harvey Birdman: Attourney at Law: Recasts a bunch of Hanna Barbara toons in a sort of future fic where they've all settled down. So, cases like Dr Quest and Race having a custody battle over Jonny Quest, or the Jetsons suing the past for causing global warming. Don't expect any intelligible courtroom drama; it's a bunch of catchphrases and sight gags, then an anticlimax and an inevitable Everybody Laughs ending. Still, it's got a bunch of great quotables.
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Tom Goes To The Mayor: Do animated stills count? Probably not, but this is Tim Heidecker and Eric Warheim's precursor to the better-known Tim and Eric Awesome Show: Great Job. Whereas TEAS:GJ is sketch comedy, TGTTM is more plot themed, where doormat Tom (Tim's character) pitches town improvement ideas to the Mayor (Eric's character) which are generally derailed before Tom even walks in the door. If you're a fan of TEAS:GJ, definitely worth a look.
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Frisky Dingo: The team behind Archer worked on this project first, and it shows, right down to the animation style and the fact that Sterling Archer is a blatant Xander Crews expy. Deconstructs a Batman manchild and an ineffective affable villain bordering on anti-villain. Rather than an episodic plot, it's a meandering affair that amazingly holds itself together with an obscene number of callbacks and in-jokes. It's definitely not as "tight" as Archer, but the looser plot allows them some more openings for the humor, which is still on point. Season 1 comes highly recommended. Season 2 veers off in an odd(er than usual) direction and it ends on a cancellation cliffhanger, so YMMV.
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We Bare Bears: Cutesy like pone in its SoL-iest moments. Demetri Martin voices a polar bear who refers to himself in the third person. I don't think I need to say anything more. It's defintely fluffy, but it's enjoyable fluff.
3481954 It was you! Thanks! I still haven't watched the other ones you recommended.
Count me in as another person pimping the fuck out of Gravity Falls and Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
Unfortunately, they're both Disney, which means glacial production speeds. But GF might end in a few weeks, so there's that.
I haven't agreed so strongly with a statement for a very long time.
Just... yes.
I second Bravest Warrior being amazing. Go watch it.
I still haven't watched Adventure Time, though. I probably should.
3482063 Weird. Thanks. Very Japanese. Is it American-made?
3481892
I've only seen a handful of episodes. I like how they throw the morals in your face. I guess that's what they call "post-ironic"? Some episodes it's like I'm listening to a parable from the Gospels. "City of Thieves" and, uh... *googling* "Another Way" have stuck with me.
Don't know anything about the alleged story arc and don't really care to.
Ugh, I keep thinking I want to watch Rick and Morty, but...
The constant belching man. I just can't take it.
Maybe I should just go full nostalgia and watch Gargoyles again...
Ah, here it is. I couldn't get to it at work.
The intro to Star vs. the Force of Evil. If this doesn't make you at least interested, you have no soul.
3482718 No; if this doesn't interest you, you have no soul.
But I have no soul.
Moonbeam City? The art is amazing, it's what you get if Miami Vice was set in a Duran Duran album cover.
3482745
I feel like I should counter your easy James Brown link with something obscure from Nina Simone, to demonstrate my taste superiority, but I think that's way more hipster than I wanna be in this thread filled with grown-ass adults talking about children's cartoons on a website devoted to My Little Pony.
>What more could a brony want?
Maybe something with hooves, you degenerate.
Traitors! All of you traitors!
Bravest Warriors is a ton of fun. Find it on youtube. The episodes are only six minutes long.
3482605
American-made, yes:
Natasha Allegri, the woman behind it, was one of my fellow contestants in the ongoing-but-nearly-forgotten "Daily Grind Webcomics Contest." She went on from there to get a job storyboarding for the Adventure Time cartoons, pitched Bee & Puppycat to her bosses there, and they liked it enough to produce the first episode. They then did a Kickstarter last year to raise money for a couple more episodes and raked in over $800,000 that they've used to make the other four episodes that currently exist. They've been doing comic books all this year, too. Pretty fun.
Mike
Home Movies. The series Brendan Small did before Metalocalypse,
Three kids from variously broken homes (single mom, single dad, effectively single kid being raised, Mowgli-style, by the country club) bond over a video recorder while making awful B-movie imitations of just about every kind of film imaginable.
The characters learn about friendship and about dealing with problems and changes in life, all in the context of working out artistic differences so that they can MAKE THIS MOVIE HAPPEN, PEOPLE!!1!!
One of the best things about it is a supporting character, Dwayne. Dwayne is an autistic musical prodigy whose purpose is to provide an excuse for the main characters to enact some of the greatest musical parodies since PDQ Bach, such as their take on:
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Their crowning glory, in that regard, was their heartfelt tribute to Freddy Mercury. And Franz Kafka. And Paul "The Walrus" McCartney. Kinda:
Livin' like a bug ain't easy... So true, Dwayne. So true.
"It's just like James Dean..."
Wander over yonder is a beautiful show, seeing the characters in motion is just a delight
Sonic Boom
I know, I know, I wasn't expecting anything from it either, but it won me over with a paranoid Honey Badger who rants about the government trying to tune into her brainwaves with mind-control satellites. That said, while it does get in some great humor, it's really hampered by the 11-minute format; it's very slice of life, and there's no plot or character development to speak of. I guess they were saving that for the game franchise which crashed and burned.
Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated
Scooby Doo's nemesis is a psychotic parrot voiced by Udo Kier. If that doesn't win you over immediately, it does Gravity Falls two years before the actual GF premiered, with a long-form mystery storyline that gets surprisingly dark, plenty of smart twists on the old formula and on the genre as a whole, and a very homage-happy sensibility that borders on Pegg & Wright territory at times. Probably its crowning achievement is making Fred Jones a dynamic and interesting character. Its that good.
That said, it does do some shipping, so if that's a turn-off, steer clear. Everything else, though, is golden.
Adventure Time
It gets a lot of flak for being "random", but it's not. It's like a Dungeons & Dragons campaign on LSD. It's absurd in its premises, in the things that happen, but each episode has an outlandish sort of logical flow to the narrative. Like the episode with Bobcat Goldthwaite as a talking spider with marital problems. Sure it's bizarre, but the plot makes logical sense, as Finn and Jake help him work out his issues to try and avoid getting eaten. The show as a whole has a very jazzy, freeform, avant-garde feel to it.
With the way its two leads blithely wander through a surreal wonderland, it's almost like a live-action version of....
The Mighty Boosh
Sure, it's not technically an "animated" show, but it's so fucking cartoonish that it was a staple of Adult Swim for a while.
I love it to bits, but I recognize that its humor isn't for everybody.
Having just read the article in question, I have to say I find this line of reasoning unconvincing.
I mean, you could argue it that way, but first you have to throw up a big disclaimer and say, "John Locke was completely wrong about everything and people are in no way conditioned by their life experience and/or environment. They are always rational agents, unclouded by subjectivity or emotional baggage. Events in their lives do not shape their worldview."
It's an opinion about human nature, sure. But it's far from the only one, and it's not one I can endorse.
3487730
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Look at what you wrote. Then look at what bookplayer wrote. You're not even trying.
3487761
AUUGH! UUUGHH! THE BEES! THE BEEEEEEES! THE---
Oh. Wait.
That's straw. Not wicker.
Never mind.
3487761
I know exactly what bookplayer was getting at. This:
I know perfectly well who she is now: a snobby young girl with crippling emotional baggage caused by living with an overbearing mother who fancies herself part of the upper class. That tells me more about Diamond Tiara and her actions than if she used agency to be a bully, not less. Specifically, it tells me that as a child her worldview was shaped by her mother, which was John Locke's point.
Just like Rick Sanchez trying to fight a repressive galactic government and failing miserably, leading to his callous and angry behavior tells me more about him, not diminishes him.
P.S.: Just a hunch, but I don't think you're going to like The Mare in the High Castle.
3487996 My point is that you used all-or-nothing language: "John Locke was completely wrong about everything and people are in no way conditioned by their life experience and/or environment." Dismissing everything bookplayer wrote by pretending she held such an extreme view, when nothing she wrote justified that.
3488724
That's the downside of a natural affinity for hyperbole, I guess.
3481961
The AV Club, when doing a retrospective of Babylon 5, admitted that the first season had several bad episodes, and since the best ones were most relevant to setting up things to come, it also advised people to skip half that season. I don't think that's a bad approach to Adventure Time, but I don't think you've been thorough enough. Also, I'm not sure Business Time is inessential since it's the first major hint of the true nature of the world that I remember seeing.
I've come to think of Steven Universe as the cartoon for people who may have liked Adventure Time if it got to the point faster. Honestly, almost all of the randomness is in the setting; the characters don't seem that random beyond Finn and Jake's habit of going adventuring and exploring together. For the guide, we'd probably have to single out a handful of episodes from the first and second seasons that are character-focused and help the viewer understand the cast better, especially the Ice King so that they'll have preconceptions about him to be overturned by that holiday two-parter. Maybe throw in stuff like the first episode with Billy for foreshadowing, too?
Then again, considering that we might just get the "anything that needs a chart for optimal viewing order isn't worth viewing at all" argument that made me end a friendship when someone used it with regards to Discworld, I'm not even sure if it'd be worth doing.
3482512
I legitimately didn't know that The Bravest Warriors got past the pilot stage and became a show.
3482711
They toned that way down after the pilot episode. Try "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind" and see if you can sit through it.
I would have recommended "Total Rickall" instead, since it's my favorite episode, except that I think it works best if it's not the first one you watch.
3616286
Bravest Warriors is fucking awesome, holy shit, I need more of it.
Steven Universe does take a good 10-15 episodes to really draw the viewer in, if you're not into slice-of-life and random shenanigans, but that's still better than an entire freaking season. I do know that that's been too much for some people, though. :B What can ya do?
3616542
Now that I think about it, the fact that Adventure Time still has one-off shenanigan episodes long after the point where character- and lore-based stuff got introduced tells me that this was always part of the show's point. Maybe if you can't enjoy that sort of thing at all it really isn't worth getting into the show.
3617987
I do know that I, for one, was willing to give the show a season to get good because I knew about all the Simon and Marcy stuff that happened in later seasons. That was what I wanted to see, and my regrets were limited solely to "Rainy Day Daydream".