Cartoons aren't just for kids. From the late 1990s and all through the early 21st century, TV saw a meteoric rise in animated shows aimed at adults. Channels like Comedy Central, Adult Swim, and later streaming services like Netflix and Hulu catered to a new audience who understand that animation isn't strictly for Saturday mornings.
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. With the advent of television however, shows like The Flintstones (yes, really) popularized using animation and outlandish settings – in The Flintstone's case, prehistoric times – to poke fun at contemporary times.
In 1989, The Simpsons premiered and became a massive hit on network television. While The Simpsons wasn't necessarily made for kids, with its jokes and references tailored to adults, its presence on network television meant it could only be so vulgar and graphic. It was only with cable television and streaming TV in the ensuing decades that explicitly made-for-adults animation flourished.
From genre satires to deep interrogations of the human condition to hit anime from Japan, here are the 32 greatest animated TV shows that just aren't for the kiddos.
32. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
MEATWAD! One of the most influential programs in Adult Swim history, Aqua Teen Hunger Force tells the absurd and surreal adventures of anthropomorphic fast food – pathological Master Shake, logical Frylock, and simple-minded Meatwad – who live as roommates, fight villains, and go on bizarre adventures. Today, the series is remembered for its towering influence over other adult-animated shows and even online YouTubers like The Angry Video Game Nerd and Videogamedunkey. A viral marketing campaign for the show in 2007 drew controversy in Boston when LED signs of the Mooninites inspired investigations by local authorities who shut down roads and freeways on the belief it was a terrorist bomb scare.
31. Metalocalypse
The over-the-top excesses of heavy metal music and culture get roasted (with love) in Metalocalypse. In this hyperbolic black comedy, the heavy metal band Deathlok enjoys the perks of unmatched worldwide fame and fortune. But while the band is super famous with a devoted following, they're also dumb as rocks, which creates problems when the band gets up to no good. (Their concerts are also a riot, in a rather literal sense.) Comically violent that satirizes the heavy metal scene and celebrity worship, Metalocalypse slays.
30. Rick and Morty
For a moment, audiences couldn't get enough of Rick and Morty. From the demented minds of Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, Rick and Morty is a sci-fi sitcom that follows nervous teenager Morty (voiced by Roiland for the first few seasons) who is often against his will whisked away by his drunk grandpa Rick (also Roiland) on adventures that take them all across time and space. Essentially an R-rated Doctor Who, Rick and Morty drew critical acclaim in its first few seasons, though the behavior of its overly zealous fanbase soured its reputation. Controversy around Roiland led to his exit from the show in its seventh season.
29. Ugly Americans
Welcome to New York City… in Hell. In this overlooked gem that ran for an all-too-brief two seasons on Comedy Central, Mark Lilly (Matt Oberg) works for the Department of Integration, a government agency that helps acclimate monsters, creatures, and other demonic species into human society in Manhattan. A workplace comedy with novel worldbuilding, Ugly Americans is a satire of political correctness and government bureaucracy all wrapped up in the malaise of salaried employees just trying to get through the day.
28. Drawn Together
At the height of empty calorie reality shows in the 2000s, Comedy Central unleashed Drawn Together. A satire that crosses cartoons with reality shows à la Big Brother and The Real World, Drawn Together follows a household of colorful caricatures (each a representative of a different genre or medium) who put up with each other as they live in the same home. From chauvinist superhero Captain Hero to alcoholic Toot to psychopathic anime mascot Ling-Ling, Drawn Together crams a whole lot of mischief and mayhem in its surprisingly short run of 36 episodes.
27. Star Trek: Lower Decks
Almost every Star Trek series is about the main crew who command the bridge of a starship. But what about the people working, you know, in the lower decks? Star Trek: Lower Decks, which premiered in 2020, is the irreverent Star Trek show that follows the lowly support crew and ensigns aboard the USS Cerritos one year after the events of the film Star Trek: Nemesis. With a more outlandish sense of humor versus traditional live-action Star Trek programs, Lower Decks bucks tradition while making heroes out of zeroes.
26. The Venture Bros.
Simultaneously the longest-running yet most compact animated show in Adult Swim history (we're talking seven seasons produced over 15 years), The Venture Bros. follows a family of scientist-adventurers who frequently find themselves in over their heads against evildoers and other challenges around the world. While the show lovingly satirizes classic '60s adventures shows like Jonny Quest and mysteries like Hardy Boys, creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer imbued the show with a philosophy of failure, stemming from the unfulfilled promises and broken dreams of the Space Age. The Venture Bros. remains renowned today for its sharp writing, unforgettable characters, and worldbuilding that synthesizes its influences into something totally fresh.
25. 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. Behind the doors at Cognito Inc. are its misfit employees, namely Reagan Ridley (voiced by Lizzy Caplan), an ambitious and brilliant yet socially inept robotics engineer who is reluctantly paired with a new coworker, a yes-man from Washington D.C. (Clark Duke). A colorful farce, Inside Job uses the familiar sitcom format to comically skewer our willingness to believe in anything but the truth.
24. Primal
From animation auteur Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Samurai Jack, Primal tells the ancient exploits of a Neanderthal named Spear and his uneasy partnership with a tyrannosaurus named Fang after they both suffer unimaginable loss. In Tartakovsky's imaginative fantasy, Spear and Fang survive and traverse an anachronistic world where dinosaurs, monsters, and more advanced civilizations roam the Earth. While there is a voice cast, most of the show is completely nonverbal. Living up to the legacy of Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack, Primal saw similar praise for its rich depth, artistry, and unique blend of science fiction, fantasy, history, and horror.
23. South Park
One of the most successful adult animated shows ever made, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's South Park tells the surreal adventures of four Colorado school boys whose titular mountain town somehow winds up the center of the world's biggest events. Characterized by its abundant profanity, dark humor – do you know just how many times they've killed poor Kenny?! – and crude cutout animation style (which has only naturally gotten more sophisticated with the advent of computer animation), South Park has found evergreen appeal in its eagerness to cynically roast popular culture and politics. With over 320 episodes and counting, there's almost no stopping South Park, not even ManBearPig.
22. Blue Eye Samurai
In this critically acclaimed historical action series, a half-white, half-Japanese onna-musha (female warrior) seeks to kill four white men, including her father, in isolationist Edo Japan. Maya Erskine stars as the blue-eyed Mizu, a bitterly cold warrior who disguises herself as a man on her bloody path to revenge. Hailed in its first season for its dazzling art style and deep characterization, Blue Eye Samurai is easily a cut above the rest. In 2024, the show won Outstanding Animated Program at the Primetime Emmys.
21. The Boondocks
A bold American satire with an aesthetic resemblance to Japanese anime, The Boondocks follows the adventures of 10-year-old Huey (voiced by Regina King) after his Black family moves into an affluent white suburb. (The exact geographic location, whether it's Illinois or Maryland, is actually up for debate.) Originating from creator Aaron McGruder and his online comic strips, The Boondocks explores – and not without controversy – the often funny side of modern Black culture and political incorrectness.
20. Love, Death & Robots
Following in the tradition of The Twilight Zone, Heavy Metal, and Black Mirror, Netflix's Love, Death & Robots is an anthology animation series that explores different artistic styles and storytelling genres – ranging from comedy to horror – while predominantly themed by mankind's contentious relationship to progress, technology, and the unknown. Spearheaded by Deadpool director Tim Miller and visual effects outfit Blur Studios (though every episode is handled by a number of different studios from around the world), Love, Death & Robots has stood out from the pack over its experimental filmmaking and fractured vision of humanity. A personal favorite: From Volume III, Episode 2, "Bad Traveling" directed by David Fincher. You'll never want seafood again.
19. Archer
What if James Bond was an overgrown mama's boy? He'd be Sterling Archer. Created by Adam Reed and a huge hit for FX throughout the 2010s, Archer tells the misadventures of secret agent Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin), whose employer at the spy agency ISIS (later CIA, on the basis of unfortunate real-world associations) also happens to be his wrathful, alcoholic mother Malory (Jessica Walter). Along with misfit coworkers, Archer takes on dangerous missions to defend America while making sure not to also blow up America. Originally an anachronistic spoof of Cold War spy fiction with modern pop culture references and humor, Archer later retooled into an anthology-esque series in the interest of changing things up.
18. Aeon Flux
Predating the explosion of Japanese anime in the west, MTV unleashed the avant garde, thematically dense sci-fi series Aeon Flux in 1995. Set in a dystopian future on a barren world, Aeon Flux follows its mysterious titular assassin (voiced by Denise Poirier) who operates between two city-states separated by a border wall and frequently faces off with her rival and lover Trevor (John Rafter Lee). Created by Peter Chung, Aeon Flux took heavy artistic inspiration from anime and German Expressionism to give '90s TV junkies something they hadn't ever seen before, and frankly have never seen again. A live-action movie starring Charlize Theron hit theaters in 2005, to disappointing reviews.
17. Smiling Friends
Spreading happiness can be a slog. That's the day-to-day routine of Smiling Friends, a charity whose well-intentioned but exhausted employees Charlie (voiced by Zach Hadel) and Pim (Michael Cusack) try to bring happiness to clients. With original and frequently off-putting character designs and bizarre humor that is perfectly in line with Adult Swim's established vibe, Smiling Friends – from creators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack – is a modern classic that is keeping late-night cable television interesting.
16. Blood of Zeus
Japanese-inspired anime and Greek mythology clash like the titans in this gory epic created by the Parlapinedes Brothers for Netflix. Blood of Zeus traces the coming-of-age adventurers of Heron (Derek Phillips), a young demigod and offspring of Zeus who must save the world from the evil Titans after they've returned to exact vengeance on their successors, the Olympians. Billed as a story "lost to history," Blood of Zeus is a liberal reinterpretation of classic Greek tales that sets out to tell its own story of good and evil, of revolution and annihilation. Majestic and visceral, Blood of Zeus is a standout in the small but notable canon of Western-made anime.
15. Futurama
A critically acclaimed giant with nearly as big a profile as The Simpsons and Family Guy, Matt Groening's Futurama is one of the greatest science-fiction sitcoms that also happens to be an adult-oriented cartoon. The show follows pizza delivery guy Philip Fry, who is cryogenically frozen on January 1, 2000 and wakes up almost a thousand years later. Now employed at the delivery company Planet Express, Fry and his coworkers – including beautiful mutant Leela (Katey Sagal) and misanthrophic android Bender (John DiMaggio) – get caught up in all kinds of wacky adventures the future has for them. Canceled twice on network TV before finding a new home on Hulu, Futurama has grown into a beloved modern classic with hilarious and heartbreaking iconic moments.
14. Undone
Reality feels elastic in Undone, the first adult animated series by Amazon's Prime Video and the first-ever TV show to predominantly use the classic technique of rotoscoping. Created by Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Undone follows 28-year-old Alma (Rosa Salazar) who survives a car crash and suddenly develops time-manipulating superpowers. Alma uses her new gifts to figure out the circumstances behind the death of her father Jacob (Bob Odenkirk), whose spirit comes to Alma and serves as her guide. Beyond its highly original animation style, which often evokes the feeling of watercolor paintings, Undone is an existential and cosmic odyssey that probes the deepest depths of the human spirit.
13. Daria
Smack dab during MTV's cultural dominance, the channel aired some of the greatest animated TV shows ever made. Among them is Daria, one of the most realistic portrayals of adolescence and high school in a cartoon. Spinning off from Beavis & Butt-Head, Daria follows its title character Daria Morgendorffer (voiced by Tracy Grandstaff), a cynical and sardonic teenager who meets her painfully suburban surroundings with jaded apathy. The show's simplified animation and stylistic influences from '90s indie cinema – not to mention a lack of original score in favor of pop music – gave Daria the vibe of something far more real than even The Real World. A time capsule of the late '90s and early 2000s, Daria's authenticity to the trials and tribulations of teenage life make it timeless even years later.
12. Todd McFarlane's Spawn
In the early 1990s, a number of rock star comic book professionals – including Todd McFarlane – left Marvel to form their own imprint, Image Comics. One of its biggest successes was McFarlane's original comic Spawn, which launched a media franchise that included an acclaimed animated series on HBO from 1997 to 1999. Adapting the comics, Spawn tells of decorated U.S. Marine, Al Simmons (Keith David) who is betrayed by his own government and whose soul is damned to Hell. He is resurrected by the demon Malebolgia as a member of his new "Hellspawn" army, but Spawn fights for himself and to return to his beloved wife Wanda. A unique blend of occult and urban horror with adult themes and graphic content, Todd McFarlane's Spawn boasts enough dark energy to make Batman and the X-Men shake in their boots.
11. The Legend of Vox Machina
Talk about a critical hit. After a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2019, the tabletop gaming personalities of Critical Role saw their Dungeons & Dragons adventure, first streamed on Twitch, evolve into a hit streaming series on Prime Video. The Legend of Vox Machina retells (and remixes) Critical Role's first D&D campaign with the show's original cast reprising their misfit heroes Vox Machina, who are tasked with saving the land of Tal'Dorei from predatory vampires and destructive dragons. Overflowing with gory violence and adult-oriented humor, but at no expense to quality, The Legend of Vox Machina rolls with advantage.
10. Castlevania
Sink your teeth into Netflix's Castlevania. From iconoclast producer Adi Shankar and based on the Konami video game series, Castlevania takes audiences to 15th century Romania where Dracula (Graham McTavish) reigns supreme over his army of monsters. The last living member of the Belmont Clan, Trevor (Richard Armitage) teams up with sorceress magician Sypha (Alejandra Reynoso) and Dracula's vengeful son Alucard (James Callis) to put a stake through Dracula's heart and take back the night. Acclaimed for its overall production quality, including its exciting animation, compelling characters, and gothic atmosphere, Castlevania is one hell of a good time.
9. Harley Quinn
When the DC Universe streaming platform launched in 2019, The Joker's main squeeze seized the spotlight in her self-titled animated series Harley Quinn. The unexpected darling of the DC franchise follows Gotham City's clown princess of crime Harley Quinn (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) as she reclaims her womanhood after breaking free from her abusive ex, The Joker (Alan Tudyk). While an official series by DC, Harley Quinn – created by Patrick Schumacher and Justin Halpern – was boldly unafraid to take pot shots at not only DC's vast universe but also modern superhero pop culture. When it wasn't being self-referential, Harley Quinn wisely stayed true to its anti-heroine, in her story about growth and overcoming trauma while strengthening personal bonds.
8. 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. In this acclaimed dark fantasy horror hit based on Hajime Isayama's manga, Attack on Titan takes place in an apocalyptic world where humanity lives in walled-off cities to protect themselves from people-eating giants. When the threat of the giants return, vengeful soldier Eren Yeager seeks to find the truth behind the titans including his own strange ability to become one of them. Hailed as one of the greatest anime ever made, Attack on Titan stands heads and shoulders above the rest.
7. Arcane
From the world of League of Legends comes Arcane. In this steampunk fantasy from 2021, sisters Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) and Powder (Ella Purnell) survive amid the conflict between the affluent residents of Piltover and the oppressed underclass in Zaun. A mesmerizing mix of hand-drawn animation and 3D complement Arcane's compelling (and most of all, accessible) story about class warfare, love, and tragedy. Even non-fans of League of Legends have vibed to Arcane, allowing the show to enjoy prestigious recognition including numerous Annie and Emmy awards.
6. Scavengers Reign
An imaginative science fiction epic originally made for the then-named HBO Max platform, Scavengers Reign succeeds on the merits of its sheer originality, deep introspection, and eye-pleasing animation. Created by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner, the show follows the survivors of a damaged interstellar cargo ship who survive the elements on a strange, undiscovered planet. As the surviving crew work to continue their voyage, they are drawn into the planet and its mysteries, which at times traps them in their own distant memories. Sitting somewhere between a BBC nature documentary and Lost, Scavengers Reign is simply one of the most gorgeous adult-oriented animated shows ever crafted.
5. 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. Created by Hideaki Anno, Neon Genesis Evangelion centers around anxious teenager Shinji, who moves to Tokyo-3 at the behest of his estranged father who oversees the paramilitary force Nerv. Set over a decade after a cataclysmic event, Shinji is forced into piloting a giant mech machine, Evangelion Unit-01, and battle extraterrestrial monsters called Angels. Replete with Freudian psychology and Christian symbolism, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a masterpiece for both its medium and genre – a serious coming-of-age drama wrapped in the heavy metal casing of a mech to serve as Anno's own condemnation against the arrested development of shonen anime and its audience.
4. Beavis & Butt-Head
Is Beavis & Butt-Head actually one of the best animated shows ever? Eh-hehehehe. Uhh. Whether it's actually good or not is irrelevant, because Mike Judge's Beavis & Butt-Head is enviably brilliant in making the absolute most of a basic premise. The show follows two teenage idiot slackers who spend their days embarking on low-stakes adventures and watching music videos (on MTV, where else?). While contemporary critics bemoaned its dim-witted simplicity, the show has enjoyed acclaim for its endless cleverness and slapstick humor. (Seriously, the show gets so much mileage out of grunty giggles and good timing.) Between its multiple revivals and two movies, Beavis & Butt-Head have done so much without really doing anything at all.
3. Invincible
The pages of Robert Kirkman's coming-of-age superhero epic come to life (kind of) in the Prime Video smash Invincible. Based on Kirkman's comic book series, Invincible chronicles teen superhero Mark Grayson (Steven Yuen), whose father is the world's greatest hero Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). After Mark's powers manifest, however, he discovers the true nature of his father, which forces Mark to stand against one of his own. Created by Kirkman, with Simon Racioppa as showrunner and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg among its executive producers, Invincible earns its name as an untouchable superhero epic that balances family drama with high-stakes planetary politics.
2. Cowboy Bebop
Three, two, one, let's jam. One of the most acclaimed anime shows of all time, Cowboy Bebop is renowned for its stylish characters and pastiche of science fiction, cowboy Westerns, and film noir. In a future where space travel is common, bounty hunters Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, and Faye Valentine (and later, hacker Ed with corgi pup Ein) zigzag from planet to planet picking up freelance jobs to stay afloat. An overarching story is Spike's dark past with a criminal syndicate and a love triangle between rival Vicious and his lover Julia. Created by Hajime Yatate and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, Cowboy Bebop was a major success on both sides of the Pacific, with Cowboy Bebop specifically appealing to viewers who were too old for other hit imports like Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon.
1. BoJack Horseman
A social satire that balances mental illness, guilt, and addictions with nonstop animal puns and visual gags, Netflix's BoJack Horseman revolves around its title character, an anthropomorphic horse (voiced by Will Arnett) far past his glory days as a wholesome dad on a 1990s TV sitcom. Surrounded by eccentric characters like roommate Todd (Aaron Paul), his high-strung agent Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), and biographer Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie), BoJack Horseman struggles to overcome his insecurities while pursuing a career revival. The show, created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, was unafraid to tackle hard subject matter – from trauma to depression – but it never forgot being a cartoon, with some of the most hilarious running bits ever on a show. (You've got to hear Diane's ringtones.) BoJack Horseman may want nothing more than to be a star, but his series was truly a critical darling throughout its six seasons on Netflix.
