During the 1990’s and the early 2000’s a surge in adult animated shows popped up on TV. No, I don’t mean “adult entertainment” – Shame on you—I mean animated television shows directed toward an adult audience. Some of the more popular of these shows include Beevis and Butthead, Family Guy, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and plenty more. With the rise in popularity of these shows, it’s become more socially acceptable for adults and parents to enjoy cartoons whether they’re the intended audiences, or their children are, and because adults are now enjoying cartoons, new shows include humor for adults as well as kids.
These are my favorite “kid shows” not only created for kids:
5) The Bravest Warriors and Bee and PuppyCat
Created by Pendleton Ward (the very same man behind #1 on this list: Adventure Time) and Natasha Allegri respectively, and broadcasted on the CartoonHangover Youtube channel, these two shows make my list because of their stylistic similarities to Adventure Time, while maintaining their own unique narratives and characters.
The Bravest Warriors follows a group of four teen-aged heroes as they save the day across the universe and deal with each other socially. The show tends to parody science fiction tropes, but does so to such a ridiculous, almost nonsensical, Adventure Time-esque way that each episode feels new to the show and the genre.
Bee and PuppyCat, on the other hand, follows the titular Bee, a twenty-something woman, who’s dead-end life is disrupted by a mysterious little creature named PuppyCat, who takes her to an alternate dimension. Oddly enough, this is the more grounded of the two shows dealing with Bee’s life.
4) Over the Garden Wall
Over the Garden Wall is a miniseries on Cartoon Network created by Patrick McHale, and starring Lord of the Rings Elijah Wood, and follows two brothers, Wirt and Greg as they wander through a bleak world trying to find their way home.
Instantly the show sets up its dark mood and dry take on fantastical adventures. While each of the eight episodes stands alone as a conflict the brothers have to face, they all direct the viewer toward the end goal of getting home. The show’s strongest trait is it’s sense of direction and misdirection as the viewer follows the realistically cynical Wirt and the much-too carefree Greg as they encounter strange events and even stranger characters, especially the woodsman played by none other than Christopher Lloyd.
The show’s eight-episode run, unique cast of characters, and unsettling atmosphere create an animated experience so unique and eerie that it’s hard to compare it to the others on my list.
3) Gravity Falls
Similar, to a degree, to Over the Garden Wall, Gravity Falls follows twins, Dipper and Mabel, as they spend their summer in Gravity Falls, Oregon with their Great-Uncle (Grunkle) Stan and his Mystery Shack.
From episode one, the twins begin to encounter weird happenings and creatures that lead Dipper down a path of conspiracy. Each episode, while conveying some sense of mystery, and hinting at a darker over-arching plot, has an equal amount of ridiculous humor.
The strongest trait of this show was the sense of mystery that came with each new episode. Each episode added a bit of information to the show’s plot while creating more questions than answers. What helped this immersive sense of mystery was the shows irregular release during it’s initial run. The gap between episodes could be as short as a week, to as long as two months—which extended the run time of the two-season show to a total of four years and kept the viewers on their toes as they attempted to work out the mystery that came with the lack of information the show provided.
2) Steven Universe
A show that is far too covered in Adventure Time’s shadow, Steven Universe comes in a close second.
The show follows a young half-human, half-gem boy, Steven, as he discovers exactly what he is and what he can do to help save the Earth. In the lore of the show, which is far more complex than any other show’s prior on this list, gems (gem stones and some precious metals) are an ancient alien race that attempted to conquer Earth five thousand years before the beginning of the show. The main cast of the show consists of three gems—Gernet, Amythest, and Pearl, the last rebellious gems left on Earth—and their attempt to raise Steven, the half-human son of their late leader, Rose Quartz.
It sounds complex, but the show’s writers convey the story and lore in a pace that allows the viewers to slowly learn of the complex past of the characters and the much more complex relationship with humans and gems.
While the show is distinct in both aesthetics and narrative, many of the songs and comedy aspects remain similar to Adventure Time because of one person in particular: Rebecca Sugar—A writer and storyboard artist for Adventure Time and the sole creator of Steven Universe, which, by the way, makes Sugar the first woman to independently create a series for Cartoon Network.
1)Adventure Time
The most influence show on this list, Adventure Time follows a human boy, Finn, and his magical, shape-shifting dog and brother, Jake, as they save the land of Ooo from countless numbers of evil forces, and the Ice King’s attempts to steal princesses.
The show uses ridiculous humor to allow viewers of any age to find it funny, while slowly revealing a lore that is far more complex than any other animated series before it. While the pilot originally aired in 2008 on Nickelodeon, the series was picked up by Cartoon Network in 2010 and has been steadily aired since.
While it’s hard to describe this show without giving too much away because it’s important for you, the possible viewer, to experience the story as Finn does, it’s important I note that many of the shows on my list were inspired, in one way or another, by Adventure Time, whether it be a similar writing style, a similar sense of humor, or the complexity and ambiguity of the over-arching plot.
To wrap up: Watch these shows.
