25 cartoons to get obsessed with, now and forever

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Undone (2019; one season)​

Rotoscoping is a classic, controversial filmmaking method where animators trace over live-action footage to create a look that’s more realistic look than even the fanciest CGI. When done poorly, it can drop viewers into the uncanny valley of discomfort. But when artists lean into the surreal aspects of the technique — that the images it produces exist on the line between fact and fiction — it can be beautiful.

Undone leans into the benefits of rotoscoping by playing with reality from its onset. Alma is rudderless in a dead-end job and relationship, but a near-fatal car accident awakens a hidden ability within her. She’s able to time travel, a skill she learns how to use through an apparition of her dead, physicist father. (He’s played by Bob Odenkirk, in the most unsettling role I’ve ever seen him take on.) Alma’s unpredictable shifts through a dimension made of her memories would be impossible to illustrate in live-action. Worlds build and collapse breathlessly and breathtakingly; no other show on this list or on streaming looks quite as mesmerizing as this one.

Undone’s rotoscoped style could be off-putting to people who can’t handle watching an animated Bob Odenkirk closely resembling live-action Bob Odenkirk, but it’s an example of how to use rotoscoping well. Visually and story-wise, Undone is philosophical, thrilling, provocative, and upsetting in equal measure. Also, as you should come to expect from co-creator Raphael Bob-Waskberg (who also created BoJack Horseman), it manages to be super funny and witty too amid all the bleakness. —AF

 

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Archer (2009-present; 10 seasons)​

At its peak — roughly its second through fifth seasons — the FX/FXX series Archer was so dense with literary references, sexual innuendo, and other jokes that it wasn’t uncommon for viewers to have to pause and rewind to catch all of the gags they had just laughed over.

What made Archer so terrific during those seasons was the way it told lots of different kinds of jokes. On the surface, it was an enjoyable parody of James Bond movies and other spy stories. But underneath the surface, it was a dark and twisted family story about Sterling Archer (voiced by the great H. Jon Benjamin, also featured in Bob’s Burgers and Home Movies) and his inability to escape his controlling mother (Jessica Walter). Couple that with one of the best ensemble casts in television — Aisha Tyler, Judy Greer, and Chris Parnell among others — and creator Adam Reed’s rat-a-tat scripts full of allusions and bawdy gags, and the result was one of TV’s funniest shows for a good long while.

Archer is longer in the tooth now, 10 seasons and 110 episodes in, but its creative team has found ways to keep shaking up its format, by transporting the characters and their relationships out of spy world and into other genres entirely, including World War II-era adventure films and space opera. —EV

Where to stream: Hulu

 

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Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994-2004; nine seasons)​

Late-night talk shows are all about the interviews. Space Ghost Coast to Coast knows that, but it also knows there’s a bunch of silly rigidity and convention surrounding the often contrived conversations. And that’s what makes the series, which reuses animation straight from the old ’60s superhero cartoon Space Ghost, so subversive and nonsensical and transfixing. It was, as Sean T. Collins wrote for Grantland in 2015, “one of America’s first cringe comedies.”

“From its bargain-basement launch in 1994 to its place at the center of the wildly popular Adult Swim lineup in the 2000s, it helped introduce cringe comedy to the American viewing public, deconstructed the idea of the talk show beyond repair for a generation of comedians, and changed the look and feel of the entire animation art form,” Collins wrote.

Space Ghost’s amazing gimmick is that live-action, real-world celebrities are kinda sorta talking to a cartoon superhero that inexplicably hosts a talk show from a space station. Space Ghost is onboard with his alien nemeses-turned-sidekicks Brak, Zorak, and Moltar, who resent him and are forced to work on the show. But they dutifully help their captor with his pet project: a surreal 11 minutes where an animated superhero asks inane questions of hip guests like David Byrne and Thom Yorke (who were actually interviewed by a show producer, and not provided information on the episode’s content or script).

How the hell did an animated talk show this hilariously bizarre get on TV, let alone for 10 years? Don’t ask; just appreciate that it did. —AF

 

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Sailor Moon is one of the most iconic “magical girl” anime ever. Toei Animation

Sailor Moon (1992-1997; five seasons)​

Detractors will tell you that Sailor Moon and its ilk in the magical girl anime genre waste too much time on big, showy transformation sequences. “She spends all her time posing,” one benighted fool once said to me. “How’s she ever gonna kill a bad guy that way?”

These people see as through a glass, darkly, and they should be pitied. Obviously the entire reason to watch Sailor Moon in the first place is the posing! That’s why Sailor Moon’s signature way of killing bad guys is to pose with a piece of jewelry and say a gently nonsensical English phrase while lights flash in the background and uplifting music plays! Sailor Moon is a battle between good and evil where good is pure aspirational hyperfemininity, and sometimes that’s all we need. —Constance Grady

 

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Hey Arnold! (1996-2004; five seasons)​

Some of the most memorable episodes of this Nicktoon about idiosyncratic city kids involve a drug-like addiction to chocolate; a weirdo relative whose interests include gum and reading nutrition facts; family separation during the Vietnam War; an agoraphobic kid encouraged to finally leave his stoop and venture into the world; and an intense therapy session that unfurls years of childhood trauma in just a 30-minute runtime.

And yet, despite that wild and vast array of plot points and storytelling styles, Hey Arnold! is absolutely a kid-friendly cartoon about elementary schoolers blowing up their child-sized problems into do-or-die situations. It’s fun and funny and cute and quotable, with a great jazz-tinged soundtrack and dreamy shots of that good ol’ city life. It’s also unafraid to tackle heavy topics that real kids also sometimes have to deal with, without sacrificing entertainment value. More cartoons today should be like Hey Arnold! —AF

 

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Arthur once ate an entire gigantic piece of cake in one bite. Honestly? Hero. PBS

Arthur (1996-present; 23 seasons)​

One of my best friends in high school chose the Arthur theme song for his senior quote in the yearbook. It was a silly joke, but a funny one, and also somewhat poignant. “Every day when you’re walking down the street / everybody that you meet / has an original point of view,” the song goes, a maxim that is especially important for homogenous suburban high schoolers to keep in mind.

Arthur’s world is anything but homogenous, although the caveat is that everyone on the show is an animal. The long-running PBS cartoon tells important life lessons through these fictional characters, with plenty of diverse perspectives, social connections, and family dynamics.

It’s the kind of show that celebrates every type of lifestyle, and does so with sincerity and humor. But Arthur and his classmates (as well as his iconic little sister, D.W.) can also be pretty mean or melodramatic — that’s part of the lesson learning! These kinds of higher-energy moments keep Arthur funny and relatable instead of cloying and preachy. At either end of that emotional spectrum, spending some time watching Arthur always makes for a wonderful kind of day. —AF

 

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Walt Disney Studios

DuckTales (1987-1990; four seasons) / DuckTales reboot (2017-present; three seasons)​

Disney+ is rife with animated shows to watch, but few of them feature a family of globetrotting, adventure-seeking ducks. Fortunately for all of us, DuckTales is there, both in its original ’80s glory and in a current reboot that captures much of what made the show fun while transporting it to the modern era.

A very loose adaptation of Carl Barks’s classic comics based on the family of Disney staple Donald Duck, DuckTales centers on the adventures of Donald’s nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, who hitch a ride with their incredibly rich Uncle Scrooge on a quest to scoop up all the money in the world. Celebrating a show about a crotchety billionaire in this, our season of Serious Doubts about Capitalism, might seem like a weird idea, but DuckTales turns Scrooge into the kind of crotchety billionaire America needs more of — angry at the right people and putting his heart in the right place (so long as he remains the richest duck alive).

The 2010s reboot is built to appeal to modern audiences who expect more lore and backstory from their television. If you’ve always wondered just who Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s mother is supposed to be and why nobody seems to talk about her, well, the reboot introduces her. It’s also got a surprisingly stacked cast, including David Tennant as Scrooge himself. But at its core, it’s still about hijinks and tales of derring-do, just, y’know, undertaken by ducks. —EV

 

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Warner Bros. Animation

Animaniacs (1993-1998; five seasons)​

Animaniacs is very much in the spirit of old-school Looney Tunes. Siblings Yacko, Wacko, and Dot live in the water tower on Hollywood’s Warner Bros. lot, causing all kinds of mischief that stretches the limits of suspended disbelief.

It doesn’t get much more complicated than that, although in true Looney Tunes fashion, their mischief reaches some high levels of absurdity. With such a specific setting, Animaniacs also boasts movie parodies galore. Even real-life figures like Steven Spielberg make some not-infrequent appearances (he was an executive producer). The adult jokes and references hit even harder with age, and the show’s perfect singalongs and original music might hold up even better.

In fall 2020, Hulu released a 13-episode reboot of the series, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the original. If you’re desperate for more of the Warner brothers (and sister), though, there ya go. —AF

 

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Mark Hamill’s take on the Joker is considered by some Batman fans to be the definitive version of the character. DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. Animation

Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995; four seasons)​

Batman: The Animated Series is arguably the best Batman adaptation in the abundant history of the caped crusader. Yes, that includes Christopher Nolan’s trilogy.

Creators Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Mitch Brian employed a loose serial format for their 85-episode cartoon to delve into the emotions, psyche, and complexities of Batman’s life in a way that a two-hour movie just can’t.

Even though it aired alongside shows for kids, Batman: TAS didn’t shy away from its title character’s trauma of helplessly watching his parents die and how difficult it is to be a hero in Gotham, a city that can feel so hopeless. The show extends that same kind of emotional empathy to its villains who, like Batman, are shaped by their own personal tragedies: Mr. Freeze wants to save his wife; actor Matt Hagen becomes Clayface after an experiment to restore his looks goes wrong; Poison Ivy just wants to save the world.

Batman: TAS is also known for its original and iconic portrayal of Harley Quinn who went on to become a beloved character (with her own movie), and for casting Mark Hamill, a.k.a. Luke Skywalker, to play the Joker. —Alex Abad-Santos

 

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Kids’ shows for any age​

Steven Universe / Steven Universe Future (2013-2020; six seasons)​

Steven Universe has a lot of love in its pastel heart, a spring in its step, and a tune at the ready for every occasion. The magical comedy about a sweet preteen boy who lives with anthropomorphic alien “gemstones” that he aids in extraterrestrial battles recently aired its series finale, putting an end to one of the most beloved and progressive kids shows of the 2010s. In 2015, former Vox writer Caroline Framke explained why the show is so important to its many dedicated fans, young and older:

Cartoons ostensibly meant for kids have always threaded in adult themes, whether it’s a Nicktoon exploring what it means to be different or Pixar teaching kids about depression. But Steven Universe goes even further. It weaves a diverse representation of sexuality, gender, and even sex into the very fabric of the show without wringing its hands about it. As in life, all that stuff is just there. Steven Universe naturalizes the issues many shows would rather sensationalize in a way that’s clever but not condescending to its younger audience.

—AF