In a conversation with a friend the other day she teased me for watching animated shows. She sees them as childish and weird. I questioned her and learned that she had never really watched any and was judging based on assumptions. This made me think about how many great shows she and others are missing out on.

     I enjoy watching many animated shows, mainly ones written for adults. In my opinion people get hung up on the fact that they are animated and lose out on some great writing and story lines. The shows listed below are not all currently running shows. I watch them online; either on Netflix  or YouTube at watchcartoononline.com.

Archer

This is an excellent example of a drunken action comedy. It is a .007 spoof of sorts. A collection of failures makes up this cast of characters with inappropriate comedy, drinking, sex, with random acts of mad science and violence.

Venture Bros.

A failure of an inventor struggling in the shadow of his father's legacy in this spoof of a great many Hanna Barbara cartoons; if all those kids that were in them grew up completely messed in the head.

Bob's Burgers

Bob is a hamburger flipper with a flair for the fancy patty and a failing business, 3 kids and a wife. With lots of literary references through the show this is a very clever comedy. The same actor that does Archer voices Bob. There was one cross-show in which Archer loses his memory and is Bob for a few months.

Rick & Morty

A pretty dark show but if your humor is twisted it's a good science fiction/fantasy show. If a dangerous, callous, very drunk, mad scientist inventor was a grandfather that sees school as a waste of time and can cross thousands of dimension with his portal gun...

Black Lagoon

This is an action packed story of a kidnapped Japanese businessman after he joins the pirate group that captured him. A show with more action than comedy; great characters, well done English dubs available and excellent writing.

Ghost in the Shell

Plenty of action and little humor in this science fiction show. Set in a future of cyborgs and cyber criminals. The heroine struggles with her identity as a full body cyborg since a child hood accident. Some movies, plenty of shows, watch them all.

Cowboy Bebop

Taking place in the future, this science fiction show is a blend of comedy and drama and action. On this space ship is a misfit group of mercenaries just getting by. Quirky characters, plot twists, deep underlying love story behind the main character.

 

     I urge anyone looking for something different to check these out. If you too have an animated show you enjoy, please leave it in the comments! There are plenty of others I watch (Bleach, One Piece, etc.) but the shows in this blog are the top ones I recommend across a variety of genres and tastes.

 

Enjoy!