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Good western animated shows
- Thread starter Fou-Lu
- Start date
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Batman: The Animated Series (The King)
Batman Beyond
Superman: The Animated Series
Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited
Samurai Jack
Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Spectacular Spider-Man
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Gargoyles
Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rick and Morty
Batman Beyond
Superman: The Animated Series
Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited
Samurai Jack
Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Spectacular Spider-Man
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Gargoyles
Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rick and Morty
Baron von Loathsome
Member
Not enough mentions of BoJack Horseman. Brilliant show once it finds its footing.
I'll also have to echo mentions of Gravuty Falls, Steven Universe, Rick and Morty, Justice League, Young Justice, Over the Garden Wall, The Critic, and the obviousness of Simpsons/Futurama.
Also, Hey Arnold. Can't believe no one's mentioned it yet.
I'll also have to echo mentions of Gravuty Falls, Steven Universe, Rick and Morty, Justice League, Young Justice, Over the Garden Wall, The Critic, and the obviousness of Simpsons/Futurama.
Also, Hey Arnold. Can't believe no one's mentioned it yet.
What is there to belittle? It's well known that SU has inspirations drawn from various works, and borrows heavily from anime. These range from DBZ to Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon, Evangelion, Captain Harloc, and others. The episode Mindful Education had someone from studio Trigger work on it, so it's pretty clear that there's some mad respect on both sides.
tkscz
Member
What are you interested in? There are a lot of good Western animated series, but what are you looking for? Are you interested in story? The way a story is told can be 100% different from anime to w. animation. For example, story telling and structure can be completely different. On average, anime tells it's story up front. You have your beginning middle and end told right in front of you, while w. animation can have the story hidden within an episodic show. Each episode has a main story to tell, but in the background of that episode is a story that connects the show together and brings it all to a close towards the end of the season.
How about the action? Just like anime, Western style animation can have a little bit or ton of action, from fight to chase scenes. Not much differences between the two except for Western animation tends not to spend multiple episodes on one fight scene. Tend to end it all in one episode, but still make the fight just as epic.
How about characters? Like action, not much difference between the two, other than tropes used. I tend to enjoy western characters more, simply due to the tropes being less grating to me.
Does age matter? Some great shows came out years ago. How about animation quality? Some good shows tend to have animation hiccups here and there, but are still great.
sans_pants
avec_pénis
If you can find it, the men in black cartoon was actually pretty dang good
I don't believe so. The toys were cool though
Its better than probably 95% of live action shows out there including most of the darlings loved by all. Its an incredibly creative, well written and consistent show willing to go places most others wouldn't dare and does it with impeccable wit and nuance.
Ed, Edd n Eddy I will always fondly remember as one of the best cartoons I've seen.
Nikodemos
Member
I'll second/third Courage the Cowardly Dog.
It has aged now, but when it came out 17-odd years ago, it was the most experimental grotesque Western animated show. That deformed foetal form of Eustace's cracked bugle was quite literally nightmare inducing for younger children.
And then there's Freaky Fred.
It has aged now, but when it came out 17-odd years ago, it was the most experimental grotesque Western animated show. That deformed foetal form of Eustace's cracked bugle was quite literally nightmare inducing for younger children.
And then there's Freaky Fred.
Some stuff I would recommend checking out which are similar to "anime" sensibilities:
Pirates of Dark Water, Samurai Jack, Wakfu, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, DC Animated Movies (anything from the old Mask of the Phantasm to more recent Justice League stuff, quality varies tho), The Boondocks, Batman Beyond.
Pirates of Dark Water, Samurai Jack, Wakfu, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, DC Animated Movies (anything from the old Mask of the Phantasm to more recent Justice League stuff, quality varies tho), The Boondocks, Batman Beyond.
If you're looking for a serialized show like Avatar, here are some suggestions:
- Pirates of Dark Water
- X-men: TAS (at least, the first few seasons)
- Superman: TAS (the first several seasons start off as self-contained episodes, but then it starts to get into a much bigger story arc by the end)
- Gargoyles
- Megas XLR
- Justice League Unlimited
- The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest (most episodes were self-contained though, but it's a very underrated series)
- Symbionic Titan (I'm not a fan of Genndy Tartakovsky, but this show was great)
Aside from maybe the last gif, show looks like crap. It's got that trash flash style of animation that I've always hated.
- Pirates of Dark Water
- X-men: TAS (at least, the first few seasons)
- Superman: TAS (the first several seasons start off as self-contained episodes, but then it starts to get into a much bigger story arc by the end)
- Gargoyles
- Megas XLR
- Justice League Unlimited
- The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest (most episodes were self-contained though, but it's a very underrated series)
- Symbionic Titan (I'm not a fan of Genndy Tartakovsky, but this show was great)
Aside from maybe the last gif, show looks like crap. It's got that trash flash style of animation that I've always hated.
The quality of flash will always depend on the creators. Flash can create terrible-looking shows like Johnny Test or great-looking shows like My Little Pony: Friendship and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
Wakfu looks good too, I've never seen anyone say it looks crap before.
Amibguous Cad
Member
I haven't seen it mentioned here, but I've heard excellent things about the Netflix Voltron reboot.
Starfish Hero
Member
All the good seasons of Spongebob are on Amazon Prime video right now
tkscz
Member
Speaking of good looking flash animation, one of the best looking shows I've seen was animated in flash: Motorcity.
It's from one of the creators of Megas XLR, and it looks fantastic.
Flash is just a tool. How good or bad it looks depends entirely on the creators.
Interesting things about this show. They programmed their own style of 2D to 3D animations for the cars from scratch and won't share their code with anyone.
jufonuk
not tag worthy
This
Sir Garbageman
Member
I'd throw in Avatar The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra and you have a list of the best action adventure shows imo.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
X-Men TAS does not hold up well at all
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
OP already mentioned liking them so I thought there's no point in putting them on the list.
Baron von Loathsome
Member
What's wrong with Kappa Mikey?
You're in luck OP, there is pretty much a golden age going on with animated shows now, many of them being superb.
If looking for animated showed intended for more mature audiences:
- Gravity Falls <-- Seriously, watch this show!
- Steven Universe.
- Over the Garden Wall.
- Samurai Jack - Genndy Tartakovsky's best work.
- Sym-Bionic Titan - More Genndy Tartakovsky, will never be finished as Cartoon Network fucked up big time with the license, still awesome to watch whatever is there, be wary though of "the scene" which people have posted a gif of over the forum for a while. It is as weird as it seems.
- Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars <-- Better than the entire Prequel trilogy and anything George Lucas can come up, hard as hell to find though as it's been declared non-canon and is not produced anymore, link leads to a "eh"-quality full video of the series but recommend finding it in HD.
- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Don't judge too quickly, I know there can be a bit of stigma involved watching this show but it actually surprises being genuinely good, at least the first couple of seasons, haven't kept up with it for a while.
- The Amazing World of Gumball
- Motorcity - \m/
If looking for animated showed intended for more mature audiences:
- Rick and Morty
- Bojack Horseman
- Archer
Speaking of good looking flash animation, one of the best looking shows I've seen was animated in flash: Motorcity.
It's from one of the creators of Megas XLR, and it looks fantastic.
Flash is just a tool. How good or bad it looks depends entirely on the creators.
Thank goodness someone else remembers this show exists. Weren't they wanting a season 2? Why is it so impossible to find anywhere other than on iTunes? Literally no news about it has surfaced since it finished airing. It's like Disney XD forgot this show existed and tried to remove every trace of it happening.
Baron von Loathsome
Member
It's not a good show.
