I’ll be blunt. My favorite TV series are always animated TV series. It was that way when I was a child, watching animated series for children, and now it is that way as an adult, watching animated series for adults.
Hence, my top animated TV series would also tend to be my top TV series in general – as well as ones that I can (and do) watch repeatedly. I look forward to new series or seasons of my favorite series. And whatever the animated series, whether for children or adults, I’ll usually enjoy checking it out, for an episode or so – or at least a trailer, and failing that, at least check it out as a concept or review.
That said, like my Top 10 TV lists in general, my Top 10 Animated TV list is more fluid than most. The top one or two entries may be set in stone, at least for the next few years, but there tends to be a high turnover of entries below them as I tend to turn older entries into special mentions and replace them with new entries at a high rate.
Note also that while I dabble in anime on occasion, it’s nowhere near the extent to which I watch ‘western’ animation on TV – and I keep it to its own separate top ten.
(10) INSIDE JOB
(2021-2022: SEASON 1)
Inside Job joins the ranks of that sub-genre of fantasy or SF which is particularly fascinating for me – the conspiracy theory kitchen sink, in which all conspiracy theories are true. I loved it when I discovered it in literary form in the Illuminatus Trilogy – and I continued to love it in comics, in Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles, and Nick Spencer’s Morning Glories. And I like it in this 2021 Netflix animated series, although in fairness, all conspiracy theories are true in it EXCEPT for the Flat Earth. That isn’t true (and was deliberately designed as a crank theory) – although the Earth IS hollow. It gets to the point that one of the characters is genuinely confused by the moon landing hoax, as they are so many conspiracy theories running simultaneously that he can’t keep them straight.
The premise of Inside Job is that it is set within the secret organization that effectively manages or runs all these conspiracies for or as part of the deep state or secret government in the United States – Cognito Inc. Although it’s not entirely clear to what extent it’s in charge, as it seems to compete with the Illuminati, rely on funding from the Reptilians, and answers to its questionably human Shadow Board. The Shadow Board seems to be the real power pulling the strings – but Cognito Inc seems to be only one of those strings. Cognito Inc also often confuses its employee protagonists as to whether they are working for evil or not, or rather, just how much they are working for evil. Those employee protagonists are essentially an ensemble cast, led by Lizzy Caplan’s socially awkward technological genius Reagan Ridley, but features such oddities as John DiMaggio’s Glen Dolphman, a US military officer who volunteered to become a dolphin-man, and Magic Myc, a snarky psychic mushroom from the Hollow Earth. And let’s face it – Christian Slater has a superb persona and voice for animation (as Reagan’s father).
It has one of my favorite opening credit sequences for an animated TV series, which itself shows fascinating glimpses into the layers of alternate history or conspiracy theory. My personal favorite is a blink-and-miss-it clip of one of those psychic mushroom people, possibly Magic Myc himself, interacting with our prehistoric ape ancestors, one of whom plucks off a piece of the mushroom and eats it – a nod of course to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but also the Stoned Ape hypothesis, attributing our sapience to psychedelic mushrooms.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(9) ARCANE
(2021 – PRESENT: SEASON 1)
Well – this was a revelation!
Firstly, I had known going in that this was set in the League of Legends universe, so I had those old video game adaptation blues – those (low) expectations that media adapted from video games are generally…disappointing at best. Even more so as I don’t play the game and had little knowledge of it apart from (ahem) looking up its female characters from their art and cosplay. But this series appealed, even to a casual viewer such as myself with little knowledge of the game.
Secondly, this is how you do diversity – not as a substitution for story or to deflect criticism (always something of a warning sign when something promotes itself for its diversity instead of, you know, a story) but as an organic part of the story (and which makes sense on that basis). Take note, Rings of Power – if you had wanted to do diversity right, perhaps you should have chosen a setting like this one, a multicultural urban fantasy setting.
But then my general rule of thumb is that animated series consistently outshine live action series in quality, particularly when it comes to fantasy or SF.
As for the premise – “Amidst the escalating unrest between the rich, utopian city of Piltover and its seedy, oppressed underbelly of Zaun, sisters Vi and Jinx find themselves on opposing sides of a brewing conflict over clashing convictions and arcane technologies”.
Its first season “was released to critical acclaim, with praise directed at its animation, story, worldbuilding, action sequences, characters, emotional weight, music, and voice acting”. ‘Nuff said, but the highlights for me, characteristically for an animated series, were the animation and action sequences.
A second season is on the way – which is just as well as the first season ended on a cliffhanger…
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(8) LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS
(2019 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-3)
“Heavy Metal for millennials”
Love, Death, and Robots is an adult – very adult (or perhaps adolescent) – experimental animated SF and fantasy anthology series on Netflix produced by Tim Miller and David Fincher.
And it is very much an anthology series – consisting of stand-alone or self-contained episodes, usually 10-20 minutes (with the occasional shorter episodes) and produced by different casts and crews in different styles. It’s genre-bending (and blending) between science fiction, fantasy and horror, although leaning towards science fiction (particularly cyberpunk) – hence the robots of the title. Episodes tend toward the themes of – well – love, death and robots, albeit the former two are very broad (and often leaning more towards sex and violence). Most of them are adaptions of short stories from notable SF (or fantasy) writers – including Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Alastair Reynolds and Joe Lansdale.
And the tagline comes from its – ah – heavy influence or inspiration from the comic / magazine Heavy Metal, which highlighted original science fiction stories and art, mixed in with erotica, and the “raunchy, absurd 1981 film of the same name which took viewers a step beyond science fiction.”
As an anthology, it’s something of a mixed bag, but there’s bound to be something you like by way of “a striking or exciting style of animation” or “a genuinely shocking twist”.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(7) PRIMAL
(2019 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-2)
Spear and Fang – a Neanderthal and his tyrannosaur. Or is that a tyrannosaur and her Neanderthal?
Those names – Spear and Fang – are never given in the episodes themselves, which are a marvel of mute mood, only in the titles or credits. Mute in that Spear, our Neanderthal protagonist, does not speak any language as such – although he can be very vocal in grunts or bellows and is otherwise extremely expressive in face and body language. Fang, the tyrannosaur is no slouch in expression either. Primal’s creator, Genndy Tartakovksy, is famous for being light on dialog in his work, but in Primal he has achieved an animated masterpiece with no dialog.
The unlikely but powerful bond between Spear and Fang is the beating heart of the series – unlikely in that it arises in very particular circumstances and endures beyond them, but of course in the context of our world where they are tens of million years apart. It soon becomes apparent that, while the creatures of Primal seem drawn (heh) from models in our own, that this is not our world as we knew it – as the waning age of dinosaurs seemingly overlaps much more with the rising age of mammals. And oh boy – how they are drawn, with lush beautiful animation particularly for its creatures and their landscapes, as well as evocative music or sound.
The world of Primal diverges even more from our own as it becomes an increasingly fantastic setting, dramatically so from episode 4 Terror Under the Blood Red Moon or episode 5 Rage of the Ape Men (with its heartbreaking cliffhanger climax).
In my opinion, this leads to the three episodes that are my personal highlights of the first season – with Spear and Fang facing off against, and typically having little choice but to flee from, their most dangerous and fantastic opponents in sequences of genuine horror or terror. A plague zombie dinosaur in episode 7 Plague of Madness, dark magic in episode 8 Coven of the Damned, and a mysterious invisible creature that seemingly kills for sport in episode 9 The Night Feeder.
However, the most dramatic change of all occurs in its final episode of the first season, when the world of Primal changes radically again to something very different from all preceding episodes – as we see in the second season.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(6) THE DRAGON PRINCE
(2018 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-5)
If this series seems similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender, that’s because it was created for Netflix by Aaron Eshaz, head writer and director of that series (with Giancarlo Volpe as executive producer, who also worked with Eshaz on Avatar).
The series is similarly set in a fantasy world, albeit more medieval than Avatar’s steampunk (and whatever punk Korra was), with similar elemental magic – not Avatar’s four classical elements (air, earth, fire and water) but the ‘primal’ elements of Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky and Ocean (with cool names such as the Moonshadow Elves, Sunfire Elves and Startouch Elves as the elves for some of those elements).
Humans…don’t fare quite so well with magic – having been driven by the elves and dragons to the other end of the continent of Xadia for the use of the only magic available to humans, life-draining dark magic. Humanity established the five human kingdoms on the other side of so-called Breach between the magical races and non-magical humans – a border formerly guarded by the dragon king. However, war looms after humans killed the dragon king – and apparently his egg, or the titular dragon prince. Elven assassins attack one of the human kingdoms, but one of the assassins allies herself with the human princes when the egg is revealed to have been stolen rather than destroyed – and similarly to Avatar, she and the human princes are the focus of a quest to restore the dragon prince to the dragons for peace rather than war.
The animation was a little uneven in the first season, but the showrunners improved it in the second season – and the narrative beats became more compelling in the latter (although that slows down somewhat in subsequent seasons). The Dragon Prince is influenced by Avatar in all the best ways – and you just might find it scratching the itch left by the finale of Avatar.
Also – take note, Rings of Power once again, this is how you do diversity in a fantasy setting, African elves and all.
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(5) THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA
(2022 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-2)
“We’re Vox Machina – we f**k sh*t up!”
Yes – it’s Dungeons & Dragons, the animated adaptation of the first campaign of Critical Role, a weekly web video of voice actors playing the game. And it would seem surprisingly effective condensing the story out of what is presumably much messier game play. Let’s just say the alignments tend towards chaotic
So yes – it features its ensemble cast as a classic D & D adventuring party: ax-crazy goliath barbarian Grog, insecure half-elf druid Keyleth, aristocratic human gunslinger Percy, brash gnome cleric Pike, snarky half-elf twins ranger Vex and rogue Vax, and of course everyone’s favorite lecherous comic relief, gnome bard Scanlon.
Because everyone loves bards! Does anyone not play bards as lovable sex maniacs? I’m pretty sure it’s a class feature
The first season also featured a superb antagonist necromancer-vampire duo in Sylas and Delilah Blackwood, the latter voiced by Grey DeLisle, who always does good villainess voice.
And again – Rings of Power take note this is how you do it…
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(4) INVINCIBLE
(2021 – PRESENT: SEASON 1)
“Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power!”
Beware the Superman!
It often seems that the deconstruction of superheroes – particularly along the lines of the trope beware the superman – is more popular these days than the more straightforward narratives of them as heroic figures.
Certainly that seems to be the case for two of the most popular series on Amazon Prime – live-action series The Boys, and this animated series, each adapted from a comic of the same name. In the case of Invincible, it was adapted from a comic series that ran from 2003 to 2018, by none other than Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead fame – although I prefer Invincible, both for the comic and its adaptation. For that matter, I tend to prefer Invincible to The Boys for the breadth and depth of its superhero universe, which features a more DC or Marvel style universe with aliens, parallel dimensions and supernatural beings – although usually with a twist in the tropes.
We are introduced to the titular superhero as Mark Grayson, pretty much your typical high school student, except that he is the son of Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet – and just maturing into his own superhero powers, inherited from his father.
And that’s where things start to get complicated, as he quickly learns there is much more to this world than meets the eye – with some jaw-dropping twists and turns along the way, particularly concerning his own father – including a season finale montage which indicates things are just starting to heat up for Invincible.
The animated adaptation has an all-star voice cast, most notably with J.K. Simmons as its Superman character, Omni-Man (or Nolan Grayson as he is in his everyday suburban life).
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(3) HARLEY QUINN
(2019-PRESENT: SEASONS 1-4)
“No way! It’s got comedy, action, incredibly gratuitous violence, and unlike that Deadpool cartoon, it’s actually coming out!”
Now this is how you do Harley Quinn!
Harley Quinn has split off from the Joker and aspires to become the criminal queenpin of Gotham with best friend Poison Ivy and a motley crew of henchmen – Doctor Psycho, Clayface and King Shark. Of course, setting out to become queenpin isn’t going to be easy – but it does make for a fun f-bomb-dropping adult animated series that is by turns “crude, raunchy, violent and completely shameless about all of it”, not to mention a blackly comic parody of the DC comics and cinematic universes.
Add in a stellar voice cast (led by Kaley Cuoco, who voices Harley Quinn to perfection matched only by Margot Robbie in hot pants) and you’ve got a winning formula, particularly in its “grasp of what makes its titular antiheroine so beloved”. As per Caroline Framke of Variety – “Most importantly, Harley gets to be an entire person all her own, as heartbreakingly naive as she is wickedly strange and funny”. It also demonstrates that she’s more than just eye candy – although she plays that to her advantage – but also surprisingly effective in combat and crime with her gymnastic ability, as well as smart and indeed insightful into her own state of mind (when she chooses to be).
RATING: 4 STARS****
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(2) RICK AND MORTY
(2013 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-6)
“SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!! It’s fine! Everything is fine! There’s an infinite number of realities, Morty! And a few dozen of those, I got lucky and turned everything back to normal! I just had to find one of those realities in which we also happen to both die around this time. Now we can just slip into the place of our dead selves in this reality, and everything’ll be fine. We’re not skipping a beat, Morty. Now help me with these bodies”.
As its second place entry indicates, Rick & Morty is the best animated series bar one, ever since its premiere in 2013 – “If you haven’t watched Rick and Morty, a cartoon about the adventures of a mad scientist and his hapless grandson, teleport to the nearest screen and shove every episode into your eyes as soon as possible.”
Rick and Morty was inspired by Back to the Future, if Doc Brown was a caustic alcoholic sociopath and Marty his ever more progressively traumatized grandson – and instead of travelling through time, they hop dimensions throughout the multiverse. It plays with, parodies, satirizes, subverts and deconstructs tropes across the range of popular science fiction and fantasy.
The focus is of course on the titular characters (both of whom voiced by co-creator Justin Roiland) and their bizarre misadventures – as mad scientist (and maternal grandfather) Rick Sanchez constantly pulls Morty Smith, a hapless high school student (whom Roiland voices with the perfect distressed wail), and increasingly, Morty’s older sister Summer, out of their normal lives to go on abstract trips across the multiverse for purposes that are never usually expressed. However, the rest of the Smith family is also comedy gold – particularly Morty’s harried and insecure father Jerry (perfectly voiced by Chris Parnell), who is also increasingly (and often unwillingly) dragged into the duo’s adventures. As such, the general formula consists of the juxtaposition of two conflicting scenarios – the intergalactic or interdimensional adventures of the eponymous duo, intercut with family drama. (Co-creator Dan Harmon has referred to it as a cross between The Simpsons and Futurama, balancing family life with heavy science fiction). At the center of it all is Rick, who drinks and behaves like a jerk most of the time – although he has saved the Earth at least once by getting schwifty.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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(1) ARCHER
(2009 – 2023: SEASONS 1-14)
“Every single noun and verb in that sentence totally arouses me!”
Indeed, as does every episode of my favorite animated TV series Archer, still running strong from its debut in 2009. Although perhaps a more descriptive tagline might be that used by TV Tropes from this exchange between the titular character, Sterling Mallory Archer (codenamed Duchess) and his mother:
“Most secret agents don’t tell every harlot from here to Hanoi that they are a secret agent!”
“Then why be one?”
Aptly described as James Bond meets Arrested Development, the series is about the title protagonist, a dysfunctional spy, working for a dysfunctional spy agency headed by his mother, in which virtually everyone and everything is dysfunctional. Even the time setting of the series is dysfunctional – it is “comically anachronistic, deliberately mixing technology, clothing styles and historical backdrops of different decades”, not to mention the Soviet Union. (“How are you a superpower?”):
“What year is this?”
“I know, right?”
Archer has a reputation, certainly in his own mind, as the world’s most dangerous spy – and he might well be, but for his negligence or incompetence fuelled by one of his many vices and his tendency to remain oblivious to everything but himself. “His primary interest in the job is the opportunity to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle full of sex, alcohol, thrills, lacrosse, fast cars, designer clothing, and spy gadgets” – hence, my adoption of him as my spirit animal. (After all, who doesn’t want to go on a cobra whiskey bender in Thailand?)
However, he is proficient in field work or stereotypical spy skills – weapons (including an uncanny ability to keep track of every shot fired), combat and driving – although in large part this is driven by the complete lack of any sense of his own mortality or ability to take situations seriously (accompanied by a childlike or adolescent delight in them).
Archer is one of the few (or perhaps only) animated series I recommend to people who are not otherwise a fan of animated series, because in style (including its realistic art style) resembles a live action series – indeed, with a few cosmetic changes, it could be a live-action series. (Well, if only H. Jon Benjamin resembled the appearance of Archer as well as providing his voice – man, I love his voice!). It certainly is a series that improves with watching it (in sequence) over time – as TV Tropes notes, the series’ humor “relies heavily on call backs and running gags alongside a large ensemble cast”, many of whom are recurring and as much a source of character humor as Archer himself.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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TV – ANIMATION: TOP 10 (TIER LIST)
S-TIER (GOD-TIER)
(1) ARCHER (2009-2023: SEASONS 1-14)
(2) RICK & MORTY (2013-PRESENT: SEASONS 1-7)
If Archer is my Old Testament of TV animation, Rick and Morty is my New Testament.
And as an exception to the rule of the highly fluid nature of my TV top tens, Archer has good prospects of enduring in top spot (and my interest) beyond its peak quality – and its final season, Season 14 in 2023.
A-TIER (TOP-TIER)
(3) HARLEY QUINN (2019 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-4)
(4) INVINCIBLE (2021 – PRESENT: SEASON 1)
(5) VOX MACHINA (2022 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-2)
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(6) THE DRAGON PRINCE (2018 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-5)
(7) PRIMAL (2019 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-2)
(8) LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS (2018 – PRESENT: SEASONS 1-3)
(9) ARCANE (2021 – PRESENT: SEASON 1)
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(10) INSIDE JOB (2021-2022: SEASON 1)
