I’ve seen a lot of different “hot takes” about adult animation because of recent events that I don’t really want to get into on this blog. Mainly that all adult animated cartoons are vapid, derivative, ugly, nihilistic, cynical, shallow, etc., etc. But there ARE good adult cartoons out there, almost all of them get completely ignored.
There’s The Simpsons, Futurama (especially the earlier episodes for these shows), Castlevania, Close Enough, and BoJack Horseman. Then there are shows I haven’t really watched like King of the Hill, Bob’s Burgers, Inside Job, and Final Space. And there are likely quite a few that I’m missing, these are just off the top of my head. And of course, Close Enough, Final Space, and Inside Job just got canceled without getting much of a chance to get their feet off the ground.
And yes, I know these shows have fans. But if I’m being honest, their fanbases are so fucking tiny (with some exceptions). You rarely see people talking about these shows in the wider animation fan community. It feels like these shows are very much ignored outside of a small group of people. You have people screaming for good examples of adult animation, when the good ones we have are ignored and then get canceled.
And yes, I know these shows are flawed, but everything has flaws and problems. And if you actually watch these adult cartoons, you’ll find that they tackle a lot of meaningful subjects and actually have surprisingly positive outlooks on life. Not to mention that shows like BoJack Horseman and Close Enough have wonderful LGBTQIA representation that rarely gets discussed, if at all.
And you know what? The “art style” argument irritates the hell out of me. I personally don’t think any of these shows look ugly. They have art styles that are unique, that suit the show very well, and quite a few of them are diverse in terms of body types and race. Boiling everything to “ugly” is pretty shitty, given how many talented artists work their asses off on these shows.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t criticize adult animation, but I think it’s insulting to reduce an entire genre to “everything is terrible.” If you look into the history of many of these shows, the creators worked their asses off to get them greenlit, and are insanely passionate about telling great stories. It’s frustrating to see people boil everything down to “all adult cartoons are nothing but sex jokes and ugly art.”
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Can't believe you're enlightening someone about the horrors of 4kids dubs and didn't mention the absolute nightmare of turning Sailor Moon's Haruka and Michiru from a canonically lesbian couple into cousins with weirdly incestuous undertones
sailor moon wasn't actually dubbed by 4kids, it was by DiC. but yeah that's gotta be one of the worst things in anime dubbing history and i did consider bringing it up anyway but i forgor.
at least we're past that era of dubbing now though because god could you imagine
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