59 Best Cartoon Shows Anyone Can Enjoy Despite Their Age

lava172 said:

"Considering this show was on Nickelodeon and managed to not only be entertaining to kids but extremely deep and thought-provoking at times, it is a legit triumph. It's absolutely a 10/10 just for the sheer amount of things it does right."

 

User No 1 replied:

"Just ask yourself how many times you've seen the villain defeated and there was no celebration. Seeing how they treated Azula and how Azula reacted was so good."

Pantherist replied: "That's a really good point. The conclusion was just a massive sigh of relief for our protagonists and an understanding that the real work of rebuilding all that damage and recovering from the horrors that the Fire Nation inflicted was the real challenge all along, and that the trauma will never truly go away."

ragingatwork said:
"She’s built like a steakhouse, but she handles like a bistro."

Unsure_Fry replied:
"I'm not sure if I agree or not."

bathmaster_ said:
"Seriously one of the best shows written, right up there with Avatar: The Last Airbender for me but I don't think a lot of people got to see it in its prime the same way because it was consistently a darker show. So good and I wish more people watched it without preconceptions."

dirtyslipper replied:
"The intro alone deserves a spot on this list. Freakin catchy as hell."

AnnoyAMeps said:
"If there’s anything Boomers, GenX, Millennials, and GenZ all can relate to, it’s watching Tom & Jerry as kids."

Cool_Ranch_Dodrio replied:
"And since there are almost no spoken lines, it's relatable worldwide."

SobiTheRobot replied:
"Just Tom screaming his lungs out. Jerry rarely vocalized, as I recall—his laughs were done on a violin."

SgtCocktopus said:
"I would be happy to live under Brain's world domination. He would have ended wars and solved world problems."

AlexanderDaychilde replied:
"Almost. He would almost have ended wars and solved world problems, only for his plans to unravel at the last moment and we're even worse off than before."

User No 1 said: "Bill Cipher is a very fun antagonist. He is just so chipper about rearranging faces. I like that he has tons of friends too. Smart that he hedged his bets in his final moments and now has a new reincarnation somewhere."

fishsupreme replied: "I describe Bill Cipher as "Baby's First Lovecraftian Horror." It's kind of amazing to me that he's in a Disney kid's show."

VisibleArmy4029 said: "Agreed. Love the Clayface episodes to this day."

bigquinnyg13 replied: "I haven’t seen that episode in close to 15 years and I still remember it. Great show, with great storytelling. Kind of dark for a kid's show too, it was the only superhero I ever cared about and I still dream of acting as Batman in a movie. Great character."

Negafox said:
"The reboot is actually a 10/10 as well. It actually fixes some of the problems of the original (Webby doesn't suck, boys have unique personalities, Gizmoduck doesn't suck, Donald is actually around like from the comics, etc.) Glomgold is one of the best characters in the reboot. You even get an origin story on the Rescue Rangers, a sequel story to TailSpin, and Darkwing Duck is in it."

Bakoro replied:
"Plus, David Tennant nails it as Scrooge. All the voice acting is top-notch.
The writing is rock solid, and they don't totally hit the reset button on character growth from episode to episode and season to season."

Donald_W_Gately said:
"Mel Blanc was a treasure."

theillustratedlife replied:
"It's worth pointing out that the Looney Tunes embraced the technology of the time.

These days, we expect people to be able to break into character at e.g. Comicon; whereas, many of Mel's voices used post-production tricks like changing the playback speed.

The dude is still a voice god, but it's good to know the context when making the comparison."

Bakoro said:
"The original one.

The new one was like someone saw pictures of the old show but never actually saw the show, and made what they thought it was."

Pickle_Front said: "Our family friend’s nephew had leukemia when Animaniacs was originally released, and he was about 6 at the time, and his favorite thing to say was 'Helllllooooo Nurse!'"

mosefish said:
"At its peak, I think it was the greatest comedy ever."

Marmoset_Ghosts replied:
"There's no comparison.

In its prime, every single line and frame of animation was meticulously crafted to cram as much humor and wit as possible into 20 minutes.

No show in history is as eminently quotable and culturally meaningful as peak Simpsons.

Maybe it's my age (born in '82... same age as Bart when it started, the same age as Homer now) but none of the other shows in this thread even come close."

unlisshed said:
"Gargoyles [excluding the non-canon season 3 of course]."

unlikelypisces replied:
"Keith David as Goliath did an amazing job."

tinysieg said:
"I still re-watch seasons 1,2,3 sometimes."

istrx13 replied:
"Literally, every single episode of seasons 1, 2, and 3 is gold. It’s honestly so impressive to me that every episode from those seasons feels iconic and has famous one-liners."

ADirtyDiglet said:
"I now relate to the episode when the parents run out of coffee."

kittengiraffe replied:
"Such a classic."

SobiTheRobot said:
"But specifically earlier seasons. After a point, it really dropped the ball, but I don't think I could pinpoint when that was."

Acrobatic_Confusion replied:
"Cosmo really started getting stupid in season 8 so I'd say then."

"I feel like it had good writing, enough memorable characters to bring them back for new episodes, solid pacing, and just enough zaniness to make it a cartoon. The part that really made it perfect was that there was even something in there for the parents. Courage the Cowardly Dog is one of those shows where there will NEVER be another one and trying to even come close to it will either be wildly successful or a Velma (I’m appropriating the name of the show as an adjective for disaster). Excuse me, I need to go put courage on and get some sleep for work tomorrow."

LordessMeep said:
"Unfortunately that I had to scroll down so far to see this. Recently rewatched it and Seasons 3 and 4 are straight no-skips perfect and fun as hell."

ComfortablyMade said: "Ok now I'm turning 30 and I'm waiting for the new seasons of Phineas and Ferb smh."

rbwildcard replied: "I went to a Bowling for Soup concert and they played the theme song and everyone over 25 (so mostly everyone) went crazy."

Dako_the_Austinite said: "Much like Ed Edd n Eddy I had to scroll for far too long to find another mention of this other than from myself. Talk about shows aware of the fact they’re cartoons and taking advantage of that to have some fun. One of my all-time favorite scenes is The Nobody when they’re chasing after that glitchy guy Rob and they steal a riding mower to follow after him but ditch it because it’s too slow, and it goes up a ramp but instead of falling off the end, it keeps going off the ramp at the same angle and same slow speed as if launched in slow motion! Then it slowly arcs over the fence before crashing in an explosion, I laughed so hard at that scene when I first saw it I had to rewind it like three times."

burner9497 replied: "The episode where they watch YouTube all night was an absolute classic."