15 Great animated shows since 2010

Photo Credit: Rick and Morty/Adult Swim Acquired from Turner Press Room

From Rick & Morty to Steven Universe, join us as we take a look at 15 of the best animated shows to have been released within the last seven years!

We live in a particularly crowded television landscape that has been referred to by many as “Peak TV.” Now, there is a greater volume and quality level in regards to television, in everything from prestige dramas to sitcoms.

This is equally true of animation, as well, delivering not only just the excellent examples of the genre, but also some of the best of what television has to offer at large.

What follows is an incomplete, ever-expanding list of the best animated shows of the last seven years.

1. Steven Universe

Photo Credit: Steven Universe/Cartoon Network Image Acquired from Turner Press

This Cartoon Network series is a lot of different things wrapped into one: a beautiful exploration of love and emotion, all the while tackling hefty sci-fi themes and concepts, but at its core a coming-of-age tale (of sorts) that doesn’t shy away from emotion, but instead embraces it tightly with hugs, tears, and singing.

2. Over the Garden Wall

One that is perfect to watch around Halloween time, this Cartoon Network mini-series starring Elijah Wood and Collin Dean as young brothers Wirt and Gregory, respectively, who get lost in a forest similar to that of something out of a Grimm fairy tale.

The mood and unsettling ambience here adds to the misdirection of the entire mini-series, subverting what the audience’s expectation of what it was they were watching in the first place.

3. Ducktales

Photo Credit: DuckTales/Disney XD Image Acquired from Disney ABC Media

A remake of the classic 80’s series, Ducktales is a charming and irreverent update that winks at fans of the original while still adding something of their own to add to the lexicon.

Plus, the wide array of voice talent that it’s managed to acquire — including, but not limited to, David Tennant, Danny Pudi, Ben Schartz, Bobby Moynihan, Kate Micucci, Margo Martindale, Jim Rash, and Catherine Tate — makes this one of the strongest cast line-ups in recent memory.

4. Bojack Horseman

Photo Credit: BoJack Horseman/Netflix, Acquired From Netflix Media Center

On the face of it, a cartoon about a depressed horse doesn’t sound all that appealing, but this Netflix series starring Will Arnett as the titular equine fills itself with so much humor, understanding, and empathy, not just for the main character, but for every struggling character that it’s able to go to places of profound understanding.

5. Archer

Photo Credit: Archer/FXX Image Acquired from FX Networks Press

Originally designed as an American James Bond riff, it has since played its hand at numerous other genres, including noir and drug dealing, the FXX series continues to be raunchy and ridiculous while never losing sight of the core dynamics and its overall feel as a show.

6. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe was still slowly gaining speed, this Disney XD series was imagining a similar universe that was bold and entertaining while still borrowing heavily from classic comic book storylines.

What the 2000’s Justice League series was for DC is what Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was for Marvel: an inescapable touchpoint that animation in that vein will be judged by.

7. Legend of Korra

Photo Credit: Legend of Korra/Nickelodeon Image Acquired from Nick PR

When Legend of Korra was announced in 2010, it was hard to imagine that it could possibly capture the brilliance and excellence of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but the thing is: It did, almost with ease.

It took what worked really well with its predecessor — the world-building, the mythology, the characters and team dynamic — and really made it its own, ending up with a series that was unappreciated by Nickelodeon, but will go down as something truly special.

8. Adventure Time

Photo Credit: Adventure Time/Cartoon Network Image Acquired from Turner Press

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Similar to Steven Universe, this long-running Cartoon Network series took this concept of a coming-of-age story and really stretched it out, letting the audience profoundly notice the increasing maturity of not only the lead character Finn and other side characters, but also the world of Ooo itself.

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This slow-burn of themes and the eventual discovery by the audience that you’ve been secretly watching a post-apocalyptic show are just a couple examples of why this is one of the most ingenious shows of our time, animated or not.

9. Gravity Falls

Photo Credit: Gravity Falls/Disney XD Image Acquired from Disney ABC Media

What works so remarkably well about Gravity Falls isn’t its mythology (which is astoundingly simple and well-realized) or the cases-of-the-week (which are all rather entertaining), instead it’s the core dynamic and chemistry between the twin leads Dipper and Mable.

It offers a depiction of sibling relationships that we don’t often see: loving and supportive while also being infuriating, all in the guise of weekly supernatural investigations.

10. Danger and Eggs

Photo Credit: Danger and Eggs/Amazon Image Acquired from Amazon PR

Released by Amazon earlier this year, it is the one on this list that is most designed to be watched by young children. Danger and Eggs is very aware of that audience and uses that as an opportunity to talk to kids about things that are important: personal identity, supporting your friends, but the most vital thing it does is include LGBT characters and subtext while also not commenting on it at all, making it completely normal for kids.

11. Voltron: Legendary Defender

Photo Credit: Voltron Legendary Defender/Netflix Image Acquired from Netflix Media Center

Another remake of a classic cartoon, Voltron: Legendary Defender is noteworthy for one extremely important reason: It is a giant bucket of fun while also never forgetting that this is an epic story with real stakes.

12. Star Wars: Rebels

Photo Credit: Star Wars Rebels/Disney XD/Lucasfilm, Image Acquired from Disney ABC Press

Star Wars: Rebels could have easily just been a cheap recreation of The Clone Wars (and it is to a certain extent), but the former does what the latter did and takes it another step as the connection point between the prequels and the original trilogy.

A part of what makes Rebels so great and interesting is the virtue of not knowing what happened to the Phoenix Squadron that you become so invested in. Who survives? Who dies? We knew that with The Clone Wars, but we don’t with Rebels and that adds an element of suspense that makes it thrilling, especially now in its final season.

13. Samurai Jack

Photo Credit: Samurai Jack/Adult Swim Acquired from Turner Press Room

This is cheating a bit, considering that the bulk of this series aired in the early 2000’s, but, even given that, this final season of Samurai Jack that aired earlier this year was simply one of the most excellent seasons in recent memory of any show that it would be a crime to leave it off.

This last season added a level of darkness and nihilism to the series that it had never known before, but was also incredibly hopeful and lively, not to mention stunningly beautiful.

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14. Bob’s Burgers

Photo Credit: Bob’s Burgers/Fox Image Acquired from Fox Flash

Taking over the grand tradition of the animated family, Bob’s Burgers is quite simply one of the all around funniest shows around and never fails to back down from that.

15. Rick and Morty

Photo Credit: Rick and Morty/Adult Swim Acquired from Turner Press Room

Love it or hate it, one can’t deny that there is nothing quite like Rick and Morty.

Creator Dan Harmon uses the same genre-riffing that made Community so interesting on a weekly basis and applies it to this animated series, enacting weekly parodies of well-known tropes and genres and owns it for itself, adding in layers of darkness and cynicism that resonates, but also shows the emptiness of such negativity and toxicity.

Which of the 15 animated shows on our list do you tune into regularly/love re-watching whenever you can?

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