--- title: "Animation series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/genre/animation" region: "US" total: 12 shown: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Animation series Animation lets a series go anywhere, and the lazy ones use that freedom to do less: a joke every ten seconds, a face that never changes, a world that resets each week. The good ones use it to do more. What we are judging is whether the people who drew the thing take it seriously, whether a horse actor or a propane salesman is allowed to be sad, and whether the writing would still hold up with the pictures switched off. Our shelf leans towards American comedy, with a strong showing from Japan when the giant robots turn inward. Start with [BoJack Horseman](/tv/bojack-horseman), 91, a sitcom about depression that earns the word; [The Simpsons](/tv/the-simpsons), 88, best in its early stretches; and [Over the Garden Wall](/tv/over-the-garden-wall), 86, a children's fairy tale that will frighten you and is over in an evening. After those, try Neon Genesis Evangelion, if you have patience for a programme that does not quite finish. For US. 12 titles; 12 listed here. Add `?region=XX` for another country. - [*INVINCIBLE*](https://film.one/tv/invincible-2021.md) — 2021 · Fi1m 74 · TV-MA · Animation/Drama · on Amazon Prime Video Robert Kirkman adapts his own comic into a bloody animated series about a boy whose father is the strongest hero on Earth. The talking scenes look cheap and the fights do not, and Sandra Oh and J.K. Simmons make the family worth caring about. - [*Over the Garden Wall*](https://film.one/tv/over-the-garden-wall.md) — 2014 · Fi1m 86 · TV-PG · 12m · Mystery/Sci-Fi & Fantasy · on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu McHale and Krentz’s ten-part fairy tale about two brothers lost in an autumn wood is a children’s cartoon that will frighten you and make you laugh in the same minute. The songs are uneven and one episode idles, but it is over in two hours. - [*BoJack Horseman*](https://film.one/tv/bojack-horseman.md) — 2014 · Fi1m 91 · TV-MA · Animation/Comedy · on Netflix Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s animated sitcom about a washed-up horse actor starts as Hollywood satire with animal puns and becomes, over six seasons, as honest an account of depression and self-sabotage as comedy has managed. Stay past the first six episodes. - [*Rick and Morty*](https://film.one/tv/rick-and-morty.md) — 2013 · Fi1m 78 · TV-MA · Animation/Comedy · on HBO Max, Hulu Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland’s comedy about a drunk genius and his frightened grandson is fast, cruel and at first as clever as anything on television. Later it grows fond of its own reflection, but the good episodes earn an evening. - [*Attack on Titan*](https://film.one/tv/attack-on-titan.md) — 2013 · Fi1m 83 · TV-MA · Animation/Sci-Fi & Fantasy · on Crunchyroll, Hulu An anime about teenagers fighting man-eating giants grows, over four seasons and 87 episodes, into something larger and much bleaker. It is loud, sometimes exhausting, and for most of its run it is superb. - [*Gravity Falls*](https://film.one/tv/gravity-falls.md) — 2012 · Fi1m 84 · TV-Y7 · Action & Adventure/Animation · on Disney+ Alex Hirsch’s two series about twins spending a summer in a strange Oregon town are funnier, odder and better built than a children’s cartoon has any need to be. The first run takes a while to find its shape. Stay with it. - [*Futurama*](https://film.one/tv/futurama.md) — 1999 · Fi1m 81 · TV-14 · Animation/Comedy · on Hulu Matt Groening’s future is as stupid as the present, and for its first five seasons that is a first-rate joke, told by a cast of voices few cartoons can match. Later revivals are warmer than they are funny. Start at the beginning. - [*Family Guy*](https://film.one/tv/family-guy.md) — 1999 · Fi1m 63 · TV-14 · Animation/Comedy · on Hulu Seth MacFarlane’s animated sitcom is quick, crude and often funny, and it is built on a trick, the cutaway gag, that saves it from every dull scene and stops it ever building one. Stewie and Brian are the reason to keep watching. - [*Daria*](https://film.one/tv/daria.md) — 1997 · Fi1m 81 · TV-PG · Comedy/Animation · on Paramount+ Susie Lewis and Glenn Eichler gave a walk-on from *Beavis and Butt-Head* her own series. The drawing barely moves and the jokes are dry as chalk; it is a superb comedy about being fifteen, best when it lets its heroine be wrong. - [*King of the Hill*](https://film.one/tv/king-of-the-hill-1997.md) — 1997 · Fi1m 82 · TV-14 · 22m · Animation/Comedy · on Hulu Greg Daniels and Mike Judge’s animated sitcom about a propane salesman in a small Texas town is the kindest and most patient of its kind, funny because nothing in it is exaggerated. It runs long, and a few of its stories wear thin, but we recommend it warmly. - [*Neon Genesis Evangelion*](https://film.one/tv/neon-genesis-evangelion.md) — 1995 · Fi1m 86 · TV-14 · 25m · Sci-Fi & Fantasy/Animation · on Netflix Hideaki Anno’s 26 episodes begin as a giant-robot programme and end somewhere much stranger, inside the head of a boy who does not want to be there. It is uneven, at times plainly unfinished, and we have not been able to leave it alone. - [*The Simpsons*](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md) — 1989 · Fi1m 88 · TV-14 · Animation/Comedy · on Disney+, Hulu The sharpest stretches of *The Simpsons* combine merciless jokes with real tenderness for the people making fools of themselves. We recommend it warmly, but not as an obligation to watch every episode. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/genre/animation