Are There Animated Series Aimed at Adults That Aren't Comedies?

[Vausch]

And no, I don't mean shows that aren't funny. I mean are there animated series that are not intended to be primarily comedic in nature that are primarily aimed at an adult audience?

I found this odd when discussing animation with a friend. We couldn't name any animated series that were aimed at the 18 to 35 demographic that were not comedies. We found several kids' or family cartoons that were varied in nature, ranging from horror to mystery to action, but we couldn't find any that were of that nature for adults.

Just as a qualifier here: I'm not referring to films, and anime doesn't count. I'm referring specifically to western animation in a series format aimed at an adult audience that is not intended as a comedy. Allen Gregory or Mr. Pickles might be horrific and vile pieces of unfunny shit, but they were intended as comedies so they don't count.

 

[madwarper]

that are primarily aimed at an adult audience?

Can you define the what constitutes being "aimed an adult audience", as opposed to mixed audiences or non-adult audiences?

Would you consider Roughnecks?

and anime doesn't count.

How about Aeon Flux?

And, there's always Spawn. If it ever gets released...

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

that are primarily aimed at an adult audience?

Can you define the what constitutes being "aimed an adult audience", as opposed to mixed audiences or non-adult audiences?

I would say three main elements: content, themes and tone. Both the Avatar series, for example, are considered fairly suitable for all ages and may delve into fairly deep and even dark themes, but they do it non-graphically in the context of a mostly upbeat fantasy adventure with kids as main characters and some simpler humor thrown in to keep them from getting bored. All-audiences series ultimately have to boil their central themes at least to some degree to make them accessible to all ages, not to even mention the restrictions on how graphic content they can display. But then you have a series like Berserk, which is very heavy in all three categories. I don't know if you've seen it, but I honestly couldn't see much kids, or even teenagers, "getting" the series' way of exploring themes like ambition, power, greed, sacrifice and comradery if they watched it as is.

OT: None that I can think of, which is a shame. I would love to see a high production value western animated series aimed at an adult audience, but there's still so little demand for such a thing that I don't think we'll be seeing something like that any time soon.

 

[Mechamorph]

Yes there are but most of them aren't really worth mentioning. "Korgoth of Barbaria" never got past the pilot stage while "Stripperella" lasted a little less than one season.

 

[gigastar]

Well i take it you dont mean hentai...

Anyway, one show a friend of mine keeps bringing up is Archer. Ive only seen one clip of it that he sent me a link to and it does seem to be an animated comedy that is not aimed at children.

 

[Cette]

It involves hitting the way back machine but The MAXX probably qualifies. It is funny especially at the beginning but damn is that not the part that really sticks with you. Honestly that era of MTV's animated output in general might fit the bill.

More recent stuff I'm not so sure. The second season of Moral Oral is very much not a comedy.

 

[ecoho]

And no, I don't mean shows that aren't funny. I mean are there animated series that are not intended to be primarily comedic in nature that are primarily aimed at an adult audience?

I found this odd when discussing animation with a friend. We couldn't name any animated series that were aimed at the 18 to 35 demographic that were not comedies. We found several kids' or family cartoons that were varied in nature, ranging from horror to mystery to action, but we couldn't find any that were of that nature for adults.

Just as a qualifier here: I'm not referring to films, and anime doesn't count. I'm referring specifically to western animation in a series format aimed at an adult audience that is not intended as a comedy. Allen Gregory or Mr. Pickles might be horrific and vile pieces of unfunny shit, but they were intended as comedies so they don't count.

well sorry to say your kind of SOL if you don't count anime, cause the west hasn't done good cartoons that are for adults and kids since the 90s. ones from the 90s that are pretty good: gargoyles, batman the animated series, superman the animated series, x-men evolution, and beast wars.

 

[Fox12]

Not anything worth watching. I want to say something on Adult Swim, but most of those programs are comedies.

MTV used to have some stuff in the 90's, I think. Downtown and Daria, for instance. But I think those qualify as comedies (albeit very different from Family Guy).

Honestly, traditional animation is dead in America. You can find some stuff on television, if you look real hard, for children. But they're almost all comedies, they're all aimed at kids, and they're exclusively on t.v. Film is a wasteland for kids and adults alike. Finding something for adults that isn't a comedy is the absolute most niche you can become.

So, simply put, no.

EDIT: Was Afro Samurai western? Yes, it had an anime style, but I thought it was kind of like Avatar? I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

 

[Smygskytt]

If you ignore the no movies qualifier, you can find something truly western, truly unique, and truly artistic animated.

A Scanner Darkly is this movie. It sits at the apex of western animation for adults. It is a hard sci-fi story that was originally written by Philip K. Dick, the undisputed master author from the golden age of sci-fi. It stars Robert Downey Jr. and Keanu Reeves. Best of all, it has none of the failings of anime (people wear clothes in this). Unfortunately, no one wanted to see hard sci-fi animated and it bombed spectacularly.

 

[happyninja42]

I can think of several that felt they were more made for people at least in their 20's, not sure if that's "adult" enough for you or not but.

East of Eden. It felt very adult oriented. I didn't think it was all that good by the end of it, but it didn't feel like it was made for kids.

Paranoia Agent. Pretty fucking adult in it's tone and theme. I can't think of any way that you could see it being "for kids".

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Again, I can't see how one could watch the show and think it was for kids. The subjects are way to adult in nature. The fact that it has silly/cute sounding robots is just an aspect of Japanese culture. They like cute things way more than we do in the US, even into adulthood.

I'm sure there are others but I can't recall anymore right now. Work is being too distracting.

 

[bdeamon]

It's more like a mini-series, but the Animatrix is pretty good. It expands on the good parts of the matrix universe without being too pretentious like the sequels. It's mostly the experiences of people who live in the matrix and some history.
Also check out the show Samurai Champloo. It has comedy elements, but it is primarily about the action and intrigue when you get down to it.

 

[Buckets]

What about the Spawn cartoon? You probably shouldn't just dismiss anime out of hand there are some really good adult story orientated shows which might be suitable with good storylines, e.g last exile.

 

[Dalrien]

Fate/Zero and Ergo proxy might be to your liking, though they're both In the "anime" section.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

All that really comes to mind would be the Spawn series that ran on HBO.

That one was pretty damned awesome. Gorey too.

And Keith David...Lawd, that voice.

 

[Dizchu]

You probably shouldn't just dismiss anime out of hand there are some really good adult story orientated shows which might be suitable with good storylines, e.g last exile.

I think OP is specifically trying to figure out if a non-comedic Western animated series exists (one that is aimed at adults, or at least not aimed at kids). Anime and manga have more ubiquity in Japan than cartoons do in the west, and they tend to have specific demographics (though I have noticed that most anime that gets western exposure is aimed at teenagers).

What OP is highlighting is the idea that animation "can't be taken as seriously" as live-action when it comes to Western markets. Cartoons that address adult themes are either comedic or done in short film format, sometimes feature-length film format too (but that's more common with foreign films). Not to say that family-friendly cartoons can't be deeply serious with mature sensibilities (my favourite film of all time is Fantasia which touches on some very abstract emotions), but you seldom if ever see serialised cartoons aimed at adults that isn't a comedy.

 

[Metalmacher]

Watership Down, OP. It's a movie, but it more or less fits what you're looking for.

 

[MeatMachine]

Bojack Horseman on Netflix is primarily a comedy, but in my opinion, the thing more entertaining than the humor is its constant focus on the human condition of several long-suffering characters (ironic, considering most of them are anthropomorphic animals, but that's a recurring joke).

From what I've read in reviews, most of the people that don't like the show criticize that those two main themes don't compliment each other well. I disagree. While the humor is not always on point, I find the show pretty engaging anyway for its deeply flawed and near-unlikable characters that still manage to be sympathetic.

 

[spartan231490]

Is Heavy Metal a comedy? Anyway, the thing is that back in the 80s western culture decided that animation was for kids, and comedies were pretty much the only thing to escape that stigma, and there aren't even many of those.

 

[MeatMachine]

Watership Down, OP. It's a movie, but it more or less fits what you're looking for.

I haven't seen the entire movie myself, but I've seen a handful of clips from it.

From what I've gathered, it's a 1978 British animated movie about bunny rabbits... that manages to be INFINITELY more violent and disturbing than you could imagine something like that could be.