The Best Animated Shows of 2023
Photos Courtesy of Netflix, Max, and Adult Swim TV Lists best of 2023
This year has truly been a banner year for animation on TV. With so many creatives taking such extraordinary risks to bring incredible stories to our small screens, we have been graced with a truly delightful selection of animation of all kinds. From animated extensions of various franchises to bloody adult titles to family-friendly offerings, animation has been the medium to watch this year, without a doubt. Even in film, this medium thrived like no other.
Besides the sheer amount of good television present on this list, the most heartening aspect of this round-up is the fact that nearly all of these series have been renewed for a second season. With only a few final seasons or planned one-and-done’s, the extraordinary animated titles we loved this year will thankfully return, marking a turning point in a sect of the industry that, for the better part of the past few years, has been rife with shake-ups, removals, and a general lack of commitment from the studios and streamers at large.
Despite not making an appearance on this list, Harley Quinn, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, Futurama, Skull Island, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are all incredible in their own right and still worth your time, and if you’re in the mood for more in-depth animation coverage from throughout the year, check out our past Toon In columns.
10. The Owl House
Dana Terrace’s The Owl House is Disney Channel’s most ambitious outing since the much-beloved Gravity Falls, and with its final three episodes, solidified itself as one of the greatest Disney Channel shows ever made—and one of the best animated shows of the year. Featuring wholesome queer representation and a strikingly mature storyline for a series aimed at tweens, The Owl House was a revelation in its time on air. The adorable characters contrasted by the haunting and mysterious creatures of the Boiling Isles result in a feast for the eyes, all animated with a clear passion and love for the complex and beautiful story being told in its final outing. The Owl House took risks and every single one of them payed off in the end. —Anna Govert
9. Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake
Spinning off from a few episodes of Adventure Time which followed gender-swapped fanfiction versions of the main cast, Fionna and Cake is a more serialized, dramatic adventure from this colorful world. It’s not quite peak Adventure Time, but Fionna and Cake is a worthy continuation of the legendary cartoon. The animation’s as fun as ever, and the voice cast is a mix of reliable returning talent and a few welcome new voices (wait until you find out who’s the new voice for Lemongrab). The transition from semi-episodic quarter-hour episodes to hyper-serialized half-hour ones is a bit of an adjustment, and the story itself isn’t mind-bendingly original, but at its best, it feels as if it’s making good on the promise of the original series’ theme song: “The fun will never end.” —Reuben Baron
8. Star Trek: Lower Decks
In Star Trek: Lower Decks’ fourth season, we still follow Boimler (Jack Quaid), Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), four low-ranking officers on Starfleet’s USS Cerritos during the late 24th century (a few years after The Next Generation takes place). It’s a support ship mostly dedicated to “second contact” missions that involve reconvening with alien species that the Federation previously parlayed with. Although their vessel is far from the flagship, they still encounter the same manner of strange phenomena, diplomatic envoys, and peacetime-threatening standoffs that pushed the Enterprise to the brink countless times.
This season focuses on the crew of the Cerritos grappling with new responsibilities while a mysterious sequence of unexplained attacks comes into focus. Building on that premise, Season 4 explores its casts’ shortcomings and anxieties in a way that complements its humor, as its weekly adventures both lampoon and deliver the optimistic turns we’ve come to expect. The result is a run on track to be among this show’s most hilarious and heartfelt. Star Trek: Lower Decks may not outwardly be what one would expect from the series, but much like its scrappy crew, at its core, it’s Starfleet through and through. —Elijah Gonzalez
7. My Adventures With Superman
After years of countless adaptations across film, television, and various literary mediums, one could argue that, just maybe, there are no more Superman stories left to tell. However, Adult Swim’s My Adventures With Superman is the perfect counterargument to that belief. The series, from executive producer Brendan Clogher, stars Jack Quaid as the titular Superman, also known as Clark Kent, as he begins his new internship at the Daily Planet with his best friend Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid). There, he meets a daring and plucky fellow intern Lois Lane (Alice Lee), who immediately decides that they are going to do everything in their power to break the biggest stories in Metropolis to become real reporters, and impress their boss Perry White. Meanwhile, after a boatload of mysterious and dangerous weapons and robots are turned loose on the city, Clark decides it’s time to put his powers to use and become the hero Metropolis needs. Bolstered by a swoon-worthy relationship between Clark and Lois, this series has it all—from a hopeful and original take on the Man of Steel and his mythos, to a compelling visual style. Over 80 years since the creation of this iconic character, it is a testament to the strength and flexibility of Superman and his mythos that he is still able to be molded and shaped in new and exciting ways, and My Adventures With Superman does just that—and is a hell of a good time to boot. —Anna Govert
6. Castlevania: Nocturne
It’s been a few years since Netflix’s take on Castlevania came to a close, a series that successfully fleshed out the campy gothic backdrop of its source material into a sprawling dark fantasy epic. Castlevania: Nocturne is a spin-off that’s just as profanity-laden and gore-soaked as what came before but adroitly transposes these antics to a French Revolution setting. The pairing of this particular backdrop with these undying fanged creatures is a natural one and the new showrunners, Clive Bradley and Kevin Kolde, make good on this premise by entwining moonlit monsters with images of Ancien Régime-fueled decadence. These baddies’ deplorable actions made it all the more cathartic when our heroes sliced and diced them in mesmerizing action sequences courtesy of Powerhouse Animation Studios. And more than just these exciting setpieces, the show conveyed why each of its champions decided to stand up against these forces of darkness and the near-unchangeable systems they uphold. It all culminated in a series that not only delivered the fun action-horror romp I signed up for but that also used vampire imagery and this specific point in the past to tell an affecting story about fighting injustice. Despite a brutal cliffhanger, this sequel eclipsed expectations. —Elijah Gonzalez
5. The Legend of Vox Machina
In the first episode of The Legend of Vox Machina’s second season, Vex’ahlia (Laura Bailey) nails exactly why Vox Machina are such extraordinary heroes: “We’re all frustrated and scared, but the fight’s not over.” It’s that conviction, that determination to fight against all odds that propels Vox Machina and their Legend through adventures of guts, glory, and heart, all culminating to create a satisfying continuation that still captures the spirit of Critical Role while elevating its source material to new heights.
Overall, The Legend of Vox Machina is an impressive feat, but never more so than in this second season, which is truly a masterclass of adaptation. Like Season 1, it aims to dilute over 80 hours of tabletop gameplay into just 12, 30-minute episodes, while also relaying information learned across the panels of comic books and scribed in the pages of novels. Importantly, the series manages to balance those call-outs for seasoned fans, while still remaining perfectly accessible to the average viewer, whether as a gateway into Critical Role’s larger world, or simply as a fun fantasy adventure to keep up with week to week. There’s a sincerity to these heroes that makes them feel both relatable and grounded, yet still larger than life, and their adventures—no matter how silly or violent or heartfelt—remain the stuff of legend. —Anna Govert
4. Star Wars: Visions
The best anime shorts anthology based on a Hollywood blockbuster since The Animatrix kickstarted the trend, Star Wars: Visions contains some of the most entertaining material LucasFilm’s galaxy far, far away has produced in a while. With nine non-canonical episodes made by seven different animation studios, the variety of stories and styles presented in Visions is broad and all encompassing, to the delight of Star Wars fans everywhere. And in Season 2, the far-out concepts and differing animation studios and styles continue to be used to its fullest potential.
In an era of interconnectivity and cinematic universes, Visions is refreshingly untethered from much of the previous space junk littering this franchise. It accomplishes something similar to the original trilogy, a series of movies whose iconography is now so deeply entrenched that it’s difficult to imagine that its world once felt weird, unknowable, and full of allusions that excited the imagination. These animated shorts capture that same spirit of creativity, making this galaxy far, far away feel as distant as it should. —Reuben Baron & Elijah Gonzalez
3. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Despite what the marketing suggests, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is not a shot-for-shot remake, but a meta reimagining of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World that tells a (mostly) new story. The result is a delightful animated series that approaches this narrative from a new perspective. Following the movie’s established beats through the first episode (Scott Pilgrim [Michael Cera] must defeat Ramona Flowers’ [Mary Elizabeth Winstead] seven evil exes before he can date her), it doesn’t take long until Scott Pilgrim Takes Off deviates from the tale we know. The main difference is that in this rendition, we largely follow Ramona as she confronts her previous significant others and tries to piece together why events have gone off course. It synthesizes a transmedia whirlwind as it brings back the movie’s cast and evokes the comic’s art style through creative bursts of animation. Most importantly, it retains the underlying tone and messaging of what came before as it successfully reenvisions this story with Ramona at center stage. In the end, it manages to do something tricky, transposing a more than decade-old tune while barely missing a beat. —Elijah Gonzalez
2. Blue Eye Samurai
Michael Green and Amber Noizumi’s Blue Eye Samurai is a finely honed delight. Sporting action sequences that drip with the blood-splattering flourishes of old-school chanbara films, Blue Spirit delivers some of the most striking fight scenes in recent memory through graceful animation and abundant use of color. However, as we learn more about why these battles are being fought, the series also invites plenty of interesting questions about this gory journey. The story follows Mizu, a wandering warrior on a quest for revenge. But instead of pining after comeuppance for a deceased loved one like most tales in this style, Mizu is motivated by a far more fraught motivation: they were born a blue-eyed mixed-race girl in an Edo-era Japan, where those of non-Japanese descent were treated as less than human. Resolved to kill their white father for bringing them into this world as a “monster,” Mizu trains to become an unparalleled swordmaster.
The series doesn’t hold back, and while the violence we witness on this trek is plenty grisly, perhaps the most brutal element is watching our protagonist literally and figuratively tear themself apart over internalized discrimination and misogynistic expectations. Along the way, they meet other nuanced characters who similarly face the brunt of social stigmas, causing Mizu to at least marginally inch towards embracing who they are, or at least towards the potential good they can do. On top of being one of the best action shows of the year, Blue Eye Samurai’s portrayal of this time period cuts deep. —Elijah Gonzalez
1. Scavengers Reign
Scavengers Reign arrived on Max with little fanfare—no existing IP other than a 2016 short film, no famous showrunners, and not a single animated character voiced by Chris Pratt. But what a delightfully weird animated sci-fi show to somehow make it onto David Zaslov’s streaming service! (I guess they spent too little on it to shelve it as a tax write-off.) The premise is simple—centuries in the future, corporate pressure leads to a catastrophic accident on a spaceship and the crew must seek shelter on a nearby planet, knowing that their bosses don’t value their lives enough for a rescue mission. But the nearby planet turns out to be the star of this imaginative show, inhabited by an array of flora and fauna that is as beautiful as it is menacing in what becomes a meditative horror survival story that makes James Cameron’s Pandora look like a ride at Disney. Kudos to creators Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner for giving us the strangest of new worlds to tell their engaging stories in. —Josh Jackson
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