15 Fantastic Animated Series That Outshine Most Live-Action Shows

It's widely agreed upon by most that animated film and television are incredibly and unfairly disregarded by many as true art. So much more can be accomplished visually and stylistically in the realm of animation. It's especially impressive when there's a great animated television show, requiring not just a longer runtime to animate, but is typically released every week.

Animated shows are so wonderful. Being serialized projects doesn't make them only for kids, though, either, like typical Saturday morning cartoons are, either (however, some of these are). If animated television has shown the world anything, it's that animation can be for everyone, kids and adults—sometimes even adults only. While some may see them as just "cartoons" and nothing to take too seriously, when, in fact, many animated products often find themselves being better than what one would find in live-action projects.

15 'The Legend of Korra' (2012–2014)

It was always going to be next to impossible to perfectly follow up Avatar: The Last Airbender, but with this in mind, the studios behind both that series and The Legend of Korra did pretty dang well when it came to developing the latter. The sequel series, following an all-new Avatar, Korra (Janet Varney), is not perfect, but still an exceptional show, at the end of the day.

People give The Legend of Korra a lot of flak for simply not being the same series Avatar: The Last Airbender was. Expecting the follow-up of one of the best television series of all time to be even better is the definition of overly wishful thinking. At the end of the day, though, The Legend of Korra still finds itself being better than a plethora of series out there, thanks to how well-written it is, especially when it comes to the development of the show's world and characters.

14 'Regular Show' (2010–2017)

Kids who grew up on Regular Show consistently call back to it even today, thanks to how hilarious it is. Many attribute Regular Show to their appreciation for absurdist humor, and absolutely adore the wonderful Mordecai (J. G. Quintel) and Rigby (William Salyers), along with the numerous characters that surround them.

Regular Show gets used as a meme—people use the absurd situations that Mordecai and Rigby consistently find themselves in on a typical Tuesday as a joke, all the time, which has kept the memory of the show alive. People simply love this show, and some even beg for it to make a comeback somehow, despite the ending of the original series being incredibly good and satisfying as it is.

13 'Invincible' (2021–Present)

One of the most beloved superhero animated series of the last few years is, without a doubt, Invincible. Based on the Skybound comic book of the same name, written by Robert Kirkman, this show came to Prime Video and captured the hearts of the world almost immediately. Despite some failings in the animation department, at times, Invincible still remains one of the most popular shows on the air at the moment.

Thanks to the work of some amazing vocal performances from the likes of Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Gillian Jacobs, Seth Rogen, Walton Goggins, and many more, the characters pop off the screen and come to life. This, combined with some great storytelling thanks to Kirkman and the new writers on the writing team, makes Invincible such a great watch, and worth catching up on before the next season.

12 'Gravity Falls' (2012–2016)

One of the greatest accomplishments to come from Disney Channel/Disney XD is, without a doubt, the ever-iconic Gravity Falls. Brought to the screen by Alex Hirsch, this animated series does an abundant number of things right. It crafted a compelling mystery across the entire plot, while crafting just as interesting ones each week in a serialized format.

There's genuinely so much to love about this show. Despite being an animated show on Disney Channel/Disney XD, anyone can watch and enjoy Gravity Falls. The humor is stellar, the voice acting is lively, the story is engaging, and all of the character arcs are compelling. Not to mention, it went the extra mile to get audiences invested by hiding little hints, secrets, clues, and more into the show that could be used to discover more—the intro theme has a backwards message at the end, which changed each season to act as another cipher.

One of the greatest anime ever made comes from the studio that made the extremely popular My Hero Academia, Studio Bones. After a first series that was pretty mixed, they brought the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise back in 2009 with a show that was more accurate and faithful to the original manga, which would be called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Thanks to how amazing the manga by Hiromu Arakawa is, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has found itself being one of the most beloved anime of the modern age, with a whopping and clean 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's such an excellently told story that audiences can't help but get engaged in and care about. Not to mention, Studio Bones animated it phenomenally well.

10 'The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' (2010–2012)

While the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe has provided shows surrounding Marvel Comics characters that are truly great, there has been no series, no film, or television project in general that has depicted the Marvel universe in a better manner than the show, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Taking place in the golden age of superhero television, surrounded by other iconic series from both Marvel and DC, this show was highlighted as the team-up show of the decade.

People still look back at The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes for examples of ways the MCU could depict certain characters and stories going forward, or even use it as a comparison to how things could have been done better. Both the Ultron and Secret Invasion arcs are typically noted as better examples of how to tell those stories, rather than how they were in the MCU. The writing of every single episode was done excellently, thanks to being developed by the likes of Joshua Fine, Ciro Nieli, and the legendary Christopher Yost.

9 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' (2008–2020)

No matter how much people love shows like The Mandalorian, many would agree with the claim that Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of, if not the best, pieces of Star Wars television media. Fans adored it so much that Disney and Lucasfilm even brought the series back six years after the last episode of Season 6 was released (fun coincidence). It took an era and trilogy that people had generally negative feelings for, took the characters and time, and made diamonds out of it.

The fan favorite Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) was introduced here and has become so popular that she's made her way from animation to live-action in recent years (portrayed by Rosario Dawson). The showrunner, Dave Filoni, clearly cares so much about Star Wars and making good stories for it, which is most certainly why Star Wars: The Clone Wars ended up being as good as it is.

8 'Death Note' (2006–2007)

When it comes to dramatic television writing, Death Note is an anime to be studied. With the very creative premise of Light Yagami (Brad Swaile and Mamoru Miyano) finding what is known as the Death Note, he begins to use its unilateral power to command death to shape the world, but he begins to lose himself along the way. Death Note is a bit of a slower-paced show, which some may think could be rough for an animated show to get around, but Death Note proves the naysayers wrong.

The directors behind Death Note handle slow-paced drama incredibly well. It's so well done that they somehow manage to make a moment where Light simply eats a chip thrilling. The creator, Tsugumi Ohba, wrote a story that keeps people engaged through and through. It's known as one of the best anime of all time for a reason.

7 'Love, Death & Robots' (2019–Present)

While there are barely a handful of live-action episodes of Love, Death & Robots, it's considered an animated show because 98% of it is animated. This anthology series has taken over the world, thanks to how impressive the animation is, and how they show off different styles of animation with each episode, thanks to each one being helmed by a different animation studio.

Over the six years that the show has been airing, it's brought countless stories to screens all over the world. Because of the endless possibilities that come from the medium of animation, they've been able to go to dozens of different worlds and introduce a wide variety of characters. The things pulled off in Love, Death & Robots simply cannot be done as well in live-action as they're done here.

6 'Adventure Time' (2010–2018)

Anyone who grew up in the late 2000s and early 2010s knows what Adventure Time is. While, at first glance, it may look like just a kids' cartoon, it's far more than just that. Adventure Time takes place in a magical kingdom where there are lands of ice with an Ice King (Tom Kenny), a kingdom made of candy ruled by Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch), and the two protagonists are a young boy with a heart for adventure and his talking dog that can stretch into any form he likes.

Despite these very lighthearted elements, locations, and characters, Adventure Time uses its time to tell some very meaningful and emotional stories. The show touches on topics like death, growing up, childhood trauma, the complexities between good and evil, and so much more. It's a truly well-written show that is one of Cartoon Network's best.