Although Netflix is best known for its live-action TV shows, it has also brought many great animated shows, some of them even ranking among the best TV shows of all time. Netflix has maintained its place as one of the biggest and most popular streaming platforms thanks to its extensive catalog of licensed content and original movies and TV shows. Through the latter, Netflix has explored various genres, with notable projects like Stranger Things, The Haunting of Hill House, Adolescence, and Squid Game.
While Netflix has definitely made great live-action TV shows, it also has an impressive catalog of original animated shows. One of Netflix’s biggest strengths when it comes to animated TV shows is that it has been quite diverse when it comes to animation styles, tones, and stories, bringing shows for young viewers, adult audiences, and family-friendly ones as well. However, as has happened with many other Netflix TV shows regardless of their format, many great animated shows were canceled too soon.
TV shows like The Midnight Gospel, Inside Job, and Q-Force didn’t get a chance to show the world more of what made them so great, while others, like Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman, were able to complete their planned runs. Netflix now has a variety of original animated shows that go from anime to expansions of franchises to anthology shows, all of them with different styles, engaging stories, and worth watching.
10
Inside Job (2021-2022)
One Season
Created by Shion Takeuchi, Inside Job is an adult animated sci-fi sitcom. Inside Job takes viewers into a world where many conspiracy theories are real, and Cognito, Inc., an American shadow government organization, is one of six that control Earth, with the others being the Illuminati, the Atlantians, the Reptoids, the Catholic Church, and the Juggalos. Inside Job follows Dr. Reagan Ridley (voiced by Lizzy Caplan), a socially awkward but genius robotics engineer, and her team as they work alongside creatures from other organizations.
Inside Job was praised for its concept, surrealism, comedy (especially how it fires shots at corporate work), its approach to conspiracy theories, and characters. Unfortunately, although Inside Job was initially renewed for a second season, it was canceled after season 1 part 2 was released.
9
Big Mouth (2017-2025)
Eight Seasons
Big Mouth is an adult animated coming-of-age comedy series created by Andrew Goldberg, Nick Kroll, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett. Big Mouth follows a group of middle school teenagers as they navigate through puberty and everything that comes with it – from physical changes to new emotions and needs, mental health issues, and more. The kids are guided (or, more often than not, misguided) by their Hormone Monsters, with the appearance of other creatures like the Depression Kitty, the Shame Wizard, the Anxiety Mosquito, and more.
Big Mouth stood out for addressing topics that, unfortunately, are still considered taboo, but it did so with a brilliant combination of comedy and respect. Big Mouth has been praised for its animation, comedy, writing, and for how well it portrayed the awkwardness of being a teenager and the many experiences that come with it.
8
Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (2016-2018)
Three Seasons
Created by Guillermo del Toro and based on his and Daniel Kraus’ 2015 novel Trollhunters, Tales of Arcadia introduces viewers to Jim (voiced by Anton Yelchin and Emile Hirsch), a teenage boy who finds a mysterious amulet that chooses him as the first-ever human Trollhunter. Jim ends up in a secret realm where trolls and other creatures live, which he now has to protect.
Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia has perfect worldbuilding, cinematic quality, character development and depth, and an incredible voice cast. Trollhunters blends dark fantasy with a heartwarming story, which is Del Toro’s signature, and it was the beginning of a franchise.
7
Blue Eye Samurai (2023-Present)
Season 2 Coming In 2027
Created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green, Blue Eye Samurai is an adult animated historical action TV series. Set during Japan’s Edo period, Blue Eye Samurai centers on Mizu (voiced by Maya Erskine), a half-white, half-Japanese onna-musha. Mizu carries a lot of trauma, with her adoptive mother having forced her to disguise herself as a boy so she won’t be found, and she is seeking revenge against four white men, one of them her father.
Onna-musha are female warriors from pre-modern Japan.
Blue Eye Samurai holds a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 97%, with most praise going towards its beautiful animation, emotional depth, storytelling, world-building, complex characters, and main character who subverts gender tropes. Blue Eye Samurai is set to end with its third season.
6
The Dragon Prince (2018-2024)
Seven Seasons
The Dragon Prince is a fantasy adventure TV show created by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond. The Dragon Prince takes place on the fictional continent of Xadia, where magic exists and where dragons, elves, and humans once lived in peace. Xadia takes its magic from the Moon, Sky, Sun, Earth, Ocean, and the Stars, but when humans began to use dark magic, which takes the life essence from magical creatures, a war began. Years later, human King Harrow and his people killed the King of the Dragons, Avizandum, and stole the egg of his unborn heir.
When Harrow’s son, Crown Prince Ezran, and his elder half-brother Prince Callum, along with young assassin Rayla, find that the Dragon Prince’s egg is intact, they set out to return it and hopefully end the war. The Dragon Prince has strong character development, storytelling, complex worldbuilding, and groundbreaking representation, making it one of the best, richest, and most complete animated shows of the decade.
5
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)
Ten Episodes
Created by Rafał Jaki and based on the videogame Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners takes viewers to the years 2075 and 2076 and into Night City, a self-reliant metropolis in California, plagued by obsessive cybernetic body modification, gang violence, and more. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners centers on David Martinez, a brilliant but financially struggling student who, after a personal tragedy, meets the enigmatic cyber hacker Lucy, who introduces him to a gang of edgerunners, cybernetically-enhanced mercenary outlaws.
David joins them and discovers he has an unusually high tolerance for cybernetic implants, leading him to push his physical and emotional limits to protect his new family. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is one of Netflix’s biggest animated hits, praised for its writing, animation, action, worldbuilding, and emotional depth, as well as for its expansion of the world of Cyberpunk 2077.
4
BoJack Horseman (2014-2020)
Six Seasons
Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, BoJack Horseman is an adult animated tragicomedy TV series, and it’s set in an alternate world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist. BoJack Horseman is mostly set in Hollywood and follows anthropomorphic horse BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett), a self-loathing, cynical horse with substance-use disorder who is struggling in his acting career.
BoJack Horseman is a surprisingly deep animated show, addressing various mature topics such as depression, suicide, racism, and addiction, as well as some philosophical themes. BoJack Horseman has unique animation, excellent voice acting, and a dark sense of humor to perfectly balance its more serious themes, offering one of the deepest animated shows of all time.
3
Castlevania (2017-2021)
Four Seasons
Castlevania is an adult animated horror TV show created by Warren Ellis and based on the Japanese series of the same name. Castlevania follows vampire Vlad Dracula Țepeș (voiced by James Callis), who, after his human wife is burned at the stake, declares that all the people of Wallachia will pay with their lives. Dracula summons an army of vampires and demons, with Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage), the last living member of a legendary family of monster hunters, going against Dracula’s forces.
Castlevania’s fluid animation, complex characters (especially Dracula, who is a more layered and sympathetic version), storytelling, and expansion of its franchise led it to become one of the best animated TV shows on Netflix, as well as of all time.
2
Love, Death & Robots (2019-2025)
Four Seasons
Love, Death & Robots is an adult animated anthology TV series created by Tim Miller. Every episode of Love, Death & Robots is a different short film produced by a different team and cast, and they all cover one or more of the title subjects. Thanks to this, every episode of Love, Death & Robots is a unique and immersive experience, with different animation styles to appeal to a broad audience.
Love, Death & Robots has been praised for its cinematic quality, variety of animation, stories, and overall production value. The episodes of Love, Death & Robots are a showcase of creativity, with each of them covering the title subjects in truly unique and creative ways, with every episode unlike the rest.
1
Arcane (2021-2024)
Two Seasons
Created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, and set in the universe of League of Legends, Arcane takes the audience to a world where the wealthy city of Piltover and the oppressed undercity of Zaun are at war. Orphaned sisters Violet (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) and Powder (Ella Purnell) are taken in by the leader of Zaun’s rebellion, but after a tragedy, Powder is taken by crime lord Silco and trained to be a mercenary, becoming “Jinx.”
Arcane is an immersive experience with mesmerizing animation and an engaging story with family drama, political and social conflicts, magic, advanced technology, and more, all set in a steampunk world. Arcane is a must-watch for everyone, and it doesn’t require previous knowledge of the world of League of Legends.
- founded
-
January 16, 2007
- founders
-
Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph
Leave a Reply