When you truly love animation, there’s no such thing as being “too old” for cartoons. There are many adult animated shows out there that are just as deep and complex as live-action, and you can find a ton of excellent examples on Netflix.

There are dozens of great animated shows onNetflix, far too many to cover them all. For that reason, the ones we’re talking about today are some of the more critically acclaimed shows to come out in the past decade. Personally, I believe the show at the bottom of this list is the best, but fair warning: this is all a matter of opinion. Besides, in a hall of fame, everything is still pretty great, so everything here is worth a shot!

2020

3

24

Status

Ended

This show used to be calledGods & Heroes,but goes byBlood of Zeusnowadays. Produced by the same studio asCastlevaniaand focusing on bloody, visceral action,Blood of Zeusis heavily inspired by Greek mythology, though the main character, Heron, is an original one created for this series. While you will see many familiar Greek mythological entities here, such as gods, titans, and demigods, the story itself is unique and not based on any existing tale.

Admittedly,Blood of Zeusdoes not have the same production quality asCastlevaniadid, with the animation not quite as good, but on the other hand, it’s much bloodier and destructive, if you’re into that type of high-impact, gritty content. And of course, if you really love Greek mythology, there’s plenty to enjoy in this show just based on that. The relatively short run-time, covering a complete narrative, makes for a comfortable experience that’s long enough to be interesting but doesn’t overstay its welcome.

1

8

Canceled

The Midnight Gospelis a show with a very unique premise. It’s based on the podcastDuncan Trussel’s Family Hour,setting real interviews from the podcast to a series of surreal animated adventures of the zany variety. It’s kind of like ifAdventure Time(actually, Pendleton Ward worked on this show himself) moved to Adult Swim and tackled even more mature themes than it already did. It’s wacky to the extreme, but no less thought-provoking for it.

InThe Midnight Gospel,we follow Clancy Gilroy, a spacecaster who lives in a simulated multiverse. In each episode, Clancy travels to different worlds within the simulation, most of them on the brink of some big catastrophe. It’s the mature and complex themes of these episodes that make it worth a watch.The Midnight Gospelcovers the acceptance of death, the nature of sentience, meaningfully connecting to other people, all while sporting robot clowns, zombies, exploding planets, and unicorns.

2014

6

77

Shows likeFamily Guy and American Dadgenerally come to mind first when most people even think of “adult animation.” The animation styles are generally nothing particularly impressive, and the focus is just on humor.Bojack Horsemanadmittedly starts out very similar, but quickly grew beyond such a limited scope, tackling serious, complex issues that society often likes to skip around instead of acknowledging. They’re tough topics to talk about, butBojack Horsemandoes so with grace.

The consequences of addiction, grappling with depression, dealing with loss, finding some sort of meaning in life… there’s still some good absurd humor in this show about a washed up horse actor trying to make a comeback in Hollywood, but there’s so much more than that, including an array of novel episodes interesting purely due to execution. One episode is a single, extensive monologue. Another plays out as scraps of memory from someone with dementia. One of the episodes has no dialogue in it whatsoever. It’s fascinating if nothing else.

2021

2

18

WhenArcanedebuted back in 2021, it took the world by storm almost immediately. It seemed like almost everyone was talking about it, even tons of people who had never playedLeague of Legends, the game it was based on, in their life. Everyone sang its praises, and rightfully so—the production quality is absolutely top notch. The animation, voice-acting, dialogue, and plot all ooze quality and competence, a refreshing change of pace in today’s world of easily forgettable content.

you may tell that the team behindArcanegenuinely cared about the product, putting real passion into the whole thing. You don’t have to know anything aboutLeague of Legendsto get into it.Arcanetakes their fantastic characters and makes you genuinely invested in their story, and every episode always ends on a cliffhanger where you can’t help but want to move right to the next one. It’s great binge material and well worth a watch even if you know nothing about the source material.

2017

4

32

For the longest time, video game adaptations had a really bad reputation. The history of the medium is full of flops that only get any praise at all for being meme-worthy. Thankfully, we live in the here and now, a time where shows likeCastlevaniahave proven that video game adaptations can be more than good—they can be incredible. Much likeArcane,Castlevaniais so good that you can enjoy it even if you’ve never played a single game from the franchise.

Aside from the gripping narrative, excellent animation, and compelling characters,Castlevaniamight have one of the most impressive, sympathetic, and relatable portrayals of Dracula in all of fiction, and it also blends many elements well. It’s a dark fantasy, and it’s definitely got the grim atmosphere and gory action that entails, but it knows when to inject moments of brevity between the characters too. You’ll be gripped by intrigue as often as you are gorgeously animated action scenes.

2019

45

Ongoing

The great thing aboutLove, Death, & Robotsis that it’s a hodgepodge of different stories, art styles, and ideas. This isn’t a show with a connected narrative—each episode is a standalone experience, often made by entirely different people. If you’re someone who is always looking for something new and interesting, this show offers that in spades in a variety of different animation styles, from something akin to Pixar’s signature style to hyper-realism so good you could swear it was actually real.

The narratives are varied and often mind-boggling. How would humanity handle new births if everyone lived forever? Could AI one day understand how it feels to pursue a personal ambition? Others are just pure, unadulterated fun. What does it look like for farmers to defend their homes from portal-monsters with big tractor mechs? What if your smart vacuum tried to exterminate you? If nothing else, the bite-sized adventures taking place inLove, Death & Robotswill always enrapture you in some way or another.

As you’re able to imagine, there are a lot more adult animated shows on Netflix than the ones we’ve covered here today. If you don’t mind browsing, you can probably find some interesting things to watch just by scrolling through the categories. Going in without a plan can help you discover some hidden gems. That said, if you want morerecommendations for what to watch on Netflix, we’ve got plenty more movies and shows to share with you.