10 Standout Animated Series That Defined 2023

With just a few days left in 2023, we wanted to look back and talk about some of the most impressive and entertaining animated series that debuted over the past 12 months.

Some of the shows we picked because of their cultural impact, some for their impressive animation, and others simply because we liked them. The only criteria we considered was that the show had to debut in 2023, and it had to have multiple episodes (more on that later). We’re not saying these are the ten best animated series of 2023, but each had something that made it stand out.

Here’s our list, in alphabetical order, of 10 series that stood out to us in 2023. Let us know in the comments section below which shows made the biggest impact on you this year.

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

This grown-up spinoff of Cartoon Network’s fan-favorite Adventure Time came with a huge amount of hype, and delivered big time. Fans and critics alike were thrilled by the series, which not only matured narratively, but aesthetically, too. The animation is sharp but toned down for a more real-world feel matching the themes explored by the series’ young adult protagonists. One thing that remains, however, is the sense of strange that made Adventure Time a series that still holds a special place in many viewers’ hearts.

Blue Eye Samurai

Blue Eye Samurai had one of the most exciting mixes of 2d and cg animation we saw this year. The series, animated by Blue Spirit in France, tells the Edo-period story of a mixed-race samurai master out for revenge. The show was created, written, and executive produced by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green, with Jane Wu as supervising director. Green, who shared an Oscar nomination for co-writing Logan, served as showrunner, and his cinematic experience shone through in Blue Eye Samurai.

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai

Who’d have thought that rebooting a 39-year-old cult favorite monster movie as an animated series would result in something so charming and so aesthetically distinct? Yet here we are, putting Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai on our list! The show strays from its light horror cinematic origins and is aimed squarely at a kids and family audience. Its aesthetic is delivered to satisfy that demographic, featuring energetic cg animation, a vibrant color palette, and a far less frightening version of the gremlins. In a world loaded with reboots, sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, it was refreshing to see such a fresh take on an existing franchise.

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire

African animation is booming right now, and Disney’s new anthology series is perhaps the best example of what the continent is capable of. Triggerfish was the lead producer on this one, but the episodes were helmed by artists from South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. The series proposes ten futuristic visions of Africa inspired by the continent’s diverse histories and cultures. Directors were encouraged to draw on their own personal experiences and stories to imagine new worlds, advanced technologies, aliens, spirits, and monsters. To ensure Kizazi Moto stayed truly African in its execution, Triggerfish creative director Anthony Silverston instructed the artists to avoid looking to existing animation for inspiration and instead let the people and environments of Africa guide them.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

It was a rough year for Marvel live-action productions, but the brand continues to flourish in animation, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was a high point. The series was the most nominated and award-winning animated title at this year’s Children’s & Family Emmys, and each prize was well deserved. The show has everything you’d want from a kids’ comic book series, but what really makes it special are “mixtape moments,” when the show’s aesthetic and pacing change up entirely to sync with a piece of music.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter

Co-creators and showrunners Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin described their Netflix series as “a love letter to animation, science fiction, and Black families rolled into this crazy, action-packed comedy.” Check, check, and check. The show was created and written with kids and family audiences in mind, but the action and humor are sharp enough to appeal to viewers of any age. The show features top-notch animation from French studio Dwarf Animation.

Scavengers Reign

The sci-fi thriller series follows the surviving crew members of a damaged deep space freighter stranded on a beautiful yet unforgiving planet. There’s a lot to like about Scavengers Reign, but our favorite attribute is the incredibly diverse world of flora and fauna created by the teams at Green Street Pictures and Titmouse. Each lifeform feels necessary to the larger ecosystem, and it’s fun to watch how the introduction of humans into those systems changes things.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

This eight-part series was animated by Tokyo-based animation studio Science Saru, one of the most exciting Japanese outfits working today, and executive produced by the original film’s director Edgar Wright. Like Wright’s film before it, the Scott Pilgrim series is based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic of the same name. By blending narrative and aesthetic influences from the West (the original comic) and the East (Science Saru’s artists), Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was able to create a look and feel that are familiar and fresh at the same time, whether the viewer is a fan of the source material, its live-action spin-off, or new to the franchise.

Shape Island

One of the best-looking kids’ shows on any platform, Apple TV+ hit a homerun with its new stop-motion series Shape Island from animation studio Bix Pix Entertainment. Based on the Shapes trilogy series of books by Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett, the series is set on a charming tropical island where three characters, serious Square, intrepid Circle, and tricky Triangle, learn to accept and embrace the differences between them.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal

Creator and animation superstar Genndy Tartakovski says that his work on classic Cartoon Network shows such as Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Sym-Bionic Titan were all “like a training ground getting us ready for this series.” Unicorn: Warriors Eternal turns on a group of immortal heroes dubbed Unicorn who are accidentally reawakened in the bodies of teenagers instead of adult hosts they’ve embodied in the past. The show mixes classic supernatural tropes with steampunk aesthetics and epic storylines to create an adventure series that strikes a balance humor and drama that makes it a joy to watch.

Honorable Mentions:

There were several exceptional indie animation pilots released in 2023, but one episode doesn’t make a series, so we couldn’t include a couple of our favorites on the list. We wanted to include honorable mentions here for Lackadaisy and The Amazing Digital Circus, which will hopefully be on a future version of this list in a year when more episodes are released.