"we are just kids in the playground" ah yes, i can smell the post arcane depression slowly kicking in again

One thing that I liked about Arcane's "adult" status is that it doesn't rely on gore, sexuality or cursing to get that across. It's very much about the emotional/psychological/political themes that only adults and adolescents will really understand or relate to.

The shock factor of something like Invincible is one thing, but some of the hardest individual sequences I've watched in recent memory were in Arcane. I think it's in part because of the shows restraint in regards to gore and blood. It knows how to use them when needed but doesn't rely on viscera. Arcane's brutality just hits in a different way.

This perfectly describes my recent experience with INVINCIBLE and Arcane, they really help you get away from it all sending you into a world so much more colorful than your own, yet having some of the most heartbreaking and gut-wrenching moments. Great video.

I have always had trouble understanding why there is this stereotype that animation is for kids, just like video games are/were supposedly for kids. Or that young adult fiction is bad, and other similar opinions. As if some media had the monopoly on serious topics or on good stories, as if some arts were nobler than others. Animation is extremely expressive. It allows the artist to show just about anything, in a thousand different ways. And there is a lot of different styles, between Japanese anime with all its variants, western cartoons, very realistic CGI in movies and in game cinematics, weird stuff like South Park and others, cartoonish but realistic stuff like Arcane, etc. Meanwhile, some movies are actors playing between 4 green walls and most of the movie is CGI. With animation, you can break physics, disregard walls, make impossible creatures, play with time, be anything and everything, and also just show humans, to an extent which live action could only dream about and for which books rely on your imagination. Fantasy is the perfect example of a genre that is well served by animation, but there is no reason for it to be the only one. Animation is powerful, and as such it can talk about adult themes, respectfully, thoughtfully, in safer or more grotesque manner. Cartoons for adults are needed, and many already exist that should be highly regarded. Sure there is a bunch of crap, like with everything, and a lot of animation has historically and still is targeted at kids, but there are a lot of gems. At the same time, I would like it if more shows used older adults and not teens, were less explicit and gruesome, took time to develop interesting characters and philosophies rather than being just another coming of age story or something. Some stuff sells more than others and that's how our societies work unfortunately. Arcane is very much on top of my list right now, but I'll mention one of my personal examples, the anime Nana. It's a show I was not enjoying at first, because of its weird lighting and character style, and because it was about a teenage girl dealing with love problems. But it ended as a very powerful and emotional experience, a journey of many characters with love and heartbreaks, success and failure, friends and betrayals. Another one is Princess Mononoke, which I had to be dragged to see in theater as a kid, and at the end of which I was amazed, and probably crying. That was one of the first stories I experienced, and my stepping stone into the wonderful worlds of fiction.

I would agree with the most part, the only thing that's off to me is that part of sex in regard to shows like High School of the Dead. Not because I think that sex shouldn't be in such series, but the heavy sexualization of the female characters as props has never done much for me, personally. I do know that not everything exists to please every individual. It is stil that it's actually heavily discouraging and off-putting when you watch a show as a woman and all the women are pretty much there to mostly gawk at. And in the case of satire, the satire is often used as an excuse to do it any way but be smug about it.

I've only recently been introduced to adult animations, first with Castlevania, and now with Arcane. I was 17 when I first watched Castlevania, and now I'm 18. I actually rewatched the show the other day and in the span of a few months, I suddenly understand it so much more. As I'm developing as a person I'm understanding the small details that make adult animated shows so special. The underlying morals and plot that you don't get with cartoons targeted towards teens, and the lessons implanted within them. The gore, the attention to detail. I'm transitioning into the adult world with these unfiltered shows, and I love it so much.

Glad to see general consensus starting to catch up that cartoons aren't just for kids.

I sometimes look back to after school, or Saturday morning cartoons. They had violence and conflict, but were so censored and edited to be "safe for kids" (no blood, guts, or intense graphic violence). We just are currently where cartoons and anime doesn't "hold back the punches", anymore.

Adult cartoons had a huge impact on my life for the last 6 years or so, for about a year and a half these cartoons really saved my life, people generally don't understand how this can impact someone's life. People often think that cartoons can only be for kids, but adult cartoons can show you what the real world is like and at the same time help you escape the real world. This video is amazing and shows how great these cartoons are, thanks for the video it's amazing

I remember getting dissed by my cousins for watching anime just because of the animations and whatever they think about it and even though shows like ATLA is a 'kids' show', there were deep and dark moments where adults could understand, especially the politics involved in the plot itself. I'm actually glad that animators are creating animations that are finally targeted for mature audiences.

This is such an awesome video & thank you for expertly discussing & describing why a lot of people, myself included, love adult animation like Arcane. I really wish there were more animated series like Arcane and those you mentioned in the video and hopefully after the proven success of shows/films/specials like Invincible & Arcane, more will be produced. 😊 Thank you for taking the time to make this video & discuss this topic.

Thank you for making me relive all the memories of these terribly painful creations. Especially Made in Abyss. That was dark as hell. But great video! I think it shows how much the American mindset is growing, especially with the increase in high quality adult animation coming out.

U r right but I think Morals are for children and Adults always face dilemma so I think we need Ethics not Morals.

My favorite adult Cartoon is the "When they cry series"

You just perfectly described all my feelings about my favourite shows of all time and most of my favourite shows that I watched this year in just 1 video! Srsly thank you for this video essay. Wished u touched on Spiderman Into The Spiderverse tho.

So, I haven`t found the list with all the cartoon titles, so here are the ones I know: Arcane Bojack Horseman Invincible Afro Samurai Primal Beastars Made in Abyss High School of the Dead Please add the ones I missed. :)

It's like Video games and animation have these discriminations, or this stereotype about them. That they aren't on the same level of art or professionalism of that of Film. Well, it isn't like it is, it is a real thing. I think nowadays, that video games have the most potential to be the best form of art or story telling. Even though it's a particularly new medium, compared to that of Books or Film. Looking at games like the Red Dead series, GTA IV, both Last of us Games, and shit like The Witcher III or God Of War, or even The Wolf Among Us or TWD games (From Telltale), I can say that these stand out as impressively written stories that can be compared to the best of screenplay writers like The Coen brothers or Stanley Kubrick, or Tarantino, and many other names. Video Games and animation are as free of an art form as can be, like painting. While books rely on you to use your imagination to picture the scenery or whatever is going on. The best tool they have is good description or dialogue. While games and animation have almost no limit to what can be done, well other than budget wise stuff like graphics or scale. The production costs of very artistic movies tend to be very high. While beautiful games and animation can be made without a huge budget, though most big productions still cost a shit ton. But with games like RDR2, God of War, and animated shows like Arcane or Invincible cost a lot to make and it paid off for them. Smaller budget games like Ori and The Blind forest, Journey, and Abzu are definitely some of the most beautiful games you will ever lay your eyes on, while also being indie titles. I don't really remember where I was going with this, but coming back to typing, I'm gonna say that Video games and Animation deserve way more credit for their artistic narratives and story telling. fuck me I could've just not said anything

Happy Birthday, Skylent! Saw your community post. Edit: thanks for mentioning Made In Abyss, but unless you have read ahead in the manga, you have NO IDEA how much darker it can get.

Damn... I don't think I could stomach "Made in Abyss." That scared the fuck out of me.

This is why I love Bojack Horseman and Arcane.

I hope Mushoku Tensei made it onto your radar. The world building from that show is great and the animation is top tier. There is at least one scene that will make most adults quite uncomfortable, but despite that moment, the rest of the show is amazing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Cheers!

Arcane,invincible,and primal are my fav adult animation to come out in recent years

Another Banger Even though I feel like shit rn, finding out that Franklin and Lamar are back and with Dr. Dre really made me smile. I'm planning on picking up Sekiro and well... rn I'm just binging YT when I should be doing homework. I really enjoy these descriptive commentary channels on games and film. Honestly some of the best content on KZfaq comes from you guys. Still waiting for Nakeyjakey to come back tho Oh and apparently it's your Birthday I saw from down in the comments, so Happy birthday. Mine is on the 18th... so we can probably agree that December birthdays kinda suck, well at least the ones within the range of Christmas, even though some people's "range of Christmas" begins on November 1st. But Imma stfu

Made in abyss is an incredible work . It's just amazing. It leaves me wondering at times, about the world design, the scenarios and everything. It's such a creative and something so freah.

Love the video. PS: Whats the name of the outro song?

Tbh as an artist I always thought shows should just be an artists way of expressing a story and characters.. just like a book. Some can be dumb, sure, but in the end it should aim to atleast express something. To speak with so much more than words. with colors, shapes, body language, the music, everything honestly. take a show like adventure time. It comes across stupid, silly, and it usually is, but somehow it mixes morality and a deep, dark story behind all the goofy stupid characters. A show similar to AT is Centaurworld which is much more recent, but honestly if it had as much screen time and pacing as AT it would be very very similar and just as captivating. Maybe I'm biased but adventure time has some really fucking good writing and it's a neutral fan base show. Any age can watch it and enjoy either the fun lighthearted side, or the dark, convoluted side.

wonderful video. all of these shows (including this video) are an easy 10/10

Now this is awesome. Really love the perspective on this!

Must try Primal! Loved Samurai Jack

You watch all kinds of shows, youtube channels, read forums, talk with friends. And theres always things that someone referances, or suggest to try it out. But for some reason you just cant seem to be bothered. Until that one moment when someone sais something quite profound about that thing. You sir, just did that for the Made in Abyss in regards to me. Ive heard the show mentioned in quite a few different circles, but noone seem to be able to sell it to me. You just did. Well done sir, well done.

I loved Invincible, I enjoyed the hell out of Castlevania and Arcane, but I never heard of primal! Thank you for pointing me to my next series! And since I usually watch these shows over lunch, thanks for the heads up about episode 11. I shall be wary

FYI: Hazbin Hotel is coming. Thought you might like it.

Oh hey, there's more of Uncle Lovecraft's Fun Time Murder Hole? My therapist is going to have a field day.

I recommend you short animations on Dead Sound's youtube channel

Hey not directly related to the video but I have a question. Will there be cartoons that dont end for multiple generations or around 1 1/2 generations. Like will new authots be trained or assigned to IPs that make too much money to stop with the heart of the creator. Some anime is doing this and hillenbutgs death seems like a sign to me. Also should i make a bid about this idea or something?

It's amusing that I recognise most of the clips in this video, and I'm about to turn 57! I really wasn't a huge anime fan before the pandemic, so I think you've hit the nail on the head Sky ;). If you haven't seen it already, I'd strongly recommend Vinland Saga. Seen a lot of anime on Netflix anf Prime now. Most of it is quite entertaining - loved (or enjoyed a lot) Castlevania, Invincible, DOTA, Yasuke, Kengan Ashura, Nightmare of the Wolf, Trese, Blood of Zeus, Dragon's Dogma, Dante's Inferno, Big Mouth, some of the Resident Evils, just to name a few these past couple pandemic years. Not sure how I would have filled my viewing time without so many great anime shows being streamed. Then there are several series that have a huge fan following, which I just couldn't get into, go figure. Attack on Titan comes to mind. With Arcane, I'm still stuck at start of ep 3. Will finish it, but it just isn't having the effect on me it is for a lot of ppl. Maybe it's my fundamental dislike of LoL and all things e-sports/competitive PvP games, who knows...?

Can you make a list of the shows you mentioned in the video please?

I watched arcane loved it btw lets get that out of the way. Then i went down a youtube rabbit hole of people explaining why it was good....here i am. I love how you portrayed the feelings i have by bringing up shows i never heard of. Gave me clips of them and yea.....no this shit is NOT for kids. Idk what message everyone else took from this video but what i took was...well cheers to you i hope youre doing well.

Does anyone have a list of the shows I should watch next?

Is it me or does this guy sound like Jayce / Dan ? Also skytalent what is your thoughts on the character silco and why ?

What were all the shows in the last edit?

What shows are these other than arcane and invincible

I love Arcane, Castlevania, Helluva Boss and Love, Death + Robots, but what you showed from Made in Abyss seriously crosses some lines, even for me. I really need some unsee juice right now. Also, I just generally dislike the traditional anime style. Except if it's Halo Legends, because it's Halo.

What series is it from in 16:56?

cool video, but could you list all the shows you used in clips? I think you only talked about half the shows you used clips from, but I can't tell because you didn't list them anywhere obvious, if at all :(

That thumbnail -_- this fight still hurts

I think you'd like videos from this tiny KZfaqr called Aaox. He has a great video on Made in Abyss, among others. That show has such crazy brutality, especially that one scene.

11:44 What is the name of this anime

10:22 Primal has an 11th episode??

Can we have a comment thread where people can share other titles of shows like this? Even if they aren't specifically adult but have really strong themes like Avatar for example. We should share more of these, I have trouble finding shows like this and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Would like to add my own personal experience that I am super intro film/television in general but I always felt more inclined toward animation. If I hear of a good show that's animated, it gets my attention much quicker. I think I feel more connected with the art and expression that goes into it, voice acting also interests me and I truly hope shows like Arcane and INVINCIBLE and even Castlevania bring a bit of a modern animation renaissance where studios feel more comfortable trying mature themes in animation. My parents always had the idea that animation is worthless because it's for children, my father even thinks "children's" television can't possibly be worth watching (i.e. Avatar, Clone Wars) and I eventually showed both of my parents INVINCIBLE and we binged it together, they loved it and my mother is even interested in watching more, specifically Castlevania. I'm hoping more shows like these can persuade my family and so many others that animation is valid, whether for children or not, and it can teach or show an audience things that live action simply can't in many ways. I truly hope this does continue because I'm honestly so grateful to be around to see these shows coming out, I really love them and feel very excited to see what else this sort of "sub-genre" for lack of a better term has to offer in the future.

Which adult Cartoons?

You seen Mushoku Tensei?

My first exposure to adult animation was from Animatrix - a spin-off to the Matrix. Being young at the time, I was not allowed to continue watching it because of the gore, violence and sexual content. I finally watched it in college and it was beautiful to me; the artstyle and imagery was amazing.

You should definitly watch LastMan (Netflix), you will absolutely not regret it

Just asking whether you've seen aeon flux

Ever heard of Attack on Titan?

Berserk 1997 is fantastic. The 2016-2017 anime, not so much. But even those have a solid source story.

Try watch full metal alchemist brotherhood, if you like these kind of show

If you haven't watched it yet you should try Attack on Titan(maybe even Evangelion)... If you like mystery, action and philosophy you should give it a try... Made in Abyss, Evangelion and Attack on Titan was probably the best shows I've seen so far when it comes to existentialism... Evangelion and Attack on Titan being less subtle than Made in Abyss and outright stating questions about life, morality, choices and posing different perspectives into every problem... I really liked Arcane(the animation was 11+/10), but for now it was just a character study of how the world can affect us, there was a bit of economy/politics, but no philosophy or overarching themes or a no great mystery/threat... maybe in Season 2/3+ ...also AoT has similarly amazing music as MiA had

fool persons: live action are god mangakas: shonen are good wise people: arcane is all... me: yes wise people

I think this vide is a bit too fixated on the sex and gore, IMO. They are hardly a defining feature of mature animation. Arcane is already one such example, but so is Angel's Egg (entirely metaphysical), Jin-Roh (the tragedy of militant doctrines on the human scale), Patlabor WXIII (political themes, very specifically the failure of the Japanese government to protect and represent its armed service members). I'm glad Beastars at least made the background clips, but there's also Megalobox (especially Season 2), Odd Taxi, The Garden of Sinners movies, Violet Evergarden, Girls' Last Tour, School Live! (a much better candidate for a dark zombie apocalypse series than High School of the Dead), Sonny Boy, Tatami Galaxy, Aquatope on White Sands, Bokutachi no Remake, Undone, I can't begin to do justice to the genre or the many shows I've had to leave off for brevity. There are whole sub-genres of adult animation that do not feature gore, violence or sex, but rely on more emotional, metaphysical and psychological elements (which might include horror or existential dread), and I think it sells adult animation a little short to fixate on the visceral end of the spectrum than the more psychological. Heck, what about Monster, a classic show from the 2000s that is almost all thriller, with crime and violence, yes, but almost always off-screen?

I'm only 13 but I watch adult cartoons

0:10 it wasn’t that bad dude, most of us aren’t super social lmao, I legit had 2 months where life didn’t feel normal.

I hate how a lot of people see animation as strictly for kids but it should be treated as a medium honestly it’s the perfect medium to tell any story.

10:10 challenge accepted

My personal take is if you're making a show that's a has fighting or maybe say that has war or something like that or you're making a show that gets into the deeper darker stories of say maybe how most people perceive things like a city's underbelly or crime or stuff like that in any way then not showing at least moderate gruesomeness and not showing at least a moderate amount of ability for your characters to be maimed and brutally killed I'm trying to pretend that every villain can just magically be beaten by being knocked out and having their plan foiled it's greatly important. House for the sex stuff I will say sex happens and more than that so long as you focus on making a good world and good characters first and don't do stuff like Highschool of the Dead as I personally actually don't like Highschool of the Dead partially because of the fact that I feel the characters are just Bland and to perfect and the ones that aren't perfect are basically meant to be nothing more than damsels in distress and all of that is just kind of boring and lazy story riding with my other complaint of Highschool of the Dead is that while having substandard characters and not really too interesting world it also has the issue that it tries to act as if making it's so much about the sex and being a PG hentai basically is enough to make it a good show.

Seeing as how cartoons and anime always seem to take the spotlight, let me mention a donghua instead. Link Click is absolutely worth watching if you're a fan of psychological time travel thrillers.

personally, to me the brutality in animation hits HARDER than live action because usually there is a proper set up or reason for it. in live action to me it tends to be more gratuitous, it just makes me feel disgusted, but there is no real emotional weight like invincible’s subway scene.

Arcane is best

Too bad I watched arcane before most other newer animated shows. It's kinda ruined them all for me with how good it was.

I couldn't watch Made in Abyss. It never felt like the author had any lesson / morality at all, just sick horror.

Animation was used to be for adults before. Ever heard Disney did commissioned for World war 2 propaganda animation? It's not really definitely not for kids XD

Primal only has 10 episodes

Stop, stop, stop... Si-Fi? Maybe a steampunk, no? Are you sure this is Si-Fi?

Hunter x hunter. Its long but you won't regret it...

You lost me on high school of the dead. I understand what you are trying to say but I would wholeheartedly debate the target audience of that particular show isn’t adults but edgy teens. There are way better examples of sex and violence being used in anime that you could’ve reached for for this argument but you grab the teen angst tit show lol. But it’s better than you listing Blood of Zeus, Dota dragons blood, or Yasuke as much watch adult animations I guess.

bjg

Pls put some trigger warning next time I was literally eating dinner :'D

gotta say you lost me at high school of the dead being fun. probably fun for cis men, but it's honestly just disgusting to me

None of these are remotely like Arcane. None of these will ever find a mainstream audience. The reason Arcane transcends the "cartoons" label is because it does what the vast bulk of animation ever made completely fails do so - it visually displays depth of character and emotion. Most animation does not get close to this because it is VERY expensive to realise. Only some Gibli and later Pixar stuff comes close. Nothing else does. And without representing a characters emotion and depth visually, mainstream audiences will check out. Look at Invincible. It doesn't matter how good the narrative is, characters which are visually represented by flat, often static, lifeless animation will NEVER appeal to audiences beyond a very narrow demographic of genre fans who grew up with the style and never started to demand the depth Arcane and Live Action conveys visually. The animation in Invincible is garbage. The animation in almost every anime ever made is garbage. The only way anyone is finding these acceptable as adult narratives is if they completely lack the emotional development which leads to requiring an emotional depth of character to appreciate storytelling.