Cartoons and animated shows have been aimed at a young audience, primarily children. However, animation is a much more adaptable art style than live action. It is only natural that a large percentage of adults are interested in animated programs that wonderfully dance around dark and mature subjects like violence, drug use, sex, and characters cussing. Anything that can hold our attention for an extended period of time is welcome.
Adult animated television series have been around since the 1970s, but the popularity of The Simpsons and Beavis and Butthead propelled the genre to new heights in the 1990s. Naturally, authors have created a plethora of series that mock everyday life and ridicule pop culture in unusual contexts.
With shows like Bojack Horseman, South Park, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty joining the mix, it is evident that sophisticated cartoons can appeal to a wider audience than just adults. It is fascinating to watch shows with distinctive artwork and character design that, by their very nature, may push the boundaries of live action.
As a result, in this video, we will discuss eleven such animated shows for a more mature audience.
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Metalocalypse
Starting off with a bang we have Metalocalypse, a series created by Tommy Blacha and Brendon Small. The story revolves around a death metal band called Dethklok except their popularity in their verse is over thousand times more than the Beatles in the 60s. Really, the band itself became the world’s seventh-largest economy.
Every time the band markets a product, the competitors are driven out of business. The band has its own police force. Governments from all over the world try their level best not to hinder the band. The band members can commit literally any crime and get away with it. In fact, they are so stupid and dense that they will probably not even realize that their acts are illegal.
Their fanbase is rabid, a million times more rabid than Taylor Swift’s fanbase on twitter during a star twitter feud with Kanye West. They usually are ready to die for the band. The band is literally bringing an apocalypse via death metal. This destructive popularity garners the attention from a group known as The Tribunal, which is similar to the Illuminati in the Metalocalypse world. It monitors Dethklok’s activities and it tries to maintain the status quo whenever any antic by Dethklok comes into play.
The leader of the Tribunal, Mr. Salacia, learns of a prophecy that talks about how the band was able to be this ridiculously popular. The association tries to thwart the band and disband them by calling in psychotropic drug manufacturers, celebrity depression experts, and other questionable people to infiltrate the group. One of the Tribunal members, the military leader named General Crozier, even yearns for the death of the band members.
With drugs, death, lots of violence, and hyperbolic black humor being brought into play, Metalocalypse is a perfect match for the Adult Swim. It also brings up many other mature themes such as the drawbacks of fame as it makes a parody of heavy metal culture while celebrating it. The show also revels in profanity but what’s cool is that being a show about a metal band, the curse words are beeped out with pinch harmonics instead of a regular beep sound.
Frisky Dingo
Next up we have this adult animated cartoon created by Matt Thompson and Adam Reed for Adult Swim. It is centered around a superhero named Awesome X, who is also a billionaire called Xander Crews, and a supervillain named Killface. The two are involved in a conflict between one another as the show makes fun of the cliches from action and superhero movies.
Killface has a dream – he wants to blast Earth into the Sun but in superhero movies, the villain cockily announces their destructive plans to the world. Killface wants to do the same. He also wants to show off the Annihilatrix, a device that will bring their doom. However, he does not have the fortune or the technology to carry out his plans.
On the opposite end, inspired by Batman, we have Xander Crews, a billionaire, playboy superhero or Awesome X who is being forced to settle down by his advisor. Being a goofy guy who is interested in being a superhero and does not pay heed to his family business, he has run the business to the ground. He has also defeated every villain in town, which prompts his advisor to ask him to focus on the business instead.
But then Killface, a man who needs 12 billion dollars for the execution of his plans, comes into play for this billionaire hero. Their relationship changes throughout the course of the show as Killface and Awesome X go from being enemies to allies, albeit unwillingly, on several occasions. They are also voiced by the same voice actor – Adam Reed.
During a particular arc, Killface and Xander ran against each other to be the President.
As an adult animated series, its dialogues revel in obscenity from time to time, making the show unsuitable for children. The humor can be quite crude but it all works well together, giving the show both critical acclaim and love from the masses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJpBus8shFo
The Maxx
This show is based on an American comic book series of the same name by Sam Keith. The titular hero, Maxx, experiences an adventure in two different worlds – the real world and an alternate reality known as the Outback. He is two different people in different realities.
In the main reality, he is a vagrant and a homeless man who lives in a box. Whereas, in Outback, he is a powerful guy who protects the Jungle Queen, a woman who also exists in the real world under the name Julie Winters. She is a social worker who has bailed a homeless Maxx out of jail on several occasions. However, unlike Maxx, Julie is unaware of the existence of Outback but the story explores it all.
Julie is also shown to have had terrible experiences throughout college where she has been sexually assaulted and left to die. To deal with the trauma, she escapes to the Outback, to use it as a coping mechanism, similar to how people daydream and use other escapist methods to deal with a depressing life.
However, this place exists only in the subconscious and here, she becomes the Jungle Queen. As she spends more and more time in this world, she becomes unstable in reality. After accidentally hitting a homeless man with her car, she unintentionally links him to her Outback.
A serial rapist named Mr. Gone has a telepathic link to Julie. He has access to people’s Outbacks. When he constantly phones Julie, she shrugs him off as an obscene phone caller. The homeless man who Julie had come into contact with is now called Maxx. He comes into play as he gets in Gone’s way to protect Julie from him in both worlds.
The story also dives into Julie’s backstory. As she begins to heal herself and her outback. Other characters such as Sara are introduced, who had quite an uneventful life.
The series glosses over several mature themes that are unfit for a younger audience. Sexual harassment and depression are brought under the light and the existence of the Outback itself. It is a dark thing to think about – a place where people are able to escape from monotony- to cope with their real life trauma.
Korgoth of Barbaria
The legendary Aaron Springer needs little introduction. He has worked as a storyboard artist for some of the most renowned animated shows such as Samurai Jack, SpongeBob Square Pants, and Dexter’s Laboratory. He is the one responsible for creating Korgoth of Barbaria.
The story is set in a post-apocalyptic or a dystopian world. Here, remnants of technology exist alongside sorcery. Korgoth, who is the main character, catches an infection from a lethal parasite called Gog Ma Gogg. He has to steal an item called “The Golden Goblin of the Fourth Age ” from a sorcerer known as Specules. Korgoth goes to his castle with his henchmen while killing people along the way.
When they reach the castle, they plunder it. Korgoth tries to get his hands on the Golden Goblin when Specules returns to his castle. Korgoth had assumed that he was dead but the sorcerer was just on vacation. Korgoth and his men are attacked but he proves himself to be more or less immune to the wizard’s attack.
Several things play out as the two fight and it is evident that the character is a parody of Conan the Barbarian. However, this is just a pilot episode that was planned for a longer television series.
Cartoon’s try to stay away from showing severe ruthlessness, blood, and often it will alter its dialogues to prevent the characters from using the word ‘kill’ (which is something we see Azula do a lot throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender). Korgoth is a barbaric man, a merciless savagery, who gets his affinity for violence from his Viking heritage. The cartoon does not shy away from showing Korgoth in his full glory as a violent main character, making it an ideal addition to the list. Similar to several other entries on this list, Korgoth Of Barbaria was aired on Adult Swim.
Ugly Americans
This adult animated sitcom was created by Devin Clark. Ugly Americans revolves around the life of a social worker called Mark Lilly who works at the Department of Integration. However, it takes place in an alternate universe where New York City is inhabited by magical creatures and monsters.
Mark Lilly comes off as an upbeat guy who relocates to Manhattan, a place where humans coexist with beasts and demons. He finds employment in the United States Department of Homeland Security as he works in Integration as a social worker. His job is to help the non-human population become a part of the city and mingle with the humans.
His room mate is a hypersexual zombie. His girlfriend is a succubus, who is also the daughter of Satan and wants to bring the end of days. In his experience, Mark tries to keep being the upbeat guy he is while staying politically correct as he works with his bizarre companions.
The show is full of obscenities as Mark maneuvers life with the rest of the freak show of a cast. Their adventures are bizarre and often do not make sense. As an adult cartoon, the show does not shy away from vulgar dialogues or sexual innuendoes and connotations. It even has sexual scenes and the first season is notorious for its vulgar nature.
Moonbeam City
Created by Scott Gairdner, Moonbeam City is an adult animated series. It is characterized by its futuristic animated visuals, which take inspiration from the 80s with its heavy neon lighting. A synthwave soundtrack adds a cherry on top.
The story revolves around an undercover detective called Dazzle Novak. For the lack of a better word, it is safe to say that he is an idiot. He patrols the streets and locks criminals up. However, he commits more crimes than those criminals.
His chief, Pizzaz Miller, is a glamorous and seductive woman who overlooks the works of the handsome detective. Meanwhile, Rad Cunningham is a rookie detective who considers Dazzle to be his rival. He is also waiting for Dazzle to fail. With these situations working against the idiotic detective, he has to get involved in doing some real work.
The show glosses over various adult and dark themes. Violence is a norm here with its several shoot-out sequences, scenes where a character’s head is shown to be stabbed. There is a hefty amount of gore and dead bodies are shown and joked about.
Sex also plays a huge role via the visuals. Dazzle himself is a womanizer who sleeps with several women. Strip clubs are animated with lap dancing sequences. Of course, their dialogues contain solid amounts of profanity. Some are aired while the others are beeped. There’s references to hard drugs as well. Basically, anything and everything that can make a show R-rated is present in this cartoon.
Harvey Birdman
Adult Swim gets another entry with Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. It was created by Erik Richter and Michael Ouweleen and revolves around activities involving the Sebben & Sebben law firm. It is a firm with a predominantly superhero staff.
Ex-superhero Harvey Birdman from Birdman and the Galaxy Trio works as an attorney here with cartoon stars from the Hanna Barbera cartoons. His clients are also the characters from the 1960s and 1970s era of the Hanna Barbera cartoon.
Harvey acts as both a defense attorney and civil litigator, depending on what the plot calls for while he goes against rival attorneys from his former cartoon series. The show is dependent on a lot of pop culture references as it takes from many classic animated series from the past. The show also parodies those series with its surrealist comedic style.
The superheroes and supervillains are given eccentric qualities with a notable one being turning a scientist paranoid. Shaggy and Scooby Doo are shown to take drugs for recreation. His legal secretary and former sidekick Avenger, who is a large eagle, keeps the bodies of dead dogs for entertainment and playtime, adding a layer of horror to this already mature cartoon.
The show brings out its corrupt presidency as Birdman tries to take it down but the spoofy satire that is employed makes it an ideal watch for teens who can get the humor instead of kids.
The Awesomes
Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker created the Awesomes as a parody for the Avengers, the Justice League, and the X-Men. A group of superheroes come to the scene and replace an existing superhero team, causing them to disband. However, this new group a.k.a the Awesomes must deal with severe scrutiny from the media and the Government’s skepticism.
Mr. Awesome decides to retire as the leader of the association. His son Prock, who is not a superhero, fills the now empty seats in the superhero association with candidates who had previously been rejected. The Awesomes are not awesome anymore, thanks to their lack of ability and excessive incompetence. But there is no rest for the wicked as diabolical presents a threat to them. The Awesomes have to handle that threat despite being mediocre at best. On top of that, the paparazzi and their reputation as second-class superheroes only make matters worse for them.
With more and more superheroes taking over the modern day movie rosters, there’s room for more spoofs and parodies. The creator of the story being SNL’s head writer Seth Meyers only makes the show even funnier and better. The characters are interesting. Prock’s mild-mannered behavior and social position as the worst superhero in the world makes him an interesting main character.
Several characters have also been voiced by SNL writers with writer Paula Pell voicing a sexy old woman, which should be enough of a giveaway for the show’s mature nature. Sexual innuendoes and strong language are ever present as the male characters obscenely check out women and talk about it in a suggestive manner. Much of the humor might not appeal or make sense to a younger crowd anyway.
Sealab 2021
After Frisky Dingo, writer Adam Reed gets another entry on this list with Sealab 2021, which he created alongside Matt Thompson for Adult Swim. The show is a satire as it parodies the Sealab 2020 series from the 1970s.
Naturally, the series takes place at Sealab which is an underwater research base which is home to almost 250 people. The Sealab was commanded by Captain Michael Murphy and all the people on deck were dedicated to exploring the seas and protecting marine life. During this, the Sealab and the crew had to face several challenges, such as shark attacks, environmental disasters, and giant squids.
However, in the spoof, the crew barely does any work. They’ve all gone off the deep, especially Captain Murphy. During every episode, there is a blowup sequence or someone from the crew dies. However, the show is so episodic that it maintains zero continuity and as a result, the next episode opens with everything intact.
During an episode called ‘The Policy’, we learn about Captain Murphy drowning in his credit card bill. To pay it off, he forces the crew members to search for treasure. In the episode ‘Craptastic Voyage’, which boasts a profanity in its title itself, the crew members shrink to microscopic sizes as they try to destroy a tumor in Shank’s head. There is a lot of sex, blurred nudity, drug abuse, and of course, violence, that helps the show stay true to its nature as a series under Adult Swim’s arsenal.
What makes it really funny is how the themes of the episodes have absolutely no connection to underwater research stations. A dying orphan who comes to Sealab after being sent by the Final Wish Foundation turns out to be a fraud who is wanted by Interpol. Why is he wanted by Interpol? Because he wants to fleece Sealab of his millions. This theme itself takes the cake for being so ridiculous that it is funny.
Clone High
Clone high or Clone High U.S.A. is an adult cartoon series created by Bill Lawrence, Christopher Miller, and Phil Lord. It is set in a high school where the students are clones of renowned historical figures.
The world’s greatest minds have been cloned. They have then been enrolled into the same high school. But how did they come to be? Well, the government had a secret plan – to dig up historical figures and clone them. The plan is a success and Clone High gets the craziest lead cast one can think of with Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Mahatma Gandhi, and John F. Kennedy being linked to each other.
Lincoln is a nice guy but he has lustful feelings towards an extremely sexy Cleopatra. However, Lincoln loses out to the high school hottie JFK, who just happens to be Cleopatra’s boyfriend because why not. Abraham Lincoln is also best friends with the party animal Gandhi and the angsty goth girl who is in love with him, Joan of Arc. They are all different from their historical counterparts because they could not live up to the legacy. Gandhi actually became a party animal as he cracked under pressure from trying to live up to the original Gandhi.
The show deals with problems that can be faced by teenagers in high school such as sleep deprivation, your crush liking someone else over you, catching ADD from toilet seats because it is totally not genetic, and the likes.
If Abe Lincoln gets to marry Cleopatra, he should totally call her his Babe Lincoln. The cast for the minor characters makes the weirdest historical cocktail. Julius Caesar, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, with Napoleon Bonaparte.
The humor aside, the high school has a drug dealer who sells the hardest drug of all time – raisins. It’s the same as claiming that you’re a raging metalhead and then claiming Bring Me The Horizon to be your favorite metal band.
Okay maybe not that bad. Cleopatra’s mother is an alcoholic, JFK and Cleopatra seem very open to venturing out with their sexuality, there are broken bones and lost teeth, dark comedy, and body horror. Clone High also circles around another lesser ventured into territory for cartoons – the Madonna Whore Complex, a complex where a man cannot lust over the woman he falls in love with and cannot love the woman he lusts for.
Disenchantment
This satirical fantasy by Matt Groening is the last entry on this list. It is set in Dreamland, a medieval fantasy kingdom. Bean is a rebellious princess. She is also an alcoholic, making her the most ideal main character imaginable. She has a naive elf called Elfo for a companion, and is joined by Luci, her destructive personal demon.
This trio tries to find their purpose while the kingdom of Dreamland crumbles around them. She has a hard life with having to choose between becoming a responsible adult versus living a lavish, leisurely life because it is a problem no one but Bean has faced.
Elfo and Luci act like the angel and the demon that appear on a character’s shoulder while they try to make decisions. Luci is literally a spawn of Satan and the name isn’t some cutesy spelling for Lucy but it takes inspiration from Lucifer. The trio go on several misadventures. Bean bands up with thieves and does whatever she wants to. Elfo has strange motives as he is an overly positive guy who leaves a good life for a crappy one so that he can appreciate the good life better. He also has a crush on Bean.
It is unclear whether she is a good girl or a bad girl. But the black versus white perspective is not very predominant outside the world of children, which makes Bean a regular teenage girl who is just pushing her boundaries.
What did you think of these cartoons? Did you enjoy this video? If yes, then do not forget to like and comment on this video. Till then, goodbye. And have a great day!