Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
Crazy cartoon where the Grim Reaper has a Jamaican accent and is subservient to two psycho kids. This cartoon scratches a particular itch no other cartoon does haha, its good stuff
Edit: by kidult, I mean it has appeal to both audiences with stuff that goes over kids heads often and is probably super inappropriate situations/lessons, and such
Edit: I might be also referring generally to content from outlets/studios like
- Nickolodeon
- Teletoon
- Adult Swim
- CartoonNetwork
- some YTV
- Hannah Barbara
The Angry Beavers was by far my favorite.
Also loved Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.
Oh! Courage the Cowardly Dog
I loved Cow and Chicken. The Red Guy was the best, I loved how he had lil butt cheeks you could see and went by names like “Mr Pants”.
The last one that I can think of is probably Gundum Wing, although I watched a lot of Flinstones reruns growing up as well. Almost everything in both of them went way over my head as a kid.
So Hysteria was a bit hit and miss in terms of how enjoyable it was, but it did land at a time when I was able to record from TV and use it to aid some school presentations. Every single time the teachers would ask where I got this from.
Invader Zim
I still come back to this every once in a while. I loved the dark humor plus the childish humor mixed with some adult humor though I don’t feel it was on the same level as other shows of the same time as I’ve rewatched it, which has surprised me.
Mega Babies
Horrifying and the theme song is straight out of your worst nightmare but its part of our history lol
Do The Powerpuff Girls fit in this category? Really gory and with some inappropriate themes especially since they’re supposed to be little kindergarten age girls. Loved the show, I occasionally watch an episode as an adult.
Was also a fan of Billy and Mandy, nice to see that one as the post opener.
As for other shows, as a kid I loved watching Aeon Flux and I am still not sure wtf was going on in some of those episodes.
Moral Orel is another great show, smart and witty, although I discovered it as an adult.
Are you implying that Aeon Flux was intended for kids?
No, but I watched it as a kid regardless.
Avatar: The Last Airbender. I could rave about it all day.
Also Gravity Falls like @[email protected] said.
I never watched Justice League much as a kid, but my wife re-introduced it to me as an adult and it’s a pretty great mix of kid-friendly superhero stories with fairly mature themes and plotlines.
Additionally, a less awkward term than “kidult” is just “family entertainment”. Shows/movies/books that can be enjoyed by a wide spectrum of ages.
What camp are you in on the upcoming third Avatar saga?
This is the first I’ve heard of it, but it sounds pretty interesting. The new Avatar being born as one of a set of twins is a very neat idea that I wouldn’t have considered. That can create some really compelling stories on its own.
Btw, if you’re still into animated shows, there’s a few communities around for them.
General animation:
Japanese animation:
Give’em some activity if you’re wanting to share and talk about some animated stuff you’ve been checking out!
Will do
Adventure Time.
Mathematical!
Gravity Falls. A masterpiece of storytelling, wrapped up in family-friendly horror.
I’ll have you know that Ducktective has a big mystery element, and a lot of humour that goes over kids heads!
Star Wars: Clone Wars, it has super inappropriate war crimes.
Honestly insane show. It jumps between some of the best and most critical Star Wars media ever made to a fucking Jar Jar and droids episode without batting an eye. Asajj Ventress especially might be the greatest girlboss in the galaxy.
Clone High’s great too
I feel like clone high leans more to adult than kid.
Haha you’re definitley right, we watched them staying up way past our bedtime lol
Invader Zim might fit the bill here. Created by a guy who also made a comic called Johnny the homicidal maniac
And features writing by his friends that wrote the comic “Lenore“ about a little dead girl.
Probably Animanics, though I was grown up before I watched that. Before that, I suppose Beavis and Butthead and even Simpsons were considered edgy.
“Finger Prince? I didn’t think so.”
I still can’t believe they got that one past the censors.
Samurai Jack, though not really from growing up… (Then again, when do we ever stop growing up? :)
It had great stories and beautiful artwork. But to an adult eye it was obvious that all those “robots” were there to keep it kid friendly.
All that oil was a clear stand-in for tons and tons of blood.
