20 Best Animated TV Shows of 2021

We tend to think about animation as a genre, but that’s not exactly a correct definition. Animation is a type of storytelling that can encompass any genre in a multitude of styles. The possibilities are endless, only limited by our imagination. 

2021 was a fabulous year for animation. Long-running stalwarts returned to offer comfort and escape, new shows took us to far-off worlds, and creators from across the field told poignant tales with breathtaking visuals. 

Given the abundance of exceptional content produced this year, it was no easy task narrowing this list to just 20 items, but we managed to do it. 

In no particular order, here are the 20 Best Animated TV Shows of 2021:

1. Arcane (Netflix)

Arcane brings the world of the massively popular game League of Legends to life. It’s a prequel that tells the origin story of some of the game’s most popular champions, but you don’t need to know anything about the game to be entirely captivated by it. 

The series is visually stunning. The animators blend 3D CGI with 2D hand-drawn animation to give it a unique oil painting style.

Most of the series’ expansive worldbuilding and emotional depth are done through visual storytelling, even the most exciting fight scene moves the characters’ arc forward because of how the show plays with its style. 

Arcane also boasts a fantastic cast which includes Academy Award nominee Hailee Steinfeld. Steinfeld does a tremendous job anchoring the story as Vi. The MVP of the series is Ella Purnell, who plays fan-favorite Jinx.

Purnell has the difficult task of capturing Jinx’s rage and volatility while reminding viewers she is still that vulnerable, hurt little girl we met initially. She does it brilliantly. The more terrifying Jinx is, the more heartbroken we feel. 

At every level, Arcane raises the bar for video game adaptations. The different elements work together to make it a tragic, emotional gut punch that you can’t look away from. 

Arcane is rated TV-14.

2. Owl House (Disney Channel)

The Owl House is an absolute joy. Now in its second season, the series has only gotten better. This season’s twists and turns have moved the story in unexpected and exciting directions. All of which has made its current hiatus feel excruciatingly long.

The characters have developed in beautiful ways too. All of the lead characters have had relatable and meaningful stories that reveal new layers and help us understand how they got to be who they are.

You cannot discuss The Owl House without talking about its fantastic LGBTQ+ representation. It can’t be overstated what a big deal it is for a show like this to have a queer romance become cannon during the middle of its run.

It’s not just one queer ship on The Owl House, either. The series has multiple LGBTQ+ characters, including Raine Whispers, a non-binary character from Eda’s past — played by Avi Roque, a trans-non-binary actor — who was introduced this season.

The Owl House is not only one of the best-animated or fantasy shows on TV. It also expands the quality of LGBTQ+ representation in children and family programming and sets a standard for shows that will follow.  

The Owl House is rated TV-Y7.

3. Infinity Train (HBOMax)

Infinity Train is one of the most inventive shows you’ll find on your TV. Each season the show follows different passengers that board the titular Infinity Train. As you might expect, this is no ordinary train.

Each car of this train contains a different world. One car might be a world of talking Corgis, while another might be a scene out of a western with giant talking bugs as its inhabitants.

In many ways, Infinity Train Season 4 is the inverse of its much-lauded 3rd season. Where Season 3 was a dramatic tragedy about an unhealthy relationship, Season 4 is a more intimate story of reconnection. 

The intimate nature of Season 4’s story and the genuine bond at the heart of the relationship between its protagonists, Ryan and Min-Gi, makes it Infinity Train’s most heartwarming season. 

Sadly, Infinity Train Season 4 is the final season, which is a shame. There was a lot of this world left to explore. Still, while Infinity Train’s conclusion as a series may feel unfinished, Ryan and Min-Gi’s story was a heartening chapter to end on. 

Infinity Train is rated TV-PG.

4. Tuca and Bertie (Adult Swim)

Tuca and Bertie Season 2 almost never happened. Originally a Netflix show, the streamer canceled it after just one season despite critics’ positive response and near-universal acclaim. Lucky for us, Cartoon Network stepped in and saved the show, giving it a home in its Adult Swim block of programming.

Tuca and Bertie is thriving as part of Adult Swim, already earning a third season renewal. The series hasn’t lost a step creatively in the transition either. If anything, it has only become more confident and sure of the story it wants to tell. 

Just as in Season 1, Season 2 uses whimsical humor and surreal animation to examine anxiety, gender, and trauma. It often uses its unique visual style to evoke the messy, uncomfortable feelings many of us have with more resonance than any dialogue could. 

Despite the often heavy topics it covers, the series never feels bleak. Instead, it is cathartic and affirming. It is a show about friendship and love that ultimately makes it uplifting and optimistic. 

Tuca and Bertie is rated TV-MA.

5. Amphibia (Disney Channel)

For two seasons, fans of Amphibia have followed the adventures of Anne Boonchuy and the Plantars in Amphibia, a world of talking amphibians and reptiles.

However, in the Season 2 finale, Anne is transported back home — with the Plantars in tow — completely flipping the script. It was a bold choice that has more than paid off.

Bringing Anne back to Earth has given viewers the chance to get to know Anne’s delightful parents and underscores how much she’s grown now that she is the host rather than a guest. 

It also allowed the series to incorporate more of the Boonchuys’ Thai culture into the show. One of the season’s most touching episodes, for instance, takes place during the family’s visit to a Thai temple. It’s a fantastic example of how to do representation right and why it’s essential to have diverse storytellers behind the scenes. 

Amphibia Season 3 will be its last season. It will be sad to say goodbye to the characters, but we are in for one final wild ride before we have to.

Amphibia is rated TV-Y7.

6. gen:LOCK (HBOMax)

gen:LOCK takes place in a future version of Earth where the Polity — formerly the UN — is at war with a fanatical religious faction known as the Union. Things look bleak for the Polity until Dr. Rufus Weller (voiced by David Tennent) develops gen:LOCK technology that allows certain people to upload their minds into giant mech suits called Holons.

If the show just stopped there, it would still have the makings of an entertaining military sci-fi, but the series is more than that. The series also examines themes of identity and what makes someone who they are. 

Season 2 has complicated the politics of the war. The line between the good guys and the bad guys has blurred, making the political intrigue of the series as fascinating as the intrapersonal conflict.

The more we learn about the world of gen:LOCK, the more fraught and ambiguous everything is revealed to be. It all adds up to an intriguingly tangled drama and an exciting adventure.

gen:LOCK is rated TV-PG.

7. Bob’s Burgers (Fox)

Bob’s Burgers is currently airing its twelfth season and has a movie coming in 2022 for a reason: it’s a delicious comfort show with someone everyone in the family can relate to.

Whether you are a parent just trying to make it through the workday or just someone who marches to the beat of your own drum, one of the Belchers has had a misadventure that feels familiar or makes you laugh out loud.

Many people have a Jimmy Pesto in their professional lives who is constantly trying to one-up them or a friend like Teddy who just doesn’t understand the definition of boundaries.

Life is constantly stressful, so it’s nice to have Bob’s Burgers to rely on when you need to escape-watch Tina’s boy-crazy antics or curl up on the couch to see what goes wrong with Bob’s Thanksgiving turkey this year. 

Bob’s Burgers is rated TV-PG.

8. Kid Cosmic (Netflix)

Kid Cosmic is a show that might have flown under many people’s radar, which is surprising given its pedigree. The series received praise from critics and was created by Craig McCracken, who also made Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and the iconic The PowerPuff Girls.

The series is a love letter to classic superhero comics and 1950s B-movie sci-fi. It leans into nostalgia through its style and character design while playing with and modernizing many of the tropes popular in sci-fi and superhero stories. 

Season 2 focuses on the newly appointed team leader, Jo, and expands the show’s scope by bringing them — along with the town’s diner and all its patrons — into space.  Both of which are great decisions.

Not only is the diner in space a neat visual, but it gives Jo a great storyline about what it means to be a good leader and fleshes out her relationship with her Mom, Flo. 

Kid Cosmic is a fun, high-energy show with a lot of heart. If it wasn’t on your radar before, it definitely should be. 

Kid Cosmic is rated TV-Y7.

9. Star Trek: Prodigy (Paramount+)

The newest addition to the Star Trek franchise is the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy. Ostensibly, Prodigy is a Star Trek series for kids, but it can really be enjoyed by all ages and by Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. 

Fans of the show Farscape might find the basic plot familiar. A rag-tag team of prisoners escapes on a stolen ship with one of the other side’s members held captive. Instead of a sentient living ship, the ship is a Star Fleet vessel with an AI version of Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Janeway (voiced by Kate Mulgrew herself).

We’re currently only halfway through Season 1, so there are still a lot of questions and unknowns to discover.

But in the handful of episodes that have aired, Prodigy has already set up quite the adventure. An adventure that will include a redemption arc, a found family, good old-fashioned sci-fi mystery, and plenty of strange new worlds to explore. 

Star Trek: Prodigy is rated TV-Y7.

10. Short Circuit (Disney+)

Disney let their animators’ imaginations run free on the anthology series, Short Circuit. For the series, Disney employees pitch ideas for short animated films. If chosen, the employee then works with a team to create it. 

People who are chosen are encouraged to take risks both visually and narratively. The result is a small treasure trove of innovation that ranges from abstract high concept shorts to deeply personal shorts that express a range of human experiences. 

One of the best parts about Short Circuit is that each film includes an introduction from the animator where they discuss the inspiration for their idea and the creative process of bringing it to life. The interviews add context and background to each short, making for a fuller viewing experience. 

With only five episodes making up the season, Season 2 goes by way too fast. Still, each episode is a little burst of artistry and creativity wrapped up in a neat little package. 

Short Circuit is rated TV-PG.

11. Inside Job (Netflix)

What if all the most eccentric conspiracy theories your weird uncle sent you were real? What’s more, what if they were all managed by a secret corporation that is — at best — morally ambivalent.  Well, then you’d have Netflix’s new animated show Inside Job.

Fans of shows like American Dad!, Futurama, and Archer will see the influence of those shows on Inside Job’s style and tone. That might be a convincing reason to check it out, but hardly the only one. 

One of those other reasons is the show’s main character, Reagan. Reagan is a curmudgeon with some maniacal tendencies who — despite our better judgment — we root for.

Her dysfunctional relationship with her dad and her begrudging friendship with new team co-leader, Brett, drive the show’s narrative tension — the former enabling her worst instincts and the latter encouraging her best. Watching Reagan become more human as her friendship with Brett grows is one of the best parts of the season.

Most importantly, Inside Job is very funny. Whether it’s replacing the President with a super-advanced AI or real sheeple in the cloning lab, Inside Job is precisely the kind of outlandish escape that 2021 called for. 

Inside Job is rated TV-MA

12. Housebroken (Fox)

Housebroken is about a collection of suburban pets that regularly get together for group therapy sessions. How could any self-respecting pet owner not be intrigued with a premise like that?

The series is a clever take on the popular “what are animals really thinking” trope. The show’s wit isn’t surprising, though, since it was created by Clea DuVall (who also stars), Jennifer Crittenden, and Gabrielle Allan, who are all VEEP alumni. It also boasts an all-star cast led by Lisa Kudrow.

Housebroken works so well because the characters don’t feel generic.

Yes, most of the show’s charm and humor comes from how we expect each species to perceive things and seeing personalities we project onto our pets play out each episode. Still, each group member is also a well-defined character with a unique personality.

There is as much humor in each pets’ personal idiosyncrasies and group dynamic as there is in imagining your dog too embarrassed to go outside because the groomer gave them a bad haircut.

One final note, if you aren’t annoying your pet with questions about their dreams and anxieties, at least occasionally while you watch, you’re doing it wrong. 

Housebroken is rated TV-14.

13. Invincible (Amazon Prime)

Invincible has all the markings of a classic superhero story.

Its animation style evokes a certain optimism we associate with golden-age comic books and Saturday morning cartoons. But the series has more in common with another Amazon Studio show, The Boys, than Superman or Captain America. 

Based on the comics by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker, Invincible tells the story of Mark Grayson, the only son of the world’s most famous superhero, as he comes into his powers and tries to follow in his father’s footsteps. 

At first, that seems like it will be exactly the story Invincible tells. But a shocking twist at the end of Invincible Season 1 Episode 1, “It’s About Time,” takes things in a much different direction. It sets up a season-long mystery that isn’t so much a who done it, but why.

While Invincible shares some of The Boys’ dark cynicism and subversion of superhero tropes, it is also a coming of age story. The clash of that type of story’s idealism with the series’ darker elements drives much of the character development.

The idealism makes many of the truths revealed all the more devastating but ultimately keeps Invincible the story of a hero, just not the story you were expecting.

Invincible is rated TV-MA.

14. What If… (Disney+)

What If…? might just be the MCU’s most unconventional small-screen achievement. It breathes new life into the Marvel stories we love, bringing more marginal characters to the forefront and fan-fiction to fruition with a simple, brilliant tweak.

While exploring the multiverse, the series also pays homage to the past.

Its animated world is a minefield of nostalgic easter eggs and iconic dialogue, wrapped in the kind of dynamic comic-book storytelling that replicates the giddiness of watching some of our favorite MCU films for the first time.

The series dreams big and has an extensive arsenal of voice actors to work with, faithfully bringing this concept to life.

What If…? is rated TV-PG.

15. Dug Days (Disney+)

Everyone’s favorite talking Golden Retriever, Dug, got his own spinoff in 2021 with Disney’s Dug Days, and it is everything you would expect it to be. It is sweet, earnest, and sentimental. In other words, it is lovely. 

Carl and Dug — now living together in a new home — are such cherished characters that the real joy of Dug Days is just getting to spend time with them again. The quiet moments between Dug and Carl are the best parts of the series. Those moments make it one of the best animated shows of 2021. 

There is also something a little bittersweet about watching Dug Days as it was released two days after Ed Asner, who played Carl, died. It’s sad to think that we won’t get to hear Asner play Carl again. He was such a big part of what made that character so beloved.

Still, knowing it’s the last time we’ll see Carl played by Asner is just another reason to treasure this wonderful little series.

Dug Days is rated TV-G.

16 Trese (Netflix)

Based on the Filipino comic of the same name, Trese follows supernatural detective Alexandra Trese as she tries to fend off otherworldly threats and maintain a strained peace among the different factions of creatures living in Malian.

The series, like the comic, is an urban fantasy/ horror and genuinely creepy.

It takes its supernatural inspiration from Filipino folklore, which we haven’t seen before. It’s fascinating to see new creatures or new versions of creatures that span multiple cultures, especially invested fans can look up the different creatures to get more context and background for an even richer viewing experience.

In addition to the monster of the week, there is an ongoing story involving Trese’s past. The series does a great job balancing the week-to-week procedural elements with its more serialized elements, both of which come together by the end of Season 1 for a fantastic finale. 

Trese is rated TV-MA.

17 Castlevania (Netflix)

Netflix’s popular show about a rugged monster-hunter, Castlevania, premiered its fourth and final season this year. With a cast of characters that has continued to expand over the show’s run, Season 4 packed in plenty of action and horror to impress fans.

With the threat of Dracula’s return, Trevor fights Death itself in one of the most epic matchups of the entire series. And who can forget Isaac’s final (and extremely bloody) confrontation with everyone’s favorite girl boss, vampire Carmilla?

Most importantly, we got the reunion of Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard. This trio is the heart of the show, and it was wonderful to see them back together after everything they’ve been through.

As sad as it is to have the show end, there is a silver lining. Due to its popularity, Netflix is already working on a spin-off that will follow Sypha and Trevor’s son. Long live the Belmonts! 

Castlevania is rated TV-MA.

18. Big Mouth (Netflix)

Love is in the air on Big Mouth, or, more accurately, Love Bugs and Hate Worms are the latest creatures to mess with the kids of Bridgeton Middle School. 

Big Mouth Season 5 still has all the things it’s known for. It is still full of awkward, gross-out humor. It wouldn’t be a show about puberty if it weren’t gross after all.

The cast is still a top-notch collection of some of the funniest people in Hollywood delivering lines that make you snort-laugh. But there’s also something new. 

This season, just as the kids were maybe getting a handle on this whole puberty thing, a new weird feeling made an appearance, love. 

The series connects love and hate through the Love Bugs that can turn into Hate Worms. That push and pull between love and hate is the source of particularly great character arcs for Missy and Andrew this season. 

Big Mouth has always combined its abundance of blunt sex jokes with smart insights into the confusing and often mortifying experience of growing up. Season 5 five is no exception. It makes clear exactly why Big Mouth is one of Netflix’s longest-running series.

Big Mouth is rated TV-MA.

19. The Great North (Fox)

One of the newer animated series on the list, The Great North premiered this year on FOX. The series follows the Alaskan adventures of the Tobin family, as a single dad, Beef (played Nick Offerman), does his best to keep his children close.

This comedy is as endearing as they come, and the characters are immediately loveable. It’s funny, fun comfort TV that’s a joy to watch. And as an added bonus, Alanis Morrisette shows up as one character’s imaginary friend, who appears to her in the Northern Lights.

Other cast members include Jenny Slate, Will Forte, Dulcé Sloan, Paul Rust, Aparna Nancherla, and Megan Mullally.

The Great North is rated TV-14.

20. Archer (FXX)

After 12 seasons, Archer is without question one of the most culturally relevant animated shows to be produced.

Over the years, the series has shown itself to be a chameleon of sorts, constantly reinventing itself and taking the show in new directions.

Fans can disagree about how successful those reinventions were, but they gave the series creative new avenues to go down and new ways to explore characters. 

Still, there is something to be said about remembering what made Archer a hit show when it premiered over a decade ago. Since Season 11, that’s what the show’s creators have done, going back to the series’ roots as a workplace spy comedy. 

That return to basics has given the show new life and made for a fantastic Season 12. Ultimately, though, Season 12 will be remembered as Jessica Walter’s (who died before production had completed) final season and a testament to her talent.

Walter’s voice work as Mallory is a huge reason Season 12 is so good. There is no question that her presence will be missed, but the season — especially the finale — is a fitting tribute to both the character and the actor. 

Archer is rated TV-MA.

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What shows did we miss? What were your favorite animated shows of 2021? Let us know in the comments below! 

Additional contributions from Ashley Bissette Sumerel, Allison Nichols, Esme Mazzeo, and Breeze Riley.

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