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Central Theme / Western Animation

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Remember, a Central Theme is not the same as An Aesop; a theme is a question, idea, topic or concept that the text explores, while an Aesop is a conclusion the author reaches about the theme or a lesson they wish to impart to the reader. As such, you should avoid phrasing your examples as conclusions.

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    A-F 
  • Adventure Time: Constancy and change. What continues to exist in the world after other things end.
  • All Grown Up!: The joys and struggles of adolescense.
  • The Amazing World of Gumball:
    • Everyone is "weird" in their own way, and this should be celebrated as what makes them and the world "amazing". Society will try to suppress you and your uniqueness, but there are always people who will love you for all your imperfections.
    • Your friends and loved ones aren't perfect, and their flaws can make your life very difficult sometimes, but that doesn't mean the love between you all isn't there.
    • The world can be a surprisingly harsh, unfair, and miserable place, but it can still be a beautiful and amazing place.
    • The importance of balancing one's idealism and cynicism and the dangers and issues that a person can be forced to deal with when leaning towards one side too much.
  • American Dad!: How one should deal with being confronted with new ideas.
  • Amphibia:
    • Knowing who your real friends are and mutually respecting one another's needs.
    • Things change, and it's healthier to accept that than to obsessively cling to how things were.
  • Arcane:
    • "Corruption". The main cast all face it, whether in society or in themselves. The show hammers down the truth that nothing is ever pure, and that can often be for the best. However, for those willing and able to take a good look at themselves and admit their mistakes, redemption is within reach.
    • "Parenthood". The difficulties, personal sacrifices and imperfect decisions that come along with being a parent casts a long shadow over the show. Everyone wants to do right by their kids no matter who they are but the consequences of their actions, intentional or not, haunt the next generation.
  • Archer:
    • We're all ruled by our vices, and will always make poor decisions because of them.
    • Listening when other people are talking pays off.
  • Avatar saga:
    • Both shows:
      • The flaws and capability of growth of humanity.
      • Misery Builds Character. Life is tough, and sometimes it's gonna kick the crap out of you (physically or mentally), but feeling pain makes you better understand others' situations. Zuko and Korra, in particular, learn this.
      • When watched side by side, and taking Aang and Korra as deliberate Foils, it's clear that The Last Airbender is about a human learning to become a god, whilst The Legend of Korra is about a god learning to become a human, relating to the Taoist balance between heaven and earth.
    • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
      • Destiny and choice.
      • Friendship and enemies becoming friends.
      • Open-mindedness and how it affects one's character.
      • War Is Hell. But forgiveness, love, friendship, and compassion win out over spite, hatred, and fear in the end.
    • The Legend of Korra:
      • Attaining balance, whether it be in an individual, a city, or the world.
      • Recognizing one's own strengths and weaknesses, and by doing so, adapting to your personal environment and situation.
      • Extremism of any sort is bad. All the villains have legitimate points and are well-intentioned, but are all willing to go way too far to achieve what they want, as pointed out to Korra by Toph.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
  • Beast Machines: Bringing life back to earth; like the life cycle of a plant.
  • Ben 10:
    • Make the best out of the cards you are dealt.
    • You shouldn't be a hero for the thrill of it and the praise afterwards. You should be a hero because it's the right thing to do.
  • Big Mouth:
    • Growing Up Sucks but at least we have our loved ones.
    • Being young doesn't excuse you from toxic behavior, in particular toxic behavior done by males towards females.
  • Bob's Burgers: Life may be hard and awkward, but at least you have your family. Even if they are hard and awkward.
  • Bojack Horseman: Family, friendship, love, regret, sadness, depression, escapism, and the human experience. More specifically:
    • The endless pursuit of personal happiness; attempting to conquer depression, with mixed results.
    • Can people really change themselves for the better? Or are they always doomed by their self-destructive behaviors?
    • If you treat someone in your life badly, that will have lasting negative consequences on your relationship with them.
    • Fame and fortune cannot buy happiness, because of the destructive nature of Hollywood and celebrity culture.
    • There is a huge difference between reality and fiction, even if life has a tendency to blur them both.
    • The media consumed by the public plays at least a partial role in shaping the values of our culture, and those making movies and TV shows with harmful messages need to be held accountable for said messages.
    • As for particular seasons:
      • Season 1 focuses on trying to be a good person and doing the right thing.
      • Season 2 focuses on eternal happiness vs immediate pleasure.
      • Season 3 focuses on reputation and impact.
      • Season 4 focuses on The Chain of Harm over the course of generations and the long-term damage of harmful expectations, particularly those placed on women.
      • Season 5 focuses on accountability for your own actions, for the actions of those in your life, and for the art you put out.
      • Season 6 focuses on accepting the past, making peace with it, and looking towards the future, whatever good or bad it might hold.
  • The Boondocks:
    • The positive (and negative) aspects of African-American culture, and how the latter can sometimes veer into outright Modern Minstrelsy.
    • The latent racism and corruption of American society, and the sheer absurdity and unfairness of it all.
    • Tough Love and the proper way to use it. When your advice is constantly ignored, is all you can do let people learn things the hard way?
    • Double consciousness; being one's self versus the pressure to conform in a mostly white environment (especially pronounced in the first episode, with Huey/Riley and Granddad respectively). According to Word of God, this is what the title of the show itself is in reference too; The Boondocks being the scenario of a person of color navigating spaces where they're seen as a minority (like the Freemans in Woodcrest).
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers:
  • Carmen Sandiego:
    • Rediscovering and maintaining the truth while overcoming lies and conspiracies.
    • Earth is full of amazing countries and their treasures must be protected at all costs.
    • Season 3 specifically is themed around masks both in the metaphorical and literal sense.
  • Castlevania (2017):
    • Nihilism vs Humanism. Does a miserable world full of bad people deserve to be destroyed, or is it still worth saving regardless?
    • Knowledge is power. Learning new and useful information is the best method for finding solutions to any problems.
    • Season 3 adds a theme of trust, how easily can it be broken or abused, and how having your trust betrayed damages your future relationships.
  • Centaurworld: The transformative power of love vs the self-destructive power of hate.
  • Central Park: Protecting your community.
  • China, IL: College is chaotic and wild.
  • City of Ghosts: Learning and embracing California's rich past.
  • Clarence: It's possible to find fun and excitement in the boring and mundane.
  • Class of 3000: The role music plays within our lives.
  • The Cleveland Show: The perils and pitfalls of fatherhood, and the joys and challenges of life in a blended family.
  • Clone High: The folly of life as a teenager, particularly high school romance.
  • Close Enough: Clinging to your youth while also figuring out how to become a responsible adult.
  • Code Lyoko: Making the most of second chances.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door: Protecting childhood and accepting that one day you're going to have to grow up, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy your childhood while you still have it.
  • Courage the Cowardly Dog:
    • Protecting the people you love, even when it means going up against the things you fear most.
    • Fear and cowardice aren't necessarily the same thing (which makes the show's title somewhat ironic).
    • Courage is not necessarily the absence of fear, but rather the willingness to confront one's fears even despite being afraid.
  • Craig of the Creek:
    • Childhood and Friendship.
    • Nature and its importance for kids.
  • Cybersix: What does it mean to be human?
  • Daria:
    • The High School Experience and Teenage Years as Rite of Passage for everyone, and how it impacts everyone.
    • Shallowness versus depth: the conflict between keeping the peace and never changing, even if it's mind-numbing or unfulfilling, or owning up to your flaws and imperfections, even at the risk of creating turmoil and strife.
    • Maturity, and what people think that looks like. Being an adult doesn't necessarily make you mature, but even a teenager with a realistic take on the world around them isn't ready to handle its complexities.
  • DC Animated Universe:
  • Dexter's Laboratory: In any pursuit, you're going to fail in small ways, maybe even in big ones. The important thing is learning the right lessons from failure.
  • Disenchantment: Growth, understanding, and knowing who you truly are.
  • The Dragon Prince: Every morally questionable action, no matter how good the intention it was taken with, is ultimately self-serving, will have serious consequences, or both.
  • Duckman: The raw, ugly, and offensive side of life is oftentimes the most sincere.
  • DuckTales:
    • DuckTales (1987): The spirit of adventure and The Power of Family (both biological and found).
    • DuckTales (2017) has the central themes of its predecessor, but adds more:
      • Hard work is its own treasure.
      • It is a parent's duty to raise their children right.
      • Lies, greed and deception can break apart family and friends.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy:
  • F is for Family:
    • The values of The '70s, and how they influenced those living in that time.
    • The "Butterfly Effect" of living in a Dysfunctional Family.
    • A man's fear of being rendered obsolete by his wife.
    • Everyone goes through their own form of trauma and abuse. Although it's tragic and pitiful, it's no excuse for how you treat others. What truly matters is that you try to move forward from it and be better than the person who hurt you so you can end the cycle of harm.
  • The Fairly Oddparents: Be Careful What You Wish For.
  • Family Guy:
    • Family sticking together despite their differences.
    • In earlier seasons, the overall theme seems to be that television has an immutable place in American consciousness, for better or for worse, so we should try to take our inspiration from the better.
    • In later seasons, the overall theme seems to be that the world will drive you crazy, and family will drive you even crazier.
  • Fillmore!: There's always More than Meets the Eye.
  • Final Space: No one's beyond redemption, and anyone, even if they're the lowest of the low, can be a hero.
    Gary: All of us are broken. Just a question of how much and how far we're willing to go to fix it.
  • Futurama:
    • Everyone's a little weird. And that's okay.
    • No matter how much time passes, or how much our technology and world evolves, humanity is always basically the same, for better or worse.
    • Loneliness. Difference. Some ideas remain familiar even after the world has changed enough to become unrecognizable. No matter how different and isolated you are, you can always find common ground with people if you look for it.
    • There is always more to people than you would presume, and no matter how small and insignificant you think you are, how weak and stupid you are, life always has some value and meaning to the people around you.

    G-L 
  • Gargoyles:
  • The Ghost and Molly McGee:
    • You should look at the bright side of things, even when they are awful.
    • The humanity of those believed to have been lost is given another chance to be brought back to life thanks to others and newfound courage.
    • The power of joy is more effective than the power of misery.
  • Gravity Falls:
  • Green Eggs and Ham: Do not take things at face-value, ranging from Michelee and her thinking that Mr. Jenkins the Chickaraffe is dangerous to the audience knowing the truth about Sam and BADGUYS. The extended lyrics to the show's opening "Backflip" adds onto it: "But take any advice with a grain of salt" which reflects that you shouldn't 100% believe everything you see/hear.
  • Harley Quinn (2019): Overcoming Domestic Abuse and finding success as a woman in a male-dominated field, even if that field is being a supervillain.
  • Hazbin Hotel: Redemption. Is it possible for truly bad people to change their ways? Should they be given a chance in the first place? And at what point should you stop giving people another chance?
  • Here Comes Peter Cottontail: Undoing the wrongs you committed to carve a better future.
  • Hey Arnold!: Rousseau Was Right. People in poor circumstances are definitely able to find happiness in their circumstance.
  • Hilda:
    • Overall, the show is themed around growing up and rediscovering/maintaining the magic of childhood innocence.
    • Friends can come from unlikely places.
    • The struggles and importance of motherhood.
    • Season 1 is about leaving a part of your childhood behind to adjust into adolescence, which is represented mainly through Hilda leaving her secluded home in the woods and adapting to living in Trollberg.
    • Season 2 is about setting up proper boundaries between being independent and taking account of others' feelings, which is represented mainly through Hilda's conflicting relationship with her mother.
  • I Am Weasel: Friends can be polar opposites and an Odd Friendship is OK, and those who seem evil are The Boo Radley sometimes.
  • I ♡ Arlo: Understanding people's needs and building a community where everyone can be accepted.
  • Infinity Train:
    • In gerneral, the cartoon and point of the train itself is about working through your problems.
    • How Generational Trauma bleeds into the future and the actions have consequences.
    • Each season tends to focus on one theme over others:
    • According to Owen, each season has a central theme and if it were to be continued it would have gone as followed:
      • Book 1: Reality. Learning how to heal from the past trauma. Things won't always go your way and that's fine.
      • Book 2: Identity. Learning about yourself, what you identify as and how to maintain/respect it.
      • Book 3: Empathy. Learning to care about others, especially those different than you and that while anyone can change, they need to actively want to change to do so.
      • Book 4: Communication. Learning how to properly talk about what you want and need and trying to repair a broken bond.
      • Book 5: Grief.
      • Book 6: Guilt.
      • Book 7: Vengeance.
      • Book 8: Acceptance.
  • Inside Job (2021): Learning to cooperate, understand and work well with others in a world where the manipulation and lies of others puts said ideals down.
  • Invader Zim:
    • Progress is never inevitable in any civilization (human or otherwise). Technology can hinder society's development as easily as it can advance it, since it often frees people from needing to think or pay attention to what's happening around them.
    • The inherently flawed nature of all societies and cultures, and the people within them. The "enemy at the gates" is often every bit as clueless and ignorant as the civilization that he's trying to bring down, and rebellious nonconformists are often just as messed-up as the culture that they're at odds with.
  • Invincible (2021):
    • What does it mean and take to be a superhero?
    • Being a hero is far from easy or enjoyable; it requires surviving all kinds of very serious risks not only to one's life and safety, but also their overall mental/physical health and their personal relationships with others.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures: X must defeat X; fighting fire with fire.
  • Johnny Bravo: Creeps never prosper.
  • Kid Cosmic: Being a hero isn't about being the strongest or defeating the most villains. It's about being compassionate and helping others in their time of need. Each season is also catered to an aspect of growing up to become a better person.
    • Season 1: Reconstructing childhood idealism and self-centeredness to adapt with reality (Kid)
    • Season 2: Learning how to be a good leader during your adolescence (Jo)
    • Season 3: The importance of sacrifice and how to incorporate into adulthood (Papa G)
  • King of the Hill: The Good Old Ways will always have a place in a modern world, even if they have to adapt somewhat.
  • Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: The world is better than it may appear, so kindness and trust will take you further than prejudice and secrecy.
  • The Legend of Tarzan: Balancing responsibilities.
  • Little Einsteins: The value of art and music.
  • The Loud House: The ups and downs of living in a large family.

    M-S 
  • The Magic School Bus: Learning about nature and the world is even more fun with your friends.
  • The Midnight Gospel: Talking about enlightenment is not the same thing as being enlightened.
  • Milo Murphy's Law: Maintaining a positive attitude when everything goes wrong, because things going wrong often opens new doors and makes thing more exciting.
  • Mixels:
    • Creativity is an important aspect of life.
    • Teamwork can help solve problems.
  • Moral Orel:
    • Just because kids are prone to mistakes doesn't mean adults are any better.
    • People will often misinterpret The Bible in order to serve themselves and exploit others, instead of staying true to its teachings, and that will make monster out of them.
    • Doing the right thing, even if it means going against traditional values espoused by your community.
    • Staying optimistic in a Crapsack World.
    • The path to hell is always paved with good intentions.
  • My Gym Partner's a Monkey: Surviving the harsh and absurd environment that is middle school as an outsider.
  • My Life as a Teenage Robot: Balancing the responsibility of being a robot superheroine and the desires of being a teenage girl.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Overall: Friendship is a powerful force that can connect all of us, and lets us accomplish far more then we can achieve on our own.
    • Season two: Maintaining friendship isn't easy.
    • Season three: Everyone is special in their own way, and everyone has an important part to play.
    • Season four: Maintaining a friendship after life begins to separate you, and growing into a position of responsibility.
    • Season five: You may have trouble moving on from a past mishap or leaving a dilemma in your life behind, but having friends is key to breaking those chains.
    • Season six: Becoming a better friend and atoning for your mistakes is something that anyone can do.
    • Season seven: Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. You should value talking things out and listening over trying to force your opinions.
    • Season eight: There's more to each and every individual than meets the eye.
    • Season nine: Preparing for change and understanding that friends may drift apart one day.
  • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes: Learning how to be the best version of yourself by accepting and reconstructing both good and bad character traits.
  • Over the Garden Wall: Things aren't always what they seem.
  • The Owl House:
    • Embracing and loving the weird and unconventional parts of yourself, and finding a community with other weird and unconventional people.
    • Judgment, labels, and how other people perceive you.
    • Guilt, responsibility, and how best to move on from the mistakes you've made in the past.
  • Phineas and Ferb:
    • Make the most out of every day you've got.
    • The importance and greatness of idealism and creativity.
  • Pinky and the Brain: The impracticality of supposed intelligence, the wisdom of supposed stupidity, the subjectivity of intelligence.
  • The PJs: Making the most of what you have, however little it may be.
  • Primal (2019):
    • Surviving in a savage world.
    • There are things that connect us all - things like survival, love, loss and grief - which can connect strangers, species... and enemies.
    • No matter how civilized we appear, all of us can descend into savagery when backed into a corner.
    • The world may be savage, but it is still beautiful, and that is worth preserving.
  • Rankin Bass Christmas Specials
    • Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: Being the odd one out, the ways people discriminate against you because of your oddities, and finding solace among those who are also nonconforming. The possibility that your unique traits will actually come in handy.
    • The Little Drummer Boy: However justified your spite toward everyone else is, you'll have to forego it at some point. Is it possible to bear gifts you can't give?
    • Frosty the Snowman:
      • For the first half, adult disbelief in the face of magic contrasting with the children's genuine fascination with it.
      • The remainder of the special is about the contrasting requisites of Frosty and human beings regarding their survival, and how these needs present an obstacle in their friendship.
      • For Professor Hinkle, chasing things that were once yours but now belong to someone else will bring out the worst in you.
    • Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town:
    • The Year Without a Santa Claus: Effecting change amongst others to return everything to normal, even if you have to go the extra mile for that to happen.
    • Rudolph's Shiny New Year: Laughter; is it always the mocking kind? A missing person who keeps running away from everyone only makes it harder to bring them home.
    • Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey: The one who finds their way to greatness is also the one who started off experiencing grave tragedy.
    • Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July:
      • Lying, trusting strangers, and betraying your wisdom to save your skin will not benefit you in the long run. If you're willing to undo your errors and mend the cracks in your friendships, you can return to being your best self.
      • For the villains, resorting to duplicity to earn something, whether or not they've gotten their hands on it before.
  • Ready Jet Go!:
    • No matter what happens, keep a positive attitude and persevere through obstacles, no matter how impossible they may seem.
    • Another overarching theme of the show is that Earth is a beautiful planet that is worth protecting.
    • Nobody's perfect and it's okay to make mistakes. The show emphasizes that making mistakes is part of the learning process, while also emphasizing each character's flaws by having them act unkind, arrogant, overconfident, jealous, selfish, etc and having them make rash decisions at times. They all go through character development to become better friends and people overall. Sean particularly gets hit hard with this theme. He sets very high standards for himself and is distressed when things don't go exactly as he planned, but he learns that it's okay to try and fail.
    • Imagination. While science facts are important, it's also beneficial to let your imagination roam wild and create new ideas. Sydney helps to promote this theme, being the Ms. Imagination. Imagination and creativity help the kids a lot, and represent innocence in that Sean wants to grow up already and become a professional astronaut, but he realizes he should enjoy his childhood while he can. Mitchell, who repeatedly fails to expose Jet's alien identity, constantly gets told that he has a "great imagination", which he denies. While true to some extent, Mitchell does have an imagination but his low self-esteem causes him to push it away. In "Moon Face", he sees a face on the moon and realizes he does have an imagination after all.
  • Recess: Authority, and fighting it when those with authority abuse their power, especially with the help of your friends.
  • Regular Show:
    • What aspects of life should and should not be taken seriously.
    • The importance of maintaining good relationships with your friends, lovers, and family, and resolving all your petty conflicts with them.
    • Goofing around and slacking off to avoid taking responsibility for your job or duties often only makes things harder for you, rather than just doing whatever needs to be done in the first place.
  • Rick and Morty: Embracing the inherent chaos, unpredictability, and cosmic meaninglessness of the universe and finding something to keep yourself tethered to the mortal plane rather than succumbing to nihilism.
    • The mental conflict between intelligence and human connection.
    • Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss. Rick's intelligence and need to be seen as smarter than everyone else with no need for other people only keeps him miserable at the end of the day, while Morty, Summer, Beth, and Jerry, at least post-Character Development, are able to find some degree of happiness as a family because they're able to trust what makes them happy and don't try to force the world to bend to their fleeting whims.
  • Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Family in all its forms, and the importance of familial love.
  • Robot Chicken: The absurd humor between pop culture icons and the nostalgia we place on them through playing with their respective tropes.
  • Rocko's Modern Life: The struggles of modern life of the 90's.
  • Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys: If we think of ourselves as broken, is "fixing" the things that make us who we are really the best choice?
  • Rugrats The carefree and wildly imaginative life of baby/toddlerhood, and the importance of friendship.
  • Samurai Jack:
  • Scooby-Doo:
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
    • Love, friendship, acceptance, and a place to belong are vital to a happy life.
    • Past traumas can hinder you, if you let them.
    • No matter how many hardships you have endured, you are still responsible for your own choices.
    • Trying to win the love and acceptance of one's abusers is a futile effort, and will only lead to more heartache.
    • Sometimes it is necessary to defy the expectations of family, leaders, etc. in order to do what's right.
  • The Simpsons:
    • Family will always stand by you and accept you for who you are; no matter how different you are, how much you fight, or how crazy you drive each other.
    • For Springfield in general: Everyone in the world is unique and seems a little weird or crazy to everyone else. You won't make them change. Get used to it.
    • For Springfield Elementary School: The education system is flawed and so are the people in it.
    • The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and its effects on the town are one big Green Aesop.
    • For the Treehouse of Horror episodes: Ignorance can cause your own demise.
  • Solar Opposites: Making the best of a new life in an unfamiliar society and coming to terms with its imperfections (a theme present in both the plots with the Schlorpians and the plots with the citizens of the Wall).
  • South Park:
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man:
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: It's worthwhile to have a positive attitude and Be Yourself, even if the world may look down on you for it.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: Acknowledging the contributions of seemingly-unimportant people.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil: Love makes your life better, while hatred and bigotry do the most damage to oneself.
  • Star Wars Rebels:
  • Steven Universe: Love, and its infinite amount of forms, including platonic and familial. Every mini-theme traces back to this:
  • Steven Universe: Future:
    • The importance of mental health, and finding healthy ways to process trauma.
    • It's okay to have negative emotions. It doesn't make you a bad person, and it's something you have to deal with, instead of bottling it up and letting it fester into something worse.
    • It's good to help others, but your own well being is important too.

    T-Z 
  • Tales of Arcadia: Love, friendship, and family can help one defeat the forces of evil.
  • Tear Along the Dotted Line:
    • Egocentrism.
    • Life not being what anybody expected or planned and what to do with it.
  • Teen Titans (2003): The central theme of the whole show is The Power of Friendship. Several of the season arcs are centered around the theme that you may be not so different from a villain, be it by blood, abilities, or personality, but you can always choose to be a better person. The Terra arc also has the central theme of taking responsibility for one's actions, and the Raven arc says yes, you can Screw Destiny.
  • Thunder Cats 2011: Right Makes Might. Being a proud badass doesn't make you a good leader. Seeing the big picture, having clarity, doing what's right, and showing kindness, selflessness and mercy towards all does make a good leader, and is the best way to combat the evil in the world that would exploit people's hatred and selfishness.
  • Tom and Jerry: The trials and tribulations between predator and prey.
  • Transformers: How constructive and deconstructive it is to live by your principles. Every Autobot and Decepticon have personal mottos that they define themselves by, as well as the principles of the two main factions of the cybertronian war - the Autobots stand for freedom and autonomy, while the Decepticons promote tyranny and deception - and all involved must accept the consequences of their ideologies, whether glorious or tragic.
  • Tuca & Bertie: The struggles women face, while also accepting that women aren't perfect.
    • There is no right or wrong way to be an adult.
  • Twelve Forever: The pressures of growing up and escapism.
  • Uncle Grandpa: Always embrace weirdness, imagination, and idealism.
  • Undone: Being mentally ill doesn't mean being stupid. What some consider mental illness might actually be just a new way of looking at the world.
  • The Venture Bros.: Failure and Identity. The series is about failure, and failed expectations in particular. The setting is a failed Used Future take on the Space Age ideals, Rusty Venture and Billy Quizboy are failed child geniuses, and almost every episode is about how some experiment crashed and burned. More on the show's page.
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender: Family of Choice
  • Wakfu: If you have the power to help somebody in need, then you should, that's what makes a hero.
  • Wander over Yonder:
  • We Bare Bears: The need to fit in and belong in modern society, no matter how awkwardly we try.
  • What If…? (2021): The smallest of actions and changes can lead towards large-scaled, unexpected consequences. Yet even so, some things may never change.
  • Wild Kratts: All creatures are amazing and should be living free and in the wild.
  • Yogi Bear: The call of the wild vs. the laws of man.
  • Young Justice (2010)
    • What does it mean to be a hero?
    • The next generation taking over where their predecessors left off.
    • How far can a hero go to save the world, without destroying who they are in the process?

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