Truly "Adult" Animation

I watched the first couple episodes and enjoyed it.

Help me. I can't get it out of my head.

Primal is, I daresay, the most interesting show with regards to this subject that we've gotten so far. It's an adult animated series that isn't a comedy, and it airs on a TV network as opposed to a streaming service.

But there's another side to the story that often gets ignored.

Apparently, the Adult Swim higher-ups wanted Primal to air on Toonami, since in terms of tone and theme it had more in common with an anime than with a typical Adult Swim series. Genndy Tartakovsky, however, insisted that it air during regular Adult Swim hours, since he didn't want it to be confused for an anime. The resulting numbers spoke for themselves: Primal got its highest ratings, by far, when Adult Swim ran a marathon of it on Toonami in November 2020.

For the most part, Adult Swim version of Toonami has been exclusively an anime block. This is in contrast with the original Cartoon Network version of the block, which aired American superhero cartoons as well as anime. However, Primal would seem to be in better company on Toonami than it does next to the likes of American Dad and Rick and Morty. Primal will be getting a second season this summer, and I now wonder whether it will air on typical Adult Swim or on Toonami. One would think, then, that the Adult Swim version of Toonami would be as good a place as any to put an adult animated drama.

Edited by ElSquibbonator on Mar 15th 2022 at 2:40:56 PM

I remember joking with some old friends of mine that when or if they make the movie versions of my books, I hope that they’ll be animated. I said that because the ghosts in my stories don’t age, so I wouldn’t want the production crew to have to find new actors for the ghost characters with each new installment. ^_^;;

I like to keep my audience riveted.

Flying Bark Productions (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Monkie Kid, Glitch Techs) is opening a new older audiences branch known as "After Bark".

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Also, congrats to Alberto Migelo for winning the Oscar for "Best Animated Short Film" for his short: The Windshield Wiper.

My problem with Adult Swim is the overwhelming sameness of everything on it, at least in regards to tone; it's all gross, or cringe, or hipster-ironic. They're all humor shows, and almost all the same sense of humor. Toonami is a nice change-up, and they bury it super-late Saturday night like they're ashamed of it.

Something funny: Maxwell Atoms has reported that The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy was cancelled after he was given a public dressing-down at a CN meeting by an executive who said that he was "destroying" the network with the kind of humor he did on Billy and Mandy. That executive is now in charge of Adult Swim, and given what's on Adult Swim, Atoms says he finds that ironic.

I know SF and AMC have animated blocks too, but I haven't seen much of them. Any opinons?

We have another adult animated series in the works - Blood of Camelot:

Meh. Sounds like they were pulling concept elements out of a hat.

Edited by Robbery on Apr 6th 2022 at 1:22:35 AM

I feel like Pixar's Soul is something that can be considered Adult Animation. It may be made for kids, but its protagonist is an adult and the issues it tackles are pretty adult too.

I would say that Netflix's Inside Job is not Truly Adult. I watched some months back, and I found it to be pretty juvenile to a a degree. I mean I liked it fine, but I'm not tempted to watch it again, as it was pretty painful to have to watch characters like Myc and Andre who I found to be super annoying and gross. I actually think Helluva Boss was more mature then that show.

I haven't watched Inside Job but that was also the vibe it gave off to me from what I have seen and heard. It reminded me of when I was younger and watched Adult Swim. Ironically, when I became a teenager I started think that most of the shows on that channel were extremely juvenile, basically what a kid imagined what adults would like. And again, I was a teenager when I had this realization!

x4 That... sounds kind of like a slightly darker Dracula Untold.

A lot of things we label as "adult" are actually pretty adolescent. The tone and content is more "how kids talk and behave when no adults are around" than actually adult.

Edited by Robbery on Apr 10th 2022 at 9:52:43 AM

That's pretty much why this thread exists so people can find adult animation that actually feels adult, not like a child's interpretation of an adult.

Edited by Kiobi20 on Apr 11th 2022 at 8:15:22 AM

I guess adult animation is never really going to get rid of the All Adult Animation Is South Park stigma no matter how many good adult cartoons are out there. There's always going to be a hint of vulgarity in them. Still, it's much better than what we had in the decade prior to that.

Or people are just slow to adapt on a greater scale, so it'll take more works breaking that rule over a long period of time to actually alter that perception.

I'm not really talking about the perception of adult animation as so much I'm talking about the shows themselves being either a little gross or off-putting. I don't think anyone can do anything about that.

For example, I love Smiling Friends but I would be lying if I said there wasn't something gross about the show. Thankfully, the show is actually entertaining. At least for me it is.

I don't see any reason to believe that the shows won't change, myself.

I would imagine that, over time, as perceptions change so too will the shows being made.

My Games & Writing

Being gross is the simplest (some might say laziest) way to be transgressive.

Just like with Drawn Together and Family Guy.

"Eratoeir is a Gangsta."

Finally saw the first three episodes of Smiling Friends yesterday on HBO Max.

I'm kinda stumped about the executive guy in the Mr. Frog episode. Like, obviously he's the bad guy, but why was he having problems with Glep's spitting when the spitting was what got him to hire Glep in the first place?

Like, is it supposed to be a lampoon on the fickle nature of executives?

Yeah, I assumed that was the joke myself.

IMO, there are only two shows that I find vulgarity to be funny: South Park and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. The latter is an anime that parodies American cartoons.

Sometimes Family Guy can be funny but often gets too offensive to be funny.

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!

I find Rick and Morty to be good, too. Both South Park and Rick and Morty have a lot more going on than just being gross, but the gross jokes are what most people remember about them.

I like Rick and Morty, but I don’t think of it as “gross”.

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!

Bumping this thread in light of the reveal about the budget (and expected low performance) of The Bob's Burgers Movie. Now, Bob's Burgers isn't the kind of show I started this thread to talk about, but this is still relevant for a very important reason. If a movie like Bob's Burgers, which is based on a popular TV show, is still incapable of drawing sufficient crowds, what hope do completely original adult animated movies— especially ones that aren't comedies— have?

Typically animated movies based on cartoon series will have their success measured by how popular the show itself is.

I say typically because The Powerpuff Girls Movie is an exception. That show was super popular when it came out, just that Warner Bros didn’t want to promote the movie, favoring the live-action Scooby Doo.

The problem with focusing on the large crowd like you want is that a lot of people still have this perception about animated movies in general so unless it’s Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks, and Illumination; it will struggle to reach a mass audience as the general public still has the Animation Age Ghetto mindset. And changing perceptions is extremely difficult.

That’s why producers are focusing on putting the types of shows and movies you want on streaming, as they don’t have to worry about mass appeal. And it’s inevitable that streaming will take over traditional TV and Theaters.

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!