We talk plenty about anime around here, and while I admit I have a general distaste for a lot of American cartoons (usually the Nickelodeon-esque stuff), there's still a few shining examples of what they can be. I'm personally electing not to count stuff like South Park/Simpsons/Family Guy/Futurama, because while I like them a lot, they don't fit into the demographic I'm gunning for in this thread (but feel free to include them if you want to).
In no particular order:
1. Kim Possible: Usually pretty clever/funny, it has some decent continuity to it and a sly self-conciousness. Its one of a few progressive western cartoons that, while maintaining the classic ideas of adventure/comedy, allows its writers a bit more freedom to create dialogue and situations outside the box. In other words, it doesn't cater directly to the braindead. Plus, spy stuff is always neat.
2. MegasXLR: I don't see too many people watching this one on these boards, but its one of the new efforts from Cartoon Network airing on Toonami Saturdays. Taking a hint from the 80s/Japan, its primary centerpiece is a gigantic robot. However, it all but completely eschews any kind of philosophical meanderings and the like in favor of ~22 minutes of giant robots/monsters beating the crap out of eachother. Its pretty high on action and it has a little humor in there, too. If it was anime, I'd probably put it in the same MANIME category as stuff like Scryed which just has a lot of cool fighting in it.
3. Justice League: I don't follow it that closely, but it seems to inherit the old Batman: TAS vibe. In my opinion, its hard to portray superheroes in the right way. You either have good writing/atmosphere or you don't. When you don't you have, well, Superfriends, but when you do, you have Justice League. Like I said, not a HUGE comic fan, but the characters are familiar enough and the plots consistently engaging.
4. Teen Titans: Some people may not agree with me on this, but for all the series seems to have going against it (blatant anime influences and the such), I think it actually has some interesting plots and decent writing and the characters are surprisingly strong for such an inherently goofy series. Its not perfect in every respect, but its definitely watchable.
5. Invader Zim: A couple years old and dead-in-the-water, it no doubt remains one of the best western cartoons in the past few years. It goes above and beyond most other toons and has an extremely sly sense of dark humor about it. Anyone who's seen it should know what I'm talking about.
In no particular order:
1. Kim Possible: Usually pretty clever/funny, it has some decent continuity to it and a sly self-conciousness. Its one of a few progressive western cartoons that, while maintaining the classic ideas of adventure/comedy, allows its writers a bit more freedom to create dialogue and situations outside the box. In other words, it doesn't cater directly to the braindead. Plus, spy stuff is always neat.
2. MegasXLR: I don't see too many people watching this one on these boards, but its one of the new efforts from Cartoon Network airing on Toonami Saturdays. Taking a hint from the 80s/Japan, its primary centerpiece is a gigantic robot. However, it all but completely eschews any kind of philosophical meanderings and the like in favor of ~22 minutes of giant robots/monsters beating the crap out of eachother. Its pretty high on action and it has a little humor in there, too. If it was anime, I'd probably put it in the same MANIME category as stuff like Scryed which just has a lot of cool fighting in it.
3. Justice League: I don't follow it that closely, but it seems to inherit the old Batman: TAS vibe. In my opinion, its hard to portray superheroes in the right way. You either have good writing/atmosphere or you don't. When you don't you have, well, Superfriends, but when you do, you have Justice League. Like I said, not a HUGE comic fan, but the characters are familiar enough and the plots consistently engaging.
4. Teen Titans: Some people may not agree with me on this, but for all the series seems to have going against it (blatant anime influences and the such), I think it actually has some interesting plots and decent writing and the characters are surprisingly strong for such an inherently goofy series. Its not perfect in every respect, but its definitely watchable.
5. Invader Zim: A couple years old and dead-in-the-water, it no doubt remains one of the best western cartoons in the past few years. It goes above and beyond most other toons and has an extremely sly sense of dark humor about it. Anyone who's seen it should know what I'm talking about.
