Bubbleblabber’s Top 10 Adult Animated TV Series For 2023 (Domestic Drama)

One thing you’ll notice, our list got FLUSHED with anthology series,and with good reason. Studios are experimenting with more diverse teams and studios and results like this are coming in which tells us we are on a precipice of an influx of talent for adult animation. Note Scavenger’s Reign, an animated series from Joe Bennett, who was largely made famous for FXX’s anthology Cake series. In a couple of years, how many more examples of that origin will we see down the road?

10) Hammer and Bolter

9) Red Iron Road

Network: Tubi

Red Iron Road, created by Aljosha Klimov and Iouri Stepanov, consists of six distinctive episodes showcasing horrific and thrilling tales with unique visual presentations by different creators. One of them is “The Forest King”, which involves a young boy being trapped inside a mysterious VR game. Another example is “Lord”, depicting the remaining survivors of humanity’s destruction battling mutants, which is Mad Max in a nutshell. If you’ve watched other horror anthology projects like V/H/S or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, then Red Iron Road will immediately remind you of them regarding the haunting stories and disturbing visuals.

8) Invincible

Network: Prime Video

Invincible moves at such breakneck pacing where bombshell revelations are par for the course that the entire nature of the show can change in a single episode. This means that it may be too soon to claim that Invincible’s second season is superior to its first, but that’s at least the case with these four episodes. Invincible has so much seismic ground work that’s now out of the way so that it’s free to play and get deeper into everything now that audiences know this show and its world a little better. It’s an excellent expansion to what was already an encouraging season one. Invincible is more ready than ever to push boundaries and defy expectations rather than spin its wheels with superhero soap operas. 

7) Pariah Nexus

Network: Warhammer+

At this point, Warhammer and Storyforge cannot do wrong. The only thing I ask for during Pariah Nexus is to show the beginnings of the Necron invasion, so we can see why it all went wrong. I just want more.

6) Star Wars: Visions

Network: Disney+

Go out of your way to watch Visions season 2. There is so much going on this season, with the visually different episodes. There’s literally episodes for everyone. There’s dramatic episodes, feel good episodes, ominous episodes, and even episodes that make you go “oh shit!” for so many different reasons. “Sith,” “Screecher’s Reach,” Journey to Dark Head” and “The Bandits of Golak” are by far the picks of the season. This shows that if Disney wanted to hand out Star Wars to outside studios, this proves that non-Disney studios can definitely handle the load and give that Star Wars magic unique glows.

5) Castlevania: Nocturne

Network: Netflix

Despite all the thoughts and feelings ‘Nocturne’ has going on, not so deep down, it’s still a show based on a video game. Weapons and skills get upgraded and unlocked, doomed enemies offer big chunks of exposition for no reason right before they die, and the bosses get bigger as the main characters move from one part of town to the next. The only real criticism I have is that when they eventually reveal the vampire messiah she just isn’t quite as cool as her assistant, Drolta Tzuentes, who slays every single scene she’s in and always looks like she’s on the red carpet of the Met Gala.

4) Blue Eye Samurai

Network: Netflix

Overall, Blue Eye Samurai slices and dices past its traditional revenge plot to provide another fantastic addition to Netflix’s animation library. Aside from its soundtrack and cliffhanger ending, I was surprisingly impressed at how engaging and well-animated the series turned out. I thought I was getting another samurai series that’s all spectacle within a formulaic plot akin to Onimusha. Thankfully, Blue Eye Samurai easily proved me wrong by reinvigorating its revenge tale with a depiction of racism and discrimination. Regarding its voice cast, animation, and storytelling, the series is another piece of animation content from Netflix I’ll gladly go back to.

3) Scavenger’s Reign

Network: MAX

Overall, Scavengers Reign scavenges incredible depth and heart-aching majesty to successfully survive its genre trappings. It’s another series that proves animation’s worth as a storytelling tool to emphasize the mature themes, characters, and settings. More importantly, it shows that Max can still deliver animated content for adult viewers…with the proper execution, of course. Regarding its subtle yet engaging voice cast, storytelling, a mixture of drama and horror, and sublime animation, Scavengers Reign is, to my surprise,  (one of) the best adult animated series of 2023.

2) Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection

Network: MAX

Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection is another fantastic example of what animation can accomplish. It’s more than just a genre made for kids. It’s an art form that expresses an artist’s reflections on life and sense of creativity. Regarding the distinct and spectacular presentations, compelling stories, and strong themes, the shorts are sublime pieces representing animation as a medium and the artistic values of the people that made them. If you want another reason why animation should be taken seriously, you should definitely check this collection out on HBO Max.

1) The Legend of Vox Machina

Network: Prime Video

After watching the first season I definitely fell in love with the series and its cast of characters. So, suffice it to say that the second season would have some very big shoes to fill. Almost every issue I had with the first season was addressed in the second outing. If you love animation or D&D this is a series that can’t be missed.