# Best Fantasy/SF Cartoons?



## Ophiucha (Apr 16, 2015)

I've found myself watching Cartoon Network more often than SyFy and CW these days, so I thought I'd ask: is anybody else into fantasy and sf cartoons? There are quite a few good ones out right now, and a few that aren't too old that are still being shown in reruns and getting nice Blu-Ray box sets. Here are a few of the ones I've been watching recently:


*Steven Universe:* A show about a young boy and his three alien moms who fight monsters and protect the Earth. The humour and music are in a similar style to _Adventure Time_, likely because the creator of this show came from that team, but the characters, storytelling, and worldbuilding are amazing for a 10-minute-an-episode show. There is a whole lore to the 'Crystal Gems' (the alien race) that is slowly being uncovered, and it is genuinely very interesting to learn and explore. Plus, the mobile game that just came out for it is probably the best mobile RPG I've ever played.
*Gravity Falls:* A show about a pair of twins who live in a town full of monsters and mysteries that they help fight and solve with the help of a bestiary/grimoire-style book. A lot of the individual episodes have great monsters and stories, the townspeople have a _Twin Peaks_ian quality to them, but the best part of the show so far is the overarching story involving the origins of the mysterious book.
*Legend of Korra:* A sequel to the acclaimed _Avatar: The Last Airbender_, that deals with the next Avatar in a more technologically advanced world than the one of the previous series. She has to contend with a divide between benders and non-benders, the physical world's connection to the Spirit World, and... a love triangle. That last one made the first season a bit... hard to watch, honestly, but I decided to give it another try after the show ended a couple of months ago, and it turned out great. The last two seasons have some great villains and a lot of neat explorations of the established lore and magic system. Plus, the ending had me crying tears of joy, which is rare from any show, let alone one meant for kids.


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## CupofJoe (Apr 17, 2015)

*Ã†on Flux*
From a wiki page...


> ... set in a bizarre, dystopian future world. The title character is a tall, leather-clad secret agent from the nation of Monica, skilled in assassination and acrobatics. Her mission is to infiltrate the strongholds of the neighboring country of Bregna, which is led by her sometimes-nemesis and sometimes-lover Trevor Goodchild. Monica represents a dynamic anarchist society, while Bregna embodies a police state...


It was wonderfully surreal, highly stylised and apparently non-linear. The live action film that followed has its charms but isn't a patch on the cartoon.


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## Ophiucha (Apr 17, 2015)

I haven't seen _Aeon Flux_, but I like another show that the creator of it worked on called _Phantom 2040_. It was based on the _Phantom_ comics, and it had some amazing voice acting. Certainly much better than the film version of the comic, the one that had Billy Zane? That was... just terrible.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Apr 17, 2015)

I never really appreciated Aeon Flux back when it was on MTV (sometime in the early 1990s). In the original work, the MC would always die. Then, in the next episode, she would continue her mission not making the mistake that got her killed last time.

I guess it was either her seeing the future or jumping back in time Groundhog Day style, allowing her to relive her life. Basically, she was like Samus Aran, going into a strange world, getting killed, restarting from a save point, eventually completing and surviving her mission.


Maybe I'd appreciate Aeon Flux more now.

I'm sure I'd hate Akira just as much as I did the first time. Tragic endings don't bother me, but predictable tragic endings with no ray of sunshine suck. I didn't care about the main characters, so the demon sparing them while brutally wasting everyone else in Neo Tokyo was no ray of sunshine.

There may be a message lost in translation. The demon boy may have been a personification of the atom bomb. But that may be me trying to justify an animation that took a lot of work, got a lot of recognition for it, but was just awful, pointless death after death.


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## Reaver (Apr 17, 2015)

Ophiucha said:


> I've found myself watching Cartoon Network more often than SyFy



No opinion on cartoons because I don't watch them. I used to watch South Park until they started re-hashing old plots and ideas.

Does it bother anyone else that The Sci Fi Channel changed its name to SyFy? Is that action a sign of the lessening of human intelligence? Did they do it because a vast majority of people pronounced it skee fee or skee fye? 

I'll conclude in textspeke for the younger generations who don't get my line of questioning: SMFH because WTF?


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## Steerpike (Apr 17, 2015)

Fire and Ice?


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## Mythopoet (Apr 17, 2015)

Does anime count? If so I can give you a whole list.


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## Ophiucha (Apr 17, 2015)

Legendary Sidekick, I feel similarly about _Akira_. The animation and art style are nice enough, it's not a _bad_ story, but I never cared enough about the characters to feel anything other than mild annoyance at how dark the ending was.

Reaver, 'a sign of the lessening of human intelligence' is perhaps extreme, but it certainly is a sign of their lessening dedication to science fiction, as evidenced by the increase in wrestling-based programming and Asylum-produced schlock. And I think more people mispronounce it as 'Siffy' now than they did before, haha.

Steerpike, I can't remember if I actually liked that movie, but I remember that I watched it because James Gurney did the background paintings. Since you brought up Bakshi, I have a certain nostalgia for his adaptation of _Lord of the Rings_.


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## Ophiucha (Apr 17, 2015)

Mythopoet said:


> Does anime count? If so I can give you a whole list.



I was leaning towards Western animation for this thread, since it's less discussed, but I do love a good SFF anime series. Although I daresay my 'to-watch' queue on myanimelist hardly needs to get any bigger, I must have 100 series on there already...


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## Steerpike (Apr 17, 2015)

@Ophiucha - I have a certain nostalgia for that as well.

When it comes to Anime, I am not an expert by any means, and my knowledge is limited. I liked Akira pretty well. I liked the first Ghost in the Shell movie. Some of may favorites are Miyazaki's movies, and among those my favorite is Kiki's Delivery Service, followed by Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I like each of his works that I've seen. I also thought Hosoda's (?) Wolf Children was pretty good, as well as Summer Wars.

EDIT: Ah, I see you want western works. I'll have to think on it a bit more...


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## X Equestris (Apr 17, 2015)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars was pretty good, and had some fairly deep and mature themes for a Cartoon Network program.  Too bad Disney cut the last couple seasons when they acquired the franchise.  I can't comment on Star Wars Rebels, as I haven't seen it.


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## MineOwnKing (Apr 17, 2015)

Space Pirate Captain Harlock. 
I watched this for the first time a couple days ago. I really enjoyed it.
I like Sci Fi movies and I think the animation for Captain Harlock was well done.


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## Ophiucha (Apr 17, 2015)

@X Equestris, My husband wants to watch _Clone Wars_ and _Rebels_ at some point this year, since they are part of Disney's new canon for _Star Wars_. I'm not a big fan of the franchise, but I've heard a lot of good things about the cartoons, so I'm interested to see them.


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## Feo Takahari (Apr 17, 2015)

It's a bit hard to find now, but I have a soft spot for Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths, and Legends. It was easily the best family show I've seen, not intended solely for kids or adults, but with plots and characters both could appreciate. I liked how the main characters were a bright spot in what would otherwise have been a villain group, subverting their superiors and trying to make allies instead of enemies.


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## Penpilot (Apr 19, 2015)

The remake of Space Battleship Yamato is pretty good. Heck the original series, known as Star Blazers in America, is still awesome. It's about a ship and it's crew's epic journey to another galaxy to retrieve a device that will save the Earth from radiation poisoning. They have to fight through the aliens who planet-bombed the Earth into a radioactive waste, but in the process, they discover that they aren't faceless monsters, but in many way are a lot like humans. The series is known for it great pathos, which lies in it's music. They made an awful live action movie too. Ugg. 

Here's the opening for the original '80s series. It gives a good feel to what the series is about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMcrep48Wz0

Here's the opening to the recent remake. It's more up to date in terms of animation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2sNIhTnxTg

Here's cgi footage from a video game, just because IMHO it's cool.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYd8dC_WDVw

There's also Robotech. Like Star Blazers, it's an older series, but still good and available on DVD. It's actually re-editing of three Japanese series into one epic tale. When a mysterious ship crash-lands on Earth, carrying the secrets to a substance called protoculture, it triggers a three generation war between Earth and the aliens who come in search of the secrets of protoculture. It's known for it's cool music too. 

Here's the opening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx3jIdLOVPM

I think you can find episodes on youtube, but their quality is dubious. 


A couple of series I'll mention for '80s schlock factor are Thundarr the Barbarian and Galtar and the Golden Lance. I think you can find Thundarr episodes on youtube too. 

Thundarr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk

Galtar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xruT7wUdsHI


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## SeverinR (Apr 20, 2015)

top of the list HTTYD


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## Devor (Apr 25, 2015)

The only one I can think of that hasn't been mentioned yet is _Wakfu_, which is a French cartoon that ran two seasons and is up on Netflix.  It's full of cliches but it's fun.




SeverinR said:


> top of the list HTTYD



I haven't seen the tv series, but I'm looking forward to the new seasons coming to Netflix.  The How to Train Your Dragon movies should be on everyone's cartoon fantasy list.

Airbender has to be the top of any list for tv though.


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## Mindfire (Apr 25, 2015)

The Thundercats reboot that Cartoon Network had was REALLY good. Its only real competitor on CN at the time was Young Justice (another awesome show!). Sadly, both were canceled because Cartoon Network is dumb. Thudercats even got stuck with a crappy cliffhanger ending. Nick's new Ninja Turtles is also good, but the 2003 version is still the best.


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## Manalodia (Apr 25, 2015)

Berserk. Mostly because nothing else medieval fantasy-based has come out of Japan for awhile. As for scifi...hmm. Cowboy Bebop? Is that scifi enough or inbetween?


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## Legendary Sidekick (Apr 26, 2015)

Manalodia said:


> Cowboy Bebop


I can't think of a better anime series than Cowboy Bebop. Because there isn't one.






(Best way to deal with this situation is to have flashbacks.)

I got into that after finishing Outlaw Star. That series had cool concepts like grappler ships and a silly cat girl who kicked butt.





(Gene Starwind in drag, Aisha as "Firecat")


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## Mythopoet (Apr 26, 2015)

Ok, here's my list of the best SFF anime out of what I have watched so far:

Ah! My Goddess!- A slice-of-life romance with fantasy elements. A young man accidentally calls the goddess helpline while trying to make a phone call and a beautiful goddess appears before him ready to grant his wish. Without thinking he says, "I wish for a goddess like you to stay by my side forever." His wish is granted and their life together begins.

Attack on Titan- A story that straddles the line between between fantasy and sci fi with a low tech setting that takes a mostly scientific approach to a threat to humanity in the form of humanoid giants who lack intelligence but have an instinct to devour humans. 

Blast of Tempest- Urban Fantasy story about a clan of magic users and their internal power struggles that drag two young men into a fight to save the world. 

Bleach- Urban Fantasy revolving about a young man who becomes a shinigami (death god) who helps lost souls pass on to the underworld and fights those that have turned into malevolent spirits called Hollows. 

Chobits- Near future sci fi slice of life story that deals with the relationship between humans and "persacoms", personal computers in the form of androids. 

Cowboy Bebop- Sci fi series following a group of bounty hunters in their adventures throughout the solar system in a slightly dystopian setting. 

Death Parade- When humans die, they are sent to a place where they are forced to play a game as though their lives are at stake. Set up like a bar, where the arbiters serve both as bartender, game master, and judge of whether souls go to heaven or hell.

Durarara!!- Urban fantasy starring an eclectic group of characters including a man with superhuman strength, a man who manipulates an entire town from the shadows, a girl who possesses a cursed sword within her body and a Dullahan searching for her stolen head. 

Fairy Tail- A high fantasy set in a world where wizards are organized into guilds where they can make their living working on the job offers received by the guild. The Fairy Tail guild is the most powerful and notorious guild in the land, so naturally they are always getting into big trouble from battling dark guilds to defeating megalomaniacal possessed wizards to participating in the grand magic games.

From the New World- Far future sci fi set in a world where humanity developed powerful telekinetic abilities that caused long periods of chaos before a more rigorously structured society was built to maintain peace. 6 young members of the society discover its dark history and secrets and try to build a better future.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood- Two young brothers try to bring their mother back from the dead through alchemy and pay the price for the failed transmutation with their bodies. As they search for a way to bring their bodies back, they stumble upon a world-girdling conspiracy that must be stopped before countless lives are sacrificed. 

Gurren Lagann- Another SFF straddling story set in a world where an oppressed humanity lives in underground villages. But two young men have a dream of seeing the surface and reclaiming it for humanity... with giant mechas, of course. 

I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job- slice of life that asks the question: what happens to all the heroes in a world where the dark lord is defeated and everything is now at peace? They have to get day jobs, of course. 

Is This a Zombie?- Fantasy harem anime starring a young guy who was killed and brought back as a zombie by a cute but aloof necromancer. A magical garment girl who accidentally gives her powers to the zombie (who must now take her place, garments and all) and a vampire ninja with wicked sword skills also join their household, for various reasons. 

InuYasha- Modern day school girl accidentally travels back in time to the feudal era and shatters a powerful gem, causing trouble across the land. She must team up with a half demon with an attitude (and later a lecherous monk and a demon slayer who has tragically lost her whole family) to keep the jewel shards from falling into the hands of the evil demon naraku.

Level E- Sci fi show about an earth where aliens have secretly been infiltrating humanity for a long time. Prince Baka comes to earth and hijinx ensue. 

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic and The Kingdom of Magic- Fantasy story inspired heavily by the Arabian Nights. War and political intrigue grip a world where magi, masters of djinn and wizards all vie for power in various ways. 

Mirai Nikki- Supernatural thriller story where the god of space and time invents a game to decide who his successor will be. 12 candidates are given diaries that tell the future in various ways. The last one standing wins. 

Parasyte- Sci fi story where the world is invaded one night by mysterious beings that come to be known as parasites. They cannot live independently, but burrow into a human being and take control of the body through the brain. One young man manages to stop his parasite from reaching his brain and ends up stuck with a parasite in his right hand. The two must learn to cooperate as their world is thrown into chaos by the human-eating parasites now lurking among humanity.

Princess Tutu- Fantasy story within a story. Duck wants to help Muto recover the pieces to his lost heart and can do so as the beautiful princess tutu, but Drosselmeyer is pulling strings from the shadows to make Duck's story unfold as dramatically as possible. Warning: contains a lot of ballet. 

Psycho Pass- Near future sci fi set in a version of Japan where a computer system has been developed that can accurately assess any person's mental stability and likelihood of committing a crime. Anyone whose crime coefficient is too high is pursued, apprehended and killed if necessary. Detectives with the Criminal Investigation Division discover that the system is not perfect, as there is a psychopath who can pass any scan on the loose trying to cause chaos. 

Space Dandy- A sci fi comedy about a trio of alien hunters. Very episodic to the point where in some episodes everyone dies and it just isn't mentioned next time. However, many episodes feature amazingly imaginative alien worlds and beings. 

Steins;Gate- Time travel thriller where a group of misfit, amateur scientists accidentally manage to send messages back in time and stumble upon an international conspiracy that will ultimately turn the world into a cruel dystopia.

Sword Art Online- Near future setting where full body virtual reality games have been invented. On the launch day for one such game, 10,000 players log in only to find that it is impossible to log out and that dying in game will kill you in real life. The only way to escape is to defeat all 100 levels of the game. 

The Book of Bantorra- Fantasy story set in a world where when you die, you become a book-like record of all your memories that other people can read. The story follows the armed librarians of the Library of Bantorra who possess powers used to protect the books and the humans who will one day become them.

Trigun- Sci fi western that takes place on the planet gunsmoke where Vash the Stampede is a wanted criminal with a huge bounty on his head. As a result, Vash is constantly having to fight off the bounty hunters who come after him. But Vash is actually a man who firmly believes it is wrong to take any life. So how did he come to be known as the humanoid typhoon?


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## wordwalker (Apr 27, 2015)

That's one impressive list of impressive anime. For the Western world, I'll add:

Batman. Done.

Or rather, the whole DCAU dynasty from Batman The Animated Series (and yes, even its digression with Superman) to Batman Beyond (the real risk-taker, and above all the Return of the Joker movie) to the overdose of fun that is Justice League. DC TV since then has been... variable, but Young Justice might be the best of all. And of course, most (I'd almost say all) of the DC animated movies.

Marvel shouldn't be overshadowed either. Its 90s Spider-Man and X-Men shows never _looked_ as good or felt as mythic as Batman, but after a time they got higher ratings. Spectacular Spider-Man was better yet (the animation almost looks worse, until a fight starts and you see what they saved all the money for), and X-Men: Evolution proves that the "highschool version" of a show can sometimes be _good_ stuff. Avengers fans, be sure you skip the "Assembled" show (and all the other shows) that Marvel's running right now, and catch Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes from just a couple years earlier.

It's _not_ true that "DC owns only the small screen and Marvel the big one." They've both given us plenty to watch.


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## Devor (Apr 27, 2015)

If we're getting into old superhero shows, then I should throw in Transformers:  Beast Wars.  There's one thing in particular that they did really well.  In the first episode a bunch of blank transformer pods were released into the atmosphere, and throughout the show they drop down one by one, creating a big race to find the new character and get them on their side.  Combined with the very small number of characters on the planet, it makes new character introductions pretty dramatic.


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## wordwalker (Apr 27, 2015)

They did indeed. They even had an early episode about this that pointed out the problem of racing cross-country to rescue a pod when only the villains had a flight mode-- but the lead hero had a rocket mode-- but Megatron _predicted_ he'd use it... Movement powers, the great neglected part of heroes' arsenals, had their moment. 

And so did everything else on that show. As Megatron would say, *Yeesss.*


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## Legendary Sidekick (Apr 27, 2015)

wordwalker said:


> *Yeesss.*


"Sounds like steam escaping."

~Buddy Bizarre, _Blazing Saddles_​


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## Addison (Apr 27, 2015)

I took a stroll down memory lane. My favorite fantasy tv shows growing up (not counting preschool years) were, and continue to live in my heart: U.B.O.S (Ultimate Book of Spells) Mummies Alive, Scooby Doo(may not count) Wakfu, Ultra Maniac, Class of the Titans, Huntik, Dragonflies, and Sabrina's adventures. These are shows I'm posting that I watched and have not been listed. Courtesy of my kid siblings I've seen both Avatar series.  

There was a cartoon adaption of a french fantasy novel series but the title wasn't the same as the book, otherwise I'd find it. Three kids, one is the daughter of Beauty and the Beast. The protag is learning magic, living at a mansion with he rmother and talking dog. The professor is a blue dragon. This ringing a bell for anyone?


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## Addison (Apr 27, 2015)

Dark Wing Duck! Ducktails! Captain Planet and the Planeteers! I will be adding, apparently I hoarded the VHSes of my favorite shows.


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## Mythopoet (Apr 28, 2015)

Addison said:


> Dark Wing Duck! Ducktails!



I've begun buying these shows on DVD for my kids. (They were favorites of mine as a kid, especially Duck Tales.) My 4 year old has been watching Darkwing Duck all day for the past 3 days. At least it's better than most of the nickelodeon crap these days.


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## Addison (Apr 28, 2015)

I agree. One morning I saw my kid siblings watching a show called "Pair of Kings". Oh-my-god. And the board of education wonders why test scores are slipping! So I've been digging up all the shows I used to watch and having them watch them. 

Some other shows they watch now: Magic School Bus, Animaniacs, Gargoyles, The Mask tv series, Martin Mysteries, WI.T.C.H, Teenage Fairy Tale Drop Outs.


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