10 Greatest Animated Shows of the Last 5 Years, Ranked

The 2020s have been an interesting period when it comes to animated shows. Following the second golden age of the 2010s, this decade has seen a shift nearly exclusively to streaming services over network television, resulting in fewer seasons to fit with binge-watching. That said, streaming companies have been putting a fair bit of money into their production, and some have even picked up shows that began life from independent creators on the internet.

The last five years have seen the release of a fair few high-quality shows, in particular. Praises have been given for their stellar writing and, of course, the animation, which tends to be as varied as the creativity behind each show.

10

‘Scavengers Reign’ (2023)

Image via HBO Max

The interstellar cargo ship Demeter 227 crash-lands on the alien planet Vesta. The surviving crew members are scattered from one another and must make their way towards the wrecked ship while looking for one another. However, the planet’s wildlife proves to be as complex and deadly as it is varied and beautiful.

Scavengers Reign more than succeeds in transporting the audience to an alien planet thanks to its gorgeous animation, which makes you feel like you’re watching a nature documentary at times due to the intricate details and lush colors that bring the environment to life. It’s also an effective survival mystery, especially when the characters are separated and doing what they can to stay alive. Sadly, the show wasn’t picked up after it hopped from HBO to Netflix, but what we did get is still a solid example of 2020s animation.

9

‘Inside Job’ (2021–2022)

Image via Netflix

While the rest of the world goes about their lives in ignorance, a collection of shadow organizations that represent every major conspiracy secretly controls everything. One group is Cognito, Inc., based in Washington DC, whose job is to cover up conspiracies and manipulate global events to suit the shadow government’s plans. Their primary team is led by Dr. Reagan Ridley (Lizzy Caplan), the brilliant but socially awkward daughter of Cognito’s co-founder, Randall (Christian Slater), who is partnered with good-looking yes man Brett Hand (Clark Duke) to lead her dysfunctional teammates.

Inside Job combines the comedy found in an office sitcom with every single conspiracy theory you can think of. The result is one of the funniest shows to come from Netflix, with lots of fast-paced jokes, plenty of social commentary, and characters with strong personalities and dynamics. Sadly, it fell victim to Netflix’s habit of canceling shows early, meaning that it ended with more than a few cliffhangers.

8

‘Long Story Short’ (2025–Present)

Image via Netflix

Meet the Schwoopers, a middle-class family made up of Elliot Cooper (Paul Reiser), his wife Naomi Schwartz (Lisa Edelstein), and their kids Avi (Ben Feldman), Shira (Abbi Jacobson), and Yoshi (Max Greenfield). Like any family, their lives go through numerous periods of ups and downs, especially as the kids grow older, become more independent, and start families of their own. To the viewer, their story is told out of chronological order, allowing them to see how some events have a habit of returning years later.

Long Story Short comes from the mind of BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg, and contains much of the same clever wordplay and relatability that made that show so beloved. It’s easy to relate to the Schwoopers because, at some point in our lives, we’ve been in one of their shoes, whether it’s standing up for ourselves or trying to navigate awkward life situations. It also helps that the characters in Long Story Short are really well constructed, with realistic flaws and strengths, and dialogue that sounds exactly like what you’d expect a dysfunctional family to say.

7

‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ (2022–Present)

Image via Netflix

Set in the same dystopian universe as the video game Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners became one of the biggest animated hits of the decade almost overnight. The acclaimed animated cyberpunk series follows David Martinez, a gifted but struggling teenager living in Night City, whose life spirals after a personal tragedy pushes him into the violent world of mercenaries known as edgerunners. Alongside the netrunner Lucy, David becomes consumed by cybernetic enhancements and survival in a city that destroys almost everyone who dares to dream big.

Edgerunners‘ hyper-stylized animation immediately made it stand out among Netflix’s catalog. It’s chaotic, explosive, and downright disturbing at times. The spectacle never overpowers the underlying tragic story, however, which is surprisingly emotionally devastating as the main characters’ arcs and relationships are fully fleshed out.

6

‘X-Men ’97’ (2024–Present)

Image via Disney+

One year after Professor Charles Xavier’s (Ross Marquand) near-assassination, his X-Men struggle to keep his dream of a world where humans and mutants co-exist peacefully alive. They face obstacles from the UN, which has sanctioned the X-Men, and an increase in anti-mutant groups. Most shocking of all, the X-Men learn that Xavier’s will specifies that everything he owned, including the X-Men and his school, now belongs to his old friend Magneto (Matthew Waterson).

X-Men ’97 is a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, one of the best superhero shows ever made, and it proves itself a worthy successor. It keeps the original’s mix of superhero action and effective melodrama while also updating the visuals to match the fact that its audience has grown up. This allows the show to get even darker and bloodier in places than the original series while not smothering its identity.

5

‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ (2022–Present)

Image via Prime Video

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The Kingdom of Tal’Dorei is beset by a new threat that has wiped out numerous experienced adventuring parties. Thus, the realm turns to Vox Machina, consisting of the half-giant Grog Strongjaw (Travis Willingham), human Percival de Rolo (Taliesin Jaffe), half-elves Vex’ahlia (Laura Bailey), Vax’ildan (Liam O’Brien), and Keyleth (Marisha Ray), and gnomes Pike Trickfoot (Ashley Johnson) and Scanlan Shorthalt (Sam Riegel). Though at first glance they seem like a dysfunctional band of assholes and screw-ups, they are given the chance to rise to the occasion as greater threats emerge.

The Legend of Vox Machina takes all the laughs and epic moments found in Critical Role‘s famous live-plays of Dungeons & Dragons and brings them to life with a beautiful mix of 2D and 3D animation. Vox Machina keeps all the major beats from the campaign while changing things here and there, either to get rid of copyrighted material or streamline it for a television series. The result is a fun, epic fantasy show that doesn’t shy away from blood and guts, while also containing complex characters and some of the best dragon designs in fantasy TV.

4

‘The Mighty Nein’ (2025–Present)

Image via Prime Video

East of Tal’Dorei, on the continent of Wildemount, a war is brewing between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty following the theft of a Kryn artifact called the Luxon Beacon. Beauregard Lionett (Marisha Ray) of the Cobalt Soul does some investigating and learns that the theft of the beacon is tied to Trent Ikithon (Mark Strong), the Empire’s archmage. She runs into six other individuals: Fjord (Travis Willingham), a sailor with mysterious powers; Caleb (Liam O’Brien), a former pupil of Trent’s now on the run; Nott the Brave (Sam Riegel), a goblin thief; Jester (Laura Bailey), a mischievous cleric to an unknown god; Mollymauk Tealeaf (Taliesin Jaffe), a flamboyant fortune-teller with an unknown past; and Yasha (Ashley Johnson), a deadly barbarian known as the Orphan Maker.

The Mighty Nein has longer episodes than The Legend of Vox Machina, which goes a long way in improving the storytelling and character work. Scenes can have more time to breathe between the action set pieces, which results in deeper character moments. The show is also much darker than its sister series, with more emphasis on complex politics than high fantasy adventures, and plenty of gruesome deaths and horrific experiments that lead to a good dose of body horror.

3

‘Arcane’ (2021–2024)

Image via Netflix

Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and her younger sister Powder (Mia Sinclair Jenness and Ella Purnell) lost their parents when the undercity of Zaun tried to rebel against the oppressive metropolis of Piltover, and were taken in by Vander (JB Blanc), one of the leaders of the resistance. Years later, they steal a magic crystal from an up-and-coming inventor named Jayce (Faustino Duran and Kevin Alejandro), which starts a chain reaction that sees Vi arrested and Powder falling in with Silco (Jason Spisak), Vander’s former partner, turned a ruthless crime baron. Meanwhile, Jayce teams up with the equally brilliant but physically frail Viktor (Edan Hayhurst and Harry Lloyd), and the two work towards the creation of new technology that harnesses arcane power.

Arcane‘s first season received near-universal acclaim, and while the second season was more divisive, it wasn’t enough to take from the show’s highest highs. Even people who have never heard of League of Legends found themselves enamored by the rich worldbuilding and complex character writing, with highlights being seen in the falling out between Vi and Powder (now called Jinx), Jayce’s attempts to keep to his original vision as he is pulled into the ugly world of politics, and Silco’s dilemma between Zaun independence and his growing fatherly love for Jinx. The animation is also stellar, lending itself to intense emotional moments between characters and stylistic action sequences.

2

‘The Amazing Digital Circus’ (2023–Present)

Image via Glitch Productions

While exploring an abandoned building, a woman puts on a video-game helmet and finds her consciousness transported into a jester’s body in the Amazing Digital Circus, a virtual world run by an AI named Caine (Alex Rochon). He gives her the name Pomni (Lizzie Freeman) since she has forgotten her original, and introduces her to other humans stuck in the circus: a friendly ragdoll named Ragatha (Amanda Hufford); a depressed ribbon with comedy and tragedy masks named Gangle (Marissa Lenti); a person made up of interchangeable parts named Zooble (Ashley Nichols); a cynical cartoon rabbit named Jax (Michael Kovach); and an eccentric and forgetful chess piece named Kinger (Sean Chiplock). To prevent themselves from abstracting into glitch-like monsters like previous players, the humans go along with numerous adventures created by Caine, while also hoping to find a way out.

The Amazing Digital Circus began as a pilot posted on YouTube, but quickly gained traction thanks to its high quality, and Netflix picked up the show for streaming. Despite its bright colors and silly aesthetic, the show is a dark, existential character study inspired by I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, with plenty of deep moments that strip the characters down to the marrow of their being. It’s still got plenty of humor in between these moments, thankfully, which helps maintain a sense of levity.

1

‘Invincible’ (2021–Present)

Image via Prime Video

Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) is a young man living in a world dominated by superheroes and monsters, who has just inherited superpowers from his father, Nolan (J. K. Simmons), who is a powerful alien called a Viltrumite. Mark dubs himself Invincible and becomes a crime fighter himself, though he quickly discovers that it’s a lot more dangerous than his dad makes it seem. Speaking of Nolan, he becomes the subject of investigation by Cecil Stedman (Walton Goggins), director of the Global Defense Agency, after he was found to be the only survivor of a massacre of the Earth’s best heroes, the Guardians of the Globe.

Invincible is both an homage and a satire to superhero tropes that explores how terrifying a world full of heroes, villains, and monsters would be. It goes all out during its action sequences, displaying immense levels of brutality with mass destruction and gore, which really hammers home the sheer power on display. Character-wise, lots of time is given to showing the stress of this lifestyle, especially as the stakes escalate, which leads to phenomenal vocal performances from Yeun, Simmons, and Sandra Oh as Mark’s human mother, Debbie.

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Invincible

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Release Date

March 26, 2021

Network

Amazon Prime Video

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