10 Best New Cartoons Of The Decade

Cartoons, like Pokémon, Dairylea Lunchables and giggling when you’re not supposed to, represent a part of childhood some people refuse to grow out of. If that’s you, the 2010s have kept you well stocked with new material.

With the birth of mainstream streaming (mainstreaming?), there’s been a plethora of cartoons debuting this decade, as well as loads to enjoy on traditional television too.

Not that cartoons are just for kids, necessarily. While some do feed into the childish sense of humour, others tackle more adult, serious and gritty issues. Heck, many do both, and do it seamlessly. Animation gives directors and writers much more scope to tell their stories, and that lets them run wild. There’s been some brilliant high-concept episodes this decade which prove just how malleable they format is as well. Hell, surreal animation has been the name of the game recently.

Anime style cartoons, even those which broke out into the West like Attack On Titan, have been discounted here though. They’re cartoons, sure, but they probably deserve a list unto themselves. Anything else is fair game though, with the 2010s serving up some fantastic cartoons.

DC’s ability to make fantastic movies has been questionable this past decade, but one thing they’re still solid at is producing brilliant cartoons. Picking up where the likes of Batman Beyond, Justice League Unlimited and Super Friends left off, Young Justice has been another gem in their lineup.

Debuting just as the decade began in 2010, Young Justice took a prolonged break in the middle, leaving six years between Seasons Two and Three. Had it put out more episodes, it might have even clawed up higher.

It certainly borrows from the DC shows of the past, and manages to stay true to the comic books while reinventing certain characters with fresh, often ambitious takes. The standard ‘good guy vs bad guy’ arc is still there, but Young Justice is fully aware that as a modern show, the audience is expecting it to be clever.

Releasing under the shadow of the DCEU and the Arrowverse, plus falling short of DC’s best animated shows, means it might not go down in history. With the exceptional cast of Troy Baker, Bruce Greenwood, Nolan North and Kevin Michael Richardson (to name but a few), it might just deserve to.