
Being a fan of animation has been a mixed bag in the last twenty years. There have plenty of amazing shows produced in the US, Japan, and France, among others, and the internet has made discovering and following new shows easier than ever. But the last twenty years have also been a frustrating time for fans and collectorspromising series have been cancelled after short runs, lack of advertisement for new shows and time slot shifts killing momentum for new shows, Western animation shifting toward more low cost comedies, the Japanese anime industry alienating most of the world in various ways, and rare, bizarrely scheduled Blu-Ray and DVD releases. For animation fans, particularly collectors, the gold standard has shifted from DVD to Blu-Ray, thanks in part to everything animated in Japan being in HD for the past few years. While plenty of older material from Japan is getting remastered and released on Blu-Ray, the US lags far behind in getting shows out on DVD, never mind Blu-Ray. For example, Animaniacs Volume 4, a DVD set for a show from the 1990s, was just released early in 2013, 6 years after the last Animaniacs DVD set. Being a fan of American animation means, in a lot of cases, settling for old TV rips of shows that werent lucky enough to be a Warner Bros., Hasbro, or LucasFilm production, buying DRM laden files for some newer shows in a desperate attempt to keep them alive, and a general sense of surprise when something actually gets a physical release, like Duck Dodgers season 1, which was just released in early February 2013. Some of the shows on this list have already been released on DVD, but could use a good remastering to look better. Some were made HD ready and are available online, but havent gotten a physical release yet. And others just simply havent gotten any legal releases or at best, partial releases. Without further ado, here are 10 cartoons that deserve Blu-Ray release