10 Best Animated Anthology Tv Shows Of All Time, Ranked

PLACEHOLDER

Television was built on the foundation of the status quo. Whether it was sitcoms or mysteries, TV episodes would generally have the characters wind up in the same (if not similar) place they were at the start of the installment. Nothing could ever change too much, which makes the concept of an anthology series so enticing. 

When every episode or season is its own self-contained story, the writers can have characters go through any number of circumstances because we're not going to see them again. When you look at the best anthology TV series of all time, like "The Twilight Zone" and "Black Mirror," they can get truly bold with their storytelling. It's somewhat surprising there aren't more animated anthology series, given that animation allows for even greater creative liberties where the storytellers aren't even bound by the laws of physics. 

The best animated anthology TV shows offer completely original stories. Quite a few of them are based on pre-existing intellectual property, giving fans more of their favorite franchises. But they're all worth your time, because even if one episode doesn't speak to you, you may fall in love with the next.

Marvel Animation

Marvel Comics would regularly put out special "What If...?" editions featuring popular superheroes in completely new contexts. The idea was to offer an alternate look at what could've occurred in popular storylines, so it was a no brainer to adapt this concept into animation once the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a good number of movies under its belt. 

"What If...?" had a chance to upend the status quo by showing what it would be like if Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) received the super soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), or what would happen if Ultron (Ross Marquand in the series)) wound up defeating the Avengers? All of this gets overseen by The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), who serves as a fateful narrator until he can't bear the destruction any longer and decides to intervene at various points.

There's an element of serialization to "What If...?" The Watcher regularly recruits heroes, often Captain Carter, to help with multiversal mayhem. "What If...?" didn't just provide different looks at existing heroes; it presented an opportunity to introduce new ones, like Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), a completely original character to the MCU who uses her newfound abilities to save her indigenous people from invading Conquistadors. It's a shame "What If...?" ended after three seasons, because there are literally limitless stories to tell in the multiverse. 

Prime Video

"The Boys Presents: Diabolical" is yet another animated anthology TV show based on a comic book adaptation. But whereas "What If...?" occurs throughout the multiverse, "Diabolical" does have several installments canon to "The Boys" universe. For example, the series finale "One Plus One Equals Two" connects to the live-action series by giving an origin story to Homelander (Antony Starr) and Black Noir. 

Fortunately, you don't need to think too deeply about how everything connects, because most episodes are solely about offering some bloody shenanigans. Each episode utilizes a different type of animation style, like "Laser Baby's Day Out" looking like it came straight out of Looney Tunes. And for fans of "The Boys" comics, "I'm Your Pusher" cops the characters' original designs, which means Hughie looks like Simon Pegg instead of Jack Quaid. 

If you thought "The Boys" got bloody, just wait until you see what they can do without having to deal with fake blood and prosthetics. But even though most episodes are violent and profane, some can be surprisingly profound, like the excellent "John and Sun-Hee," about a janitor giving his dying wife Compound V to cure her of her cancer. "Diabolical" definitely deserved more than the eight episodes it got, but with spinoffs in the works, "The Boys" will live on.

FXX

Finding a story to fill out 22 minutes is a daunting endeavor. It's a lot more manageable to give creators a few minutes each to tell whatever odd, surreal, or emotionally-driven story they want. In fact, that may even be preferable in our current digital age where a 90-second TikTok is seen as too long. But that's where "Cake" on FXX thrives.

Each episode consists of several different sketches and short scenes. While much of the show is animated, some portions are presented in live-action, such as "Oh Jerome, No." Jerome (Mamoudou Athie) is looking for love and purpose in an increasingly apathetic world. But if that's too deep for you, there are various weird animated bits, including ones involving the recurring character Walt (pictured above). Walt sort of just gets up to no good, like one segment where he tries to make beans but winds up getting attacked by a pigeon.

You don't have to dedicate a ton of time to each concept, because as soon as you decide whether you're into a sketch or not, it's onto the next one. Each episode gives different creators and animators a chance to cut their teeth. Later seasons even brought had segments based on well-known webcomics, like Poorly Drawn Lines and Swan Boy. It's rare to find such eclectic animation like this outside of Adult Swim, but it's one of the most underrated shows on Hulu, if you're looking for a laid-back watch. 

Cartoon Network

The sketch comedy series "Mad TV" always seemed to exist in the shadow of "Saturday Night Live." Similarly, "MAD" on Cartoon Network could be seen as a kid-friendly version of "Robot Chicken." But even though the series couldn't have swear words, that didn't mean it didn't have a stellar satirical bite. 

Through a series of animated sketches, each episode poked fun at pop culture in different ways, whether it was through movie parodies or featuring rejected ideas for Pokémon or Transformers. But if you're a hardcore MAD Magazine fan, there were still nods to the publication, like recurring Spy vs. Spy segments. "MAD" threads the needle perfectly of having just enough references to things young kids would understand but also being sophisticated enough to where adults could enjoy the show, too. "MAD" was around during the same era as "Regular Show" and "Adventure Time," so older teens and adults had a programming block that could appeal to them. 

Another thing that made "MAD" stand out was its willingness to experiment with animation styles. Sketches would go back and forth between 2D, claymation, PhotoShop, and stop motion, so each segment had its own unique style. It's a show that had no reason to put in all of that effort, but we're glad it did. 

Nickelodeon

Society should always have something like "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" within pop culture that fosters genuine artistic talent and puts their work in front of the ideal target audience. Running on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2002, "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" gave a ton of budding animators their shot at making short cartoons that would then be seen by kids from all over the country.

To be honest, it was incredibly beneficial to Nickelodeon, too. A few shorts that began on "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" got picked up for full show orders, including some of the best Nickelodeon shows of the 2000s with "The Fairly Odd Parents," "My Life as a Teenage Robot," and "ChalkZone. But even with a lot of segments not getting their own shows, "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" provided a platform for a lot of animators to cut their teeth and move on to other things later in their careers. 

Watching "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" as a kid was fun because you never knew what kind of weird story you might get. As an adult, there's a greater appreciation for what this incubator program was doing and how it helped foster talent. 

Disney+

There's a component within modern media of who's allowed to tell certain stories. For the most part, the people making TV shows is still overwhelmingly white. Having different voices and perspectives enter the fray opens the doors for new types of stories to get told, and that's why "Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire" on Disney+ is so essential.

The series has 10 episodes, each of which features a different director and animation style. The people who worked on this show hail from all over Africa, from Kenya to Zimbabwe. A ton of research went into making sure each culture was represented properly, and the series exemplifies ideas of Afrofuturism, reimagining Black culture through science-fiction lenses. In this case, ideas like extraterrestrial life and time travel come into contact with native African characters to present bold new stories and fresh takes on old ideas. 

Whenever the entertainment industry starts to feel stagnant, it's vital to remember that there are stellar writers and animators all over the globe. They just need an opportunity to show a wider audience what they're capable of. 

Adult Swiom

Through stop motion animation, Adult Swim's "The Shivering Truth" delivered haunting tales of horror with dark comedy mixed in. Each episode features several different tales of the macabre where you're never quite sure if you're supposed to laugh or be terrified. One story sees a little girl who's exceptionally gifted at peekaboo, to the point where the story transforms into a psychological drama of parents grappling with their daughter's sudden disappearance, never realizing she's sitting right there. 

"The Shivering Truth" is almost like if someone made a TV show inspired by the rabbit sitcom in David Lynch's "Inland Empire." Individual stories rarely follow any kind of traditional linear narrative. They function by a sort of dream logic that quickly turns into a nightmare as people's psyches unravel or literal monsters enter the picture to torment the human characters. 

But "The Shivering Truth" manages to go beyond being a kind-of-funny, kind-of-scary anthology. At its core is an exploration of genuine human anxieties. Characters deal with insecurities and shame that manifest as something far more grotesque than they could ever imagine. The stop motion is beautifully horrific, and after watching it all, you'll wish more shows pushed boundaries like this.

Disney+/Lucasfilm

A lot of has been said about the current state of "Star Wars." New projects seem beholden to the past, offering little more than Easter eggs and references to what people seemed to like before. But easily, one of the best things Disney has done since acquiring Lucasfilm is push forward with "Star Wars: Visions." The anime anthology series features different stories from across the galaxy, set during various time periods and giving attention to Jedi, Sith, rebels, and everything else in between.

"Star Wars: Visions" isn't canon, but some of it should be. It would be fascinating to see how some of the characters introduced in the series interact with established forces from the films. But on the other hand, the fact that "Visions" remains non-canon can be a major asset. There's no need for "Visions" to tie into larger arcs to explain confusing elements, like how exactly Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) returned. 

"Visions" gives creatives an opportunity to play around in the "Star Wars" sandbox while taking the franchise back to its roots. George Lucas was famously inspired by samurai films and the works of Akira Kurosawa. Allowing Japanese artists to tell "Star Wars "stories through the medium of anime feels appropriate and brings some fresh perspectives to a franchise that frequently feels like it's running out of ideas. 

Netflix

"Love, Death + Robots" is the platonic ideal of what a great animated anthology TV show should entail. With other shows, you generally know what you're going to get, whether it's comedy, horror, or something related to Star Wars. But "Love, Death + Robots" really gave its creators free reign to do whatever they wanted. No two episodes are alike, and that holds true for both animation styles and tones.

Some episodes are purely silly, and if you laugh a couple of times, the story did its job. Others are far more meditative and are designed to be more like "Black Mirror" where they make you think about your relationships with various technologies. One episode is literally just a Red Hot Chili Peppers music video, which is kind of weird, but trust us, most aren't like that. The best "Love, Death + Robots" episodes will have you wanting to rewatch them over and over again to see what you may have missed the first time around. 

Thanks to the series being on Netflix, each episode is however long it needs to be to tell its particular story. Not every episode will resonate with you, but it may hold special meaning to someone else. There's something profound to be had when watching "Love, Death + Robots," so don't let a few duds deter you. 

Cartoon Network

"Infinity Train" is a different type of anthology series compared to others on this list. Rather than each episode containing its own self-contained story (or multiple stories), "Infinity Train" follows the same story for one full season before switching tracks to something else. For instance, the first season deals with Tulip (Ashley Johnson) contending with her parents' divorce while maneuvering through the titular Infinity Train that hosts a series of unique environments. 

If you think a full season of a young girl dealing with parental divorce is heavy for a Cartoon Network show, you'd be right. But that's also something a lot of kids have to deal with, and "Infinity Train" was never scared to deal with real-world, psychological issues. It didn't talk down to its younger viewers, and as the show went on, it dealt with other mature themes, like codependency and grief. 

But make no mistake, "Infinity Train" fully utilized its medium and had plenty of jokes thrown in, too. After all, Tulip teams up with a talking corgi named Atticus (Ernie Hudson) to help her along her journey. "Infinity Train" had no qualms over telling emotionally complex stories both kids and adults alike could enjoy. Despite countless opportunities for future stories, the "Infinity Train" animators were given no warning when it was purged from HBO Max. It's a sad case study of how poorly animation is treated in the modern era, even for a show so spectacular.