Animation might just be the most underrated genre of television. Especially a genre of television for adults. And yet, it’s one of my absolute favourites. Animation has so much more to offer than what a lot of people may assume, and it’s a crime that it often gets written off as a format for children, or thought of as oversaturated by Disney spin-offs.

Animation is one of the best forms of art produced in the digital age. And I’m going to prove it to you by recommending three TV shows which best exemplify what the genre truly has to offer.

Arcane (Netflix)

A collaboration between Riot Games and Netflix, based on the online video game League of Legends (which I must profess I have never played, or had any real knowledge of before watching Arcane), Arcane is a two-season long animated epic, with stunning visuals and an emotional, grounded story at its core.

What can I possibly say to convey the undeniable excellence of my favourite show of 2024? (Perhaps one of my favourite shows of all time, in fact.)

I guess I’ll start by pitching the plot.

At its most surface level, Arcane is the story of the building tension between Piltover, a thriving, industrially rich city, and Zaun, also known as the undercity, which can only be described as Piltover’s crime-ridden, yet also community-driven and culturally vibrant, underbelly, which has been an afterthought to Piltover for far too long. Arcane also crucially tracks the relationship between Vi and Powder, sisters whose parents were killed by Piltover’s enforcers and have grown up together in the undercity.

When a theft in Piltover goes awry for Vi and Powder, they are drawn into the political machinations of both Piltover and Zaun, and a new power that could end up destroying both cities. While Arcane is a trailblazing, revolutionary work of animated science-fiction, it is above all a flawless character study. What draws me to Arcane most of all, disregarding its gorgeous animation style, is the depth of exploration into these characters’ inner lives, their motivations, their capacity for love and the unbreakable nature of family ties.

Alongside a perfectly fitting soundtrack, I would go so far as to say that Arcane has established itself as one of my favourite series currently streaming. Though I was at a loss when the show ended in November, I also admire Riot for giving the show an admirable, well-rounded ending rather than pushing out more seasons in the name of fan service or financial gain. In other words, if you’re looking for something to binge, Arcane is a fully fleshed-out, fully completed story coming in at just under 12 hours.

Secret Level (Amazon Prime)

As soon as someone explained the concept of this anthology series to me, I was on board. Secret Level uses one episode each to tell a short story from a well-known video game in the style of that video game’s animation.

            As someone who also thinks video game animation and storytelling is criminally underrated, this was right up my street, and it’s a great casual watch, as you can stick an episode on whenever you want without having to keep the plot of an overarching story in mind. It’s the perfect choice for when you want something action-packed and visually engaging, but don’t have the time to watch a longer show or movie, as the episodes range from ten to twenty minutes runtime.

            As with all anthology series, it has its higher and lower points. It begins with a real bang however, adapting a one shot from the Dungeons and Dragons video game, which is a beautiful tribute to high fantasy storytelling, and the classic D&D structure of a party of weird and wild characters coming together.        

            Other highlights include ‘Unreal Tournament: Xan’, which will succeed in getting you emotionally attached to a voiceless robot in less than twenty minutes, ‘The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep’, which had a really fun, yet dark storyline from a video game I had never heard of, and ‘Concord: Tale of the Implacable’: a great Guardians of the Galaxy type of tale about found family.

            There are also episodes you can definitely skip, such as the ‘Pac-Man’ or ‘Crossfire’, which just didn’t capture my imagination in the same way as some of the others.

Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon Network)

Though Over the Garden Wall aired on a channel for children, and was technically made for children, there is something so charming, comforting and introspective about this miniseries that I definitely think watchers of any age can take something away from. This miniseries is something I had been meaning to watch for a while, and I’m so glad I did.

            Over the Garden Wall is the story of two brothers, Wirt and Greg, who are wandering through the forest trying to get home, and they encounter many eccentric and endearing characters on their journey. It is Wirt and Greg’s dynamic, and their drastically different approaches to life that makes this series quite so loveable. It teaches you not to take things at face value, whilst also valuing our own individual paths through life and the ways in which we decide to return home when home is perhaps too far away for us to see.

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