While 2021 still saw people both inside and outside of the entertainment industry having to work around the coronavirus pandemic, there were still a great number of quality television shows released throughout the year, and here are the best animated TV shows of 2021. There were plenty of great live-action shows in 2021, but the year also saw a rise in great animated programming. While animation is commonly viewed as a dead medium, if 2021 is anything to go by, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Just like with live-action television, animated television also suffered production issues from the pandemic. Season 4 of What If…? was forced to cut an entire episode involving an alternate version of Gamora for time.
Nevertheless, many great animated shows were still able to be released in 2021. Some shows are liked and watched more than others, so it’s possible that not every animated show released in 2021 will appear on this list. That doesn’t mean that a show not appearing on the list means that it wasn’t good, of course; it just means that some shows were preferred more than others, and each section below highlights why that was the case.
Castlevania
Netflix’s Castlevania spinoff.
To Your Eternity
To Your Eternity tells the story of a shape-shifting immortal named Fushi traveling around the world learning what it means to be human, especially how terrible it can be for someone close to you to die. Every story arc does a great job of showing Fushi become more and more human, and it always works against him when it makes the death of a new friend hit even harder. Watching both Fushi and his friends develop throughout the show was a wonderfully bittersweet experience that will hopefully be continued in its second season.
Inside Job
Gravity Falls—appropriate, considering how the creator, Shion Takeuchi, was a writer for Gravity Falls, and Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch, himself, serves an executive producer. Just like both of those shows, Inside Job is filled with black and surreal humor from start to finish, while also managing to find ways to make its characters feel relatable and worth getting invested in their troubles.
Tokyo Revengers
Tokyo Revengers is about a twenty-six-year-old loser named Takemichi who suddenly gains the power to travel back in time twelve years. Takemichi uses his power and knowledge of the future to involve himself with a biker gang from his youth to both change himself and prevent the death of his ex-girlfriend, and as the Tokyo Revengers anime goes on, he also takes it upon himself to try and save the lives of the new friends he makes in the past. The show feels like it was lifted from a different decade entirely with its plot and character designs, and it makes it all work thanks to how endearing all of the cast are; Takemichi is especially engaging for being a protagonist who solves problems by being the heart of the story instead of the strongest fighter. All of it mixes together to make Tokyo Revengers an anime that very much stands out among the crowd.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean
Jotaro’s daughter, Jolyne Cujoh, but making the series lead a woman does nothing to keep it from being a clever show with great visuals and inventive fight scenes, just like its predecessors. Stone Ocean lives up to the franchise’s legacy while adding plenty of its own material to the mix, all of it for the better, and future installments of the show will undoubtedly keep that going.
The Owl House
After going on hiatus for almost a year, 's second season, which is impressive not just because it’s a same-sex couple in a children’s show, but because it avoids the cliche of the main couple not getting together until the end of the story. The show has truly taken its character work from its first season even further than before.
Centaurworld
Centaurworld is a show about a horse named Horse being transported from her gritty, serious world to the silly, cartoonish world of Centaurworld. The show blends its conflicting themes and styles with a great deal of surrealism and stunning animation, and its musical aspect added an incredible soundtrack into the mix, as well. The show is also unafraid of drawing emotion from all of its characters whenever need be, all of which come together to make the show an underrated gem of 2021.
Amphibia
Just like The Owl House, Amphibia took on a more serialized storytelling with its second—and later third—season, and that also saw it develop its characters more and push its plot further along while adding more to the worldbuilding and even improving on the animation. The characters and world have grown a lot since season 1 while still maintaining their charm, and the new additions to the cast have done a lot to up the stakes of the show and push it to darker and more mature places. Season 3 is reportedly the final season of the show, and as of now, it looks like it’s set to end on a high note.
Invincible
Amazon Prime's Invincible had a lot going on for it that let it draw in as much attention as it did. The series was filled with the kind of star-studded cast (Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, and Zazie Beetz to name but a few) and gory visuals that are uncommon for both superhero cartoons and cartoons, in general, but beyond that initial draw lies a story that deconstructs typical superhero tropes just to then reconstruct them and make them all the more sincere. The fight scenes and character dynamics make Invincible be far from a typical superhero story, and that’s part of what makes it work so well.
Komi Can’t Communicate
Komi Can’t Communicate is a show that thrives off of the heart of its cast. Every character is quirky and entertaining in their own right, but at the same time, the show doesn’t shy away from the emotional problems of the series lead and the ing cast, which results in a show that gives a thoughtful, yet funny, exploration into social anxiety. The first season even ends with a dedication to everyone who’s ever had trouble communicating, further solidifying a message and intent that most people should be able to sympathize with and making it a truly unique anime.
Arcane
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that creates a rich and fluid visual experience, whether it be through the fight choreography or just through how the show looks, as a whole. The characters and worldbuilding are also great, with all of it being constantly developed and giving the audience something new to look forward to with every episode, especially with the series leads Vi and Jinx and the tragic story between them. The show is a definite case against the idea that all video game adaptations are terrible, and then some.
Dragon Quest: The Adventure Of Dai
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is an anime based on the Dragon Ball Super: Broly, meaning that many episodes feature some of the best animation around. All in all, the show knows exactly how to play to its strength and has the visuals to back it up, making it one of the best animated TV shows of 2021.