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Avatar: The Last Airbender. I could rave about it all day.
Also Gravity Falls like @swordgeek@lemmy.ca said.
I never watched Justice League much as a kid, but my wife re-introduced it to me as an adult and it's a pretty great mix of kid-friendly superhero stories with fairly mature themes and plotlines.
Additionally, a less awkward term than "kidult" is just "family entertainment". Shows/movies/books that can be enjoyed by a wide spectrum of ages.
What camp are you in on the upcoming third Avatar saga?
This is the first I've heard of it, but it sounds pretty interesting. The new Avatar being born as one of a set of twins is a very neat idea that I wouldn't have considered. That can create some really compelling stories on its own.
Gravity Falls. A masterpiece of storytelling, wrapped up in family-friendly horror.
I'll have you know that Ducktective has a big mystery element, and a lot of humour that goes over kids heads!
Star Wars: Clone Wars, it has super inappropriate war crimes.
Honestly insane show. It jumps between some of the best and most critical Star Wars media ever made to a fucking Jar Jar and droids episode without batting an eye. Asajj Ventress especially might be the greatest girlboss in the galaxy.
Clone High's great too
I feel like clone high leans more to adult than kid.
Haha you're definitley right, we watched them staying up way past our bedtime lol
Invader Zim might fit the bill here. Created by a guy who also made a comic called Johnny the homicidal maniac
Probably Animanics, though I was grown up before I watched that. Before that, I suppose Beavis and Butthead and even Simpsons were considered edgy.
"Finger Prince? I didn't think so."
I still can't believe they got that one past the censors.
Adventure Time.
Mathematical!
Every single Nicktoon. Heck, some like Rocko's Modern Life were originally trying to be cartoons for adults, but fell into kids programming at Nickelodeon.
Futurama - though I expect that's showing my age.
Hey pal, I don't know what you're trying to say, but I take exception to the way you said it. Has anyone seen my keys?
If you find the guy who offended you let me know - I'll give him the clamps.
Animaniacs
Wheel of Morality, turn turn turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn.
Early to rise, and early to bed, makes a man healthy, but socially dead.
Ren & Stimpy
Was pretty certain Ren & Stimpy had to be mentioned here. Scrolling.... scrollling..... that was too much scrolling to find this
Samurai Jack, though not really from growing up.. (Then again, when do we ever stop growing up? :)
It had great stories and beautiful artwork. But to an adult eye it was obvious that all those "robots" were there to keep it kid friendly.
All that oil was a clear stand-in for tons and tons of blood.
Duck Dodgers
Daffy Duck but in the 21st & uh 1/2 Century!
Only 25 more years!
Btw, if you're still into animated shows, there's a few communities around for them.
General animation:
Japanese animation:
Give'em some activity if you're wanting to share and talk about some animated stuff you've been checking out!
Long after I grew up, but Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb is fantastic! I was also well past being a kid, but I loved watching it with my own kids!
I love that show too even as an adult. Very clever and out there, reminds me of a mellower Dexter's Lab
They are the reverse Pinky and the Brain.
Pinky has the most heartbreaking honk noise haha
The Angry Beavers was by far my favorite.
Also loved Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.
Oh! Courage the Cowardly Dog
Azumanga Daioh. Recently rewatched it and it's still as funny today as it was in 2002.
Hair??? Chicken leg??? yes
Do The Powerpuff Girls fit in this category? Really gory and with some inappropriate themes especially since they're supposed to be little kindergarten age girls. Loved the show, I occasionally watch an episode as an adult.
Was also a fan of Billy and Mandy, nice to see that one as the post opener.
As for other shows, as a kid I loved watching Aeon Flux and I am still not sure wtf was going on in some of those episodes.
Moral Orel is another great show, smart and witty, although I discovered it as an adult.
Are you implying that Aeon Flux was intended for kids?
No, but I watched it as a kid regardless.
I loved Cow and Chicken. The Red Guy was the best, I loved how he had lil butt cheeks you could see and went by names like “Mr Pants”.
Steven Universe is one of my favorites.
Also, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes is excellent, and created by Ian Jones-Quartey, the spouse of Steven Universe's creator, Rebecca Sugar.
He used to write a webcomic that I followed a couple decades ago, which he officially ended in an episode of OK K.O. His webcomic was called RPG World.
Invader Zim
I still come back to this every once in a while. I loved the dark humor plus the childish humor mixed with some adult humor though I don’t feel it was on the same level as other shows of the same time as I’ve rewatched it, which has surprised me.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch
Cartoon version of Sabrina, the witch. Salem the Cat is awesome and the best character besides the "What's your favorite shaver" song dude
So Hysteria was a bit hit and miss in terms of how enjoyable it was, but it did land at a time when I was able to record from TV and use it to aid some school presentations. Every single time the teachers would ask where I got this from.
The last one that I can think of is probably Gundum Wing, although I watched a lot of Flinstones reruns growing up as well. Almost everything in both of them went way over my head as a kid.
It finished long before I was born (it was Saban's "practice show" to test their confidence in taking on Power Rangers), but Samurai Pizza Cats was always avidly enjoyed by me, and it's in fact one of the first kidult shows/franchises in the modern sense (if not the first) if I'm not mistaken, especially if you count only foreign content. Think Spongebob meets Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meets anime.
I can't think of any shows that fit the bill that I'd say are my favorite that haven't already been said. It also doesn't help that my mind keeps going to Summer Camp Island for the later seasons when they start being less about random adventures and such and focus more on spoilery stuff. I wouldn't consider it fully kidult (as per OPs description) but more like Bluey in that both kids and adults can enjoy it without the need for stuff flying over a kids head, despite the fact some non-inapproriate things might fly above their head.
Edit: Just read the growing up part. I'd say I was still growing up around 2019 already having graduated highschool and still have some growing up to do, so yeah.
