Animation is an art form that allows people that defy all logic, while still having a characters that are realistic and stories that invoke feelings of fear, sadness, and joy. Through the medium many creators worldwide have created cartoon for both mature and children audiences that both entertain viewers and teach them. Here are some animations from various western cultures that create unique stories that demonstrate the power of animation.

Invader Zim is a dark, but humorous television show created by Jhonen Vasques that ran on Nickelodeon during the early 2000 for two seasons. The show is about the adventure of the Irken alien, Zim, who is seen as a disappointment to his entire race, but desperately wants to impress his leaders, The Tallest, by becoming an invader. However due to his past mistakes, The Tallest send Zim to the planet Earth with a defective robot named Gir hoping he will never return under the impression Earth does not exist. Despite their effort to get rid of Zim, he does eventually reaches the Earth, and once he arrives, begins conquering the planet believing the task will be easy after seeing the oblivious humans. However, Zim’s initial reaction to conquering Earth quickly diminish once his identity as a alien in discovered by a child named Dib, the misfit son of a famous scientist, Dr. Membrane.

Moral Orel is a Claymation series created by Dino Stamatopoulos that ran on Adult Swim from 2005 to 2008 that lasted for three seasons about ultra-religious the town of Moralton, Statesota. The series primarily focuses on the Moral Puppington, a young boy, who wants to be the best Christian he possibly can, but does not always think about how he can achieve his goal through thoroughly leading to detrimental consequences. Despite the main story, the series does feature episodes about multiple other characters within the town that will dive deeper into the character’s personality, and backstory. These episodes are important to the show because they explain that the characters’ humorous actions are really a cover for the characters emotional damage that many characters faced in the past along with their own life problems.

The Venture Bros. is a science fiction adventure cartoon created by Doc Hammer and Christopher McCulloch that began airing on Adult Swim in 2003 is now on its fifth season. The show’s premise is based on the fictional adventures of Venture family, Brock Samson, the family’s bodyguard, and the family’s many supervillain nemeses. In the show, there is a multiple insane characters most notably of which would be the Monarch that all try to attack Dr.Venture and his son’s, Dean and Hank, on an everyday basis. Despite the long lineup of super villains, however Dr.venture of a overall typical man that rides off the fame of his deceased father and his youth while trying to maintain the legacy of the Venture name.

Archer is an action comedy created by Adam Reed that focuses on the life Sterling Archer, an irresponsible, selfish, and reckless man that works for his mother, Malory’s, spy agency. The show began airing in 2010 on the FX network and has it seventh season set to air this spring. In the show Archer struggles with being a responsible adult after being spoiled by his neglectful mother, and being raised by his family’s butler Woodhouse. On top of his rather irresponsible and childlike behavior, he also is given the responsibility of  being a superspy, but often mixes up missions and brags about his position to others which often causes his partner and ex-girlfriend, Lana to fix his mistakes.

Futurama is a science fiction comedy by Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons that began airing on the Fox network in 1999, and was canceled by the network in 2003. However following its cancellation, four movies were released for the series, and it began airing on Comedy Central in 2008 up until the 2013. The series has seven seasons in total and has been nominated for seventeen awards. The series is about the life of a man from New York named Philip J. Fry who is accidentally cryogenically frozen while on a pizza delivery until the year 3000. However despite most of his family and friends now being deceased, he has a hopeful look to the new opportunities the future could hold, and quickly learns about his only living relative, Professor. Hubert J. Farnsworth. After meeting Farnsworth, the Professor explains that he needs a delivery crew for his side project Planet Express, a interstellar delivery service. Upon this news Fry takes the job as his delivery boy to fulfill his lifelong dream of exploring the universe.

Rick and Morty is science fiction comedy made by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland about Rick Sanchez and his grandson, Morty Smith, as they go on various zany adventures. It currently has two seasons with the third season airing next spring. In the series, there is frequently a main story for the episode featuring Morty and Rick’s adventures, and a side story about the rest of the Smith family that are often more relatable.  It also frequently parodies popular fictional media such as The Purge, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Jurassic Park, to create a story that they can incorporate into the overarching plot. Despite the series’ randomness there are however two reoccurring plot points in the series. The first main plot point is how Rick left his family when Morty’s mother, Beth, when she was a child, but despite the abandonment, she allows him to live with her even if he puts the family in danger out of the fear that he might leave again, and the second deals with with Beth and Morty’s father’s, Jerry’s, unhappy marriage.

Through these many show the creators demonstrate the power and potential that animation has to tell amazing stories. There are many animations worldwide with amazing and creative stories, and I hope that these few animations either help to encourage you to watch more animation, or help to build onto you love of animation.