199 Best Animation Movies to Watch (Page 13)

Agent Elvis is the latest reimagining of the King, this time as a cool and collected James Bond-esque spy in a 60s neon-lit world. The adult animation series takes fun and unserious turns, in 1960s world history and also in Elvis’ life. The show turns faulty on-stage shows into recollecting spy trauma, poor film performances into body doubles that step in during his missions, and pins known financial troubles to a cartoon monkey. It’s an interesting approach from co-creators John Eddie and ex-wife Priscilla, along with some cool animated sequences. It would have been successful in reimagining Elvis at his best, if the comedy was funny enough to match.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy

Actor: Don Cheadle, Johnny Knoxville, Kaitlin Olson, Matthew McConaughey, Niecy Nash, Tom Kenny

Rating: TV-MA

Sengoku Youko isn’t bad. With a historical setting, fantastic powers, decent action, and teenagers out to save the world despite societal differences, the anime has teen-friendly entertainment that anyone can enjoy. So far, the show is a better adaptation than mangaka Satoshi Mizukami’s other work Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, so fans of the artist would appreciate the dedication in adapting this story. However, with early 2024’s slate of boundary-pushing fantasy anime, the show doesn’t really stand out with its dated 2010s tropes and slightly derivative character designs. For viewers seeking for more fantasy, Sengoku Youko isn’t a bad watch, but there’s far better series currently available right now.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Aina Suzuki, Aki Toyosaki, Ayahi Takagaki, Hiroki Nanami, Hiroki Touchi, Kazuki Miyagi, Kenji Nomura, Kenjiro Tsuda, Maaya Uchida, Ryohei Kimura, Soma Saito, Tetsu Inada, Tomoyo Kurosawa, Yuuki Takada

The best thing about a Cinderella story is knowing she'll get a Prince Charming™ by the end (with or without the rats and pumpkins). The first episode of My Happy Marriage sets up the fairytale expectations to a T. Mistreated by her step-mother and step-sister - and a tragic mom-is-dead backstory - this anime hits expected beats which means it'll either be a comfortable watch or a predictable skip. The silver lining comes when Miyo's step-sister marries her long-time crush while she is sent away to marry a difficult man known to repel his suitors. A swoon-worthy, slow-burn romance is surely on the horizon, enveloped in a strikingly beautiful, dreamy animation. 

Genre: Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Akira Ishida, Ayane Sakura, Hiro Shimono, Houko Kuwashima, Kaito Ishikawa, Koutaro Nishiyama, Reina Ueda, Ryohei Kimura

There's an entire category of children's television that essentially functions as little more than white noise that parents can use to distract their kids with—which many Little Baby Bum videos wind up being. This Netflix spin-off, however, has just a little more to it: noticeably improved animation, and creative takes on nursery rhymes and other children's songs. Each episode contains three segments focused on a different sound or song, with one of the five main characters learning a simple lesson by the end. The format isn't particularly exciting and each of these roughly seven-minute long segments already feels stretched somewhat thin, but the show still clearly has more effort poured into it than one might expect.

Genre: Animation, Kids, Music

Actor: Eve Ridley, Hannah Jane Fox, Raj Ghatak, Rishi Kuppa, Siu-see Hung

Rating: TV-Y

There's a strong moral focus to Dee & Friends in Oz that helps keep it from being just a distraction for young children. The series logically continues the theme of outsiders learning to overcome their insecurities and courses this lesson through "Dorothy" herself—with much less peril and wicked witches involved, of course. But the show also finds itself stuck in the ways it expresses itself; the world of Oz here is both colorful and too ordinary, and its storytelling is both sincere and too rigid in its structure. For example, when Dee comes back home to the real world at the end of each episode, it's meant to feel as if she's applying the moral lessons to her daily life, but the connection is just too flimsy and makes these scenes feel more like unrelated epilogues.

Genre: Animation, Kids, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Judah Edwards, Layla Capers, Sevien Desuyo, Sid Kamat

Rating: TV-Y

With the ingredients of a standard sci-fi animated series, Mech Cadets almost shines with its thoughtful approach to grief, parental expectations, and self-discovery for its child-to-teen audience. From Stanford losing his father and his dream of being a pilot to Frank becoming a Robo pilot despite his prosthetic leg, the series tries to build something substantial beneath the generic giant mechas and alien antagonists. But with so many mecha/robot franchises coming to mind, the show has no distinctive qualities to stand apart. It's an overall straightforward animation that carries expected lessons on responsibility and teamwork, which kids will surely enjoy, that is, until the next Transformers-esque show is released. 

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Family

Actor: Anairis Quinones, Aparna Brielle, Brandon Soo Hoo, Josh Sundquist, Victoria Grace

Rating: TV-Y7

While it certainly has a gorgeous world to show off, with lots of colorful art direction and varied landscapes to explore, Unicorn Academy can't help but buckle under its own weight. Its first couple of episodes (starting with a feature-length premiere) want to establish fun relationships between its characters; set up an epic, world-ending conflict; reflect on its protagonist's grief; and sell merchandise all at once. But the show is both too aimless with its writing and too sluggish in its pacing to allow these disparate parts to cohere under a unified tone. It constantly feels like it's having trouble deciding what to be—which isn't helped by the fact that the first episode has two, awkwardly-placed musical numbers, and the second episode features no singing whatsoever.

Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Kids, Music, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Kamaia Fairburn, Kolton Stewart, Sara Garcia

Science fiction imagines new worlds we’ve never seen before, but the world of Synduality: Noir doesn’t feel that way. Noir feels like it presents a familiar world, except with an added touch of AI assistants called Maguses. The fighting piloted mecha robots are reminiscent of Gundam and Pacific Rim. At times, the action looks like automated 3D animation made to cut costs. However, even if the world-building was stronger, Synduality: Noir doesn’t feel like a show that wants to tell a story. There aren’t enough moments that we get to spend with the main characters Kanata and his Magus Noir to justify creating a whole series around it. We don’t even need to get into the icky slave-like dynamic between the (mostly) male Drifters and their (mostly) female Maguses.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Aoi Koga, Ayaka Ohashi, Fuminori Komatsu, Mao Ichimichi, Nagisa Aoyama, Taito Ban, Takeo Otsuka, Yusuke Kobayashi