Grownup animation has lengthy been a spot for the bizarre and the experimental, however no community has leaned into the mind-melting, nightmarish absurdity of the shape fairly like Grownup Swim. Born out of Cartoon Community’s late-night slot within the early 2000s, Grownup Swim constructed itself on surrealism, irony, and a complete disregard for conventional storytelling construction. In its earliest days, it was a house for chaotic anti-sitcoms (Aqua Teen Starvation Power, Harvey Birdman), then advanced into one thing even stranger—a platform the place animation might be grotesque, philosophical, absurdist, or utterly unhinged. It wasn’t nearly telling tales otherwise; it was about breaking them aside and seeing what was left when nothing made sense anymore.
However the factor about bizarre animation is that it doesn’t simply survive—it multiplies. Streaming platforms, determined for content material that feels each algorithmically unplaceable and deeply area of interest, have taken Grownup Swim’s DNA and pushed it additional. Now, mind-bending animation is in all places: The Midnight Gospel turns a podcast right into a psychedelic odyssey about consciousness and demise, Undone makes use of rotoscope animation to bend time and actuality, BoJack Horseman dissolves the road between existential despair and absurdist humor. Even Frequent Facet Results, Grownup Swim’s latest entry, is proof that the custom continues—one other present the place the material of actuality frays on the edges, the place horror and satire and pure animated chaos collide.
13
‘Mr. Pickles’ (2014 – 2019)
If Norman Rockwell painted a city after which set it on fireplace, you’d get Mr. Pickles—a present that takes the aesthetic of a healthful small-town cartoon and warps it into one thing violently deranged. On the floor, it follows the Goodman household and their lovable border collie, Mr. Pickles.
However beneath that harmless exterior, Mr. Pickles is a satanic, hyper-intelligent killing machine who slaughters individuals in more and more elaborate and grotesque methods, usually proper below the oblivious noses of his house owners. The present is a high-speed blender of extreme gore, surreal black comedy, and pitch-perfect satire of American naivety, pushing the bounds of excellent style whereas reveling in its personal depravity.
When Extra Turns into the Level
Few reveals embrace chaos like Mr. Pickles. Each episode is a relentless, over-the-top assault of violence and depravity, to the purpose the place the horror turns into so excessive it loops again round into comedy. The present’s humor isn’t simply darkish—it’s soulless, gleefully nihilistic, and designed to shock, a direct descendant of Glad Tree Buddies and South Park’s most offensive years. However buried in all of the mayhem is a intelligent critique of small-town values, media censorship, and the best way American tradition turns a blind eye to corruption, so long as it’s wrapped in one thing cute and acquainted.
12
‘Superjail! ‘(2007 – 2014)
At first look, Superjail! seems like a fever dream model of The Jetsons—a colourful, hyper-detailed animated world full of exaggerated characters and futuristic expertise. However then it begins, and also you notice: this present shouldn’t be right here to make sense. It’s right here to soften your mind. The premise is deceptively easy: the Warden, an eccentric sadist with god-like energy, runs a futuristic, interdimensional jail the place the legal guidelines of actuality bend to his each whim. Each episode begins with a vaguely conventional setup, solely to escalate right into a chaotic, blood-soaked visible nightmare, usually culminating in a number of the most grotesquely inventive mass murders ever animated.
The Purest Expression of Animated Chaos
Superjail! is a visible overdose, an experiment in how a lot motion, element, and madness might be crammed into each body. Every episode performs like an prolonged, intricately choreographed struggle sequence, the place a whole lot of characters are consistently morphing, exploding, melting, and getting eviscerated in more and more inventive methods. The animation fashion—hand-drawn, stuffed with squiggly, over-exaggerated motion—feels just like the logical endpoint of Looney Tunes if Looney Tunes had been made by a workforce of extremely caffeinated nihilists.
What makes Superjail! so mind-bending isn’t simply its relentless, ultraviolent spectacle, however the best way it treats actuality itself as one thing versatile, unstable, and totally meaningless. The jail doesn’t simply include criminals—it holds time-traveling warriors, mutants, aliens, sentient robots, and entities past comprehension. This present turns company paranoia into an absurdist nightmare, Superjail! turns the prison-industrial advanced into an animated demise spiral, the place management is an phantasm and violence is the one fixed.
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11
‘The Shivering Fact’ (2018 – 2020)
The Shivering Fact
- Launch Date
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2018 – 2019
- Administrators
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Cat Solen
- Writers
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Vernon Chatman
A stop-motion horror anthology not like anything on tv, The Shivering Fact is a collection of surreal vignettes that discover concern, guilt, and existential dread by way of grotesque, dreamlike animation. Created by Vernon Chatman (Surprise Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel), every episode performs like a disjointed fever dream—tales shift with out warning, characters morph into new kinds, and the principles of actuality dissolve as rapidly as they seem. There’s an eerie logic to its insanity, a sense that each nightmare unfolding on display means one thing, even when you can’t fairly put your finger on what.
When horror feels too actual to course of
The present’s horror isn’t about bounce scares or conventional monsters; it’s about deep, unsettling anxieties that creep into your thoughts lengthy after the episode ends. It faucets into common fears—parental neglect, social rejection, the phobia of realizing you’re not who you suppose you’re—and turns them into disturbingly literal, usually viscerally grotesque tableaus. The physique horror isn’t only for shock; it’s a mirrored image of psychological instability made seen. The Shivering Fact leans into the horror of dropping management over actuality itself, proving that animation doesn’t simply enable for surreal storytelling—it thrives on it.
10
‘Undone’ (2019)
Undone
- Style
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Animation, Drama, Fantasy
- Language
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English
- Variety of Seasons
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2
- Debut Date
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September 13, 2019
- Studio
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Amazon Studios, Hive Home, Minnow Mountain
Undone is what occurs when animation meets consciousness-expanding sci-fi—a narrative about trauma, time journey, and the fluidity of actuality, all instructed by way of rotoscope animation that makes all the pieces really feel just a bit too actual. The present follows Alma (Rosa Salazar), a lady whose notion of time turns into unstable after a near-fatal automotive accident. Guided by visions of her lifeless father (Bob Odenkirk), she begins to unravel the secrets and techniques of her previous whereas questioning whether or not she’s really unlocking a deeper fact or just dropping her thoughts.
When reminiscence and actuality grow to be indistinguishable
Not like most animated collection, Undone isn’t involved with exaggerated motion or surreal comedy—it makes use of animation as a solution to bend actuality itself, permitting its characters to float by way of reminiscences, hallucinations, and alternate timelines with seamless fluidity. The present’s dreamlike aesthetic makes its emotional core hit even tougher, turning a meditation on grief and psychological sickness into a shocking, mind-warping journey.
9
‘Aeon Flux’ (1991 – 1995)
Aeon Flux is what occurs when a cyberpunk dystopia meets a surrealist spy thriller—an avant-garde explosion of cryptic storytelling, non-linear narratives, and deeply unsettling animation. Created by Peter Chung, the present follows Aeon, an enigmatic murderer navigating a world of bio-mechanical horror, shifting political alliances, and expertise so superior it’d as nicely be magic. Initially a collection of shorts on MTV’s Liquid Tv, Aeon Flux developed a cult following for its distinctive artwork fashion, minimalist dialogue, and philosophical themes about energy, identification, and the physique as a mutable, disposable entity.
When storytelling refuses to offer you solutions
Nothing about Aeon Flux operates in a conventional means—episodes usually finish abruptly, characters die and return with out rationalization, and the road between hero and villain is continually blurred. It’s a present that trusts its viewers to place the items collectively, or to just accept that some questions won’t ever have solutions. Aeon herself isn’t a lot a protagonist as she is an agent of chaos, caught in an countless, cyclical battle with Trevor Goodchild, her sometimes-rival, sometimes-lover.
Aeon Flux exists in a world the place logic is secondary to temper, the place actuality is one thing to be deconstructed, and the place each body looks like a transmission from one other dimension. It’s mind-bending within the purest sense—uncompromising, hypnotic, and not possible to neglect.
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8
‘FLCL’ (2000 – 2001)
FLCL
Forged
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Mayumi Shintani
Haruko Haruhara
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Izumi Kasagi
Mamimi Samejima
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Suzuki Matsuo
Kamon Nandaba
At first look, FLCL (or Fooly Cooly) seems like a chaotic fever dream—a whirlwind of hyper-stylized animation, large robots bursting from their foreheads, and Vespa-riding aliens who appear to exist solely to trigger mayhem. However beneath the absurdity, it’s an intimate, deeply emotional coming-of-age story wrapped in layers of surrealist sci-fi. Following 12-year-old Naota as he navigates adolescence, FLCL throws viewers right into a world the place all the pieces feels each over-the-top and painfully relatable, completely capturing the sensation of rising up in a world that refuses to make sense.
When chaos is the one solution to clarify rising up
FLCL is a present that doesn’t simply break narrative guidelines—it utterly ignores them. Scenes shift between artwork types, moments of emotional introspection are interrupted by absurdist comedy, and its relentless pacing mimics the overwhelming nature of adolescence itself. This present thrives on unpredictability, mixing humor, motion, and deeply private storytelling into one thing that feels alive. FLCL doesn’t need you to grasp all the pieces—it desires you to really feel it, and in doing so, it cements itself as one of the mind-bending animated collection ever created.
7
‘Xavier: Renegade Angel’ (2007 – 2009)
Xavier: Renegade Angel looks like a misplaced transmission from one other dimension, an animated nightmare dressed as a religious journey. Starring Xavier, a self-proclaimed shaman-warrior with a snake hand and an ego the scale of the cosmos, the present is a nonsensical, aggressively ugly, and deeply unsettling satire of new-age mysticism and self-importance. Each episode follows Xavier as he seeks enlightenment, solely to trigger destruction and chaos wherever he goes. His deep, nonsensical monologues parody the sort of pseudo-intellectualism that feels profound till you notice it means completely nothing.
When self-awareness turns into self-destruction
Xavier: Renegade Angel doesn’t simply mock conventional storytelling—it actively destroys it. Episodes are full of not possible dialogue, grotesque visuals, and philosophical ramblings that collapse in on themselves. The collection operates in a world the place logic is non-compulsory and which means is continually slipping by way of your fingers. It takes the language of deep, mental exploration and turns it inside out, making you query whether or not you’re watching one thing good or simply utterly unhinged. In the long run, it doesn’t matter—Xavier is each a genius and a idiot, and that contradiction is strictly what makes the present so fascinating.
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6
‘Assy McGee’ (2006 – 2008)
Assy McGee is what occurs when a parody goes thus far off the rails that it loops again round into pure, undiluted absurdity. A grotesque, hyper-violent cop present spoof, the collection follows Assy, a renegade detective who’s actually only a pair of buttocks with legs and a gun. Set in a world that refuses to acknowledge the madness of its personal premise, Assy grumbles by way of each episode, taking pictures first and asking questions by no means, all whereas delivering slurred, tough-guy one-liners that sound like they had been dredged from the underside of a whiskey bottle.
When parody turns into indistinguishable from insanity
What makes Assy McGee so mind-bending isn’t simply its ridiculous protagonist—it’s the best way the present commits, with out irony, to each single overblown trope of ‘80s and ‘90s cop dramas. This present thrives on the dissonance between acquainted style buildings and complete, surreal chaos. It asks a elementary query: how a lot nonsense are you able to inject right into a story earlier than it stops functioning as a narrative? Assy McGee is the reply—an animated experiment in pushing a joke thus far that it stops being a joke and turns into one thing else solely.
5
‘BoJack Horseman’ (2014 – 2020)
BoJack Horseman
- Launch Date
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2014 – 2019
- Community
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Raphael Bob-Waksberg
At first, BoJack Horseman seems like a typical grownup animated comedy—a washed-up former sitcom star (who additionally occurs to be a speaking horse) coasts by way of life in a Hollywood satire full of anthropomorphic animals and absurdist humor. However then, slowly, it reveals itself to be one thing else: a deeply introspective, emotionally devastating exploration of melancholy, habit, and self-destruction. Its world could also be ridiculous, however its feelings are painfully actual, making it one of the profound animated collection in regards to the movie and tv trade made but.
When comedy turns into existential horror
BoJack Horseman bends actuality in ways in which really feel too actual. It performs with unreliable narrators, dream logic, and episodes that abandon conventional storytelling solely—from the silent underwater episode to the gut-wrenching freefall of BoJack’s drug-induced hallucinations. The present proves that animation doesn’t must be confined by narrative conventions—it will probably break actuality to inform the reality extra clearly. In a world the place sitcoms recycle the identical character arcs time and again, BoJack presents one thing darker: the concept generally, individuals don’t change. And generally, that’s the scariest factor of all.
4
‘The Midnight Gospel’ (2020)
The Midnight Gospel is not a typical animated present. It’s a podcast, a drug journey, a philosophical meditation on demise and existence, all wrapped in psychedelic, ever-shifting animation. Created by Pendleton Ward (Journey Time) and comic Duncan Trussell, the collection follows Clancy, a “spacecaster” who explores completely different simulated universes, interviewing the beings he meets about life, demise, and consciousness. The conversations—lifted straight from Trussell’s real-life podcast—vary from meditations on ego demise to deeply private discussions about grief, all whereas surreal landscapes twist and morph into not possible new shapes.
When storytelling dissolves into pure thought
The Midnight Gospel doesn’t care about plot. Its animation and dialogue usually function on utterly completely different planes of existence, forcing the viewers to expertise each as separate but intertwined components. The present refuses to carry your hand—it desires you to get misplaced, to let go, to expertise somewhat than analyze. It’s a present that asks you to give up to its world, to cease trying to find which means within the conventional sense, and as a substitute enable the expertise to clean over you.
The result’s one thing that feels much less like tv and extra like a religious transmission from one other dimension—a reminder that animation isn’t simply leisure. It’s a gateway to concepts too huge for actuality to include.
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3
‘Rick and Morty’ (2013 – Current)
On the floor, Rick and Morty is a sci-fi comedy a few genius alcoholic scientist and his simply traumatized grandson bouncing between dimensions and barely surviving more and more nihilistic misadventures. However beneath the intergalactic chaos and rapid-fire absurdity, it’s a present about one thing darker: existential dread, the meaningless nature of actuality, and the crushing weight of understanding that, in an infinite multiverse, nothing really issues. Every episode introduces mind-bending sci-fi ideas—parallel realities, time loops, simulation idea—solely to systematically deconstruct them with brutal cynicism and absurd humor.
Rick Sanchez, a godlike scientist with no ethical compass, is a personality who absolutely understands the futility of existence however distracts himself by way of reckless hedonism and emotional detachment. Morty, his grandson and reluctant sidekick, is continually caught between admiration and horror, dragged into adventures that completely scar him each bodily and mentally. The present thrives on contradiction: it mocks conventional storytelling buildings whereas being deeply serialized, it refuses to let its characters develop whereas exploring the devastating penalties of stagnation, and it makes use of a number of the smartest sci-fi writing in tv as a automobile for dick jokes.
When humor is only a masks for existential horror
What makes Rick and Morty so mind-bending isn’t simply its high-concept storytelling or its ever-expanding universe—it’s the best way the present leans into hopelessness, then dares you to snort at it anyway. The collection consistently reminds its characters (and its viewers) that free will is an phantasm, that emotional development is pointless within the grand scheme of an infinite multiverse, and that even probably the most profound discoveries shall be decreased to a different sarcastic punchline.
And but, regardless of its brutal cynicism, the present nonetheless finds moments of actual emotional weight—whether or not within the crushing loneliness of Rick’s self-imposed exile or Morty’s rising realization that his life won’t ever be regular once more. This present performs with existence as an unstable idea, turning the universe right into a joke too huge for anybody particular person to grasp. It’s equal components hilarious and horrifying, a present that appears enjoyable till you notice you’re laughing on the void.
2
‘Smiling Buddies’ (2022)
Smiling Buddies seems like a easy, low-budget Grownup Swim comedy—a lo-fi, crudely animated present about two guys who work at an organization designed to convey happiness to individuals in want. However it’s so a lot weirder than that.
Created by web animators Zach Hadel (psychicpebbles) and Michael Cusack (YOLO: Crystal Fantasy), the present performs with expectations at each flip, throwing its characters into utterly unhinged situations that by no means observe a logical arc. One episode begins with an easy plot and ends in a hyper-realistic, grotesque nightmare sequence. One other resolves its central battle in 5 seconds after which spends the remainder of the episode on a totally unrelated tangent. The humor shifts between dry awkwardness, surreal absurdity, and full-blown horror with no warning, making a consistently unstable narrative that retains viewers disoriented.
Charlie and Pim, the present’s protagonists, are the one two workers on the Smiling Buddies firm, a company devoted to creating individuals completely happy. Whereas Pim is endlessly optimistic, Charlie is jaded and skeptical, and their missions to “assist” individuals usually finish in catastrophe. The world they inhabit is aggressively bizarre—a mixture of weird, photorealistic backgrounds, terrifying character designs, and a whole disregard for actuality. But, beneath the madness, there’s one thing deeply relatable about its depiction of making an attempt (and infrequently failing) to make a distinction in a world that doesn’t care.
When absurdity and sincerity exist in the identical area
For all its surrealism and absurd humor, Smiling Buddies is oddly healthful. Its characters might exist in a merciless, weird world, however their mission—serving to individuals discover happiness—is surprisingly honest. The present by no means mocks the concept of kindness, even because it makes enjoyable of all the pieces else. The present revels in randomness, nevertheless it additionally finds depth within the chaos, proving that experimental animation doesn’t must be cynical. Typically, it will probably simply be deeply bizarre, deeply humorous, and unusually uplifting all of sudden.
1
‘Frequent Facet Results’ (2025)
Frequent Facet Results
4.5
/5
- Launch Date
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February 2, 2025
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Joseph Lee Anderson
Copano (voice)
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Martha Kelly
Harrington (voice)
Frequent Facet Results takes the paranoia of a company conspiracy thriller and filters it by way of the unhinged surrealism that defines Grownup Swim. The present follows two associates, Marshall and Frances, as they uncover an enormous pharmaceutical thriller—one which spirals into one thing a lot greater, weirder, and extra harmful than they ever anticipated.
At its core, Frequent Facet Results is about methods of management—particularly, the methods wherein firms, medical industries, and authorities establishments dictate our actuality, usually with out us even realizing it. By means of its weird storytelling, the present faucets into real-world anxieties about huge pharma, psychological well being, and the best way society numbs itself to disaster after disaster.
Not like conventional conspiracy thrillers, the place protagonists are hyper-competent heroes preventing in opposition to a shadowy cabal, Frequent Facet Results leans into absurdist horror. Marshall and Frances are extraordinary individuals caught in one thing incomprehensible, consistently uncovering items of a puzzle that solely result in extra questions, extra paranoia, and extra reality-bending weirdness. The present is designed to make you are feeling such as you’re slipping into the identical conspiracy they’re, uncertain of what’s actual, who to belief, or whether or not there was ever a solution within the first place.
When paranoia feels justified
Like the very best of Grownup Swim’s mind-melting reveals, Frequent Facet Results isn’t nearly weirdness for its personal sake—it faucets into real-world anxieties, notably our collective unease in regards to the pharmaceutical trade, authorities oversight, and the methods wherein we settle for the absurd as regular. It’s a present about conspiracies, however greater than that, it’s about how straightforward it’s to be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of what we don’t know.
Like The Midnight Gospel or Rick and Morty, it doesn’t simply break actuality—it questions whether or not we ever understood it within the first place. The animation fashion itself displays this instability—characters and environments shift unpredictably, mirroring the sense of actuality consistently fraying on the edges.