10 Best Animated TV Shows Streaming On HBO Max, Ranked
By Google News TV ·
For years, HBO has been one of the biggest names in creating unique, original television. So, it makes perfect sense that its streaming platform, HBO Max, has so thoroughly embraced animation and all the storytelling it has to offer.
The streaming platform has added some of the best and most creative animated TV shows ever made to its library while also producing original series of its own. Whether it's family-friendly shows that kids and adults can enjoy or dark, depressing, and hyper-violent adult animation, HBO Max is streaming cartoons that will have viewers glued to their seats.
It's hard to think of a better streaming platform for animated content to live. The medium allows creators to bring imaginative worlds to life that would be difficult, if not prohibitively expensive, to recreate in live action.
So, for the network that brought the world big worlds in shows like "Game of Thrones," "The Last of Us," "Dune: Prophecy," and even "Lanterns," animation is a pretty logical place for the likes of some of the below animated shows.
Whether you're looking to laugh, think, or cry, these shows that are currently streaming on HBO Max are sure to get you where you're going.
It's often a no-brainer to take a popular comic book and bring it to life through animation, which is exactly what happened with creator Todd McFarlane's "Spawn."
Based on the character from Image Comics, the show premiered on HBO in 1997 as a rare foray into adult animation. At a time when the majority of cartoons were thought to be for children, McFarlane and HBO recognized its potential to tell grown-up stories and used the immensely dark character of Spawn to do so. And boy, is the animated "Spawn" a dark show.
When it initially came out in 1997, it was overshadowed by the live-action movie that released the same year. Over time, it became a favorite among fans who appreciated its writing, high-quality animation, and willingness to tell dramatic, violent, and sexually explicit stories through cartoons.
The show is a faithful adaptation of the Image Comics character and, despite its three-season run ending in 1999, holds up as an animated classic to this day.
In 1984, the movie "Gremlins" captivated pop culture with the introduction of its mischievous titular little monsters and their adorable counterparts, the Mogwai — specifically Gizmo. Things went enjoyably off the rails for the franchise in 1990 when the sequel "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" hit theaters.
Despite their popularity, the Gremlins have yet to get a third live-action movie. However, an ambitious "Gremlins" prequel story hit HBO Max in 2023, following a young Sam Wing as he helps Gizmo return to his family in China.
The family-friendly show, like the movies, is full of heart, mayhem, and of course, the kind of cuteness that only Gizmo can bring. Unlike the movies, though, "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai" gets to be a little more ambitious with its plotlines, taking Gizmo and his friend Sam Wing on a wild romp through China, where they encounter all kinds of mythical creatures.
Thanks to the power of animation, this series gets to continue the legacy of the Mogwai and the Gremlins, putting characters like Gizmo in far more serialized situations than a difficult-to-produce third movie ever could. If all that isn't enough to convince one to tune in, the reliable adorableness of Gizmo ought to do the trick.
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Originally published by Google News TV
