Your Top Favorite Animated Shows

[Avaitor]

I know GIR was the face Lol Random type humor for the longest time but tbh you could always sorta guess what types of things he would say. Ed's dialogue from EEnE was far more amusingly authentic in how nonsensical it was like the line "Shhh. My yeast is rising" straight up mystifies me to this day.

This is from tumblr, but it's 100% true. I still enjoy Zim, but Gir is probably my least favorite part of it. Ed, however, is a hell of a character.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Obnoxiousness has a lot to do with it, too.

[Avaitor]

There's a science to Ed, especially when you realize that he's smarter and less nice than he leads on to be (notice how he never apologizes for the damage he does to everyone).

Gir is just random for the sake of random. And he's rarely ever that clever about it.

[gunswordfist]

A recent top ten? Okay, here's mine in no order:

Ushio & Tora
Blood Blockade Battlefront
My Hero Academia
Erased
Kids on the Slope
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Gravity Falls
Sym-Bionic Titan

Is this in order?  I wasn't paying attention and my list is out of order. In other news:

Current top 10 favorite cartoons:

10. Wolverine And The X-Men
9. Justice League
8. Young Justice
7. Black Dynamite
6. Legend Of Korra
5. Green Lantern
4. Robot Chicken
3. Regular Show
2. Venture Bros.
1. The Brave And The Bold

I didn't finish my Justice League run..and mostly watched season 1 recently, so that reflects its current spot. I need to rewatch Wolverine and Avengers.

Top Animated Shows:

10. Regular Show
9. Erased
8. My Hero Academia
7. One Punch Man
6. Venture Bros.
5. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
4. Ushio & Tora
3. Hunter X Hunter 2011
2. Hunter X Hunter 1999
1. The Brave And The Bold

At one time, Regular Show topped this list. But I have not seen it in 2 or so years.
While I am at it...
Top 10 Anime:

10. Trigun
9. Fist Of The Northstar
8. Lupin Part 1 and 2
7. Erased
6. My Hero Academia
5. One Punch Man
4. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
3. Ushio & Tora
2. Hunter X Hunter 2011
1. Hunter X Hunter 1999

Trigun will likely go higher. I am just about 6 episodes in.

[Spark Of Spirit]

It's not in any particular order, just what I really have enjoyed.

[Avaitor]

You know, it's funny, the 2010's are a decade where I can just take from what started in the decade, and leave it there. There are a few good leftovers from earlier that didn't air too many episodes in the decade to really count, like KOTH, and it feels like the only quality series that I'd be leaving out if I stick to just what started from this decade are TB&TB and South Park. It's more tough to do that for the aughts, since some of my favorite series started late in the 90's, and had a lot of their best material in the new millennium.

It's especially weird for something like Batman Beyond, which released a fair amount of good episodes at the tail end of the 90's, as well as some very early in the 00's. I can't get a feel for that one at all. But I guess it doesn't matter, since it's easy to distinguish it as a good show.

Anyway, here's 20 of my favorite cartoons from the 2000's again bolding my favorites.

American Dragon: Jake Long
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Black Lagoon
The Brak Show
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Death Note
Ed, Edd n' Eddy
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Higurashi no Naku Koro/Kai ni
Home Movies
Invader Zim
Justice League
King of the Hill
Ouran High School Host Club
Sheep in the Big City
The Spectacular Spider-Man
The Weekenders

People who say that the 00's were a dry age for cartoons don't know what they're talking about. There's a lot of good variety here.

Edit:

Honorable mentions to The Venture Brothers, TMNT 2k3, and the original Clone Wars. Oh, and W.I.T.C.H.

Also, I swapped out PPG for Courage. I might ultimately prefer it, but Powerpuff was marred by the post-movie episodes, but Courage was nothing but enjoyable during its run.

[Avaitor]

I'm bored enough to write about my favorite 2000's series a little, and now I'll update it to a top 25.

American Dragon: Jake Long- Yes, the show's use of slang was obnoxious early on, but I feel that was a part of the fun that the show exemplified. It seemed like the cast, which was already full of voice acting greats, enjoyed their work here a lot. Dante Basco even seemed to have fun dressing up as Jake in the Nostalgia Critic's Top 11 A:TLA episodes. The show had a good sense of humor that made it easy to enjoy, but it also wasn't afraid to pause this for good stories and action, which it balanced pretty well. It's a mix that I never felt Kim Possible did as well, which was a show that I always felt overstayed its welcome in more than one way.

Avatar: The Last Airbender- I'm still not the biggest fan in the world, but it's hard to deny just how good and important the series was. The mythology and character development is incredibly rich, and it has some of the best action sequences in any animated series. This is due for a rewatch in the near future.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold- As much as a salute to the silver age of comics as it is a welcome embrace of modern comic's weirdness, this is among the best of its kind, with too many great moments to name. And it's definitely one that I'm planning to rewatch soon.

Black Lagoon- I've seen the series before, but seeing Toonami air it was a treat, even if it didn't get the greatest reception. This is a solid to explosive action movies, with a strong cast of characters that are given fair development throughout. Rock's turn from shy guy to true badass wasn't as surprising as you'd expect, nor was the breaking of Revy's character that intense. It all works out for a good time.

The Boondocks- I can't believe that I forgot this earlier in my list! If we're only talking the first 2 seasons, which aired in this decade, it definitely deserves mention. The hiatuses were tough, but the animation always came out a little stronger than the previous year, and the commentary fresher. Until that disastrous last season, which I can ignore here. Still, I wish that McGruder would do another season, so he can give the characters their say on Black Lives Matter and Ben Carson, among other topics. I wonder what Ruckus would think about him.

The Brak Show- Of [adult swim]'s initial lineup, this seemed to do the weakest of all the other series, and it was the first of their originals to be cancelled. Which is a shame, since I always liked the unfiltered absurdity of the show. More Brak and Zorak time is always welcomed, while Brak's Dad is one of the all-time great inventions. Mom and Thundercleese were hardly slouches, either. But yo, "We Ski in Peace" is among the funniest 10 minutes ever.

Courage the Cowardly Dog- I've mentioned before that I wasn't a big fan of the show as a kid, but now that I'm older, I appreciate it a lot, and picking up the DVDs allow me to enjoy its varied range of emotions. At any given moment, the show can be legitimately frightening, downright heartbreaking, and yes, fucking hysterical. In its best episodes, it can be all of the above at once, and maybe even more.

Death Note- I had a bit of an anime drought for a year or two, and Death Note's airing on [adult swim] Action is what got me back into digging Japanese animation. I kept on hearing good things, so I checked one of the earliest episodes, but not the first. I didn't understand everything yet, but I was already hooked, especially after catching up on what I missed. I didn't miss an episode after, and the show's level of suspense still appeals to me today. The manga is great too, especially as the second half delves into Near and Mellow's characters more, but the anime is still my go-to for the story.

Ed, Edd n' Eddy- I was a fan since day one, but the series that I love didn't really find itself until the second season, when Antonucci and crew started to experiment more with the show's form, gave the rest of the Cul-De-Sac more time to shine, and especially when the Eds started to expand as characters. I'm still picking little things up from them and the other characters even today!

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid- Really, each series is worth checking out. The first part has some rough patches, but does a great job at introducing the characters, and has Gauron! Fumoffu is fluff, but it's undeniably fun fluff that's too enjoyable to skip. But TSR is a hell of a ride from start to finish that it deserves special mention. It's still funny, but has some of the most imaginative fight scenes and tightest tension that I can think of in an anime, all made before Kyoto went south. If the new series can live up to this, then I'll be extremely happy.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law- Barring the original Space Ghost (whose glory days was in the 90's), this is probably my favorite of the original Williams Street batch. This did a great job of lampooning the Hanna-Barbera library, mostly out of love and with a sick, but smart sense of humor. Much of their output had a tough time living up to this, and I feel that few of their series ever really did.

Higurashi no Naku Koro/Kai ni- I was happy to see Parasyte air on Toonami, especially to a strong reception! It's a good horror anime series, but this is still one of my favorites, and watching both openings again remind me of the many subtleties that they hide for the series. They're different beasts, but each do a good job of world and character building to freaky psychological effects. Although the animation in both leaves a lot to be desired.

Futurama- HOW DID I FORGET FUTURAMA? Well, really, I need to give it a rewatch sometime soon, but it is a great show, which aired just at the right time, as The Simpsons was on its decline. But it's cast is nearly equal to that show's strongest, which is a hell of a compliment that I'm not making lightly. And it does sob moments just as well as Groening's other show, too.

Home Movies- This is everything you can ask for in a comedy. Incredibly well-defined characters tackling realistic feeling situations with an endless supply of killer lines. I know that Bob's Burgers has more fans, but this sticks out to me more, and I'd strongly suggest to anyone that enjoys BB's handling of childhood to give this a watch, as well.

Hunter x Hunter (1999)- We may call it HXH 99, but the vast majority of it aired in 2000 and early 01, so this definitely deserves mention. The 2011 series may have covered more of the manga, but this series does have better pacing, and a particularly killer Yorknew City adaptation. I think both are worth a watch, but this is ultimately the stronger of the two series.

Invader Zim- I was just talking about how Gir annoys me nowadays, but there's still a lot that I do like about Zim nowadays. I really dug the show's darker sense of humor when it was on, and Nickelodeon was full of Klasky-Csupo lameness, and I still kind of do, even when it feels like Vasquez is trying too hard. Oftentimes, he strikes a nerve that still feels rare to hit today. But really, the show's constant struggle between Zim and Dib is what keeps it appealing. They're both idiots, and it's fun to see how far their pissing matches go. Also, Gaz.

Justice League- As a whole, Justice League is pretty uneven. The first season is hard to sit through, it takes a little for the show to find its grounding when it goes to Unlimited, and the last season feels extra. But at its best, primarily the second season and the Cadmus arc, this feels like a culmination of everything Timm and crew had learned from their decade of making super hero cartoons, and makes for a fitting end to their run.

King of the Hill- This is one of the few shows that could easily make it on a favorites list for the 90's and 00's. But even though I'd gladly concede that seasons 3 and 4 are the show's peak, there's far too many highlights from the whole decade to ignore. That middle point where character development was all but dropped was awkward, but Mike Judge coming back into full swing for the last few seasons is one of the best thing to happen to the series.

Ouran High School Host Club- You could make a case that Ouran celebrates shoju/harem tropes as much as it mocks them, and honestly, it wouldn't matter much to me at all. The show is so constantly enjoyable no matter how you spin it, and gives us a varied and great cast. Now that the manga is long finished, I'm awaiting the announcement for a new series already, be it a continuation, or a redo that doesn't write out what makes this adaptation endure.

The Powerpuff Girls- This is here primarily for the half of season 2 that aired in 2000, as well as 3 and 4. The show did lose its track when McCracken left after the movie to focus on Foster's, but at its best, there's little topping Powerpuff. The show's likable, skewing sense of humor is often duplicated, but rarely matched.

Sheep in the Big City- This show deserved much more. This is the closest thing that we've had to a spiritual successor to Rocky & Bullwinkle, and while it doesn't have the strangely timeless Cold War-induced sense of humor that makes that endure, Sheep makes up for that with fourth-wall breaking that would make the Looneys proud; commercial parodies that Ren & Stimpy would be jealous of; and character bending that made it fit in with the Cartoon Cartoons. With comparisons like this, I hope I entice you to (re)discover the series.

The Spectacular Spider-Man- This is everything that I could ask for in a Spider-Man series, and more. Josh Keaton is the perfect Spider-Man, melding wit and intensity better than Tobey Maguire ever bothered to, AND a perfect Peter Parker, filling in the angst that Andrew Garfield didn't nail (the jury's still out on Holland, who had a good start, but is still below Keaton in my eyes). And thanks to Greg Weisman's fanboyisms, a great Spider-Man series was brought to screen that allowed for amazing arcs before leaving the world all too soon. I'm really just glad that he didn't write Mary Jane like Gwen Stacy, and similarly gave Gwen a little extra depth than she initially received in the comics.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (2003)- If anything, this might be too tad of a serious adaptation of Eastman and Laird's original comics, but it's definitely a more worthy take than the original 80's show, nostalgia be damned. At least the first four seasons, before 4Kids went too batshit trying to keep the toyline on the shelves. But when it worked, the turtles were each well-defined, and the main arcs were worth sticking around for. That said, I should probably give the recent series a watch. From what I've heard, it's a good balance of the original show's goofiness (which can be fun in small doses), and this one's seriousness.

The Weekenders- This was my favorite of the One Saturday Morning cartoons, but I'll acknowledge that some of them were also pretty good. But The Weekenders is still special to me for how it built on its four characters, and gave each a wide range of depth in between plenty of great lines. As a child of divorce, I could relate to Tino feeling left out by not having his father around, while I could also relate to Tish's feelings of being the odd foreign kid, Lor's happiness despite her insecurities, and Carver's mixed feelings of being a fuck-up. The supporting cast was also fun, and I still want to try some of those pizza places out.

[Foggle]

Courage really is so good. I think that's one of the most inspirational shows for my writing ever since my childhood. It's aged beautifully.

Harvey Birdman is way better than a Williams Street series has any right to be. It's consistently hilarious and perfect for re-watches.

I've often forgotten about Futurama these days too. I think it's because the revival seasons, while not terrible, didn't leave a particularly good impression on me aside from the first one, which was also slightly below par. But those first four are as close to perfect as it gets.

Jhonen Vasquez has turned "trying too hard" into an art form. I don't really like his comedy that much anymore, but he's a master of his craft, and I have a lot of respect for him.

It's gotten to the point where I hate thinking about Spectacular Spider-Man. I want to watch it again, but I feel like it would hurt too much. To think that we could have seen so much more of that rich character development by now is maddening. I wish Marvel would at least let them start a new comic series to continue where season 2 left off.

[Avaitor]

I want to pick my Blu up and finish rewatching SSM and write about it, but yeah, it hurts knowing that we'll never get to see more of Greg's take on the characters. Especially after hearing about some of his ideas for season 3.

What are some of your favorites from last decade, Foggle? Or this decade, for that matter?

[Foggle]

Honestly, aside from a few series I haven't seen much of, my list would look extremely similar to yours! I haven't really kept up with TV in general over the past few years, but my favorite 2010's cartoons are definitely Archer, Fujiko Mine, and Space Dandy. All three of those are very close to my heart. I really need to start watching stuff again...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

South Park has had an insanely good run over the past three seasons. It's probably my favorite long-running animated series that's still going.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Also, great list, Avaitor. I forgot to comment about it before, but a lot of your favorites are among my favorites as well, especially Hunter X Hunter and The Second Raid. In fact, here are my top 15 animated shows from the 2000s in no particular order:

Avatar: The Last Airbender
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Black Lagoon
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Death Note
Digimon Tamers
Ed, Edd, n' Eddy
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
Futurama (original TV run)
Justice League
Ouran High School Host Club
The Spectacular Spider-Man
The Venture Bros.
Hajime no Ippo
Hunter X Hunter (1999)

And additionally, here are my top 10 favorite feature-length animated movies from the 2000's decade in no particular order:

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Futurama: Bender's Big Score
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Justice League: The New Frontier
Kung Fu Panda
Monsters, Inc.
Redline
Summer Wars
Up
Wonder Woman

[gunswordfist]

Didn't know you liked The New Frontier that much.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Good lists, guys! Here's mine. I'm excluding shows that started before 1999, though.

American Dad!
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
The Boondocks
The Brak Show
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Ed, Edd, n' Eddy
Futurama
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Gintama
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law
Home Movies
Justice League/Unlimited
Mushi-shi
School Rumble
The Spectacular Spider-Man
The Venture Bros.

Movies:

Billy & Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure
Crayon Shin Chan: The Storm Called: The Adult Empire Strikes Back
The Emperor's New Groove
Finding Nemo
The Garden of Sinners: Paradox Spiral
Monsters, Inc.
Persepolis
Redline
Sita Sings the Blues
Up

Lots of great stuff came out of the 00's.

[Avaitor]

Really cool lists, guys! There's a few series listed that I want to see or rewatch, but I will say that Billy & Mandy nearly made my own one. Although I do need to see some more of that again, as well.

As for my favorite movies of the 00's, these would be some of mine:

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Billy & Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure
Coraline
Ed, Edd n' Eddy's Big Picture Show
The Emperor's New Groove
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Girl Who Lept Through Time
The Incredibles
Kung-Fu Panda
Lilo & Stitch
Persepolis
The Princess and the Frog
Redline
Spirited Away
Summer Wars
Up
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir

I didn't even care how many movies I listed here, I really like these.