When viewers think ofanimatedshows, their minds likely go to cartoons that they watched as kids or that their kids watch. Plenty of animated shows are certainly perfect for children, likePaw Patrol,andCocomelon,or ones for older kids likeAvatar: The Last Airbender, Gravity Falls,orAdventure Time. Parents might not think a show that is animated could be graphically violent and not suitable for their children to watch. However, there are plenty of adult animated television series on air and on streaming platforms that their kids can easily find and watch.
While some series are very obviously adult-oriented, others are not so easy to pick up on. By all appearances, yourchild’s favorite showcould seem perfectly innocuous and safe. However, it could feature characters being killed or hurt in violent manners, feature sexual innuendos (or outright sexual content), profanity, and dark humor. To help you out, here are 10 violent animated shows your kid probably shouldn’t be watching.
10Happy Tree Friends
Released in 2006,Happy Tree Friendsis an adult-animated television series based on the web series of the same name. For a while, this show was available tostream on Netflixand did not seem like a graphically violent animated series. The show features cute cartoon anthropomorphic forest animals with cute names like Flippy, Giggles, Lumpy, Nutty, and Sniffles.
In all appearances,Happy Tree Friendsseems like a good show for a little kid to watch. However, each episode revolves around the characters being subjected to accidental or deliberately inflicted pain or mutilation. How many people watched an episode before realizing that the show is, in fact, not for kids?
Related:10 Reasons Why the Superhero Genre Should Go Animated
9South Park
South Parkis an obvious contender for this list. Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in 199, the animated sitcom revolves around the adventures of four boys named Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick in the titular Colorado Town.
The series has become infamous for its profanity and dark humor that satirizes various subject matters like politics and religion. While early episodes were more shock-value oriented, later episodes became more prevalent with social satire – covering political and celebrity figures, political correctness, abortion, war, and other topics.
8Mr. Pickles
The adult animated horror comedyMr. Picklesseems like your typical animated show following a family and their misadventures. But naturally, that is not the case. The show revolves around the Goodman family, namely their six-year-old son Tommy and the family’s border collie, Mr. Pickles.
In the small community of Old Town, Tommy and Mr. Pickles spend their days exploring. Unbeknownst to anyone except Tommy’s grandfather, Mr. Pickles secretly slips away to murder and mutilate countless victims that he often reassembles and resurrects in his underground layer to do his bidding.
7Robot Chicken
LikeSouth Park,Robot Chickenis obviously not a kid show. The adult stop motion-animated sketch comedy series mocks popular culture, often referencing toys, movies, television, popular fads, and games. One common motif is fantastical characters being placed in realistic situations where they often face death or violence of some kind. The show features graphic violence, intense profanity, and sexual content that your kids shouldn’t be subjected to.
6The Ren & Stimpy Show
The Ren & Stimpy Showis actually the first on this list that was actually geared towards children. The animated television series aired from 1991 to 1995 on Nickelodeon and follows the adventures of chihuahua Ren and Manx cat Stimpy. While Stimpy is good-natured and dimwitted, Ren is emotionally unstable and psychopathic.
The series gained widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences and was one of the most popular cartoons of its time. However, it alsogenerated significant controversyfor its dark and adult humor, sexual innuendos, violence, and shock value.
TripTankis an adult-animated sketch comedy that features various sketches with multiple animation styles created by different animators and writers. While there is no direct correlation between the different stories, there is a continuous theme of dark satire. Running from 2014 to 2016 on Adult Swim, the series is decidedly not a kids show, but rather an animated series aimed towards adults.
Related:15 Cartoon Episodes That Were Banned for One Reason or Another
4Family Guy
Running from 1999 to 2002, then 2005 to the present time,Family Guyis an animated sitcom that follows the misadventures of the dysfunction Griffin Family. Peter is the bumbling, clumsy, and alcoholic father, with Lois as his wife and stay-at-home mother. The three kids are Meg, whois often bulliedby pretty much everyone in the series, including her own family, the overweight and unintelligent teen Chris, and the diabolical and hyper intelligent infant son Stewie of ambiguous sexual orientation. With them is their witty and sarcastic English-speaking anthropomorphic dog, Brian.
Between the family alone, there is enough questionable content — from the sexual desires of the baby to immense bullying, torture, and neglect of the only daughter. Outside of the family are various questionable recurring characters, like the sex-crazed neighbor Quagmire who has sexually assaulted various women and has had sex with minors, and the elderly child molester Herbert who has been preying on Chris.
3Invader ZIM
Originally running from 2001 to 2002,Invader ZIMis a animated science fiction dark comedy series that follows the extraterrestrial named Zim from the planet Irk in his mission to conquer Earth and enslave the human race. The series received positive reviews from critics and audiences, and would later gain a cult following. While the series is geared towards children, several episodes feature graphic violence, such as Zim plucking a character’s eyes out or Zim’s head getting bashed to a pulp.
2Uncle Grandpa
LikeInvader ZIMandThe Ren & Stimpy Show,Uncle Grandpais an animated television series geared towards the children. Running from 2013 to 2017,Uncle Grandpafollows the titular character, a magical shape-shifting creature, that stops by children’s houses daily to see how they’re doing. The children have problems going on that Uncle Grandpa tries to help them with through a series of chaotic misadventures. For a kid’s show, the series is surprisingly violent, with characters getting killed, others getting their bodies ripped to pieces, and Uncle Grandpa’s head flying off.
1Metalocalypse
Running from 2006 to 2013,Metalocalypseis an adult animated television series that centers on the melodic death metal band Dethklok. Widely seen as both a parody and pastiche of heavy metal culture, the show’s content is often dark and macabre, featuring subjects like death, violence, and the drawbacks of fame. Airing onAdult Swim, the show looks like it’s going to be violent from the get, and it is.
