10 Most Underrated Cartoons

Cartoons are great…we have many awesome hit shows from SpongeBob SquarePants to Amphibia to South Park and so on. But we also have quite a few gems that not many seem to talk about, and I feel that I should put the spotlight onto these underrated cartoons. Today, I will be going over my ten most underrated cartoons.

10. Over the Garden Wall

When putting this cartoon on the list, I was heavily debating on whether I should put it here as one of the 10 most underrated cartoons or not. While it does seem to be quite positively received, and while it has had a decent amount of exposure from the cartoon community, I find that it is not really talked about as much as many others that came out at the same time as Gravity Falls. This perplexed me as I thought it was a strong series.

This was a miniseries that had 10 episodes in 2014. It was about two brothers named Greg and Wirt who end up in a mysterious land called the Unknown, and work to get home. It was a great series packed with mystery, darkness and awesome characters (especially Greg). While being underrated is a debate, there is no doubt that it is amazing! You can watch Over the Garden Wall on Hulu, Amazon or iTunes.

9. Hilda

As this series is one that also is decently known, I was debating on whether this one should be put on here again. It is like Over the Garden Wall in the sense that it is pretty decently well known, but it is definitely a series that I feel is much less known than shows it came out with, and I feel that due to this, it should be on here.

Hilda is a series that has 2 seasons and 26 episodes. It is about an 11 year old girl named Hilda who goes on magical adventures and encounters mysterious creatures with her friends David and Frida and Twig, her pet deer frog. I loved Hilda as it has fun characters and a unique art style. Furthermore, Hilda takes on the common magic theme you see in TV shows, but executes it in a way that is unique! You can watch Hilda on Netflix!

8. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

While this series was screwed over by the network I feel that the main reason it is underrated goes deeper than that. When the series first started getting advertisements, many people (myself included) did not really like the idea of this series - especially since we just got a super dark and serious installment of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prior to this show. This left a bad taste in our mouths and many of us did not want to check out this more lighthearted take on the turtles. However, coming back to it years later, it was a hidden gem!

Running for 2 seasons of 39 episodes from 2018 to 2020, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a totally new and unique adaptation of the turtles we all know and love. The series revolved around them before they actually became crime fighters. The main goal they have is to stop The Shredder from being resurrected for the first season while actually fighting him in the second season. They also learn about the secrets of Master Splinter in this adaptation. My favorite aspects of this series are the fact that they take the turtles and add their own unique spin to it so that it doesn’t feel like a copy of the other shows. I also like the designs quite a bit and I like the humor. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is definitely an underrated adaptation to this amazing franchise, and while I do prefer the 2012 installation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I had a great time with this one.

7. Final Space

This was a series that I only found out about recently, and I am glad that I found it. This was a series which I have never seen on TV, or have heard anyone talk about until last year where I heard a few people online bring it up. I added it to my list there, and finally binged it a few months ago. I found it strange that not many talk about it though, so I did some research as to why. From what I was able to gather, it seems that when it started out, critics did not really love it, and they ignored the later episodes from there, which led to other things like minimal promotion. It’s honestly a shame as it is a great series.

Final Space ran for 3 seasons and 36 episodes. The series is about an astronaut named Gary Goodspeed, who after accidentally destroying spaceships, was sentenced to five years of prison on the Galaxy One spaceship. During his final year, he found an alien named Mooncake, who he finds out is being pursued by an evil dictator known as Jake the Lord Commander. Gary and Mooncake, along with some crewmates, go on a quest to save the universe, while trying to discover the mystery behind Final Space, which is supposedly where the universe ends. Final Space has everything I love about a story-driven cartoon - it has very emotional moments that keep me invested, it has a well rounded group of characters that develop as the series goes on, and the world-building throughout the series was amazing. Final Space is a truly amazing series, and I definitely think it deserved much better.

6. Glitch Techs

Now we get onto Netflix shows…it’s not common for a Netflix show to take off regardless of how great it is, and Glitch Techs is a prime example of that. Glitch Techs definitely had a complex story behind its reason to being underrated which is more than just the fact that it is a Netflix original. It was originally supposed to be a Nickelodeon original, but unfortunately, Nickelodeon did not give the series much love. The first season was finished in 2019, but did not ever air on Nickelodeon until it finally premiered on Netflix in 2020 with not much promotion. It is truly a shame because with proper promotion from Nickelodeon, this could have been a massive hit with how great it is conceptually and from a storytelling standpoint.

Glitch Techs has a pretty unique concept - it revolves around two teenagers named Hector and Miko who essentially try to stop video game characters from wreaking havoc across the real world. Glitch Techs was another amazing series with lots to offer. We got an amazing series with cool characters being further enhanced by their awesome designs and we got a very unique concept being brought to the table. I really love Glitch Techs and I hope it can get a continuation some day.

5. 6Teen

6Teen is severely underrated, and the main reason for this is Cartoon Network’s treatment of it. When 6Teen aired, it did not get as much promotion as a Cartoon Network original, which already kept it pretty underrated, but it also had many episodes removed with not many reruns. Overall, it did remain pretty underrated due to this, but the amount of content it got was satisfying.

6Teen was a series that ran from 2004 to 2010 and contained 4 seasons of 93 episodes. The series revolves around six teenagers, Wyatt, Jen, Caitlin, Jonesy, Nikki and Jude, and it just showcases them going through teenage life. 6Teen definitely had a lot to offer me - we got to see some very relatable situations, we had a loveable set of characters and I think this show was one of the few that executed raunchy humor in the right manner. You can watch 6Teen on the YouTube channel, Retro Rerun, Amazon Prime, Pluto or Tubi.

4. The Hollow

Another Netflix original on here…what a surprise. It seems that it is not easy for shows to get popular on Netflix or any streaming service for that matter as people go to streaming services knowing what they want to watch. Furthermore, Netflix’s lack of marketing did not help the cause. We were unfortunately left with another great TV series ending up heavily underrated.

The Hollow is a series which ran from 2018 to 2020 for a total of 20 episodes. The series was centered around Adam, Kai and Mira, who wake up in a strange room with no memories. They work together to explore this strange new world that they have discovered, on a quest to return home (despite not knowing where home even is). When going through this new and strange world, they discover new friends and new enemies, and many different challenges are thrown their way. The Hollow is definitely a loveable series, with many amazing aspects including awesome worldbuilding, great diversity and a loveable set of characters. The Hollow is an extremely fun 20 episode series, and if you haven’t seen it, I recommend getting on Netflix now and checking it out!

3. Sym-Bionic Titan

Another series that was underrated mainly due to Cartoon Network…Sym-Bionic Titan was and still is remembered as a cult classic. The reason for it being underrated is due to scheduling mainly. At first, it was on an action block on Cartoon Network, but it was eventually moved to Wednesday nights which is a terrible time slot, and it was eventually moved to Saturday morning with no warning. The reasoning behind this is not entirely known. Some say it was due to being unable to make toys, and some were saying that it was due to disputes with the team. One thing to say though is that it is severely underrated, though it does still have fans.

Sym-bionic Titan still became one of my favorites during its 20 episode run from 2010 to 2011. Sym-bionic Titan is about Lance, Octus and Ilana who fled from their planet Galuna to come to Earth due to their planet being consumed by these creatures known as the Mutraddi. As the leader of the Mutraddi wants to kill the next heir to Galuna, Ilana, the three must blend into Earth. The name of the series comes from what happens when the three combine - when they do, they form the Sym-Bionic Titan. I love the writing, characters and the artstyle. The series was definitely underrated, and it deserved much better than what it got from Cartoon Network. You can watch Sym-Bionic Titan on iTunes!

2. Motorcity

Let’s continue on with shows that were screwed over by the network, and this time, Disney is to blame! Motorcity was a series that suffered poor scheduling and promotion, which was what led to its downfall. Firstly, the series received minimal advertising from the start (it seemed that Disney did not like the idea from the get go as it was being pitched for ten years before it even got the approval). Furthermore, there were lots of unnecessary hiatuses during the first season when the fandom was just starting to form. And the worst part of it all is that it kept getting moved around different time slots, and at one point, even had a timeslot at midnight. Due to the hiatuses and the time slots moving around, Motorcity was quite difficult to watch, making it quite unknown and underrated.

Motorcity ran from 2012 to 2013 for 20 episodes. The series was centered around a group of rebels known as the Burners, consisting of Mike (the leader), Julie (an insider gathering information from Abraham), Chuck (the tech guy), Dutch (the smart one), Texas (the muscle) and Jacob (the old aged mentor). Their goal is to stop a capitalistic billionaire named Abraham from taking over Motorcity which is a small part of the city they live in, Detroit. In terms of what I love about the series, I love the characters, the great story and plot line and the fact that the series has introspective and thought provoking moments.

1. Detentionaire

Being from Canada, I get to see a lot of the underrated gems that we all have, and while I have seen a lot, this is probably the most underrated. Detentionaire’s reason for being underrated is quite sad. It was doing quite well in Canada, and it did get distributed to a few other countries where it also performed strongly. However, like 6Teen, Detentionaire got swept under the radar because of how it was treated by Cartoon Network in the US. What they did to Detentionaire hurt it much more though. It had lots of censorship like 6Teen, though, lots of the censorship was not even necessary. They would just remove random bits of dialogue. Furthermore, they only aired 20 of the 53 episodes on their website with the episodes out of order, and that hurt the show as not many people used the website, and if they did see it, they wouldn’t have understood anything as it was story-driven. Moreover, the player on their website was broken for a good portion of the time Detentionaire was there, which hindered its accessibility even more. All of these factors led to Detentionaire being virtually unknown in the US, and once it didn’t perform in the US, a bunch of other countries did not want to take it as they were skeptical on how the show would perform in their countries. It is a shame though because this show is one of the greatest I have seen. It is also in my top five favorite cartoons of all time.

Detentionaire is about a highschooler named Lee who gets framed for a huge prank and gets detention for a year. He goes on a quest to clear his name, and while he expected to just bust some ordinary prankster, he instead finds out that the prank was a small step to a major conspiracy. This conspiracy connects back to him and his entire bloodline. It is a shame that this series is not as popular as it should be. This is one of the few story-driven animated shows that I would say is on par with the legendary Disney trio (Amphibia, The Owl House and Gravity Falls). I have so much positive to say about this show - I would say that off the bat, my favorite aspects are the mystery and the plot progression as the plot really gets more intense with each episode. I would say that another highlight was the characters as they all feel like actual high school students which gives the show a sense of relatability. I really hope Detentionaire gets the resurgence it deserves some day as it is truly a masterpiece. There’s a reason that Detentionaire is at the top of a list of the 10 most underrated cartoons, and there’s a reason that it is in my 5 best cartoons of all time. I hope I have convinced at least a few of you to watch it. You can watch Detentionaire on the YouTube channel Retro Rerun or on Tubi!

Well, these were my 10 most underrated cartoons! I hope I introduced you to some new cartoons! Which one of these do you agree with? Which ones do you disagree with? Are there any more you would add? And be sure to follow me for regular blogs!