Streaming platforms foster a new era of animated series

Netflix recently premiered the series

, a drama about a team of American soldiers in World War II and its latest take on the small but colorful world of adult animated series.

The huge public and critical success that was

its greatest cartoon phenomenon, ended its broadcast this year, but the platform has continued to push original productions.

Mainly comedies

but there are also psychedelic experiments like

, horror anime like

and even a science fiction anthology

.

• The return to irreverent animation of the nineties

Other platforms have also sought to gain their space in a market not long ago seen as limited.

Last year Amazon Prime Video released the drama

, which was well received by critics.

HBO Max grabbed the comedy

from JG Quintel, creator of

for Cartoon Network, after cable channel TBS canceled its plans for an adult animation slot.

Although there is no date yet for its arrival in Spain, the US platform Hulu released last week a

of

those Warner drawings produced by Steven Spielberg from the early nineties.

While it is suitable for all audiences, among the more mature winks and jokes - the original cartoon had parodies of

and

- the appeal for hooking the nostalgic millennial audience is palpable.

and

, broadcast in the US on the DC Universe and CBS All Access platforms, are

of multi-million dollar franchises that show that these conglomerates see that there is business in what was previously a space dominated by a few giants and full of ephemeral productions.

New adults, new cartoons

The world of adult animated series has seen great changes in the last 20 years.

When Cartoon Network launched its Adult Swim strip in 2001, the market was dominated by Fox productions (

,

,

and

) and the exceptions, such as

,

or

were few or short-lived, mainly because they lacked the audience to justify the production costs.

The first productions of Adult Swim, for example, were 15 minutes long and low-budget, a far cry from

, the most successful cartoon to emerge from the block.

Behind this phenomenon is, in part, technology, which makes the production of an animated series, as well as the distribution of content, more dynamic and accessible.

But there is also a generational factor, where the idea of ​​cartoons designed for an adult audience is no longer a novelty.

The oldest in this audience have lived their entire lives with the Simpsons or the people of South Park, Colorado.

The youngest, meanwhile, have grown up with

,

and

supposedly children's animations but that have redefined thematic, narrative and audience types and are an example that mature does not necessarily have to be only for adults old.

A recent advantage is that the animation industry in general, unlike the productions acted, has not had to stop the march in the face of the covid-19 pandemic.

reported in May that

production team

was already telecommuting a week before California officially decreed a quarantine.

The report notes that, as animation teams are already used to organizing themselves in small, independent groups, the main challenge was connecting to the Internet and maintaining the quality of the voice actors.

Despite this growth, the life of these series continues to be so precarious, and the vagaries of the channels and platforms, so unpredictable, as with the rest of the series.

A

, which airs on TNT Spain, was cut Chapters 24 to 12 minutes per application Max HBO.

The spy parody

, created by Adam Reed, was due to end in its 10th season (on Netflix) but returned in September to the US channel FXX without its creator in charge.

, which had important figures from the old

behind it, was canceled by Netflix only to revive on Adult Swim.

Netflix announced a few weeks ago an alliance with four animation studios in Asia.

There is still the threat of reaching a saturation point in the world of animated series for adults - like series in general, really.

Or worse: if once American channels were looking for the next hit comparable to

, let the platforms degenerate trying to find the next BoJack.