Although anime makes up about 90% of the shows I’ve been watching since the early 2000s, I’m a big fan of animation in general. However, while I still follow and enjoy American animated movies, I’ve been disappointed with American TV cartoons in recent years. But there is at least one non-anime cartoon show that holds a special place in my heart. So today I’m gonna take a little break from anime and discuss my most favorite non-Japanese cartoon of all…
Over 15 years after it first started airing in 1993, I still consider the Steven Spielberg and Warner Brothers collaboration series, Animaniacs, my favorite American cartoon. Anyone who used to watch it knows that it’s not only funny, but also extremely educational and enjoyable for all ages. In addition to being a comedy and parody show, a lot of the episodes were musicals and featured some of the cleverest songs I’ve heard in any TV series.
Here’s the Animaniacs theme song below, which won an Emmy Award for best song in 1994. Beware, that tune WILL get stuck in your head!
What makes Animaniacs so special? First of all, it has a great balance of silly, slapstick humor for kids and satirical, parody humor for adults, often referencing movie actors, adult TV shows, historical events, and media trivia that only the older generation would understand. Over the course of the Animaniacs episodes, so many things have been cleverly parodied – Star Trek, Disney movies, The Godfather, A Christmas Carol, Barney the Dinosaur, West Side Story, Shakespeare, Hitchcock films, and many others.
Being the nerd that I am, I just had to add the above Animaniacs episode, which pokes fun at geeky Internet cartoon fans. Although it features fans of Warner Brothers cartoons, the idea could definitely be related to anime fans too XD (the main episode in the video starts at about 0:30).
Secondly, Animaniacs is educational, and not in a slow-paced, childish way, but in an active, intelligent way that all ages can relate to. Episodes featured many events in history such as the Civil War, Vietnam, Einstein’s theory of relativity, Beethoven’s symphonies, and the first Thanksgiving.
One of the most educational episodes for me personally is “Wakko’s America,” a catchy song saying the names of all 50 states and their capitols to the tune of “Turkey in the Straw.”
Thanks to that song, I did indeed learn all the states and capitols. I need a brush up now though XD
Thirdly, despite how silly Animaniacs seems at times, a number of episode were more mature and dealt with serious themes.
The above video is one of my favorite Buttons & Mindy segments and brings up the issue of rain forest destruction, especially towards the end.
The segments featuring Rita & Runt in particular were more mature. In the above video, Rita sings a song about how humans often abandon their pets at animal shelters.
And lastly, one of the most unique things about Animaniacs that’s sorely lacking in cartoons nowadays, is the fun, well-written songs. Almost every episode featured an original song, usually educational or parody-filled. Among some of my favorites…
“The Presidents,” is an amazing song naming all the U.S. presidents (up to Clinton) to the tune of a William Tell Overture segment.
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“A Quake! A Quake!” is a surprisingly fun song about the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake.
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“The Senses,” a song naming all the senses (and then some).
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All the Animaniacs characters participate in this amusing Macarena spoof.
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Probably the most famous Animaniacs song, “Yakko’s World” names (roughly) all the countries in the world under two minutes, to a slightly altered version of the Mexican Hat Dance.
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So yeah, Animaniacs is a great show for all ages – funny, educational, satirical, witty, clever, and musical. Sadly there’s never been another American cartoon like it. But at least CDs and DVDs are available. I know my nostalgic yearnings will make me buy them one of these days XD
And just one last video to end the post with, (couldn’t resist this) the Animaniacs theme song in Japanese…
I’m surprised that Animaniacs was dubbed into Japanese and many other languages. So much of the humor comes from English language puns and American pop culture references, a lot must have been lost in translation. But it’s great that such an awesome show had a worldwide release =)
you are totally right, that is one of my favorites, though my favorite is korean XP so i don’t know if it’s valid as non japanese.
My favorite was spun off from the Animaniacs: Pinky and the Brain.
@ Baka-Raptor
Ah yes, Pinky and the Brain did get their own series after Animaniacs…two series actually; Pinky and the Brain and Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain. Guess they were the most popular characters on the show.
I was just a small kid while Animaniacs aired on local channel. So i didn’t and couldn’t understand what were they trying to get.
For me, i think classic version of Tom and Jerry (produced by Hanna Barbera, the modern version produced by Chuck Jones is worse, and the new Tom and Jerry Tales is even worse) is the best cartoon.
@ sonic_ver2
I used to love Tom and Jerry too, but I grew out of the humor over the years. I still enjoy it a little bit, though I haven’t been following it since the 90s.
Pinky and the Brain are both impossible to forget, but I had forgotten about Buttons and Mindy! Memories started flooding back once I watched the vid. I remember always laughing at how she wouldn’t call her mother ‘mom.’
Thanks for posting this! I think that I’m going to go back and rewatch a lot of episodes, like I do with Danny Phantom (my favorite American cartoon) from time to time.
There’s an Animaniacs Christmas movie, right? I think I rewatched that a year or two ago.
@ Saere
You can find a lot of Animaniacs eps on YouTube.
I actually haven’t seen the Christmas movie (“Wakko’s Wish” right?) It comes on TV from time to time so I should check it out.
the maxx, another well done american series, and to me, it was better than a lot of anime I’ve had the pleasure of watching over about 9 years, both in art and story. not really sure if the animation team was canadian or japanese though.
Doesn’t Andrew remind you a bit of Yakko?
@ 2DT
Now that you mention it, maybe a little XD
LOL, now that comparison’s gonna be stuck in my head, just like the Animaniacs theme song.
I LOVED this show when I was little. I used to sing the song. Me and my sister literally would watch it everyday after we got home from school. Obviously, Wakko was the best.
GREAT post! Animaniacs was such a great and under-appreciated show!! It was so clever and funny, and very subversive at times. It’s so much fun to go back and watch it as you get older because you notice how many adult subjects and lines of dialogue got past the censors!
@Caddy C
Now that I’ve been watching Animaniacs when I’m older, I realize how many of the mature jokes, words, and subject matter went over my head back in the day. I also realized how much I memorized a number of the episodes, but I think that’s mostly because I was watching them at an age when my mind was absorbing everything. I wonder how much of Animaniacs could make it past the censors nowadays.