Animation (and Comics) after 30

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Rules:

While this is a community for animation and comic fans over 30 years of age, younger visitors are welcome to participate too on the condition that they identify themselves as "under 30" in all posts and comments.
Be kind. Recognize that not everyone will share your taste in media. If you're going to be mean or snarky about a series you dislike, explain what you didn't like about it (one man's trash is another man's masterpiece).
NSFW is allowed, but NO PORN please! This isn't a community for that kind of "mature" animation...

Are you:

At least 30 years old?
A fan of animation (eastern or western)?
A fan of comics (eastern or western, print or web)?
Looking for more series that appeal to an older demographic?

Do you feel like high school dramas and edgelord power fantasies just don't provide you with the same entertainment value they did when you were younger? Are you skeeved out by panty shots and lewd angles of girls young enough to be your daughter? Perhaps you're bored by the "will they won't they" of a bunch of kids freaking out over their first kiss. Maybe everything is starting to feel like a slurry of tired old tropes. But if despite all this you still enjoy the drawn medium, even after aging out of its key demographic, welcome!

Let's help each other find some animation/comics that are a bit more age-appropriate (or at least that don't make you go "hey, isn't this just a repackaged version of [series from 20 years ago]?"). Reviews, recommendations, requests, laments, memes all welcome.

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fireweed

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Review: Gravity Falls (western animation) (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by fireweed to c/animationafter30

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Title: Gravity Falls

Type: Western animated TV

Year: 2012-2016

Country: United States

Genre: Mystery/adventure/comedy/fantasy

Status: Completed

Platform: Cable TV

Appropriate for 30+?: No

My rating: N/A

(Rating scale: 5/5 = masterpiece, 4/5 = quite good, 3/5 = mostly good, 2/5 = bleh, 1/5 = I regret ever being exposed to this series, 0/5 = affront to humanity)

I discovered Gravity Falls through numerous Reddit threads where self-identified adults swore up and down that despite being a kids' series it was still thoroughly enjoyable for the older crowd too. Intrigued I downloaded both seasons, trudged my way through season one, then went back to the internet because... really? "It gets so much better in season two!" "The ending is fantastic!" I was assured. So I trudged my way through season two, right through to the ending.

Folks, I was duped. This is just a kid's show, nothing more. Sure, it's better than the average kid's show, and sure if I found myself in a situation where I was hanging out with children and we needed to pick something age-appropriate I wouldn't object if that's what they really wanted to watch (but I would probably push them toward something else, like Avatar TLA or any Pixar/Dreamworks film). The truth is Gravity Falls is very painfully geared to a pre-teen demographic: the characters are annoying, the jokes are immature, the plot is grossly lacking (it's literally X-Files for children), and most of the drama/predicaments are about pre-teens dealing with pre-teen problems in a mildly-spooky fantasy setting. There isn't even enough here for a session of "hey let's get really drunk/stoned and watch some kids animation!"

I did not give this series a rating because it's no more appropriate for me to do so than when Roger Ebert had to write a review for the first Pokemon movie, which he begins by stating that he's "plain in over my head" and ends with the acknowledgement that "I may have completely bypassed the point and misinterpreted crucial Pokemon lore" (he ended up giving it two stars). I am, after all, completely outside their target demographic for this show.

Not recommended for the 30+ crowd.

As always, this review is nothing more than my personal opinion. Anyone familiar with this piece of media is encouraged to express their own in the comment section. Or submit your own review... it's a free ~~country~~ fediverse.

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[–] ChihuahuaOfDoom 4 points 7 months ago

As a 40yo, I love Gravity Falls and wish they had continued the series.