Why are most adult cartoons comedies? Why aren’t there more adult cartoons that are like The Sopranos or The Wire?
I assume most people in the West still think of animation as largely a tool for kids and comedy so a serious animated series would have a harder time gaining traction. Potentially, audiences might be less forgiving of “flaws” in the animation as well if they’re taking it seriously whereas they’re able to overlook it when taking it lightly.
I’d guess that there’s dramatic anime series out there that don’t involve robots, magic girls or monsters but I couldn’t say for sure. Seems like there must be.
IMO animation gets used for shows/situations that would be too absurd for real-life acting. I don’t think anything like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Rick & Morty etc. would work well if done via live actors.
Because they make money. Lots of it. If a humorous cartoon makes you millions, why risk going away from the formula?
It’s also that American cartoons tend toward that sort of themes (Waking Life was one major exception, but didn’t make hatfuls of money). European filmmakers don’t have that sort of bias, so you end up with things like The Painting, Phantom Boy, and, of course, Fantastic Planet. There are probably others of this nature, but they often don’t make it to the US.
There was (e. very g.) a Golgo 13 animated series broadcast on TV Tokyo. The character is a professional assassin, so hardly a comedy, but the stories are completely far out. (Which did not stop them from at least trying live action once or twice, like they did with Jack Reacher).
Just want to mention one that was not a comedy, Star Trek the Animated series was a continuation of the mission of the original show just in animated form (after the original series got canceled).
There have been plenty of animated features – some of them computer generated – that were “adult” in content without being comedies
**Beowulf
Through a Scanner Darkly
** Ralph Bakshi’s American Pop
Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings
Bakshi and Frazetta’s Fire and Ice
**Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal 2000
**
Richard Corben’s animated short Neverwhere (of which the “Den” portion of Heavy Metal is basically a remake)
Come to think of it, if you watch TV in Japan, you will encounter all kinds of cartoons that might bore Americans. There was a cartoon called “Bartender”. The guy is a bartender and mixes great cocktails. No explosions or anything.
There are plenty of adult cartoons that are not comedies. Star Wars has Clone Wars, Rebels and Resistance. Samurai Jack wasn’t a comedy. There’s Blood Death and Robots on Netlfix and Aeon Flux back in the MTV days. There’s also loads and loads of porn 
I’m American, and I’d watch that.
There’s a number of cartoons that aren’t straight comedies but I’m having trouble thinking of any that are grounded dramas (i.e. not sci-fi or action type stuff)
Sure, but you can sometimes make a lot of money by breaking the formula too. That’s an argument for why there might be a lot of such shows, but not for why there are so few of other kinds.
While Bojack Horseman certainly has humorous, absurd, and fantastical elements, it also explores a lot of serious adult themes. It’s best regarded as a dramedy.
True. There’s no reason to use animation for shows like The Sopranos or The Wire. However, there have been occasional animated comedies like King of the Hill that had no unrealistic aspects (aside from the characters not aging) that would have worked as well as live-action shows. Archer is another comedy/satire that also could work as live action.
With you on the first two but Resistance is definitely a sitcom.
Carole & Tuesday just dropped the last half of the series on Netflix: it’s a terrific show about a refugee girl and the daughter of an anti-refugee Presidential candidate who become a songwriting & performing duo and their struggle to get gigs, write songs, and survive music festivals, reality TV competitions and new-found celebrity. Their rival is a teen model pushed into singing by her ambitious mother and assisted by every technological musical device science can devise. And it takes place on Mars and is by the people who brought us Cowboy Bebop. Definitely a series adults can enjoy.
Any animated film by Satoshi Kon - Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Paprika, etc. - is going to deal with themes and subjects of interest to grownups.
Waltz with Bashir, Loving Vincent, and Persepolis are other animated films with serious themes.
In general, however, animation tends to be used for comic exaggeration or to depict fantasy or science fiction stories. It’s not just dramas that are rare in animation, it’s also rare for comedies set in the real world (with a few exceptions like King of the Hill).
Here is a list of the 30 top-grossing animated films., Point out which ones break the formula.
Funny thing is, given the advent of green-screening and CGI, there are already multiple movies that are essentially cartoons with one or two live actors in them. Consider the (admittedly comedic) “Penguin Dance” from Mary Poppins, done with live actors mixed with post-production cell animation. Is it really that much different technically from the Star Wars prequels or large portions of the Avengers films? Television shows don’t currently have the budgets to replicate this level, but they gradually will as the tech becomes cheaper.
I didn’t say that you would be one of the biggest moneymakers of all time, just that you can still make money by breaking the formula. By your argument we would never see anything but superhero, science fiction, and action franchise movies made at any level.
As I said.
King of the Hill was a comedy, but IMO could have worked with live actors.
And on edit, I see Colibri already mentioned KotH.
I am disappointed that people in charge have never made another animated Star Trek series.