Well there is “Archer”, a serious bit of artistic endeavor.
I just came in here to recommend both of the things you recommended. We must have similar taste!
Carole and Tuesday was great and Satoshi Kon remains perhaps the greatest animation director of all time(look out, Miyazaki!).
These are but latter-days shadows of the golden age of Star Wars 'toons exemplified in Droids and Ewoks. Ah, whither 1985…
What are we defining as “cartoons”? Any animated films? Only short animated films? Feature length animated movies?
How about all the classic Disney animated movies? How about Fantasia, which was essentially a collection of shorts put together? What constitutes an “adult” movie? Were those Disney movies just for children?
Because most adults don’t care for cartoons. My brother is the only guy I know who watches them. I personally can’t stand them (with the exception of South Park).
Another thought is that cartoon shows like The Simpsons are expensive to produce (per minute) and an hour-long drama would be double the cost of a half-hour comedy.
Adult movie usually means a movie just for adults. Those movies (well, some of Disney’s movies) aren’t exclusively for children, but they are for children.
This is contradicted by the fact that there have been many successful prime time cartoons with adult jokes and themes. Kids aren’t the ones watching BoJack Horseman.
It’s an unpopular opinion but I happen to think Miyazaki’s best late-period work has been his most kid-focused film, Ponyo. In terms of challenging technique and material, Satoshi was running rings around Hayao.
Masaaki Yuasa has been producing a lot of colorful, technically brilliant stuff and his “The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl” definitely fits into the category of animated films grown-ups can enjoy, if only to make older adults nostalgic for a time when they too could drink and party all night without the subsequent punishing hangovers.
Can’t believe I didn’t bring up Tuca & Bertie. This hits all the adult check boxes - relationships, careers, sex, drugs, abuse, making mature decisions about life, and a world full of imaginatively designed animal people. It’s from Lisa Hanawalt, who designed Bojack Horseman.
It’s just a medium. As you yourself point out, it’s possible to make a cartoon that you like. Therefore, it’s not a problem with cartoons, it’s a problem with what you perceive cartoons as being – because a lot of them are.
It’s like saying “I don’t like books with pictures in them” because you have a predefined idea of what kind of books have pictures in them, when, in fact, it’s very possible to make a book that any given person would like, with pictures in it.
Have you seen the related series The Tatami Galaxy?
I haven’t had the chance to watch it, but it’s one I’ve heard good things about.