American adult cartoons have earned quite an unfortunate reputation in the past decades. While they won over global audiences for their comedy and social commentary, audiences have felt that the current state of the industry was limiting the medium. The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and American Dad have remained massive juggernauts in the industry, and because of that success, studios have largely focused on pushing out series that are quite similar to them. This has led adult animation to be saturated with crude animated comedy shows, and while successes like Rick & Morty managed to bring some variety to the medium, audiences still wanted more. That said, a recent Adult Swim original attempted to do just that.
Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects was largely overlooked by audiences when it made its debut in early 2025. Many made a split-second decision to not give the series a try based on its art-style alone, due to assumptions that it would be another Family Guy-esque clone. For those who did decide to tune in, it was anything but that. Common Side Effects follows the story of a man fighting against the corporate interests of Big Pharma, who seek to obtain his discovery of a rare mushroom that can cure all ailments.
While there is comedy, Common Side Effects focuses as a conspiracy thriller and tackles heavy themes like malpractice within the healthcare industry and corporate greed. Currently, the show has a 100% critical rating and a 91% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason. Audiences were pleasantly surprised by the care the writers handled the story and its fluid and psychedelic animation.
Common Side Effects proves that Adult animation can tell serious and gripping stories and does not have to be anchored heavily by comedy. Shows like Rick & Morty and Family Guy proved that animation wasn’t limited to being regulated for children’s entertainment. However, it had the adverse effect of making audiences not believe that any serious storytelling can come from it. Children’s cartoons like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Steven Universe have proven that gripping serialized storytelling with impactful themes can be profitable, and adult animation can achieve the same success. What the industry needs is the faith in audiences and studio executives to make that happen.
