Once upon a time, television cartoons were solidly ensconced in the realm of my entertainment.
I remember watching a little bit of cartoons before school, a hour or so after, maybe.
Cartoons are like soaps for me. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm still addicted to cartoons as any 10-year old. I think part of their appeal is the fact that try as we may, we'll never be able to do what they do. As children, who hasn't played make-believe? Who hasn't tied on a blanket-cape and a worn a paper mask while jumping from one bed onto another? I can see you blushing.
I become much more interested in cartoons over many years and it has become a primary genre for me.
Last December 2 I have read the post status announcement of my friend
"Change your facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday, there should be no human faces on facebook, but a stash of memories. This is for eliminating violence against children."
The latest child violence campaign became viral on the social networking site, after most of its site active users started to change their profile picture to images of their childhood favorite anime and cartoon characters until December 6. Why is there an anti-child violence week anyway? did something happen recently? does changing your Facebook image to a cartoon profile really fight child abuse? watevah!!! As of this day, it is very visible that I enjoyed searching for cartoon characters.
So without further do, I'm going to recapitulate my favorite cartoons. Some I grew up with and some I discovered as a grown-ass woman.
Wild Thornberrys
Eliza Thornberry is not your ordinary kid. It's not just because she travels the world in an RV with her parents, Nigel and Marrianne: famous nature show hosts. Eliza also happened to be granted the magical ability to talk with and understand animals. She's now able to talk with animals and help save them from various threats along with her friend Darwin, a chimpanzee who travels with Eliza and her family.
Johnny Bravo
The series stars a muscular beefcake young man named Johnny Bravo, who dons a pompadour hairstyle and Elvis Presley-like tone of voice personality. Plots typically revolve around him trying to get a woman that he has targeted throughout the episode to fall in love with him. He is often beat up or stunned by his target or companions, or gets ditched by them in the end.
The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy
the series stars the two main characters, Billy and Mandy, having manipulated the Grim Reaper, usually called "Grim", into being their best friend for eternity after having won a bet over a sick hamster through a game of limbo.
Crayon Shin-chan
Follows the adventures of five-year-old Shin-chan Nohara and his parents, neighbors, friends and his dog named Puti. Many of the jokes in the series stem from Shin-chan's occasionally weird, unnatural and inappropriate use of language, as well as from his inappropriate behavior. For example, his infamous "Mr. Elephant" impression. This show was broadcast in the Philippines, uncensored and dubbed in Filipino.
The wallflower/Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge
It is about a girl who was called "ugly" by a boy, the first and only person to whom she confessed her love. This incident sparks a life change, and as a result Sunako shuns all forms of beauty, both in herself as well as in life. Concerned by her change for the worst, Sunako's aunt, the owner of a beautiful mansion where four very handsome students live, offers the guys free rent in her mansion if they can turn Sunako into a "perfect lady." While the four of them manage to make Sunako physically beautiful enough to become a lady, the problem lies with her attitude and interests (which Sunako has no intention of changing).
Sailormoon
Teenage-girls can transform into heroines named for the moon and planets using special powers, they can transform into Sailor Soldiers. They become Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus respectfully. They fight for love and justice against the evil minions of The Dark Kingdom. To help them in their quest, they heed the advice of two talking cats, Luna and Artemis, and also the mysterious Tuxedo Mask. (FYI I used to be sailor Venus back then).
Rugrats
The show focuses on eight babies namely: Tommy, Chuckie, twin-infants Phil and Lil, Angelica, Susie, Kimi and Dil and their day-to-day lives, usually involving common life experiences that become adventures in the babies' imaginations.
The Powerpuff girls
The Powerpuff Girls revolves around the adventures of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Professor Utonium wanted to make "the perfect little girls" by using "sugar, spice, and everything nice." However, the accidental addition of Chemical X into the mixture created the girls each having superpowers but whose individual personality was dominated by one of the ingredients ("sugar" for Bubbles, "spice" for Buttercup, and "everything nice" for Blossom). Using their powers to defend their town from villains and giant monsters.
Phineas and Ferb
The show follows the adventures of stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb each day the boys embark on some grand new project, which their older sister, Candace, is obsessed with "busting" their schemes and ideas, and usually calls their mother to report the boys' activities, but she is never successful in "busting" her brothers. Meanwhile, the boys' pet platypus, Perry, acts as a secret agent for an all-animal goverment organization called the "O.W.C.A." (Organization Without a Cool Acronym), fighting Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz.
Paradise Kiss
Yukari is a typical high-school student who listens to her parents and attends school everyday. As she starts to question her way of life, she encounters a group of fashion design students who has a clothing label known as "Paradise Kiss". The group needs to find a model to showcase their designs in an up-coming fashion show and decides to pick Yukari instead. Initially, Yukari was reluctant to be associated with this seemingly eccentric group, but eventually, she realises that they are really nice people. Furthermore, their passion and enthusiasm to follow their ideals and dreams make Yukari realise that she has not been enjoying her life and this motivated her to pursue her own dreams.
Spongebob Squarepants
Spongebob is an extremely energetic and optimistic sea sponge (although his appearance more closely resembles a kitchen sponge) who lives in a pineapple under the sea with his pet snail Gary, who meows like a cat. Living two houses down from SpongeBob is his best friend Patrick Star, a dim-witted yet friendly pink seastar who lives under a rock. Living between the two is Squidward Tentacles, an arrogant and egotistical. His friends live in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom where pretty much anything can happen - and usually does.
The adventures of Jimmy Neutron
Jimmy is the main protagonist of the show. He is an 11-year-old American boy with a stunning IQ and a love for science. Usually, his inventions cause more harm than benefit for the city of Retroville, but that never stops him from trying. Most of the time, he's busy saving the city from his own experiments gone wrong. He is best friends with Carl and Sheen. Throughout the series there are hints that he has feelings for Cindy Vortex, although he is in love with Betty Quinlin.
Hey Arnold
The show stars 4th-grader, Arnold, a boy who lives with his paternal grandparents, Phil and Gertrude, proprietors of the Sunset Arms boarding house. In each episode, Arnold often helps a schoolmate solve a personal problem, or encounters a predicament of his own. The show also focuses on Arnold's classmate, Helga, who often treats Arnold cruelly and bullies him constantly. However, a reoccurring theme of the show is the fact that Helga pretends to dislike Arnold to hide the fact that she is secretly in love with him.
As told by Ginger
Ginger Foutley who, with her friends Darren, Dodie and Macie, all try to rise from the position of school geeks as they solve many conflicts that come their way. Luckily for Ginger, the most popular girl in school, Courtney, has taken a liking to her and often includes her in her social plans. However, Miranda, Courtney's right-hand woman, makes sure that she is not bumped down from her position thanks to Ginger. At home, Ginger records her lively adventures in her diary. Her little brother, Carl, is often scheming with Robert-Joseph ("Hoodsey") in his own side plots, and her mother, Lois, is always there for advice to which Ginger is always open to listen.
Doraemon
Doraemon is sent back in time by Nobita Nobi's great-great grandson Sewashi to improve Nobita's circumstances so that his descendants may enjoy a better future. In the original timeline, Nobita experienced nothing but misery and misfortune throughout his life. As a result of this, Nobita's failures in school and subsequently, his career, have left his family line beset with financial problems. In order to alter history and better the Nobi family's fortunes, Sewashi sent him a robot called Doraemon.
Doraemon has a pocket from which he produces many gadgets, medicines, and tools from the future. Nobita usually goes too far, despite Doraemon's best intentions and warnings, and gets into deeper trouble than before. Sometimes, Nobita's friends
steal the gadgets and end up misusing them. However, by the end of the story, there is usually retribution to the characters who end up misusing them, and a moral is taught.
Dexter's Laboratory
It's about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions. Dexter is normally in conflict with his ditzy older sister, Dee Dee, who can always mysteriously gain access to his lab no matter what he does to try and keep her out. Dee Dee eludes all manner of security and, once inside, delights in playing in the lab, often destroying his creations.
As I have grown and matured, so have the programs. Shows like Family Guy and Draw Together no routinely deal with adult situations.
Shorties watching Shorties
The show is made up of various short animated clips with audio from comedians' stand up routines. It also features two "shorties," a pair of babies voiced by Nick and Patrice who watch the routines on TV.
Drawn together
the world's first extreme animated reality series, the show's eight characters are a combination of personalities that were recognizable and familiar prior to the series. Drawn Together, however, uses cartoon parodies of stock characters. In addition, their character traits parody personality types that are typically seen in reality TV shows.
Family guy
Griffins, the dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Chris, Meg and Stewie; and their anthromorphic dog. In a wacky Rhode Island town, a dysfunctional family strive to cope with everyday life as they are thrown from one crazy scenario to another.
