X-Men: ’97, One Piece and Samurai Jack: 10 animated TV shows with the best world building | TVLine
Worlds Built for Big Stories
Animation can stretch beyond the limits of live-action production budgets, allowing fantasy and science-fiction stories to explore elaborate settings. The shows highlighted here build their worlds through detailed lore, varied communities and the relationships between competing groups.
Some series create their settings from scratch, while others broaden worlds first introduced in different projects. In either case, careful world-building gives characters room to move through stories with an expansive scope.
X-Men’s Expansive Universe
X-Men: The Animated Series began in 1992 with an established team protecting mutants in a society that feared and hated them. It brought comic-book lore to television through settings such as the Savage Land and through cosmic and extradimensional adventures.
The series explored its main characters’ histories and introduced unusual antagonists, including Mojo and Apocalypse. Its 2024 revival, X-Men: ’97, continues that approach with a darker tone and a stronger connection to classic comics.
One Piece Across the Seas
Running since 1999, the anime One Piece follows Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates on their seafaring adventures. With more than 1,100 episodes, the story features rival pirates and powers gained from eating Devil Fruits.
The series has continued to expand its setting through anime movies that send Luffy and his friends against new threats. Its deep lore and connected world have helped maintain its appeal for nearly 30 years.
Samurai Jack’s Future World
Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, Samurai Jack begins with a samurai warrior facing the demon Aku before being sent centuries into the future. Known as Jack, he travels through a world ruled by Aku while seeking a way back to his own time.
The setting ranges from cyberpunk cities to strange creatures, nonhuman societies and sentient artificial beings. Its time-travel premise also lets the series draw on varied influences, including Greek mythology and undersea spectacle.
Key points
- X-Men: The Animated Series adapted sprawling comic-book lore into an accessible television story.
- One Piece has run since 1999 and passed 1,100 episodes.
- Samurai Jack combines a dystopian future with influences from mythology and other settings.