Cartoons Are For Kids: East vs West

Think about your favourite anime shows... how many of those would you say were appropriate for kids? or directed at adults? Now do the same but for the more local animations, I say local, anything with a UK/USA/western origin... how do they compare?

I might not have the widest experience of anime but I feel like you're much more likely to find a mature anime than any western animation. I see anime such as Attack on Titan or Steins;Gate and they're full of adult themes, real emotion and developed characters... then I see things such as Family Guy and South Park and... well, you start to get my point (hopefully).

Animation for grown-ups still seems to be difficult for western creators/mainstream audiences, perhaps there's still a perception that "cartoons are for kids". Even these more adult themed series have a certain immaturity and tend to rely on a degree of shock value. I can't even think of any that have a particularly high standard of animation, the art is used to create the controversial rather than the fantastic.

I'm not trashing all animation spawned from western culture, there's plenty of Disney productions that are designed to appeal to both adults and kids, even the American Dads and Bojack Horsemans of this world have their niche and their dedicated/justified fans. I just cant help but think that we are missing an opportunity to create fantastic worlds and far fetched (but believable) stories that wouldn't work in live action, at least not without a massive budget.

On balance I am aware there's plenty of anime that rely on giant boobs or gory action and more than a few that don't reach the mature artistic heights I'm expecting from western studios.

I've admitted I may have a relatively narrow experience compared to some of our readers, so I'm more than happy to accept counter arguments or examples. I'm sure there has to be something out there. Leave a comment and let me know.