2023 in animation is an overview of notable events, including notable awards, list of films released, television show debuts and endings, and notable deaths.
Events January January 4: Season 2 of Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiered on Disney+. January 8: Shion Takeuchi announced on Twitter that her series Inside Job had been cancelled by Netflix, despite having previously been renewed for a second season the previous June. Family Guy's 400th episode "Love Story Guy" premieres on Fox. It was seen by over 1.2 million viewers that night.Metcalf, Mitch (January 10, 2023). "ShowBuzzDaily's Sunday 1.8.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2023. January 9: Koala Man premiered on Hulu. January 11: SuperKitties premiered on Disney Junior. January 12: Velma, the first adult-oriented show based on the Scooby-Doo franchise, premiered on HBO Max to negative reviews from critics, and panned by audiences. Justin Roiland, co-creator of Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites, was charged with felony domestic violence and false imprisonment in Orange County, California in connection with a 2020 incident toward an unnamed woman he was reportedly dating. After the charges were laid, multiple people came forward with their own allegations of abuse by Roiland, including claims of predatory behavior towards minors. Roiland resigned from Squanch Games on January 16, and was replaced by Dan Stevens as Korvo in Solar Opposites and by Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden as Rick and Morty respectively. January 13: Hamish Steele, creator of Dead End: Paranormal Park, announced that Netflix had cancelled the series. Dan Povenmire's new overall deal with Disney Branded Television was announced at Television Critics Association winter press tour, the deal includes the following: A revival of Phineas and Ferb for 40 new episodes (which would be split across two seasons) A second season renewal of Hamster & Gretel. SpongeBob SquarePants Presents The Tidal Zone premiered on Nickelodeon, it is a special crossover event between SpongeBob SquarePants and its spin-offs The Patrick Star Show & Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years. January 15: Season 2 of Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight premiered on Netflix. January 19: Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre premiered on Netflix. January 20: Shape Island premiered on Apple TV+. January 21: The Owl House special "For the Future" premiered on Disney Channel. January 24: A second Rock Dog direct-to-video sequel, Rock Dog 3: Battle the Beat, was released. Adult Swim announced that month that Roiland had been dismissed from Rick and Morty and on January 25, 20th Television Animation confirmed that he had also been removed from Solar Opposites and Koala Man. January 26: Season 2 of Daniel Spellbound premiered on Netflix. January 30: Princess Power premiered on Netflix.
February February 1: Season 2 of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder premiered on Disney+. February 2: Music video for "Love Louder" by The Meeps, was released on YouTube. February 6: Work It Out Wombats! premiered on PBS Kids. February 8: Episodes 11-15 of Hamster & Gretel were released on Disney+ (with episode 15 being released 3 days before premiering on Disney Channel)."Next on Disney+: February 2023". Disney Plus Press (Press release). January 17, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2024. Season 26 of South Park begins on Comedy Central with the premiere of the Valentine's Day special "Cupid Ye".Chapman, Wilson (January 20, 2023). "'South Park' Season 26 Sets February Premiere Date". IndieWire. Retrieved January 20, 2023. February 9: My Dad the Bounty Hunter premiered on Netflix. February 10: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premiered on Disney Channel in the United States. February 16: The fifth and final season of Aggretsuko premiered on Netflix. February 17: The third and final season of Animaniacs premiered on Hulu. The third episode of Murder Drones, titled "The Promening", was released on YouTube on the GLITCH channel. February 24: The second season of Oddballs premiered on Netflix. February 25: 50th Annie Awards.
March March 3: Doraemon: Nobita's Sky Utopia, the 42rd film in the Doraemon franchise, was released in Japanese cinemas by Toho. Nickelodeon officially updated its current "Nickelodeon Productions" logo. March 4: Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021, the 41rd film in the Doraemon franchise, was broadcast on TV Asahi. Nickelodeon got a complete rebrand in the style of the now re-visioned splat during the 2023 Kids' Choice Awards. March 10: Kiff premiered on Disney Channel in the United States. March 11: The third episode in Season 2 of Helluva Boss, titled "Exes and Oohs", premiered on YouTube. March 12: 95th Academy Awards: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, becoming the first non-Disney film to win that award since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2019. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, directed by Peter Baynton and Charlie Mackesy, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. March 15: The first 6 episodes of Kiff were released on Disney+ (with episodes 3-6 being released before premiering on Disney Channel). March 17: Animal Logic's The Magician's Elephant was released on Netflix. March 20: The seventh season of Gabby's Dollhouse premiered on Netflix. March 21: We Lost Our Human, an interactive epic special, was released on Netflix. March 22: All criminal charges were dropped against Justin Roiland. Digman! premiered on Comedy Central. March 24: The final episode of Pokemon Ultimate Journeys premiered in Japan, serving as the last appearances of Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu as the core main characters. A fully-fledged animated music video for the song "Wanderer", by Nijisanji VTuber Ren Zotto, premiered on YouTube. March 25: The third season of Big City Greens concludes on Disney Channel with the half-hour special "Long Goodbye". The show's main antagonist Chip Whistler is revealed to still be alive at the end of the episode. March 27: In Canada, Teletoon is rebranded as Cartoon Network with the latter's original channel in that country rebranded as Boomerang. Season 20 of American Dad! begins on TBS with the premiere of the episode "Fellow Traveler". The season's premiere was watched by only 470 thousand viewers that night, marking another low in the show's viewership. March 29: Iron Circus Animation's Lackadaisy short film premiered on YouTube. South Park concludes its 26th season on Comedy Central with the episode "Spring Break". It was only seen by 47 hundred thousand viewers that night, marking another low in the show's viewership.Salem, Mitch (March 30, 2023). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Wednesday 3.29.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals UPDATED ". Showbuzz Daily. from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2023. March 31: Eva the Owlet premiered on Apple TV+.
April April 1: The second and final season of The Ghost and Molly McGee premiered on Disney Channel. April 2: The first 5 episodes from Season 2 of The Ghost and Molly McGee released on Disney+, with episodes 2-5 being released before premiering on Disney Channel. April 3: The finale episode of Upin & Ipin (season 16) premiered on MNCTV. April 5: Illumination and Nintendo's The Super Mario Bros. Movie is released in theaters in the United States ahead of its April 28 debut in Japan. April 7: The fourth episode of Murder Drones, titled "Cabin Fever", was released on YouTube on the GLITCH channel. April 8: The series finale of The Owl House, "Watching and Dreaming", premiered on Disney Channel. April 9: The third part of the third season of Bluey premiered on ABC Kids to universal acclaim. April 12: The season 1 finale of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premiered on Disney Plus. April 14: The first episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series premiered in Japan, featuring new protagonists Liko and Roy. April 17: The seventeenth season of Upin & Ipin, titled "Ibadah Puasa", premiered on MNCTV. April 19: The last 4 episodes from Season 3 of Big City Greens released on Disney+, just a month after the season concluded. Episodes 16-19 of Hamster & Gretel were released on Disney+. April 21: The second Bluey soundtrack album, "Dance Mode!", is released. Paw Patrol concludes its eighth season on Nickelodeon in the US with the episodes "Pups Stop a Big Leak/Pups Save a Baby Anteater/Pups Save a Hatch Day/Pups Save the Munchie Mobile"."Paw Patrol Episode Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved March 22, 2018. April 22: Paw Patrol concludes its ninth season on TVO in Canada with the episode "Charger Visits the Pups/Pups Save a Shiny Ride". April 28: Frog and Toad premiered on Apple TV+. Alan Becker releases the first episode of Animator vs Animation VI, titled "Wanted", on YouTube.
May May 3: Season 2 of Star Wars: Visions was released on Disney+. May 4: Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures premiered on Disney Junior in the United States. May 5: Unicorn: Warriors Eternal premiered on Adult Swim in the United States. May 7: Family Guy concludes its 21st season on Fox with the episode "Adult Education", which follows up from the events of the previous episode "From Russia With Love". May 8: Season 2 of Spirit Rangers was released on Netflix. May 11: The third and final season of Ultraman was released on Netflix. May 12: Ross Venokur's Rally Road Racers was released. May 13: We Baby Bears concludes its first season on Cartoon Network with the episode "Little Fallen Star"."We Baby Bears Episode Listings". The Futon Critic. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2022. May 16: The Loud House concludes its sixth season on Nickelodeon with the episode "Love Stinks"."The Loud House Episode Listings". The Futon Critic. May 17: Season 7 of The Loud House begins on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the episode "Waking History". May 18: Kitti Katz premiered on Netflix. Anime series Yakitori: Soldiers of Misfortune premiered on Netflix. May 20: The fourth episode in Season 2 of Helluva Boss, titled "Western Energy", premiered on YouTube. May 21:"This Summer, FOX Brings the Heat with Food Stars, Music Battles and MasterChefs!" (Press release). FOX. April 5, 2023. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023 – via The Futon Critic. The Simpsons concludes its 34th season on Fox with its 750th episode "Homer's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass", featuring the guest stars Lizzo, Tim Robinson, and Bowen Yang. The Great North concludes its third season on Fox with the second part of the episode "For Whom the Smell Tolls". Bob's Burgers concludes its 13th season on Fox with the episode "Amelia", this was Paul Reubens' final voice acting role before his death 2 months later. May 22: Season 3 of The Creature Cases was released on Netflix. May 23: The English dub of Alan Ituriel's independent animated series Villainous premiered on Max. Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai and Season 2 of Clone High premiered on Max. All remaining 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures titles were removed from HBO Max as the service is discontinued. However, they were released on Max (the successor of HBO Max and Discovery+) on the same day until their pay 1 window deal with HBO ends. May 27: Season 10 of Paw Patrol begins on TVO in Canada with the premiere of the episodes "Pups Save the Wacky Water Skiers/Pups Save the Mayor's Assistant". May 29: Craig of the Creek concludes its fourth season on Cartoon Network with the premiere of the following episodes: "Craig of the Campus" "Wheels Collide" "Bernard of the Creek" (two-part special) "Left in the Dark"
June June 1: Ninjago: Dragons Rising was released on Netflix.