As someone who was born in the 90’s, I vividly remember some of television’s best cartoons to date. There were shows like Spongebob which, while it didn’t always have a valuable lesson at the end of each episode, had incredibly clever jokes and interesting characters. Other shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender which had beautiful animation, perfect characters, and amazing storylines.

Nowadays, we don’t seem to have the luxury of cartoons like these. Instead of relatable characters, decent animation, and deep storylines with valuable lessons to teach, we have shows like Breadwinners. If you haven’t seen this show, allow me to quash your curiosity about it. It’s one big ball of stupidity, wrapped in the question of “why on earth was this show ever created?” However, despite the atrocities such as Breadwinners, there is one modern cartoon that acts as a diamond in the rough: Gravity Falls.

Gravity Falls revolves around 12 year old Dipper Pines and his twin sister Mabel. The two siblings are sent to spend the summer with their Great Uncle Stanford at his home in Gravity Falls, Oregon. At the beginning of the summer, Dipper stumbles across a journal that describes the author’s strange findings in Gravity Falls, detailing tales of everything from gnomes to indestructible beings of pure energy. The identity of the author continues to be a mystery throughout the series, only being revealed near the end of Season Two.

In addition to the unique premise, the first thing that struck me was the honesty of the characters of Dipper and Mabel. Although they work incredibly well together, the siblings are extremely different. Dipper is intelligent and has a craving for mysteries, while Mabel acts silly and enjoys making friends. While they function as a perfect team for most of the episodes, the two still have their moments of friction as their interests clash. Even the side characters are interesting to watch. I honestly can’t think of a single character that I hate in this show.

The humor in Gravity Falls is absolutely superb. Most of the jokes that are targeted towards younger demographics are funny, no matter what age you are. That isn’t to say that there isn’t some adult humor sprinkled around the show, but even the age-appropriate jokes are easy for adults and children to appreciate.

Gravity Falls is best watched when you don’t know what’s going to happen, so you won’t find any spoilers here. However, I will say that the story is much deeper and darker than most of the cartoon shows one might be accustomed to.

From the characters to the humor, Gravity Falls has become one of my favorite shows. If there was a hall of fame for cartoons, Gravity Falls would be shoved inside of it so fast it wouldn’t know what hit it.