10 Best Episodes Of The Amazing World Of Gumball, Ranked

While the previous generation of Cartoon Network programming has become more famous and acclaimed for shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Steven Universe, there is often one underappreciated series left out of people’s conversations. Those other stories certainly had some amazing themes and heart, but none of them ever touched the wit, imagination, or animated experimentation of The Amazing World of Gumball.

Literally formulated from a batch of rejected mascot ideas, The Amazing World of Gumball did more with its zany characters and style than just be a wacky kids cartoon (though it is). It used its inherently diverse personality to play around with its animation and storytelling, resulting in some of the best cartoon episodes in recent memory.

10 The Check

The Amazing World of Gumball has had its eclectic Watterson family fight over a lot of petty things, but few of their disputes have resulted in as imaginative competition as in “The Check.” Here, the kids’ new Grandpa Louie decides to gift them with a hefty check for $5,000. The kids initially argue as to how to spend the money by each envisioning a hilarious (although sometimes dark) scenario of their choice investment.

Things obviously devolve into them fighting each other for the check, bringing in their parents to join in on the fray. This eventually leads to a hilarious and creative car chase where everyone’s driving imaginary cars (because Nicole needs money to fix their actual one).

9 The Love

Gumball does a lot of anthology episodes that use its larger cast of characters and varied animation to tell some short, exciting stories, but “The Love” has to be the sweetest of them all. Here, cold, calculating Bobert wants to know what love is and the entire community of Elmore is happy to oblige, with the addition of another one of the animated series’ iconic songs no less.

What follows are a variety of vignettes explaining what is and could be, including a candid interview with Richard and Nicole, the Robinsons showing their tumultuous history, and the Sun and Moon flirting. Bobert eventually gets the message and soon professes his love to a vacuum cleaner.

8 The Copycats

The animation industry is well aware of Chinese rip-offs of Western cartoons. It’s jarring for Western fans, and it must be incredibly frustrating for the creators, as imitation isn’t always flattering. However, there isn’t much that the creators or studios can do about it, and most just don’t do anything.

The people working on The Amazing World of Gumball, however, didn’t just see a rip-off with their Chinese iteration, but also an opportunity. In “The Copycats,” viewers actually got to see the Wattersons confront their Chinese rip-offs as well as battle them for content supremacy.

7 The Origins Part I And II

There’s nothing like a good origin story to really give long-time fans “the feels.” In children’s cartoons in particular, origin stories can be a fun way to show humble beginnings with extraordinary circumstances. In The Amazing World of Gumball, their big origin story involves the fateful meeting between Gumball Watterson and his lifelong brother/pet/animal sidekick, Darwin. When Gumball was younger, he was the type of hyperactive child that every parent dreads.

To quell his excitement, Nicole and Richard try to get him a pet fish; and after running through nearly every fish at the pet stop, Richard comes across a mysterious van, now known as the Awesome Store. What ensues is a begrudging relationship that soon grows into brotherly love.

6 The Future

As The Amazing World of Gumball neared its eventual end, it showcased one of the final plots of its main antagonist, Rob. Desperate to look into the future, Rob kidnaps Banana Joe’s mom, Banana Barbara, who has the uncanny ability to paint the future. This leaves Gumball, Darwin, and Banana Joe to go hunting after her, though their tracking methods leave a lot to be desired.

Banana Barbara does her best to leave clues for the kids but eventually has to take matters into her own hands. In the end, Rob and the kids get into another imaginative battle that sees the villain possibly thwarted for good. This episode also teases elements for the series finale.

5 The Job

Many Gumball fans like to look back at “The Job” as the ultimate argument as to why they themselves are lazy. As “The Job” eloquently made the case for Richard Watterson, getting a job for a really lazy person would be an act against nature, one that would be punished by reality itself.

In this episode, Richard decides to finally be responsible and gets a job as a pizza delivery guy. While the family is pleasantly surprised, they quickly learn that his sudden professionalism has actually broken reality. With the fate of the world at stake, it’s up to the Wattersons to get Richard fired.

4 The Fury

If anyone is looking for both anime action and something nice to watch on Mother’s Day, The Amazing World of Gumball has them covered. In “The Fury,” Nicole crosses paths with her old martial arts partner and Masami’s mom, Yuki. Wanting to avenge a past defeat, Yuki constantly challenges Nicole to a fight; and as Nicole continuously denies her, she progressively harasses her and her family.

When Yuki takes things too far, Nicole eventually gives in and shows Yuki why she was always the better fighter. What ensues is an epic anime battle between a talking cat and raincloud.

3 The Console

In “The Console,” the Awesome Store strikes again as it gifts the Watterson kids with a cursed video-game console that turns Elmore into one big video game. Not only do the Watterson kids poke some fun at a variety of video game tropes, such as the tribulations of completionism and sleeping in NPC homes, but they also engage in some nostalgic RPG combat.

While plenty of cartoons (and some funny video games) have referenced and parodied video games tropes, few have been as genuine as “The Console,” which felt as if it was made by actual fans of video games who wanted to celebrate gaming.

2 The Disaster/The Rerun

The Amazing World of Gumball truly doesn’t get enough credit for its high concept premises. One of the best examples of the series using its animation format to tell truly impossible stories is the two-part arc that segues between Seasons 4 and 5, “The Disaster” and “The Rerun.”

In “The Disaster,” Rob gets a hold of a magic remote from the Awesome Store that allows him to control the world with its inputs and uses it to ruin Gumball’s life. After surviving a maelstrom of action relating to classic remote control inputs, Gumball suddenly finds himself with the remote at the start of the story, leading to him trying to fix things in “The Rerun.”

1 The Choices

“The Choices” is easily the best episode of The Amazing World of Gumball, as it utilizes everything in the series’ arsenal to create the perfect origin story of Nicole and Richard’s relationship. It uses the series’ high-concept imagination to examine different routes in Nicole’s life. It uses the writing’s self-awareness and wit to poke a joke when needed.

And, in the end, it manages to make kids and adults alike feel something as it sincerely looks at a budding romance. Not just that, but the episode emphasizes its final moments with a charming and at times heartbreaking montage looking back at the journey between the two’s first meeting, their marriage, and where they are today.