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theanimationcafe2016-09-15 06:09 pm
nature_heart) wrote in theanimationcafe2016-09-15 06:09 pm
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Happy Hour: Bojack Horseman - The Greatest Animation of All Time For Adults
Well everyone, autumn is coming. As I'm typing this, I'm eating a honeycrisp apple and drinking some pumpkin spice chai. I'm looking back on the summer passed, and that leads me to my binge watching on Netflix and Crunchyroll. A great ritual I made for myself while I bake in my kitchen is to have something on a laptop running.
One of the shows I have binge watched, all current seasons available, was Bojack Horseman. Like a lot of people, I was ultimately floored by what I was watching. To tell it short, I was watching a modern masterpiece. I absolutely loved this show, and now I will talk about it.
Mild spoilers. Also some heavy content might be posted. This is an adult show, after all.
I didn't know what to expect while watching this at the beginning, the first couple episodes of this weren't special. Bojack is a cynical has-been who was once on a famous TV show in the 90's and made a name for himself.
Full House, anyone?
The show was well loved by people and was the most sitcomest sitcom, which was the whole idea versus what was really going on behind the scenes. We know it as the real world, which is a very unlikable place filled with unlikable people. If that sounded bitter and cynical, that's because it was. This show was one of those that had to qualms of showing the dirty side of being an adult in general, not just in Hollywood. It's modern day, and Bojack hadn't been in anything in years after that show. He had an agent/on and off girlfriend, Princess Caroline. He has a bum housemate, Todd, who stayed and never left after a party. He has a counterpart, Mr. Peanutbutter...who is basically his polar opposite; happy, optimistic, and successful. The kicker was that he was essentially on a rip off version of "Horsin' Around", "Mr. Peanutbutter's House". Both of these shows are mentioned here and there, but this show isn't just about the throwbacks of fame and fortune in our culture...it's the effects of mistakes we make, and how we have to live with them.
Needless to say, this isn't always an easy show to watch. Bojack himself is an asshole, and makes a lot of selfish mistakes and HAS made them to get to where he was present day. He even betrayed his best friend to get further in his career, and this friend never forgives him. Even when he got diagnosed with cancer, he did not want to give Bojack closure; saying he didn't deserve it.
Life doesn't work like a sitcom, and Bojack's choices have hurt many people...intentionally or no.
He gets a ghostwriter to write his memoir, Diane. Who is, and the show very lovingly acknowledged this too in Season 3, an "Asian Daria". Thanks, producers. That made my day. But really, she is like a more aggressive and loud Daria. She's self righteous, good on the moral plane, but not without her dents and set backs. Her involvement, actually, all of the characters' involvement play all kinds of factors into what the show wants to tell.
Life isn't easy.
The show hits all of the marks: suicide, sexuality, sex, drugs, cheating, betrayal, abortion...all adult themes imaginable. But instead of using them as shock humor or offensive humor (mostly), they all use them as a matter of life in society. The writing very often is poignant, very rarely did I feel like there was a drag or a slowness. Sometimes it would, but it would be brief before it would pick up again. I agree with Mr. Enter in that this is probably the most adult-adult animation ever released. Every issue is dealt with enough class, and the witty writing hits home with both tears and laughs.
Things in modern society get referenced lovingly or jokingly, with taste. The time passed makes sense and flows well.
By the end of Season 3, I felt...changed in some way. I knew I watched something that was powerful. We get the perspective of screw ups being screw ups, trying, even failing. Happy endings are what we earn, and sometimes our past and who we are can get in the way of that.
Because of that, people in this show are relatable. No role models exist here, and that's okay. Because we are watching the lives of people we can place in our shoes, in a good and bad way. That's just masterful story telling and character writing.
The fact that the world has anthropomorphic animals also makes a point. In the end, we're all animals are we? We're human, and Bojack is as human as he is an animal. That's the joke in this series, and it carries the point even further. The longer the show runs, the more we get to see the characters and what makes them naked (figuratively and literally).
Now comes the part in which I asked myself: Who do I relate to the most? Well, that answer is simple.
Both Diane and Princess Caroline have hit a chord with me, for many reasons. Career driven, restless, pained by who I was in my earlier years, feeling stuck and trapped, etc. I really don't want to delve further than that, because I don't intend on spoiling too much.
So where does that leave me now? What do I really think of this show by the end? I've praised the fuck out of it so I really do love it. It's not perfect, though. Like I said, sometimes the pacing in episodes between plot points can get a little weird and slow. Bojack sometimes dances a fine line between likable-unlikable and unlikable-unlikable. The animation sometimes can look a little stilted; like really the best animation is in the intro. But do those flaws really hinder my feelings? No. In fact:
I would probably place this as one of my favorite shows, currently airing or not. Top 10? Absolutely. In fact, I made a list not long ago...and I placed this show at Number 3, beaten by Mystery Science Theatre 3000 at Number 2 and Daria at Number One. I look forward for the coming seasons, and whatever this jerkish horse and friends go through next.
See ya on the flipside folks, and yes, it gets easier.
One of the shows I have binge watched, all current seasons available, was Bojack Horseman. Like a lot of people, I was ultimately floored by what I was watching. To tell it short, I was watching a modern masterpiece. I absolutely loved this show, and now I will talk about it.
Mild spoilers. Also some heavy content might be posted. This is an adult show, after all.
I didn't know what to expect while watching this at the beginning, the first couple episodes of this weren't special. Bojack is a cynical has-been who was once on a famous TV show in the 90's and made a name for himself.
Full House, anyone?
The show was well loved by people and was the most sitcomest sitcom, which was the whole idea versus what was really going on behind the scenes. We know it as the real world, which is a very unlikable place filled with unlikable people. If that sounded bitter and cynical, that's because it was. This show was one of those that had to qualms of showing the dirty side of being an adult in general, not just in Hollywood. It's modern day, and Bojack hadn't been in anything in years after that show. He had an agent/on and off girlfriend, Princess Caroline. He has a bum housemate, Todd, who stayed and never left after a party. He has a counterpart, Mr. Peanutbutter...who is basically his polar opposite; happy, optimistic, and successful. The kicker was that he was essentially on a rip off version of "Horsin' Around", "Mr. Peanutbutter's House". Both of these shows are mentioned here and there, but this show isn't just about the throwbacks of fame and fortune in our culture...it's the effects of mistakes we make, and how we have to live with them.
Needless to say, this isn't always an easy show to watch. Bojack himself is an asshole, and makes a lot of selfish mistakes and HAS made them to get to where he was present day. He even betrayed his best friend to get further in his career, and this friend never forgives him. Even when he got diagnosed with cancer, he did not want to give Bojack closure; saying he didn't deserve it.
Life doesn't work like a sitcom, and Bojack's choices have hurt many people...intentionally or no.
He gets a ghostwriter to write his memoir, Diane. Who is, and the show very lovingly acknowledged this too in Season 3, an "Asian Daria". Thanks, producers. That made my day. But really, she is like a more aggressive and loud Daria. She's self righteous, good on the moral plane, but not without her dents and set backs. Her involvement, actually, all of the characters' involvement play all kinds of factors into what the show wants to tell.
Life isn't easy.
The show hits all of the marks: suicide, sexuality, sex, drugs, cheating, betrayal, abortion...all adult themes imaginable. But instead of using them as shock humor or offensive humor (mostly), they all use them as a matter of life in society. The writing very often is poignant, very rarely did I feel like there was a drag or a slowness. Sometimes it would, but it would be brief before it would pick up again. I agree with Mr. Enter in that this is probably the most adult-adult animation ever released. Every issue is dealt with enough class, and the witty writing hits home with both tears and laughs.
Things in modern society get referenced lovingly or jokingly, with taste. The time passed makes sense and flows well.
By the end of Season 3, I felt...changed in some way. I knew I watched something that was powerful. We get the perspective of screw ups being screw ups, trying, even failing. Happy endings are what we earn, and sometimes our past and who we are can get in the way of that.
Because of that, people in this show are relatable. No role models exist here, and that's okay. Because we are watching the lives of people we can place in our shoes, in a good and bad way. That's just masterful story telling and character writing.
The fact that the world has anthropomorphic animals also makes a point. In the end, we're all animals are we? We're human, and Bojack is as human as he is an animal. That's the joke in this series, and it carries the point even further. The longer the show runs, the more we get to see the characters and what makes them naked (figuratively and literally).
Now comes the part in which I asked myself: Who do I relate to the most? Well, that answer is simple.
Both Diane and Princess Caroline have hit a chord with me, for many reasons. Career driven, restless, pained by who I was in my earlier years, feeling stuck and trapped, etc. I really don't want to delve further than that, because I don't intend on spoiling too much.
So where does that leave me now? What do I really think of this show by the end? I've praised the fuck out of it so I really do love it. It's not perfect, though. Like I said, sometimes the pacing in episodes between plot points can get a little weird and slow. Bojack sometimes dances a fine line between likable-unlikable and unlikable-unlikable. The animation sometimes can look a little stilted; like really the best animation is in the intro. But do those flaws really hinder my feelings? No. In fact:
I would probably place this as one of my favorite shows, currently airing or not. Top 10? Absolutely. In fact, I made a list not long ago...and I placed this show at Number 3, beaten by Mystery Science Theatre 3000 at Number 2 and Daria at Number One. I look forward for the coming seasons, and whatever this jerkish horse and friends go through next.
See ya on the flipside folks, and yes, it gets easier.