BoJack Horseman : Beautiful, Traumatising and relatable

Anime/Animated shows never fascinated me. As a child, I've watched a ton of cartoons but when you grow up, your entertainment preferences change. Some may end up watching anime which is totally cool and some may just not find animated shows amusing which is fine as well. I, on the other hand, belong to a different category. I've watched a few anime shows like Death Note, Detective Conan, etc and there are times when I just want normal human beings on my screen and not animated characters being voiced by normal human beings. This might be one of the reasons why I'm not attracted towards anime/animated shows. 

Shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons, etc are still on my watchlist. The only show that I've been minutely interested in is Rick & Morty and that show has always left me wanting for more. With the dark humour and all the science related stuff, Rick & Morty may not be relatable but it is humorous and provides me with the adequate amount of entertainment required. 

Recently, I was struggling to find a show that has few seasons/episodes and may come under the same genre. Stumbling upon new TV shows has become my forte in 2020 and with all that said, I did stumble upon BoJack Horseman. A show about a wide range of characters who are portrayed as animals and voiced by normal human beings became so relatable and realistic that I had to watch the entire show which has only 6 seasons and around 77 bingeable episodes. 

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that one of the most realistic shows ever produced/created would be a show about a talking horse. This show single-handedly dealt with all the new age millennium problems like depression, anxiety, substance abuse, relationship problems, parenting troubles, sexual orientation, existential crisis, etc. The show literally shows how people nowadays are going through so much without anyone around them even noticing it. 

The main theme of the show revolves around a 90's star BoJack Horseman who is lost in today's world and is just good at messing every relation he has with anyone be it his close friend Todd Chavez or be it his long time manager/confidante/ex-lover Princess Carolyn. Anyone who is minutely connected to BoJack ends up getting hurt or at least disappointed by his actions. To add to that, he is also an alcoholic and sometimes indulges in drugs. So from season 1-6, the journey of how BoJack and the people around him go through certain circumstances and how they find a way through those problems is depicted with utmost subtlety. 

BoJack Horseman (voiced by Will Arnett) who was in a very famous TV show in the 90's known as Horsin' Around and now after almost 2 decades later, lives in a beautiful mansion with his freeloading roommate Todd Chavez (voiced by Aaron Paul). BoJack tries to make a comeback with the help of his autobiography which is ghostwritten by Diane Nguyen (voiced by Alison Brie). Diane is getting maried to Mr. Peanutbutter (voiced by Paul  F. Tompkins), who was a star in a hit show Mr. Peanutbutter's House which has a similar premise as Horsin' Around. Princess Carolyn (voiced by Amy Sedaris)  who is BoJack's agent, manager and also becomes a producer in the latter part of the show. 

The show is just an amalgamation of daily interactions that these characters have with each other and with some other characters that are a part of the storyline. Each and Every character in this show is going through something and their journey is pretty much unique. For example:

1) Mr. Peanutbutter gets divorced thrice in this show but he still is that happy-go-lucky guy at the end of the day. His character is pretty much goofy and is shown to be quite lovable and affectionate towards others. Well, to be honest Mr. Peanutbutter is portrayed as an energetic, optimistic and cheerful yellow Labrador Retriever and hence he does show the aforementioned attributes in his personality.

2) Diane Nguyen who is actually pretty sensible and well-reasoned as a human being, ends up being so depressed that she is left with no other alternative apart from popping antidepressants, which in return makes her fat. This simply shows that how mental health also affects physical health. The beautiful thing about the show is that never was Diane made fun of because of her weight which changed drastically after consuming the pills. 

3) Sarah Lynn (voiced by  Kristen Schaal) who was the youngest adoptive child in BoJack's show Horsin' Around always saw BoJack as a friend, a father figure whom she idealised a lot. Sarah Lynn is shown to be a girl who has clearly gone though a lot in her childhood. From sexual abuse to alcoholism and drug addiction, she becomes self destructive exactly like BoJack. She doesn't even think twice before going on bender with BoJack and ends up suffering from drug overdose at  the Griffith Observatory planetarium. The scene where BoJack calls her name in the planetarium repeatedly and realises that she is dead, was one of the most heart numbing scenes in the entire show. 

Like I stated earlier that a lot of characters in the show have their own journey and their own story and writing about all of them would be just next to impossible. 

It's just so surreal that an animated show ended up evoking real emotions in me. This show in it's truest form is therapeutic in an entertaining way. With all that said and done, its time to end this review of one of the most mature shows created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and also Lisa Hanawalt who is a cartoonist and has also designed this show. A big thumbs up to Raphael and Lisa for creating such a great show.

So write in the comments whether you've watched the show or not. If yes, then which character did you like the most.