One of the best things about about BoJack Horseman is its style of storytelling and how it addresses both humor and serious topics. One of the best examples of this is how the first season was, by far, the lightest and despite it not being anything groundbreaking, it served as an easy gateway into the show and got the audience attached to the characters. Compared to the show's original season, it's second season was vastly different because not only were the jokes more creative and commentative, but the conflicts were more realistic and personal. Since the first season of the series helped develop a connection between the audience and the characters, the dramatic tone is better able to emphasize the more somber scenes of the show and make sure they really hit home. Another thing the show does exceptionally well is its characters and how it portrays them, even making each character undergo an important character arc. Not only does BoJack Horseman present three dimensional characters with their own distinctive quirks and struggles, they each make questionable decisions that make viewers wonder if they still support them. By allowing the series to retain a sense of continuity, the show is able to have multiple callbacks and references of past characters or events to give certain scenes a greater impact.
BoJack Horseman is one of my favorite shows because of how it weaves an incredibly realistic and relatable plot with fully developed characters, into a series that covers a range of emotional moments in our lives. I really appreciate how the show has both light and dark humor, and how it doesn't pull any punches when addressing serious topics. I've cried at least twice each season (excluding the first season) because I honestly didn't expect the series to get that dark or talk about such topics that were barely touched upon in film. Another thing I really like about the show is its characters and how relatable and charismatic they are, because each of their personalities and struggles are distinctly their own, even though they sometimes wind up affecting the others around them. An example of one of the show's best characters is my favorite character, Mr. Peanutbutter, a famous golden retriever that got his big break on another 90s sitcom that was basically a rip-off of Horsin Around. Much like his real life counterpart he's sweet and loyal, and is generally a happy go lucky guy that (unlike BoJack) is still favorable in the public's eye, who's constantly getting himself into silly situations. Despite his character sounding like a stereotypical 'fun guy', his obliviousness and tendency to get distracted is an essential part of his character, which the series acknowledges both positively and negatively. While the idea of watching a show about anthropomorphic animals is not something I'm necessarily excited about, I agree with Bob-Waksberg's decision to use famous cartoonist, Lisa Hanawalt's, designs because her characters had interesting and surprisingly expressive designs that I felt he was able to fully utilize the possibilities of them. Every anthropomorphic character retains at least one habit or personality trait that their real life animal counterparts have, which often results in comedic moments and a few puns. One other thing I love about the show's humor is how in later seasons the series explored more visual and commentative jokes by experimenting in different styles of animation, such as paying homage to The Peanuts and Schoolhouse Rock!
While the conflict of each season varies, the main conflict always involves BoJack grudgingly learning to fix his mistakes, but also making more in the process. A major theme that appears throughout the series is the pursuit of happiness and the hardships we sometimes have to face in order to find what we've been searching for, no matter how long it takes. Throughout each season, one of the main characters is put in a situation where an unforeseen event forces them into a state of mind where they question themselves and their satisfaction with their lives. By placing its' characters in an emotionally vulnerable position, the show is able to seamlessly lead into the topic of existential nihilism. As the series progresses, this mindset become increasingly evident as many of the choices and situations characters are faced with take a turn for the worse. BoJack himself is an excellent example of this ideal because the series starts out with him at rock-bottom, and he only spirals further into the ground with each decision he makes. My favorite example of this is in the very opening of the show, which goes through an average day in BoJack's life. The opening begins with BoJack reluctantly getting out of bed, which then transitions to him slowly reacting to the montage of his day in the background, and ends with him floating in his pool, all by himself. I absolutely love the amount of detail included in the opening and how it perfectly mirrors the themes and tone of the show, continually showing BoJack unhappy and steadily becoming more weary and distraught. The opening only becomes more important in later seasons, where there are slight changes in the opening that follow the events happening in the show, which help reinforce the show's main themes.
For these reasons and more, I'd rate BoJack Horseman as GOOD GOOD and highly suggest it to anyone who wants unique a comedy that perfectly balances humor (both dark and light) with dramatic moments.
BoJack Horseman Opening
BoJack Horseman Funny Scene
BoJack Horseman Sad Scenes (Major Spoilers for seasons 3 & 4)
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