Gen Z Loves Animated Shows and Here's Why They Speak to Us

Why Animated Shows Like BoJack and Big Mouth Speak to Gen Z Better Than Most Live Action

Cartoons Are Not Just for Kids Anymore

If you still think cartoons are just Saturday morning background noise, you are missing out on some of the most honest storytelling happening right now. And Gen Z knows it.

Shows like BoJack Horseman, Big Mouth, Rick and Morty, and Adventure Time are not just funny or weird. They are emotionally raw, painfully real, and sometimes more insightful than any serious drama on a streaming platform.

We grew up on animation. But now we are watching cartoons that talk about addiction, anxiety, puberty, and the existential nightmare of being alive. Somehow it feels safer and more real when a talking horse says it out loud.

BoJack Horseman Is a Mental Health Masterclass

Let’s start with the obvious icon. BoJack Horseman is probably the most devastatingly accurate depiction of depression and self sabotage ever animated. The show follows a washed up celebrity horse trying to be a better person while constantly failing. And it does not sugarcoat anything.

It is not afraid to sit in silence. To show the repetition of bad choices. To make the viewer feel deeply uncomfortable with the truth it puts in front of them.

It covers trauma, addiction, toxic relationships, the pain of being deeply lonely. But it also makes space for recovery, for growth, and for the tiny wins that actually feel massive when you are struggling.

No live action show has ever made me feel seen the way BoJack did. And I know I am not the only one.

Big Mouth Is Gross and Brilliant

On the other end of the spectrum is Big Mouth which is chaotic, nasty, loud, and somehow still one of the most honest shows about puberty ever made.

It turns hormones into literal monsters. Shame becomes a character. Anxiety has a name. And it leans into the awkwardness of teen life with zero filter.

Yes it is gross. Yes it can go too far. But it captures what it feels like to be a confused overstimulated teenager in a way that feels more relatable than any glossy teen drama.

Big Mouth does not just make puberty funny. It makes it understandable. It says out loud all the stuff we thought we had to keep to ourselves.

Animation Lets You Go Deeper by Getting Weirder

One reason these shows hit so hard is because animation allows them to do things live action never could. Want to have a character fall into a metaphorical dreamscape that represents their subconscious guilt You can do that. Want to create a literal manifestation of grief anxiety or imposter syndrome Done.

Animation removes the limits of reality. That means it can tell deeper truths without being bound by realism.

For Gen Z that matters. We live in a world that already feels surreal. Our emotions are too complex for clean TV arcs. Animation embraces the absurd and makes it meaningful.

We Do Not Want Filtered We Want Raw

Gen Z does not care about polished scripts and perfect characters. We want the weird stuff. The real stuff. The stuff that makes you feel like someone just said the thing you have been too afraid to admit.

Shows like BoJack Horseman do not try to redeem every bad person. They sit in the discomfort. They let things be unresolved. They reflect back the mess we all carry inside.

Even Tuca and Bertie which blends humor and heartbreak explores the day to day anxieties of navigating adulthood with real emotional honesty. It just does it with birds and plants and surreal animation that somehow makes it easier to process.

I remember watching BoJack after a rough year and thinking this show gets it. Not in a surface level way. In a deep soul cracking way. I saw my own patterns in BoJack’s self destruction. I saw my inner voice in the way he spiraled. And somehow it made me feel less alone.

And Big Mouth It made me laugh at the stuff that used to make me feel broken. Like the confusion. The shame. The feelings that did not make sense when I was younger. Seeing them cartooned out helped me understand them.

That is the thing about these shows. They do not just entertain. They heal.

Where Animation Is Going Next

The future of adult animation is only getting stronger. New shows like Scavengers Reign, Undone, Inside Job, and Hazbin Hotel are proving that there is no limit to how deep and weird cartoons can go.

Animation is no longer the side dish. It is the main course. And it is nourishing a generation that is tired of pretending things are okay when they are not.

These shows are giving us language for things we could not explain. They are holding up a mirror and saying this is what it feels like to be alive right now.

And for Gen Z that is more valuable than anything else.

Gen Z is done underestimating animation. We see it for what it really is. A powerful tool for truth. A safe place for honesty. A strange little portal where emotions can run wild without judgment.

Live action might show us what the world looks like. But animation shows us what it feels like.

Stay locked in for more deep dives into Gen Z’s cultural obsessions and emotional awakenings at Woke Waves Magazine.

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