Tuca & Bertieis about to release its third season, and if you haven’t gotten into it yet, you should really check it out. Did you ever want towatchBojack Horsemanbut not get bummed out by it?Tuca & Bertie. Did you ever want to entertain your eyes with abstract, psychedelic animation while still experiencing a moving storyline?Tuca & Bertie. Did you ever want the coolest character in your show to be a plant?Tuca & Bertie. When Netflix canceled the show, fans revolted, signing petitions and sending tweets.Adult Swim picked it uplast year, and the adult animation has found its perfect home.
The show revolves around the friendship of two amazing birds. Can you guess their names? They’re Tuca & Bertie. Tuca is an insane party toucan, and you are going to know she is in the building. In contrast, Bertie is an anxious but creative song thrush that continually doubts herself but will never fail to impress you with her strength of character. The two go on crazy adventures through Bird Town (which is pretty much LA), being drawn into crazy situations and continually trying to improve themselves. Their journeys could be as mundane as working at a bakery or as crazy as starting a sex bus, but in the end, you’ll find that each situation holds a valuable gem of insight into the truth of self-discovery.
Here’s why you should be watching.
Tuca & Bertie’s Psychedelic Animation
The first and most awesome thing about the cartoon you’ll notice isthe crazy animation. If you’re ever watching the show on a streaming service and you have the opportunity to skip the opening theme song, don’t. The crazy bouncing figures are stretched and molded into insane shapes and wacky abstractions that change almost as often as the rainbow colors and psychedelic drawing styles. It is a psychedelic buffet that will delight the senses and entertain the mind. If the show wasn’t so good on its own merits, we might watch it just for the starting sequences.
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Once the show begins, the animation style begins to calm down because otherwise, you might get a program that dissolves so far beyond a cartoon it would just become a broadcast art installation. But as the plot comes in and we see our familiar characters, we’re drawn into a world that looks not all that dissimilar fromBojack Horseman. This is likely because Lisa Hanawalt, the creative director forBojack, alsoworks onTuca & Bertie. But something different about this show is its almost comic book feel.
When one of our titular characters has a strong emotional reaction or is sitting with some difficult inner monologue, you’ll see some nondiegetic thing explode onto the scene reminiscent of aBAM!orPOW!from an oldBatmancomic. Of course, it gets more creative than that. Floating thought creations bridge the gap from fantasy to reality and might clunk into scenery or smack someone in the face. The creative art direction provides just as much entertainment as the compelling story.
Tuca & Bertie’s Journey
The thing that pulls you into the cartoon, beyond just how good it looks, is how relatable and beautiful the characters are. The real value in this show comes from just how real a struggle is for a protagonist. Yes, the show may be made of crazy cartoon characters and wonderful effects, but none of it takes you out of the quality of the journey these two birds go on. The world that they inhabit might continually place them in difficult circumstances, but we think it’s the conflict that comes from inside each character that generates a type of drama that grows beyond a singular protagonist to embroil and unite every character in the series.
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LikeBojack Horseman, a lot of the wonder in this series is generated by an internal conflict, but unlikeBojack Horseman, the viewer is rarely left with a tragic realization at the end. This comes from the fact that where Bojack was a celebrity isolated by the cynical nature of his character, Tuca & Bertie, despite their insecurities, can always rely on each other. The show leaves you with a happy feeling without pandering to the audience or trying too hard to make things turn out well. It isn’t afraid to go to that dark place, but when you jump off that bridge into a river of sadness, you are always tied to a bungee cord that manages to remind you that things aren’t so bad.
Probably most important of all is that the show manages to bring many women’s issues to the forefront without seeming preachy or “in your face,” as some male viewers might fear. The show is, first and foremost, a show, and the issues it deals with – things like body positivity, sexuality, and mental health – are struggles everyone can find relatable. It is an excellent show for women because these issues are explored through their perspective, one which viewers rarely get to see in adult animation. But while some male viewers might see the female protagonists and immediately write it off, they are making a grave mistake becauseTuca & Bertieis a show for everyone.
