Long Story Short
Long Story Short
A dysfunctional family's shared history, inside jokes, and old wounds are explored in this adult animated comedy spanning multiple years.
rg9400 reviewedAugust 25, 2025
Long Story Short is as worthy of a successor to BoJack Horseman as you can hope for. It has a very similar style and vibe to it with zany characters and rapidfire blink-and-you-miss-it jokes. That banter, delivered in a deadpan tone at times, often made me think I was actually watching BoJack sans the anthromorphized creatures. I laughed out loud multiple times each episode. More importantly, like BoJack, this show plays your heart, being equally heartwarming and heartbreaking, landing emotional haymakers so effectively despite such a limited runtime in which to get to know the characters. This is in part due to how real all of the situations feel as well as how insightful the show is. Despite how crazy some of the situations are, I honestly resonated so much with the varous familial relationships. This show does such a fantastic job of exploring how families try to love each other and how their past experiences influence their future. Another reason it is so easy to love and feel for these characters is due to the unique structure of this show. It jumps from time period to time period, often with a cold open set in the past before jumping towards the future. However, these time periods are not chronologically structured. An early episode might be focused on 2022 while a latter one might be on 2019. It is a testament to this team and Raphael Bob-Waksberg that this structure feels entirely effortless, and I cannot stress just how impressive that is. The time jumps make sense, and I never once felt lost or confused. It was so easy to follow this family and how all of the children developed and grew up. I think in the hands of anyone else, this simply would not work, but it recalls to mind the brilliant BoJack episode "Time's Arrow". In fact, the cold opens feel so meaningful as each episode is able to link the future and the past together, and I believe this is true for every single episode in the season. That is one hell of a feat. Even more shocking is how jokes build upon each other throughout the season. The show doesn't bring attention to it, but so many tiny details continue to reverberate across the season, with a passing mention coming to life in future episodes. This control and attention to detail is reflected in the animation style as well. To be honest, I do not love the style of BoJack, and when I saw the marketing for this show, I was worried I would struggle here as well. At first glance, it definitely feels simplistic, but as I watched, I became fully immersed. The simple style brings to mind old Saturday morning cartoons, but it does such a good job of paying attention to little details. Trust me, there are beautiful sequences in this show where the way the animation works feels almost magical. I honestly have no complaints. Yes, one or two episodes are not as strong as the rest. However, this feels like Bob-Waksberg operating at his highest level, taking everything he learned through the life of BoJack and creating a potent examination of a single family through the decades while being hilarious and brimming with pathos. I love it, and I hope he manages to continue for many more seasons so that I can spend more time with all of these characters. If you love BoJack Horseman like I do, you have to watch this show, it is a requirement.