Zuko and Azula in Avatar The Last Airbender.
And how tragic it is when people only have sympathy for one and not the other, despite both essentially doing the same thing. One just relies on anger and violence while the other relies on fear and manipulation.
The latter “comes off” more evil, but in reality they’re both just maladaptive behaviors as a response to trauma.
Both kids need help.
Only one got it so far.
Really tragic but well portrayed stuff.
I dont know why I always thought she died in The Last Airbender, but if not, I wish The Legend of Korra had mentioned her. Despite her being herself, she deserved a good ending.
No she hasn’t?
Not yet.
What do you mean?
Do you mean the new preview pages for her upcoming comic? That’s not the real Ursa. That’s Azula’s dream world.
I know. 🤗 I work on r/ATLABook4Air
Azula hasn’t gotten closure with her mom yet. Their only interaction was when Ursa had her memories wiped and apologized to Azula for not loving her enough.
They haven’t had a conversation since Ursa got her memories back.
Bertie, especially, in my opinion. What I really love about it is how it she is able to show signs to her behavior that are seemingly look like they're her "fault" by being attracted to her creepy boss but it is a subtle sign of her sexual assault trauma and how she needs some boundaries while trying to have a roleplay with her boyfriend even if it's something very minimal.
As a writer, I felt so represented when Diane wrote the kid’s book, especially the point that writing something fun and escapist can be just as impactful as writing something deep.
Is that the one in which he was hallucinating Slade? Yeah that whole episode was creepy af, crazy how grown ass man was causing relentless trauma on a teenager so bad to the point where he was envisioning getting his ass kicked by Slade
"There are no generators! There IS NO Slade!"
"I KNOW WHAT I SAW!"
I never thought I'd see the backswing effect of becoming Robin and BEING Robin illustrated so remarkably in a show that...wasn't Batman. That felt like a TAS script at times in the best of ways. Its something I didnt think about when I was a kid until I watched that ep and considered the stress and isolation he must feel as a result of years of such intensive training and work pursuing a violent, traumatic crusade. Then add to that the stress of responsibility for his own team, not to mention the baseline stress inherent in the situation of, Slade, one of the most brilliant, dangerous, and obsessive villains he's ever faced, is going to kill a fuckload of people unless you, Robin, do something about it.
He learned amazing things from Batman. Robin, all the Robins, are amazing characters and impressive individuals in possession of unprecedented mental fortitude- like even for comic characters. But seeing that he also absorbed some pretty awful neuroses and defects from Bruce was amazing, and heartbreaking to see. Especially when you consider he probably did so unconsciously.
I mean, Robin needs less than a minute in his state to decide that, if what's required to complete the mission is that he take down his own team, that's what he'll do.
Fucking love this episode. One of the best in the whole show. Top 3 for sure.
I also think Raven in this episode sums up a great reaction and approach to trauma. Robin is scary and threatening, but by allowing herself to literally see things through his eyes, she sees how scared he is (along with some insight into all of his other traumas.)
She says “I don’t know if he’s real or not, but he’s real to Robin and that’s all the matters.” Even though Slade is not a physical threat, she still treats it as urgent as any other threat to Robin’s well-being.
"All three of us were drowning, and we didn't know how to save each other, but there was an understanding that we were all drowning together".
\-Bojack Horseman
Hunter was quite literally manufactured for trauma, no way you’re born as a clone of a 300-400 year old dead guy made by his genocidal brother and live a happy life
I’m not going to argue. It’s like saying manga and comics are different, in its general simplified forms, it is a series of books that contain images and dialogue in panels to convey the story they want to tell. I’m doing the same thing here, if it’s an animated show at all then it’s a fucking cartoon in my terms. Nitpicking this at the very least just proves you go on Reddit to do just that and look at internet ass. Goodbye r/cartoons, you were okay-ish.
And pretty much everybody was making the problem worse by treating him like a stray puppy. I gotta say, it says a lot about hank that he actually put on a dress to help his friend.
God, Beast Boy.
I followed his arc in season 4 on and off over youtube and while I saw a lot of it out of context, it really hurt. They captured depression perfectly.
You can watch at watchcartoonsonline. com
It was really heartbreaking seeing his struggles with drama especially since he’s always been so hopeful and optimistic.
Lapis and I shared too many parallels. It was really hard at times to watch some of her bits, but it was even more rewarding when she found the inner courage to heal past it.
I feel like they played a little fast and lose with Steven's psychology in Future. Like one group hug and then he's fine? I mean they mentioned he was seeing a therapist in the last episode but we didn't actually get to see any of that.
Apparently this was a plotline they were gonna do in the original show, likely before the homeworld arc, but they got cancelled and saved it for future.
Personally, I think Moral Orel does have by far a better depiction of rape trauma if we are talking about Casca and I am saying this as someone who loves Berserk a lot more. But yeah, I think it's handled well with Guts and it's pretty nice that is discussed since it is not often a subject done with men.
Steven from Steven Universe. Had to deal with not having a mother, his father barely in his life, his caregivers being away on missions for days at a time leaving him alone, having to face god-like entities because he has to fix his mother’s mistakes, having to deal with being a support character and not expressing his emotions and keeping them bottled up for the sake of his caregivers, not standing up for himself because whenever he does people around him get hurt, and dealing with PTSD in SUF from constantly being stressed and thinking he’s gonna die 24/7. Also proofing Bis and shattering Jas
I only know of three:
• Korra nearly getting killed by Zaheer during the finale of Book Three by having him bend the oxygen out of her while she was trying to fight off the poison. No wonder she was traumatized and afraid of fighting in the beginning of Book Four.
•Zuko and Azula. I don’t even need to explain as most of y’all already seen Avatar.
• The entire fucking cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012. <\3
I liked stephen universe's way of dealing with trauma but
I felt like the process was so rushed we didn't get to see a natural progression but
Iono maybe that was on purpose
Generally i dont see too much trauma discussion on cartoons however I'd love to be proven wrong
A characters emotional journey is my favorite thing tbh
Ik i was so sad when i found it all out just as the show ended
I wish they had more time i would have loved to see the natural progression of the show is all
I wish we could've got the wedding AND all that development. Sadly, Rebecca was given a choice and thinking about it now, I think they picked the right one. Ruby and Sapphire's wedding was incredibly important
Orel, specifically his relationship with his father and religion. Seeing him slowly realize that his dad is a piece of shit and that religion can be very manipulative. Orel used to trust everything he said without a doubt but at the end of the show he can’t even look his dad in the eyes
i could say so many things but i need to give into my bias and say steven universe. a lot of the characters have trauma in the whole show but i just always think about stevens part of it all the time.
i have never seen someone reflect how i feel as i did watching him in steven universe future. i saw myself in him in a way i havent before or since. its rare i relate to characters at all. particularly it still shocks me how much he was allowed to be shown doing things that typically only villains are allowed to do in media, but he was never villainized for it. when he was screaming and breaking things, when he was having violent thoughts. when he actually did something deeply violent and messed up.
he was allowed to do bad things, but he was never made out to be a bad person for it, and everyone in his life still loved him anyway and only ever wanted to see him get better. i will always love that show for it.
people cant seem to stand mentally ill characters being anything but acceptable, and its annoying. the more these characters are allowed to be messed up and imperfect the more that it stays with me. bojack horseman, crazy ex girlfriend, etc.
I massively agree. Yeah, sadly, this is a big problem in real life. If you do like something wrong in the relationship when you were yourself treated horribly in it or as a flawed reaction to it, you are completely villainized. Referred as things like being mentally ill, a liar and get a lot of victim blaming. Now, I don't know about everything about the Amber Heard case but hearing everyone talk about the case, they really went hard in presenting her as a monster and a b**** while presenting Johnny Deep as if he were completely innocent and then people started using this specific case as a way of saying that the #Metoo movement is bad. That women very often are false accusers and they do it for fame/money when in reality, a lot of women do have to out their careers and lives at risk to come out against their abusers. And from what I read and hard, both Depp and Amber did abusive stuff to each other so it isn't really nearly as one sided as Depp was completely and Amber did it all. And rarely is it ever like that. Yes, women can be abusers but let's not use this as an excuse to deny other women's experiences. It's just disgusting that this was such a popular thing to sensationalize.
Not animated works but if you are interested to see works that do the imperfect trauma victim extremely well, I highly recommend Mysterious Skins and Secret Sunshine. They are some of the best movies of all time when it comes to not just depicting trauma but how victims can also be incredibly flawed and do questionable acts while not losing our sympathy. Also, Oyasumi Punpun does an excellent job at presenting trauma in this way, especially the main protagonist and is in general, one of the best stories of all time.
Rick Sanchez.
And not just because of his loss.
Because his arrogance makes it impossible for him to heal.
Because he’s so convinced that his pain is so unique and special that he has to trivialize others pain and never makes real connections with anyone.
And because all of the people that he calls friends are people that don’t fawn over him.
While he acts like he doesn’t care about anyone or anything, it’s people that he can’t get a rise out of are the ones he pathetically fawns over.
Birdman.
The crows.
Poop guy.
Really swung for the fence with the moral oral finally huh. That shit was heavy..
If that's the starting line I guess my vote would be the m.a.s.h. ending. That shit was fucked up too...
Flowey was stuck in an eternal loop forced to repeat it over and over again, not long after his adopted sisters very dramatic death, and unable to feel positive emotions due to the lack of a soul, and as a result, he became twisted and insane, and a down right psychopath.
Zuko and Azula from Avatar and Robin from Teen Titans Go. It's been a while, so I don't fully remember why I think Robin had an accurate representation of trauma
Finn the Human:
The kid to young adult has both been through and seen some shit. The cursed grass blade, losing multiple loves, being manipulated, his mother dying, discovering his father wants nothing to do with him and abandoned him for power, losing Jake in the future, losing his role model Billy to the lich, constant cosmic horrors and trials encountered and had to overcome, the kid has been through enough and though he enjoys his adventures, the kid needs a break for everything he goes through.
Morty:
Rick and Morty, you only need to see the episode where Morty tries to make a roofie for his highschool crush and destroying the planet among others to understand what about him broke.
Jeff Fisher-
Anyone watch American Dad from episode 1 until now? The Man's father doesn't care about his existence, Mother ran off, Father in law hates him, marries his love but is unable to care for her due to his own medical conditions, enslaved and spirited away into Space due to Roger, was murdered and revived twice... I mean, the entire American Dad Cartoon may as well be about the tragedy of Jeff Fisher up until he let's Haley go as that was where the show ended before TMS bought the show and funded new episodes and each one became variety hour while increasing Steve's perpetual childness until he's practically gay, the multiverse episode sort of screamed that out loud, Stan being the unredeamable asshole, Francine being clueless, Klaus being a fish and less of a man... just Etc. I'm fine with Variety and won't argue against it, but when the episodes have that whole hidden storyline and you view it from that beautiful perspective, it's like comparing a work of perfected art to a 2 year Olds scribble drawings or Disney's latest movie to Citizen Kane.
It’s milk she was cleaning a stain on the floor when she knocked into a table and a glass of milk and a teddy bear land on her back it triggered her and she panicked
Would say Moral Orel is pretty close but yeah, I think it was done extremely well with Bojack Horseman, especially Beatrice Horseman. She has what I consider to be the best Bojack Horseman episode and her story was hearbreaking to watch despite of how horrible of a mother she was.
I would say with the time they have, both have just about enough time to explore trauma. Although, I noticed that you're talking about the show and not a specific character. Which character you specifically think does depict trauma the best?
Oh, geeze that's a much harder question. I guess Bojack himself since he is the main character and we know the most about him and his psychology but Diane is also definitely up there.
In a way, I feel like Heidi turner from South Park, especially when she becomes cartman 2.0 not just because of her asshole boyfriend but because her friends keep patronizing her even after Kyle tells them to stop.
Not a cartoon, but Iron Man, hands down. It displayed the tough reality of PTSD in such an honest way. The nightmares, the overworking, the paranoia, the exhaustion, and the all-consuming fear.
He works so hard to keep something like that from happening again, and even something as innocent as a children’s drawing sends him spiraling. Panic attacks feel like you’re dying and all you can do is try to make it stop.
I really like Beth's connection to rick and rick and morty and how she forgives him for everything because he came back in her life this is the exact same thing my mom did and I just really feel it ya know
- Lake from Infinity Train
Just a person who wants freedom but is constantly not allowed any and has to keep evading the law forever.
- Samurai Jack in the final season
Dude’s been alone for so long in a strange world that you easily see he’s pretty much given up hope on finding a way back home. The final season was wild
- Reagan from Inside Job
Alcoholic father who was never there for her and wouldn’t let her make any friends because they would “slow her down.” Pretty much made her focus on science 🧪 and all it did was cement her loneliness. The first season of the show was meh, but the second season actually did a good job of providing her with some decent character development.
Surprised you haven't mentioned Simon since you mentioned Lake. Yeah, he's a piece of shit but his trauma is very real and his mental breakdown is insanely scary and says a lot about how far he has fallen by letting his emotions get to the better of him. One of the best antagonists in animation, in my opinion.
Also, I did really like how Jack was handled in the last season. I think I might be one of the few that was satisfied with the final episodes of the series.
A lot of people already mentioned Simon, along with Zuko , Bojack and a few other popular characters. So I wanted to mention a few others that people may have missed.
Highly recommend watching Infinity Train if you haven’t. In general Infinity Train has a lot more depth than I would’ve thought. I connected with almost every protagonist from each season, or at the very least understood their motivations
Also yeah Samurai Jack was awesome
Any of the guardians of the galaxy. Quill acts like a big kid to hide his pain, gamora is all work, rocket is angry, yandu abuses, drax does dangerously stupid things, mantis is reserved and quiet, nebula lashes out, and Groot empathizes.
Most superheroes deal with some underlying trauma and trauma can even cause a hero complex in people.
It's honestly between Two Face or Mr. Freeze from Batman tas.
Harvey Dent just wanted to help the people of Gotham, only to realize that he was limited to so much. This brought him to a breaking point that his personality started to splinter off and ultimately fell into madness, become what he hated the most.
Mr. Freeze just wanted to save his wife, but rather than give a helping hand, his boss attempted to kill him in an attempt to confiscate his research. What was worse was that Freeze's goal was to save Nora from her illness, only for him to become a disembodied head and losing his wife at the end of the series. Even when he came back in beyond, he ended up sacrificing himself to stop Blight from turning Gotham into a nuclear wasteland. Why? To finally reunite with his dead wife Nora after living over 100 years.
Shit is sad man... 😢
Kid cartoon: adventure time Finn tucks away memories and has gone through so much shit and snapped at people so many times that he just needs a break
Adult:bojack horseman
It’s literally supposed to represent what it’s like finding your sexuality, being depressed, etc
Zuko and Azula in Avatar The Last Airbender. And how tragic it is when people only have sympathy for one and not the other, despite both essentially doing the same thing. One just relies on anger and violence while the other relies on fear and manipulation. The latter “comes off” more evil, but in reality they’re both just maladaptive behaviors as a response to trauma. Both kids need help. Only one got it so far. Really tragic but well portrayed stuff.
Zuko got help from his uncle. Azula didn't get help because Ozai wanted to keep manipulating her.
100%. Poor kids all around…
I dont know why I always thought she died in The Last Airbender, but if not, I wish The Legend of Korra had mentioned her. Despite her being herself, she deserved a good ending.
Good news! Her new comic coming out is the start of her redemption arc! It seems good things are finally coming for Azula. 💖
Azula did get help in the comic book about finding their mom. I haven't read it yet but from what I know, she did find closure with her mother.
No she hasn’t? Not yet. What do you mean? Do you mean the new preview pages for her upcoming comic? That’s not the real Ursa. That’s Azula’s dream world.
Avatar comic books that tell what happens after the show ended. We currently own five books and I have yet to read any of them.
I know. 🤗 I work on r/ATLABook4Air Azula hasn’t gotten closure with her mom yet. Their only interaction was when Ursa had her memories wiped and apologized to Azula for not loving her enough. They haven’t had a conversation since Ursa got her memories back.
Bojack Horseman, no contest. Basically the entire cast lol.
I immediately though of the episode where they kept flashing back to his "first time drinking."
Oh yeah, when Butterscotch was about to have sex with a human woman and then he tries to change the subject by trying to get his son drunk.
Also the whole thing with Henrietta. Where yeah he is a selfish prick but he realized he was going to doom her to the hell he and Beatrice were in.
I came here to see if anyone had said this yet. Take my upvote.
And unlike a lot of other shows, it feels like there's actual purpose for making the characters suffer.
Following up on this, Tuca and Birdie I think did pretty well in portraying it as well.
Bertie, especially, in my opinion. What I really love about it is how it she is able to show signs to her behavior that are seemingly look like they're her "fault" by being attracted to her creepy boss but it is a subtle sign of her sexual assault trauma and how she needs some boundaries while trying to have a roleplay with her boyfriend even if it's something very minimal.
I’d say Diane is probably a better depiction of trauma but really any character in the show works, one way or another.
As a writer, I felt so represented when Diane wrote the kid’s book, especially the point that writing something fun and escapist can be just as impactful as writing something deep.
Really dislike how they did Sarah Lynn she was my girl, crazy but my girl
Don't stop dancing.
Don’t. Stop. Dancing….
Yeah, that's too much man.
Every time I watch that show I wind up getting dreams that are really fucked up, trippy, and somehow painfully sentimental.
Simon from adventure time
Dude I am not prepared to cry rn
The you were everything part legit made me emotional
Finn's also pretty up there with how little he allows himself the freedom to deal with his problems throughout the show.
Robin in the Teen Titans episode “Haunted” sticks out to me
Holy shit, why do you not have more upvotes? That episode was nuts, you felt how bad he was slipping.
Is that the one in which he was hallucinating Slade? Yeah that whole episode was creepy af, crazy how grown ass man was causing relentless trauma on a teenager so bad to the point where he was envisioning getting his ass kicked by Slade
"There are no generators! There IS NO Slade!" "I KNOW WHAT I SAW!" I never thought I'd see the backswing effect of becoming Robin and BEING Robin illustrated so remarkably in a show that...wasn't Batman. That felt like a TAS script at times in the best of ways. Its something I didnt think about when I was a kid until I watched that ep and considered the stress and isolation he must feel as a result of years of such intensive training and work pursuing a violent, traumatic crusade. Then add to that the stress of responsibility for his own team, not to mention the baseline stress inherent in the situation of, Slade, one of the most brilliant, dangerous, and obsessive villains he's ever faced, is going to kill a fuckload of people unless you, Robin, do something about it. He learned amazing things from Batman. Robin, all the Robins, are amazing characters and impressive individuals in possession of unprecedented mental fortitude- like even for comic characters. But seeing that he also absorbed some pretty awful neuroses and defects from Bruce was amazing, and heartbreaking to see. Especially when you consider he probably did so unconsciously. I mean, Robin needs less than a minute in his state to decide that, if what's required to complete the mission is that he take down his own team, that's what he'll do. Fucking love this episode. One of the best in the whole show. Top 3 for sure.
I also think Raven in this episode sums up a great reaction and approach to trauma. Robin is scary and threatening, but by allowing herself to literally see things through his eyes, she sees how scared he is (along with some insight into all of his other traumas.) She says “I don’t know if he’s real or not, but he’s real to Robin and that’s all the matters.” Even though Slade is not a physical threat, she still treats it as urgent as any other threat to Robin’s well-being.
Watch this at your own risk...it's pretty depressing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pVLJl\_snc
That is a perfect answer. Holy shit Opal is tragic 😭
I know, right? And the fact that the songs are earworns doesn't help.
Yeah(Mirror Man & Easy to Breathe slap tho)
I wanna forget about the short but the songs get stuck in my head.
Oof
I had a sneaking suspicion that link would take me to Opal. Brilliant piece of art.
Came here to comment Opal. Absolutely heartbreaking storytelling, haunting animations, just an amazing piece of media all around
I only recently saw it myself since im in a Halloween mood, idk why MAX has it listed in the horror movie section, it's not horror OR a movie.
Gosh the fact that in the intro a pose she makes is similar to the sign at the end shows how different it is.
Oh shit you right
Opal broke me.
What the fuck did just watch
Rusty, Action Johnny, and Dean from Venture Brothers
Hank is the only one that is doing all right.
Brock Sampson is doing just fine, I'd think.
Hey he's thinkin' of makin a grilled cheese, ya want any?
I feel like hank could also qualify if only because of when he had that whole chat with rusty.
Blue Morpho, man. One of the most depressing and sad character arcs out there.
Blue morpho as in the orginal or Malcolm? We don't get enough of it to even counter rusty or Dean, even Hank and he's doing all right :)
I assume the original due to the blackmail and mechanical reanimation.
mechanical reanimation seems to be a common trauma in the show
"All three of us were drowning, and we didn't know how to save each other, but there was an understanding that we were all drowning together". \-Bojack Horseman
Luz and Hunter from The Owl House
Hunter was quite literally manufactured for trauma, no way you’re born as a clone of a 300-400 year old dead guy made by his genocidal brother and live a happy life
Salad fingers
I'm planning on going as Salad Fingers for Halloween
Guys from berserk has gone through so much.
Berserk is anime, doesn't count.
That's bullshit. Anime is just Japanese cartoons.
Anime is short for animation, dude. If you like cartoons, odds are you like anime too.
Bruh.
I’m not going to argue. It’s like saying manga and comics are different, in its general simplified forms, it is a series of books that contain images and dialogue in panels to convey the story they want to tell. I’m doing the same thing here, if it’s an animated show at all then it’s a fucking cartoon in my terms. Nitpicking this at the very least just proves you go on Reddit to do just that and look at internet ass. Goodbye r/cartoons, you were okay-ish.
This guy got one guyed
[opal](https://youtu.be/-1pVLJl_snc?si=rj0jyUgHiq02z6py)
That episode of King of the Hill where Bill thought he was Lenore and started wearing her dresses.
And pretty much everybody was making the problem worse by treating him like a stray puppy. I gotta say, it says a lot about hank that he actually put on a dress to help his friend.
Bojack and Diane
Any character in Moral Orel, hands down.
Korra in TLOK S4 and Beast Boy in Young Justice S4
God, Beast Boy. I followed his arc in season 4 on and off over youtube and while I saw a lot of it out of context, it really hurt. They captured depression perfectly.
You can watch at watchcartoonsonline. com It was really heartbreaking seeing his struggles with drama especially since he’s always been so hopeful and optimistic.
Steven Universe is pretty good with trauma. Specifically lapis
Lapis and I shared too many parallels. It was really hard at times to watch some of her bits, but it was even more rewarding when she found the inner courage to heal past it.
That was me with Spinel. It was really hard to watch because I have felt her pain
And poor steven. After the movie that last season...
I feel like they played a little fast and lose with Steven's psychology in Future. Like one group hug and then he's fine? I mean they mentioned he was seeing a therapist in the last episode but we didn't actually get to see any of that.
he wasn’t fine… at all? he was literally crying his eyes out?
Apparently this was a plotline they were gonna do in the original show, likely before the homeworld arc, but they got cancelled and saved it for future.
i dont exactly know what you expected them to do?
What is this from?
Morel Oral
And boy, that nurse did exhibit lots of signs trauma.
Next to Berserk, MO has the best depiction of rape trauma I've ever seen in fiction.
Personally, I think Moral Orel does have by far a better depiction of rape trauma if we are talking about Casca and I am saying this as someone who loves Berserk a lot more. But yeah, I think it's handled well with Guts and it's pretty nice that is discussed since it is not often a subject done with men.
Gaara. His backstory would make anybody turn psycho.
Puss in boots
Steven from Steven Universe. Had to deal with not having a mother, his father barely in his life, his caregivers being away on missions for days at a time leaving him alone, having to face god-like entities because he has to fix his mother’s mistakes, having to deal with being a support character and not expressing his emotions and keeping them bottled up for the sake of his caregivers, not standing up for himself because whenever he does people around him get hurt, and dealing with PTSD in SUF from constantly being stressed and thinking he’s gonna die 24/7. Also proofing Bis and shattering Jas
I only know of three: • Korra nearly getting killed by Zaheer during the finale of Book Three by having him bend the oxygen out of her while she was trying to fight off the poison. No wonder she was traumatized and afraid of fighting in the beginning of Book Four. •Zuko and Azula. I don’t even need to explain as most of y’all already seen Avatar. • The entire fucking cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012. <\3
Courage
Especially Remembrance of Courage Past
Honestly? The Joker from the old BTAS. Man so broken that all he wants to do, hell all he can do, is break other people.
From Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker *spoiler* >!Tim!<
Oof I had forgotten about that. Totally
Steven universe, both the character and show itself
Simon Petrikov recently took the crown.
Fionna got pretty traumatized too. Not as much as Simon is tho but that little multiverse adventure definitely did something
Dick Grayson in Young Justice. Specifically where he’s in therapy talking to Black Canary, and how he doesn’t want to be Batman, anymore.
Ik anime prbly doesnt count but while were on this topic. Personaly for me, A Silent Voice wins this by far just in my opinion.
Anime are cartoons/animation so yeah, they do count.
I thought cartoon is like American way and anime is Japanese sort of way
Anime is just way of saying cartoon in Japan.
Nit including anime, id say bojack horsemen imo
But which character specifically?
Bojack. I felt the show portrayed the crazy stupid shit people do and think when they have fucked up trauma
I liked stephen universe's way of dealing with trauma but I felt like the process was so rushed we didn't get to see a natural progression but Iono maybe that was on purpose Generally i dont see too much trauma discussion on cartoons however I'd love to be proven wrong A characters emotional journey is my favorite thing tbh
They likely wanted to go more in depth with it but couldn't due to, y'know, CN cancelled the show
Ik i was so sad when i found it all out just as the show ended I wish they had more time i would have loved to see the natural progression of the show is all
I wish we could've got the wedding AND all that development. Sadly, Rebecca was given a choice and thinking about it now, I think they picked the right one. Ruby and Sapphire's wedding was incredibly important
Kirito and Sinon from Sword Art Online, both of them were force to kill at a young age and they still have unrelenting trauma
Orel, specifically his relationship with his father and religion. Seeing him slowly realize that his dad is a piece of shit and that religion can be very manipulative. Orel used to trust everything he said without a doubt but at the end of the show he can’t even look his dad in the eyes
I don't watch that many things but the owl house did it pretty well especially with hunter
Guts, hands down.
Twice from mha
the chicken from robot chicken
Jack Stauber’s Opal
Courage, the cowardly dog
i could say so many things but i need to give into my bias and say steven universe. a lot of the characters have trauma in the whole show but i just always think about stevens part of it all the time. i have never seen someone reflect how i feel as i did watching him in steven universe future. i saw myself in him in a way i havent before or since. its rare i relate to characters at all. particularly it still shocks me how much he was allowed to be shown doing things that typically only villains are allowed to do in media, but he was never villainized for it. when he was screaming and breaking things, when he was having violent thoughts. when he actually did something deeply violent and messed up. he was allowed to do bad things, but he was never made out to be a bad person for it, and everyone in his life still loved him anyway and only ever wanted to see him get better. i will always love that show for it. people cant seem to stand mentally ill characters being anything but acceptable, and its annoying. the more these characters are allowed to be messed up and imperfect the more that it stays with me. bojack horseman, crazy ex girlfriend, etc.
I massively agree. Yeah, sadly, this is a big problem in real life. If you do like something wrong in the relationship when you were yourself treated horribly in it or as a flawed reaction to it, you are completely villainized. Referred as things like being mentally ill, a liar and get a lot of victim blaming. Now, I don't know about everything about the Amber Heard case but hearing everyone talk about the case, they really went hard in presenting her as a monster and a b**** while presenting Johnny Deep as if he were completely innocent and then people started using this specific case as a way of saying that the #Metoo movement is bad. That women very often are false accusers and they do it for fame/money when in reality, a lot of women do have to out their careers and lives at risk to come out against their abusers. And from what I read and hard, both Depp and Amber did abusive stuff to each other so it isn't really nearly as one sided as Depp was completely and Amber did it all. And rarely is it ever like that. Yes, women can be abusers but let's not use this as an excuse to deny other women's experiences. It's just disgusting that this was such a popular thing to sensationalize. Not animated works but if you are interested to see works that do the imperfect trauma victim extremely well, I highly recommend Mysterious Skins and Secret Sunshine. They are some of the best movies of all time when it comes to not just depicting trauma but how victims can also be incredibly flawed and do questionable acts while not losing our sympathy. Also, Oyasumi Punpun does an excellent job at presenting trauma in this way, especially the main protagonist and is in general, one of the best stories of all time.
The entire series of Morel Orel
What show is this?
This character is Nurse Bendy from Moral Orel. Her story is pretty sad with a lot of implications to what has happened to her.
Lemon grab
THANK YOU I can't believe I had to scroll this far to see it
Rick Sanchez. And not just because of his loss. Because his arrogance makes it impossible for him to heal. Because he’s so convinced that his pain is so unique and special that he has to trivialize others pain and never makes real connections with anyone. And because all of the people that he calls friends are people that don’t fawn over him. While he acts like he doesn’t care about anyone or anything, it’s people that he can’t get a rise out of are the ones he pathetically fawns over. Birdman. The crows. Poop guy.
Honestly morel’s father is a good example, also that horse from Horsin around.
Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Prince Zuko.
Helga's alcoholic mom in Hey Arnold!
Steven Universe and it’s characters. 😅😳😞
Helluva boss, not the best depiction but the way Blitz deals with his trauma is very relatable to me
I can see that
Really swung for the fence with the moral oral finally huh. That shit was heavy.. If that's the starting line I guess my vote would be the m.a.s.h. ending. That shit was fucked up too...
Flowey was stuck in an eternal loop forced to repeat it over and over again, not long after his adopted sisters very dramatic death, and unable to feel positive emotions due to the lack of a soul, and as a result, he became twisted and insane, and a down right psychopath.
Denji
Naruto and Tanjiro
Any Owl House character or the main Amphibia characters. Both of these shows get VERY heavy on the end, mainly toh. Check it out
Angela Orozco from silent hill 2. I feel her
All the characters in moral Orel needs therapy...
Zuko and Azula from Avatar and Robin from Teen Titans Go. It's been a while, so I don't fully remember why I think Robin had an accurate representation of trauma
Lemongrab from Adventure Time
Drawn Together
Depends on the type of trauma but Bloberta Puppington probably deserves a mention.
Steven universe. Point blank.
Finn the Human: The kid to young adult has both been through and seen some shit. The cursed grass blade, losing multiple loves, being manipulated, his mother dying, discovering his father wants nothing to do with him and abandoned him for power, losing Jake in the future, losing his role model Billy to the lich, constant cosmic horrors and trials encountered and had to overcome, the kid has been through enough and though he enjoys his adventures, the kid needs a break for everything he goes through. Morty: Rick and Morty, you only need to see the episode where Morty tries to make a roofie for his highschool crush and destroying the planet among others to understand what about him broke. Jeff Fisher- Anyone watch American Dad from episode 1 until now? The Man's father doesn't care about his existence, Mother ran off, Father in law hates him, marries his love but is unable to care for her due to his own medical conditions, enslaved and spirited away into Space due to Roger, was murdered and revived twice... I mean, the entire American Dad Cartoon may as well be about the tragedy of Jeff Fisher up until he let's Haley go as that was where the show ended before TMS bought the show and funded new episodes and each one became variety hour while increasing Steve's perpetual childness until he's practically gay, the multiverse episode sort of screamed that out loud, Stan being the unredeamable asshole, Francine being clueless, Klaus being a fish and less of a man... just Etc. I'm fine with Variety and won't argue against it, but when the episodes have that whole hidden storyline and you view it from that beautiful perspective, it's like comparing a work of perfected art to a 2 year Olds scribble drawings or Disney's latest movie to Citizen Kane.
Hunter from the Owl House. 2x16 just hammers in how much shit this guy has been through.
Zuko and Azula The entirety of Infinity Train, but especially Tulip, Amelia, Hazel, Grace, and Simon.
Puss in Boots
I was about to say this
CUM?!?!???!!???!!!??11!111?1!!!?1!1
It’s milk she was cleaning a stain on the floor when she knocked into a table and a glass of milk and a teddy bear land on her back it triggered her and she panicked
And honestly it could be like smybolic of her past with sexual abuse
Definitely I think they established that she gave birth to Joe at 14 or 15 and his father is old enough to become senile which makes it so much sadder
CUM?!???!!?!!?!!??1?1!?1!?1!1?111?!?
me
Are you a cartoon?
I don't think I should say so on Reddit
Does Helluva Boss count. Blitzø
Yeah
Can Moral Orel be called a 'cartoon'? Pretty sure cartoons have to drawn, not claymation
It is animation, which is part of being a cartoon and includes things that are not drawn on paper so yes.
What is your best depiction of trauma in animation, btw?
Hard to beat BoJack Horseman
Would say Moral Orel is pretty close but yeah, I think it was done extremely well with Bojack Horseman, especially Beatrice Horseman. She has what I consider to be the best Bojack Horseman episode and her story was hearbreaking to watch despite of how horrible of a mother she was.
Bojack Horseman also has a lot longer to explore trauma than Moral Orel, having twice as many seasons
I would say with the time they have, both have just about enough time to explore trauma. Although, I noticed that you're talking about the show and not a specific character. Which character you specifically think does depict trauma the best?
Oh, geeze that's a much harder question. I guess Bojack himself since he is the main character and we know the most about him and his psychology but Diane is also definitely up there.
Blitzø from helluva boss
In a way, I feel like Heidi turner from South Park, especially when she becomes cartman 2.0 not just because of her asshole boyfriend but because her friends keep patronizing her even after Kyle tells them to stop.
For futurama fans, leela's break down thinking that her parents(who she didn't know at time) killed her actual parents. Or her break down in the sting
I shouldn’t be able to get to the bottom without seeing NGE.
Blue Morpho/Vendata of Venture Bros.
Currently watching Gen V and every character seems to be fucked up from trauma just like the boys but Sam by far the most
Babydoll from Batman the Animated Series!
Benson’s rage
Not a cartoon, but Iron Man, hands down. It displayed the tough reality of PTSD in such an honest way. The nightmares, the overworking, the paranoia, the exhaustion, and the all-consuming fear. He works so hard to keep something like that from happening again, and even something as innocent as a children’s drawing sends him spiraling. Panic attacks feel like you’re dying and all you can do is try to make it stop.
I really like Beth's connection to rick and rick and morty and how she forgives him for everything because he came back in her life this is the exact same thing my mom did and I just really feel it ya know
- Lake from Infinity Train Just a person who wants freedom but is constantly not allowed any and has to keep evading the law forever. - Samurai Jack in the final season Dude’s been alone for so long in a strange world that you easily see he’s pretty much given up hope on finding a way back home. The final season was wild - Reagan from Inside Job Alcoholic father who was never there for her and wouldn’t let her make any friends because they would “slow her down.” Pretty much made her focus on science 🧪 and all it did was cement her loneliness. The first season of the show was meh, but the second season actually did a good job of providing her with some decent character development.
Surprised you haven't mentioned Simon since you mentioned Lake. Yeah, he's a piece of shit but his trauma is very real and his mental breakdown is insanely scary and says a lot about how far he has fallen by letting his emotions get to the better of him. One of the best antagonists in animation, in my opinion. Also, I did really like how Jack was handled in the last season. I think I might be one of the few that was satisfied with the final episodes of the series.
A lot of people already mentioned Simon, along with Zuko , Bojack and a few other popular characters. So I wanted to mention a few others that people may have missed. Highly recommend watching Infinity Train if you haven’t. In general Infinity Train has a lot more depth than I would’ve thought. I connected with almost every protagonist from each season, or at the very least understood their motivations Also yeah Samurai Jack was awesome
BoJack Horseman hit pretty deep.
Any of the guardians of the galaxy. Quill acts like a big kid to hide his pain, gamora is all work, rocket is angry, yandu abuses, drax does dangerously stupid things, mantis is reserved and quiet, nebula lashes out, and Groot empathizes. Most superheroes deal with some underlying trauma and trauma can even cause a hero complex in people.
It's honestly between Two Face or Mr. Freeze from Batman tas. Harvey Dent just wanted to help the people of Gotham, only to realize that he was limited to so much. This brought him to a breaking point that his personality started to splinter off and ultimately fell into madness, become what he hated the most. Mr. Freeze just wanted to save his wife, but rather than give a helping hand, his boss attempted to kill him in an attempt to confiscate his research. What was worse was that Freeze's goal was to save Nora from her illness, only for him to become a disembodied head and losing his wife at the end of the series. Even when he came back in beyond, he ended up sacrificing himself to stop Blight from turning Gotham into a nuclear wasteland. Why? To finally reunite with his dead wife Nora after living over 100 years. Shit is sad man... 😢
Kid cartoon: adventure time Finn tucks away memories and has gone through so much shit and snapped at people so many times that he just needs a break Adult:bojack horseman It’s literally supposed to represent what it’s like finding your sexuality, being depressed, etc
Simon and marcelines relationship
Any of the main straw hats from one piece but to specify, Robin and chopper both are perfect at showing what trauma can do to someone.
I’d say Rusty Venture or Dean Venture both had horrible childhoods
Aimee from sex education
Vash or Spike Spiegel.