If you told younger me that one of the fandoms with the biggest cult following among kids, teenagers and adults in the the last few years has been an animated children’s show about Australian dogs, I’m not sure I would have believed you, but it probably would have piqued my interest at least a little. 

“Bluey” is an Australian children’s show about a six-year-old Australian blue heeler, Bluey, and her family and friends, produced by Ludo Studio and created by Joe Brumm.

While supposedly marketed towards 5-to-7-year-olds, the amount of non-5-to-7-year-olds I’ve seen discussing this show tells me that the creator may have accidentally branched out from their target audience. 

I started watching “Bluey” at the beginning of junior year and I’ve been through all three seasons twice by now. I can tell you what episodes made me cry, which episodes made me laugh and which episodes I absolutely adore (it’s all of them). 

Not only is the art absolutely beautiful, with rich, detailed backgrounds, a comforting color theme and nature and landscapes depicted so well it feels like an ad from the Australian tourism industry, I know by now I’m not the only one touched with its slice-of-life, natural storytelling. 

I can understand the silliness and charm capturing the attention of young viewers, but the fact that the creators were able to form endearing stories and characters relatable even to parents and adult audiences shows the attention to detail and care found in this series that has appeared to be missing from so much modern children’s entertainment. 

The show tackles serious topics, such as the fear of growing up, neurodivergence, military families and a lot more in an easy-to-digest way for both kids and older viewers. 

Obviously every show faces criticism, but “Bluey” also deserves its praise, its news articles, its sweet fanart and everything else you may have seen circulating the internet on these cartoon dogs. 

The diverse fandom is joined by a shared love for this show–and a strange amount of theorizing over how the Heelers can afford such a huge house in Brisbane–and it’s because you can feel the earnestness put into the creation of the art, stories, characters and overall world inhabited by talking Australian dogs. 

If you’re looking for something stress-free in this very not-stress-free time, I recommend checking “Bluey” out. It might just teach you a lesson or two worth learning.

On this blog, members of the Carmel High School chapter of the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists (and the occasional guest writer) produce curations of all facets of popular culture, from TV shows to music to novels to technology. We hope our readers always leave with something new to muse over. Click here to read more from MUSE.