Inside Out 2 vs. Big Mouth: Who wore anxiety better?

polygon.com:

The wholesome Pixar family film Inside Out 2 and the raunchy Netflix comedy Big Mouth take fundamentally different approaches to looking inside the minds of middle-schoolers, but their anxiety plotlines are remarkably similar in the broad details, and both on the same wavelength when it comes to dealing with the problem. Big Mouth pairs mature discussions about mental health with huge servings of dick jokes, while Inside Out 2 takes an entirely sexless view of the changes hormones bring. But both animated projects eventually get to the same message about how anxiety is a powerful, tumultuous force that can never be banished, but can be managed with a little help from friends.

Which one wore the same plot better? Here’s a breakdown of how the two tonally different stories handle the same beats — and how they form an unlikely double feature for adults and teens figuring out how to cope with anxiety.

[Ed. note: Major spoilers ahead for Big Mouth season 4 and Inside Out 2.]

The parallels between the two stories are striking. Inside Out 2’s Anxiety (Maya Hawke) and Big Mouth’s Tito the Anxiety Mosquito (Maria Bamford) both manifest for the first time to plague their respective kid victims at summer camp. That happens in part because both of those kids are feeling insecure in their relationships with their best friends. Riley (Kensington Tallman) has just learned she and her besties will be going to different high schools, and she’s defensively pulling back from their friendship. Similarly, Nick Birch (Nick Kroll) is estranged from his closest friend Andrew Glouberman (John Mulaney) after a huge fight over Nick kissing Andrew’s ex-girlfriend.

Tito the Anxiety Mosquito shows up in the season 4 premiere of Big Mouth, a new addition to the show’s rogues’ gallery of emotions like Depression Kitty and the Shame Wizard. (Shame was considered as a new emotion for Inside Out 2, but didn’t make the cut.) “I’m the worst, but so are you,” Tito says as an introduction, after biting