Cheburashka

The TV shorts of Gena and Cheburashka, based on children’s stories by Eduard Usbensky, have been recently discovered by the audiences in Japan, and inspired a Japanese remake of the widely popular Soviet cartoons.

Gena works in the zoo as a crocodile. When he doesn’t work, Gena sits by the kitchen table puffing soap bubbles out of his pipe. There’s nothing else to do. So Gena announces his need for friends on pin-up ads all over the town. Cheburashka is a furry creature who is found sleeping in a box of oranges. Rejected by the zoo for being an unknown species, he has no respectable job, nor any friends, until he answers Gena’s ad. The two are in for a series of adventures, entertaining children in the Soviet bloc for two decades until the fall of the USSR.

As announced at Tokyo Anime Fair 2009, the Japanese Frontier Works is currently working on a theatrical remake of the Cheburashka films. It will be a stop motion puppet animation like the original films but also include some elements of CG animation. Given the success of the 2001-2002 theatrical release of the original TV shorts in Japanese cinemas, the original character designs will be used also in the remake.

The original TV shorts directed by Roman Kachanov:
Gena the Crocodile and His Friends (1971)
Cheburashka (1972)
Old Lady (1974)
Cheburashka Goes to School (1983)

A clip of the 1971 cartoon: