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Cheburashka (p=t͡ɕɪbʊˈraʂkə), also known as Topple in earlier English translations and Chebi in later English translations, is a fictional character created by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky in his 1965 children's book Gena the Crocodile and His Friends. The character subsequently appeared as the protagonist in a series of stop-motion animated films directed by Roman Kachanov for Soyuzmultfilm, the first of which was made in 1969," Список фильмов " (in Russian). Official E. Uspensky website. Retrieved 2009-12-11.MacFadyen, David (2005). " Filmography – Krokodil Gena (1969)". Yellow Crocodiles and Blue Oranges: Russian Animated Film since World War Two. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 236. " Cheburashka Classics ". Frontier Works, Inc. Retrieved 2009-12-11. with songs composed by Vladimir Shainsky. Soundtrack composer for legendary Soviet cartoon dies aged 92 TASS, 26 December
Even today Cheburashka is still renowned in the former Soviet Union, and has been called the "Soviet Mickey Mouse" by external observers. Although only four short animated films have been produced featuring Cheburashka, he is still a national symbol in the former USSR and Russia, and is famous outside of it. One reason for his popularity is the message of his stories, which stress that one's origin is not as important as one's kindness.
The puzzled store manager finds the creature in the crate when he opens it; he takes him out and sits him on the table. The creature's paws are numb after staying in the crate for so long, and he tumbles down (, a Russian colloquialism meaning "tumbled") from the table, onto the chair, and then onto the floor. This inspires the store manager to name him Cheburashka. Words with this root were archaic in Russian; Uspensky gave them a new lease on life. The Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language (1882) of Vladimir Dahl gives the meaning of "cheburashka" as another name for the roly-poly toy.; online version:
Soviet censors tried to stifle the Cheburashka films, because they made fun of nitpicking bureaucrats, factory directors, and the Young Pioneers; Cheburashka and Gena couldn't join the Young Pioneers because they didn't know how to start a Pioneers' bonfire and could not march. The phrase "only the best can be on the Pioneers" was added as a compromise.
In 2007, the new animation, titled Cheburashka was announced by Ffango Entertoyment of South Korea and TV Tokyo Broadband and Frontier Works of Japan. Directed by Makoto Nakamura and written by and Michiru Shimada, premiered on 8 December 2010 in Japan. It consisted of four shorts. One ("Hello Cheburashka") is a complete remake of the original Gena the Crocodile cartoon, while the three others ("Cheburashka and the Circus" and two episodes of "Shapoklyak's Consultation Center") have different stories. В Токио прошла премьера мультфильмов про Чебурашку
The Russian-language compilation film of the Japanese remake shorts also titled premiered in Russia on 5 June 2014, but the distribution was temporarily revoked due to copyright dispute with Eduard Uspensky Японского "Чебурашку" отозвали из российского проката Later the distribution certificate was restored. Новому «Чебурашке» вернули прокатное удостоверение The Russian titles of the episodes in it are «Чебурашка и цирк» ( Cheburashka and the Circus), «Чебурашка идет в зоопарк» ( Cheburashka Goes to the Zoo) и «Советы Шапокляк» ( Advices of Shapoklyak).
A full-length film titled Cheburashka, directed by Dmitry Dyachenko, with Central Partnership and Yellow, Black and White producing, was released on 1 January 2023. Cheburashka is the highest grossing film in the Russian box office history. Olga Kuzmina voiced Cheburashka, while Sergei Garmash portrayed Gena, a gardener (the film version of Crocodile Gena).
In the TV series , also Drutten och Krokodilen, the two characters sang and told different stories from those in the USSR, lived on a bookshelf rather than in a city and are operated in live action rather than stop motion. Only occasionally Swedish public service TV would broadcast a segment of the Russian original, dubbed in Swedish. While many Swedes may visually recognize Cheburashka, they will generally not associate these characters with the ones Russian children know. The first episode premiered in 1973. Around 600 to 700 episodes were shown in Sweden in total, in a series of many years and the last episode was screened as a special in 1988. The animated series was broadcast on Sveriges Television.
After being turned down by the zoo as an "animal unknown to science", Cheburashka gets hired as a window display for a discount store selling factory seconds because he resembles one, residing in a phone booth. In the tale, he befriends an anthropomorphic crocodile named Gena, who wears a hat, a bow tie, and a coat, and plays the accordion. Gena works in a zoo as a zoo animal. Gena's favorite songs are "Such a Pity that One's Birthday Happens Only Once a Year(Пусть бегут неуклюже; Let them run awkwardly)" and "The Blue Train Car(Голубой вагон)", both of which are extremely popular with children.
The word "Cheburashka" is also used in a figurative sense to name objects that somehow resemble the creature (such as an An-72 aircraft which, when seen from the front, resembles the character's head) or are just as pleasing as it is (e.g. a colloquial name for a small bottle of lemonadefrom the brand name "Cheburashka"). There is also a rocket launcher called Cheburashka, used during the Russo-Ukrainian war.
In the 1990 satirical claymation film Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, produced by Garri Bardin, Grey Wolf eats Gena and Cheburashka, along with other fantasy characters.
Cheburashka was chosen as the official mascot with the main mascots for the Russian Olympic Team in the following games:
Cheburashka also became known in some countries outside the former Soviet Union (and of the Soviet Bloc). He became very popular in Japan after an animated film series about him was shown in 15 cinemas all over Japan and was watched by about 700,000 between summer 2001 and spring 2002. In 2008, the Cheburashka films (as part of the "Ghibli Museum Library") were made available to Japanese cinemas on the same date as Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. An English-dubbed edition of the first 3 animated films was released in 1987, titled The Adventures of Charlie and Cubby.
During the 2018 Armenian protests Cheburashka was used by many protesters as a symbol to mock Serzh Sargsyan due to the similarity of their appearances. Among others, during a protest, a protester masqueraded as Cheburashka urged Sargsyan to resign, while another one lit his on fire.
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