The inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun are very jealous of their culture and rarely borrow anything from the European cultural heritage. It is all the more surprising that the Japanese were delighted with the cartoon about Cheburashka filmed in the Soviet Union and even released a remake of it. What attracted the Japanese so much to Cheburashka?
Some time ago, a remake of the popular Soviet animated film about Cheburashka and Gena the crocodile was filmed in Japan, as well as several completely new episodes. They tell about other adventures of these so different friends. The famous director of domestic cartoons Mikhail Aldashin acted as a consultant in the filming of cartoons, and Makoto Nakamura directed the film. Why are the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun so interested in the story of the adventures of a funny eared animal?
How did Cheburashka conquer Japan?
In principle, the unprecedented smiling big-eared creature ideally corresponds to all the canons of modern Japanese culture; it can be characterized by one well-known word "kawai". Translated from Japanese, it means "cute", "charming". Our Cheburashka may somehow remind the heroes of cult Japanese cartoons, for example, Pokemon, but at the same time it is much more touching, sincere and charming. It not only evokes positive emotions in a person - it has its own character, its own system of values and its own morality.
Japanese of all ages simply go crazy about everything "kawaii", and in connection with this circumstance, representatives of European culture laugh at them. However, the Japanese are not at all embarrassed; these descendants of the ancient samurai care little about what foreigners say about them. It is the craving of this nation for everything that can be called cute, kind and attractive that ensured the unprecedented success of the cartoon about Cheburashka.
It is important that in Disney cartoons, for example, such characters as chipmunks, ducklings and mice have real prototypes - the cubs of the corresponding representatives of the animal world. In contrast to them, like the heroes of popular Japanese animated films, Cheburashka is a fundamentally new creature, still unknown to the world. This makes this hero even more attractive to children and adults living in Japan. In general, the Japanese like Cheburashka immensely, and they will certainly shoot new cartoons about his adventures.
Features of the Japanese cartoon about Cheburashka
In fact, Japanese cartoons about Cheburashka are very similar to the original. The artists of the Land of the Rising Sun left the appearance of the heroes of the classic cartoon almost unchanged. In the new episodes, the attentive viewer can see the funny so-called "Easter eggs": the crocodile Genu reading Basho's volume, or the Hedgehog in the fog that flashed through the crowd. There are not many of these unexpected details in the cartoon, and they are not striking, but their existence gives the remake of the Soviet animated film a special charm.
