Residents 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 the Cheburashka filmed in the Soviet Union and even released a remake of it. What so attracted the Japanese Cheburashka?
Some time ago, in Japan, they made a remake of the popular Soviet animated film about Cheburashka and the crocodile Gena, as well as several completely new series. They tell about other adventures of these so different friends. The famous director of domestic cartoons Mikhail Aldashin acted as a consultant for the filming of cartoons, and the film was directed by Makoto Nakamura. 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 Cheburashka conquered Japan?
In principle, an unprecedented smiling, more-eared creature perfectly matches all the canons of the Japanese culture of our day; it can be described with one famous word "kawaii". 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 he is much more touching, sincere and charming. It does not just evoke positive emotions in a person - he has his own character, his own system of values and his own morality.
Japanese of all ages just go crazy around the "kawaii", and in connection with this circumstance representatives of European culture chuckle at them. However, this does not bother the Japanese at all; these descendants of the ancient samurai generally do not care much what the strangers say about them. It was the thirst of this nation for everything that can be called sweet, kind and attractive that ensured the unprecedented success of the cartoon about Cheburashka.
It is important that in Disney cartoons, for example, their heroes such as chipmunks, ducklings and mice have real prototypes - cubs of the corresponding representatives of the animal world. In contrast, 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 for sure they will make new cartoons about his adventures.
