Gena & Cheburashka · a fan encyclopedia
Animation & episodes
Editorial cutoff: 8 October 2026
Soviet animation
Soviet animation · 1969
Gena the Crocodile
Story through the endingThe first Soviet puppet film adapts the meeting and the House of Friendship. A sleepy animal emerges from imported oranges and is called Cheburashka after tumbling over. Gena, lonely after his zoo shift, posts an advertisement. Galya and the new arrival visit him, and the group decides to help other lonely residents.
→Soviet animation · 1971
Cheburashka · birthday and playground
Story through the endingOn Gena’s birthday, Cheburashka brings a toy helicopter and the crocodile sings about his yearly celebration. The friends meet Young Pioneers and want to join their activities. The children first point out their lack of useful skills. Gena and Cheburashka answer with practical help instead of giving up.
→Soviet animation · 1974
Shapoklyak · the journey home
Story through the endingGena and Cheburashka travel by train for a holiday. Shapoklyak’s stolen tickets leave them off the train and forced to walk along the railway. The troublemaker becomes their fellow traveller. Their interrupted journey brings them face to face with people exploiting the countryside rather than a single mischievous neighbour.
→Soviet animation · 1983
Cheburashka Goes to School
Story through the endingGena returns from a trip, expecting Cheburashka to meet him. The little friend missed the message because he cannot read. With the school year about to begin, Gena decides that they should study. Shopping for a uniform and discovering the state of the school turn the wish to learn into a practical obstacle course.
→Japanese adaptations
Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Cheburashka Arere? · 26 little stories
Series catalogueTV Tokyo announced the series for 7 October 2009 in its Norisuta programme. These 26 short drawn episodes make ordinary days their subject: shopping, reading, play, worry and reassurance. Gena, Cheburashka, Galya, Chandr, Shapoklyak and Lariska share a small social world. This is a separate Japanese adaptation, not 26 missing Soviet puppet films.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
A First Friend
Published premise · ending unverifiedLonely Gena receives oranges containing an unfamiliar creature. Their meeting begins this adaptation directly at Gena’s home, rather than following every fruit-shop step of the Soviet film.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Who Am I?
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka visits Gena’s zoo and everyone asks who he is. The question makes belonging, rather than a scientific species label, the central concern; the synopsis does not reveal his reply.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Mischievous Shapoklyak
Published premise · ending unverifiedA quiet park conversation is interrupted by Shapoklyak and Lariska. The pair introduce mischief into the friends’ daily routine. The published synopsis does not specify the particular prank or its resolution.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Chandr’s Hiccups
Published premise · ending unverifiedGena and Cheburashka try different ways to stop Chandr’s hiccups. A lion’s small discomfort becomes a shared problem. The catalogue synopsis does not identify the successful remedy.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
The Secret of the Stars
Published premise · ending unverifiedGena looks up at the night sky and tries to count the sparkling stars. The premise contrasts an orderly task with a sky too large to contain in a simple count. No final discovery is supplied in the published synopsis.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Cheburashka Goes Shopping
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka sets off shopping but forgets what he needs to buy. An everyday errand becomes a test of memory and asking for help. The synopsis leaves both the shopping list and the outcome undisclosed.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
We Love Doughnuts!
Published premise · ending unverifiedThe friends make doughnuts. Shapoklyak finds them delicious and tries to take some. Sharing food and taking without permission become the episode’s conflict; the published episode listing does not give the ending.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Cheburashka and a Storybook
Published premise · ending unverifiedA book moves Gena to tears. Cheburashka reacts to the sight of his friend crying. The story uses reading to bring feelings into conversation; the synopsis does not reproduce the child’s words or the book’s contents.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Galya’s Lost Ribbon
Published premise · ending unverifiedGalya loses a favourite ribbon. Cheburashka and Gena help search. The small object matters because it is valued by their friend; its eventual location is not supplied by the published synopsis.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Hello, Cheburashka
Published premise · ending unverifiedThe friends play with a string telephone. Cheburashka unexpectedly ends up somewhere else. A simple communication toy drives a spatial joke, but the synopsis leaves the destination unnamed.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Gena Cannot Sleep
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka asks Gena to choose between sour and very sour oranges. Gena thinks so hard about the question that he cannot sleep. The disproportionate concern makes an ordinary choice comic.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Shapoklyak Tells Fortunes
Published premise · ending unverifiedShapoklyak becomes a fortune-teller and Chandr is her customer. Her new authority draws on the same scheming personality as her pranks. The predicted fortune is not reproduced in the episode synopsis.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
The Day We Watched Clouds
Published premise · ending unverifiedThe friends lie in a meadow looking at clouds. Gena reflects on happiness. Unlike a rescue adventure, this premise gives quiet time together its own value; the final wording of his thought is not supplied.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Let’s Play Riddles!
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka asks what is white and fluffy. Gena answers “a cloud”, but that is not the intended answer. The mismatch makes room for the child’s perspective; the synopsis does not disclose the solution.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Gena’s Diary
Published premise · ending unverifiedUnder a crescent moon Gena writes that the day was happy. Cheburashka, supposedly asleep, speaks to him. The diary becomes a conversation with the friend whose presence gives the day its meaning.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Are Books Fun?
Published premise · ending unverifiedA pleasant breeze blows across the field, but Cheburashka feels bored. The friends open books. Reading offers an activity within a quiet shared afternoon; the synopsis does not name the books or their conclusions.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Gena, Are You Here Yet?
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka waits for Gena at a bus stop as snow starts falling. Waiting turns an ordinary meeting into a question of patience and trust. The episode synopsis stops before the reunion.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
What Can We Catch?
Published premise · ending unverifiedWhile the friends fish at the park pond, Cheburashka asks whether Gena has ever caught a star. The child gives a familiar activity an imaginative scale. The actual catch is not identified in the synopsis.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
We Love You, Cheburashka!
Published premise · ending unverifiedChandr has a grand mane and Gena knows many things. Cheburashka compares himself with them and worries that he has no special quality. The premise addresses self-worth within friendship, without revealing how he is reassured.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Where Is the Wallet?
Published premise · ending unverifiedGena loses his wallet. Shapoklyak offers divination, but the searches based on her predictions keep failing. Her claimed knowledge is tested against practical results; the final discovery is not given in the synopsis.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
A Day Without Cheburashka
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka goes out and Gena finds that nothing feels enjoyable without him. Absence makes the value of their shared routine visible. The synopsis does not explain the outing or the reunion.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
The Magic Scarf
Published premise · ending unverifiedA fairy tale plays on the radio, but the set breaks just before the climax. The interrupted story creates anticipation and an opening for imagination. The synopsis does not establish the scarf’s powers as a general rule of this world.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
The Friendship Newspaper
Published premise · ending unverifiedNewspaper reports make Gena gloomy. Cheburashka brings something to cheer him up. The episode contrasts distant bad news with care nearby; the published synopsis does not describe the gift in detail.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Chandr’s Toothache
Published premise · ending unverifiedChandr suffers toothache. Cheburashka asks him how much it hurts. A usually imposing lion becomes vulnerable and needs understanding; the synopsis does not specify the treatment or final scene.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Cheburashka’s Birthday
Published premise · ending unverifiedAfter giraffe Anyuta’s birthday, Cheburashka feels sad because he does not know his own date of birth. Gena and the others prepare a surprise. This concerns recognition within their circle; it does not establish a universal birthday across adaptations.
→Japanese adaptations · 2009–2010
Goodbye, Cheburashka
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka disappears. Gena fears that his friend has returned to a southern island and grieves. The published opening synopsis leaves the explanation and reunion unconfirmed; its title alone is not proof of a permanent separation.
→Japanese adaptations · 2010 / 2011 / 2013
The Japanese Puppet Film · editions
Editions and assembliesThe feature brings the orange-crate origin together with new stories about helping Masha enter the circus, covering Gena’s zoo shift and reuniting a magician with his granddaughter. Its remake of the first meeting preserves the fruit seller, refused zoo admission, telephone booth and friendship advertisement. The different release assemblies should not be treated as one fixed running order across countries.
→Japanese adaptations · 2010 / 2013
Shapoklyak’s Advice Bureau
Story through the endingA magician searches for his granddaughter with only a photograph from her infancy. Gena and Cheburashka help, while Shapoklyak charges for useless advice. They expose her deception and reunite the family. The magician and young tightrope walker perform together at the circus. Masha’s acrobatic story connects the episodes, and the advice bureau contrasts profiting from uncertainty with helping someone resolve it.
→Japanese adaptations · 2010 / 2013
Cheburashka and the Circus
Story through the endingA circus advertises for experienced jugglers and tightrope walkers. Gena and Cheburashka apply but are refused because they lack skills. They meet Masha, who also longs to perform but needs training. The friends help her practise until she succeeds in the evening show and joins the tour. Their own rejection becomes an opportunity to support another newcomer; achievement comes through practice rather than an instant magical gift.
→Japanese adaptations · 2020
Cheburashka: I Found a Friend
Story through the endingThe 4-minute-27-second web short was released on 22 April 2020. Gena opens an orange crate at the zoo and meets Cheburashka. To attract visitors, they imitate popular animals with costumes, but the plan fails. When a boy is pushed aside by the crowd and cries, Gena plays his instrument and Cheburashka dances. The boy smiles: kindness achieves what copying popular animals could not.
→Japanese adaptations · ≤2013
Cheburashka Goes to the Zoo
Story through the endingGena catches a cold and cannot work his zoo shift. Cheburashka covers for him in the crocodile enclosure, reading a newspaper and posing for photographs. Visitors encounter a very unlikely crocodile until Gena returns. The joke depends on the animated world’s unusual employment rule: Gena is a crocodile who works as the zoo’s crocodile, and friendship can briefly take precedence over zoological classification.
→Modern animation
Modern animation · 2019
Moving House
Story through the endingIn this six-minute 2019 short, the characters themselves become actors at Soyuzmultfilm. The move to a new studio provokes an argument: more space and new facilities compete with attachment to the old home and its memories. Gena and Cheburashka have a filming appointment and must follow the move. Objects from their early adventures turn the old building into a living archive.
→Modern animation · 2020
The Secret of the Holiday
Story through the endingCheburashka misses green in the white winter landscape. Gena brings a tree, and they prepare to buy decorations and sweets. While they are away, Shapoklyak and Lariska steal the tree. Returning to an empty home, the friends face the apparent loss of their holiday. Gena reminds Cheburashka that celebrating together matters more than the tree.
→Modern animation · 2025
A Bedtime Story
Published premise · ending unverifiedThe town’s mayor asks the bureau to look after her children. Gena and Cheburashka agree, prepare supper and read a bedtime story. The tale unexpectedly becomes frightening, so they must rescue the story as well as reassure their young listeners. The ordinary duty of babysitting becomes a lesson in how a storyteller’s choices affect a child’s sense of safety.
→Modern animation · 2025
Soap Bubbles
Published premise · ending unverifiedLooking for a good deed, the friends choose to cheer up the street with soap bubbles. Shapoklyak watches the town through a telescope. A bursting bubble upsets Lariska, and the old lady treats the cheerful activity as an insult to her rat. A harmless pleasure becomes a disagreement over whose feelings deserve consideration.
→Modern animation · 2025
Bureau of Good Deeds
Published premise · ending unverifiedGena and Cheburashka open an office to help their neighbours. They put up a sign, prepare paper and a pen, and wait for clients who do not come. Shapoklyak visits by chance, learns what they intend and decides to launch a rival business devoted to spoiling their efforts. The bureau gives the new series its continuing premise.
→Modern animation · 2025
Just Like the Movies
Published premise · ending unverifiedGena discovers that Cheburashka has never been to a cinema. At the end of the bureau’s working day he buys tickets for the last screening, but forgets to agree where they will meet. Cheburashka leaves home, and the two friends take different routes. A generous plan becomes a problem of communication: knowing what a friend would enjoy does not replace making arrangements together.
→Modern animation · 2025
A Wagon of Gingerbread
Published premise · ending unverifiedFraudsters settle in the town. Cheburashka and Galya almost fall for their tricks, while Shapoklyak actually hands over her treasured purse on a string. The bureau faces the problem of protecting neighbours from deception. A familiar prankster is now a victim herself, which makes helping her a question of principle rather than whether the friends approve of her behaviour.
→Modern animation · 2025
A Slippery Affair
Published premise · ending unverifiedIce makes the pavements difficult to use. The bureau scatters sand to help pedestrians, but Shapoklyak objects because the surface was ideal for her skating. Her former figure-skating skill suggests another solution: the friends ask her to teach. The conflict turns an adversary’s talent into a potential community resource.
→Modern animation · 2025
Icicles
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka admires the “not-carrots” hanging from roofs and brings one to Gena as a gift. Shapoklyak sees a contest promising a bucket of oranges for the most icicles collected. With Lariska she sets out to win and regards the bureau as an obstacle. Winter wonder and competitive self-interest describe the same objects very differently.
→Modern animation · 2025
Get the Kitten Down
Published premise · ending unverifiedGalya runs to the bureau because a kitten is stranded high in a tree. The friends organise a rescue, but their attempts do not work. Shapoklyak offers methods Gena considers dangerous. The situation asks whether eagerness to help is enough when the helper must also judge risk and the animal’s safety.
→Modern animation · 2025
Scribbles and Paint
Published premise · ending unverifiedThe town announces a painting contest to cover an unattractive wall with community art. Galya brings the opportunity to the bureau. Gena and Cheburashka enthusiastically try a skill they do not yet have. Shapoklyak has her own artistic vision and refuses to yield the wall, turning public improvement into competition over authorship.
→Modern animation · 2025
The Troublesome Pet
Published premise · ending unverifiedGena enjoys tending flowers. Shapoklyak drops a caterpillar into the flowerbed to cause harm, but Cheburashka finds it and adopts it as Gusya. He wants constant games and companionship. The caterpillar follows its own needs, making the episode a story about caring for another creature rather than expecting it to behave like a toy.
→Modern animation · 2025
The Little Rustler
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka wants a board game, but Gena is busy and asks him to wait. Rustling and movement in the toy box suggest an unknown creature in the house. Fear changes to curiosity when the visitor seems interested in sweets. Cheburashka’s name for it reflects how a child explains an unfamiliar sound before understanding its cause.
→Modern animation · 2025
The Wrong Snowmen
Published premise · ending unverifiedSnow buries the streets. An anonymous, rude call sends the bureau to clear the pavements, but the friends become absorbed in building unusual snowmen. The request was Shapoklyak’s scheme: she plans to claim credit for the work and impress the authorities, with an eye on becoming mayor. Helping is contrasted with performing helpfulness for personal advancement.
→Modern animation · 2025
A Special Day
Published premise · ending unverifiedA special occasion sends Gena to his grandmother’s cookbook for a chocolate-cake recipe. Cheburashka helps, but Shapoklyak does not know who the treat is for and tries to sabotage it with Lariska. Cutting the power, taking the chocolate and replacing sugar with salt turn celebration into a test of patience and cooperation.
→Modern animation · 2025
Under the Wing
Published premise · ending unverifiedWhile the friends play ball, a nest of tiny chicks falls into their arms. They suddenly become carers. Attempts to entertain the chicks with games and creative activities reveal that very young birds cannot do what the friends expect. The story extends the bureau’s care to vulnerable animals and asks its helpers to adapt their ideas to the needs of those they look after.
→Modern animation · 2025–2026
Cheburashka · Bureau of Good Deeds
Series catalogueThe new Russian animated series turns friendship into a daily service: Gena and Cheburashka open a Bureau of Good Deeds, while Shapoklyak counters with bad deeds. The familiar town acquires new neighbours and small problems to solve. This CGI continuity is distinct from both the four Soviet puppet films and the human Gena’s live-action world.
→Modern animation · 2026
Time for Everything
Published premise · ending unverifiedGena and Cheburashka want to go fishing on their day off, but Galya has a long list of tasks: a poem, a skating trick, baking, a campaign poster, painting a slide and watching birds. The friends try to help her divide the work. Their apparently logical schedule repeatedly breaks down. The episode tests whether eagerness to help can be matched by realistic priorities and an understanding of how much time a task needs.
→Modern animation · 2026
The Little Black Book
Published premise · ending unverifiedA sparrow steals Shapoklyak’s little black notebook, where she records her pranks. The loss is so important to her that she asks the Bureau of Good Deeds for help. Her accumulated tricks become the object of an honest search. The reversal makes the friends’ policy clear: assistance remains available even to someone who normally works against them.
→Modern animation · 2026
A Recipe for Cowardile
Wink lists this as a released seven-minute episode of the new animated series. Its page provides the title and viewing link but repeats the general series description instead of an individual plot. A scene-by-scene recap, ending and episode-specific cast are still awaiting verification; the title alone is not evidence for them.
→Modern animation · 2026
A Moment of Fame
Published premise · ending unverifiedThe town prepares for its City Day celebrations. Shapoklyak rehearses a dance, hoping to astonish everyone and win attention. Gena and Cheburashka are drawn into preparations while her rehearsals disrupt their work. The familiar desire to be noticed takes a public, theatrical form; the bureau’s communal service meets the old lady’s wish for a personal triumph.
→Modern animation · 2026
Fountain of Fun
Wink lists this as a released seven-minute episode of the new animated series. Its page provides the title and viewing link but repeats the general series description instead of an individual plot. A scene-by-scene recap, ending and episode-specific cast are still awaiting verification; the title alone is not evidence for them.
→Modern animation · 2026
Hide-and-Seek with Giraffe
Wink lists this as a released seven-minute episode of the new animated series. Its page provides the title and viewing link but repeats the general series description instead of an individual plot. A scene-by-scene recap, ending and episode-specific cast are still awaiting verification; the title alone is not evidence for them.
→Modern animation · 2026
A Holiday for Cheburashka
Published premise · ending unverifiedAfter work, Gena plans some rest. Galya suggests her own leisure activities; Shapoklyak separately has plans involving Cheburashka. Cheburashka ends up exhausted. The premise asks what actually counts as rest when other people fill your free time; the final resolution is not given in the studio post.
→Modern animation · 2026
An Honest Medal
Published premise · ending unverifiedGalya brings a medal for first place. Shapoklyak joins the friends in a contest over who should receive it. The studio frames the question as finding the rightful winner. Its published description does not identify the final recipient.
→Modern animation · 2026
Kindness on the Fly
Wink lists this as a released seven-minute episode of the new animated series. Its page provides the title and viewing link but repeats the general series description instead of an individual plot. A scene-by-scene recap, ending and episode-specific cast are still awaiting verification; the title alone is not evidence for them.
→Modern animation · 2026
The Leading Role
Published premise · ending unverifiedGalya prepares a play and assigns roles to her friends. Shapoklyak seems to fit none of them. The difficulty is finding a place for a participant rather than simply excluding her. Neither the studio’s announcement nor this article supplies an unverified final casting choice.
→Modern animation · 2026
The Old Television
Wink lists this as a released seven-minute episode of the new animated series. Its page provides the title and viewing link but repeats the general series description instead of an individual plot. A scene-by-scene recap, ending and episode-specific cast are still awaiting verification; the title alone is not evidence for them.
→Modern animation · 2026
An Orange Mood
Published premise · ending unverifiedCloudy weather makes Cheburashka sad. His friends decide that oranges will cheer him up, but cannot find any in town. The familiar fruit becomes a way of caring for a friend; the studio’s synopsis leaves the solution undisclosed.
→Modern animation · 2026
Exercise and Cleaning
Published premise · ending unverifiedCheburashka cannot master his skateboard tricks. Shapoklyak offers to help, then turns the training into household chores. Her supposed instruction serves her own convenience. The announcement establishes this deception but does not specify how the friends expose or resolve it.
→Modern animation · 2026
A Robot with a Secret
Published premise · ending unverifiedThe friends give away old toys. Gena finds it hard to part with objects that hold memories. An unexpected discovery changes how the friends look at the past. The studio’s announcement does not explain the robot’s secret or the ending; those details remain unverified.
→Modern animation · 2026
Shapoklyak’s Orchestra
Wink lists this as a released seven-minute episode of the new animated series. Its page provides the title and viewing link but repeats the general series description instead of an individual plot. A scene-by-scene recap, ending and episode-specific cast are still awaiting verification; the title alone is not evidence for them.
→Modern animation · 2026
Wanted!
Wink lists this as a released seven-minute episode of the new animated series. Its page provides the title and viewing link but repeats the general series description instead of an individual plot. A scene-by-scene recap, ending and episode-specific cast are still awaiting verification; the title alone is not evidence for them.
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