History Animation / Smeshariki

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Smeshariki.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Russian title screen (2004-2005).[[note]] Back row, Left to Right:[[MellowFellow Barry]],[[TheOwlKnowingOne Olga]], [[BunnyEarsLawyer Dokko]], [[LovableCoward Chiko]],[[{{Keet}} Krash]],[[CoolOldGuy Carlin]]. Front row, Left to Right :[[BitchinSheepsClothing Rosa]], [[DoggedNiceGuy Wally]] [[GadgeteerGenius Pin]].]] [[/note]]



Known in Russia as "Смешарики," ''Smeshariki'' is one of the more successful cartoon projects in UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia, a series of 6-minute animated shorts about nine highly-stylized, ball-like anthropomorphic animals--the show's Russian name can be roughly translated as "Funballs". It was the creators' choice [[NoAntagonist not to have any villains]]--unusual even by the standards of the generally-humanist Soviet animation--while also avoiding falling into the pit of {{Anvilicious}} "moral education" that many Russian children's shows displayed in the past. All conflict in the series is derived from clashes between personalities of the generally-friendly characters. The show was launched in July, 2004, suffering the [[UnCanceled Un-Cancelation]] in 2020, eight years after the original show ended in 2012.

The show is notable for often boiling down adult themes such as prostitution, gambling, Internet addiction, etc. to a level at which children can grasp the basic concept through metaphor, and for its reflection of the eclectic culture of post-Soviet Russia. In the end, though, it remains and is seen as a fun, friendly children's show--just with heaps of ParentalBonus.

Was dubbed in the United States by Creator/FourKidsEntertainment as ''[=GoGoRiki=]'', which, in its usual fashion, [[DubNameChange changed all character names]] and removed many of the Russian cultural references. In this version, all names end with -riki (Although characters would often shorten their names, and won't use "-riki" parts of their names when talking to each other), which doesn't make sense by the rules of Russian grammar, since "smeshariki" is supposed to be the plural form of the type of FunnyAnimal that the characters are. This dub aired in 2008-2009 and covered 92 episodes out of 215. The show would later be redubed under the title ''[=KikoRiki=]'', which has stuck since then and was used by other countries, such as Germany.

In 2017, the franchise received a [[SpinOffBabies preschool spin-off]] entitled ''[=BabyRiki=]'', featuring child versions of some of the characters animated in 3D in a real-life backdrop and has been released worldwide.

!!!The characters are:
Example: '''Russian original name (FUN Union dub name; 4Kids dub name; animal species' character was based on), character's description'''.
* Krosh (Krash, Pogoriki; a rabbit), an energetic, adventurous, irresponsible boy. Birthday: December 29
* Yozhik (Chiko, Chikoriki; a hedgehog), Krosh's quiet, introverted friend with glasses who is interested in collections. Birthday: February 14
* Nyusha (Rosa, Rosariki; a pig), a girl obsessed with beauty and dreams of a handsome prince. Birthday: July 13
* Pin (Ottoriki; a penguin), a self-taught, unreliable inventor with German-like origins. Birthday: August 9
* Kopatych (Barry, Boboriki; a bear), an honey-loving farmer and garmon musician with a huge heart typically found tending to vegetables he grows in his garden. Birthday: October 8
* Sovunya (Olga, Olgariki; an owl), an archetypical Russian country grandma known for her cure-all home-made medicine. Birthday: September 15
* Losyash (Dokko, Docoriki; a moose), a theoretical scientist, albeit with occasional odd interest in such unscientific things as astrology and shamanism. Birthday: May 25
* Barash (Wally, Wolliriki; a ram), a poet with a crush on Nyusha and unreliable inspiration. Birthday: April 29
* Karkarych (Carlin, Bigoriki; a crow), a retired traveling artist and pianist with an obsession with doing things with style. Birthday: March 3
* Bibi (Pincode, Roboriki; a robot), a robot created by Pin. Birthday: June 10


'''To avoid the confusion, this page will refer to characters by their names from the FUN Union dub.'''

----
!!Tropes:

* AbsenteeActor: Most episodes don't feature the entire cast, mostly Pin, who only appeared in 80 episodes out of approximate 200.
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:The ending to "A Black and White Movie".]]
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: [[https://youtu.be/LPpcWjCpNx4 4Kids dub of the show has one]]. Interestingly, the original intro was used as a short segment between the second and third shorts (as they used to air 3 shorts as one episode).
%%* AmusingInjuries
* AsianAndNerdy: In one of the episodes, Chiko is revealed to be an Indochinese hedgehog.
* BigDamnMovie: And how! [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofHOHJa9Z0c It even comes]][[RecycledINSPACE IN GLORIOUS 3D]]!!! (The trailer is in Russian)
* BigEater: Dokko is one. He's able to eat all the food for the entire week in one single day, as told in "Bad Manners".
* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife:Most of the the characters have colorful fur, which such colors wouldn't be on real animals. Just to mention a blue rabbit.
* BlandNameProduct: Dokko uses the operating system "Okna 96", a parody of Windows 95/98 with a similar boot screen. ("Okna" is Russian for "Windows".)
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Chiko, Dokko, and Rosa seem to do it occasionally.
%%* BunglingInventor: Pin
* ButtMonkey: Chiko, Wally and Barry usually take the accidents whenever thing go wrong.
* CatchPhrase: All of the nine characters have some. For example, Krash has "Fiddlesticks".
** Dokko's ones double as a ShoutOut to the Soviet film ''The Garage''.
* ChristianityIsCatholic: Pin peppers his speech with German words quite often, but, notably, when he prays, he does so in Latin, indicating he's Catholic. When other characters show any sign of religion, however, it's Orthodox Christianity.
* ClipShow: The last episode of the series made in Flash animation featured Krash and Chiko trying to remember who was their friend they saved in the first episode, "The Bench" (it was Wally). Even when Wally himself appears, they refuse to believe that it was him.
* CollectorOfTheStrange: Chiko collects candy wrappers and cacti, and treats them as a very SeriousBusiness.
%%* CulturalTranslation: The 4Kids version.
* DeliciousDaydream: In "How to Catch a Cold", Wally wants to catch a cold so he will be pampered and given all the treats he wants. He then imagines being fed jam and fruit.
* EvilTwin: Dokko's clone from "''The Savage Clone''" ("''Double Doco''" in 4Kids dub). Downplayed, as his personality is identical to the one, Dokko used to have in his childhood, but if Dokko changed his ways, his clone never grew out of being a {{Jerkass}}.
* ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: In the [=GoGoRiki=] dub of "The Last Rainbow" (titled "Extra! Extra!" for bonus points), an episode about newspapers and over exaggerated article titles, this phase was used word-for-word by Chiko few times.
* {{Flanderization}}: In the earlier episodes, Nyusha was a young, cheerful and feminine girl who believed in fairy tales and liked to eat candy. Then she became a hysterical, [[HairTriggerTemper easily angered]], [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] and [[ManipulativeBitch manipulative]] [[BitchInSheepsClothing brat]] who uses her supposed boyfriend, Barash, to her whims. As if this wasn't enough, she even crosses MoralEventHorizon in a couple of episodes without any remorse.
%%* FloatingLimbs
* FunnyAnimal: The entire cast comprises anthropomorphic animals.
* GentleGiant: Barry, who has a huge heart.
* GilliganCut: Many times, but the most blatant example is from "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR0G384ibEQ Do Stars Watch Us?]]", when Krash and Pin are taking pictures while flying on a plane:
-->'''Krash:''' All finished! Now, take her down for a nice, soft landing.
-->''(cut to Krash and Pin with black eyes and bandages)''
* {{Golem}}: Although it's never referred to as such, Dokko's creation in ''The Most Important Thing'' is very clearly one; not only is it made of clay, it is even animated by a piece of paper placed in its mouth as in Jewish folklore (the paper has a photo of Dokko on it rather than any text, though, but it's relevant to the story). That being said, it also veers into Frankenstein territory as Dokko uses [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning to bring the golem to life]].
* HelpImStuck: Barry gets himself stuck inside his own bathroom stall while escaping his house and Wally pulls him out.
%%* HerrDoktor: Both Pin and Dokko.
* ItsBeenDone: In one episode, Krash gets unsatisfied with the lack of visible progress and decides to make great inventions by himself. Those "inventions" are a bicycle, tango, and tic-tac-toe.
* {{Keet}}: Krash
* LongRunner: Since 2004. 215 Flash animation episodes and more than 50 "new" ones in 3D.
%%* MadScientist: Dokko rarely slips into this.
* MistakenForApocalypse: It the end of the episode "In the Beginning was the Word (В начале было слово)", Barry, suddenly woken up alone in the snow, thinks he is a {{sole survivor}} after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* MultiNationalTeam: It's subtle and requires you to know Russian culture, but the cast of Smeshariki is actually quite diverse. Only Rosa and Krash don't have any distinct nationality: Olga is definitely Russian, Pin (and, apparently, Carlin, if his "true" surname "von Karych" is any indication) is German, Dokko is AmbiguouslyJewish (he even made a {{Golem}} in one episode), Chiko is stated at one point to be an [[AsianAndNerdy Indochinese hedgehog]] (and in another episode, poses as a Georgian - as in Georgia the Caucasian country, not the US state), Barry's accent is Ukrainian, and Wally's appearance and personality invoke the partially African Creator/AlexanderPushkin.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: At least one character known as the Shadow Prince Lovermore is shown to have a humanoid appearance unlike the ball-shaped bodies the other characters have.
* NoAntagonist: A deliberate decision by the creators, and unusual for a children's show. None of the nine characters can be considered "bad guys", and while they have conflicts, they're always temporary and simply arise from their diverse personalities.
* NoOntologicalInertia: Any catastrophe, from erupting volcano and devastating tornado to Rosa literally crying a river and the whole valley getting covered in chocolate, and up to sun getting turned off for a short time and ''the entire universe being erased from existence'', leaves no lasting trace.
* OdeToFood: In "How to Catch a Cold", Wally sings a song about how he wants to catch a cold so he will get all the food he wants.
* TheOwlKnowingOne: Despite being a comedic character, Olga is still a {{Cool Old Lady}} with worldly wisdom.
* PandaingToTheAudience: A new panda character was introduced in the 3D shorts. In ''[=BabyRiki=]'', she is named Pandy.
* ParentalBonus: ''Tons'' of it.
** In the episode "A Forgotten Story", Dokko wires Carlin (who tries to remember something from his childhood in the episode) to a computer in order to see the insides of his mind. As the screen activates, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything two bedroom eyes appear on the screen, accompanied by waltz music, and]] [[DirtyOldMan Carlin starts jumping on his seat in excitement]], and while Dokko asks him suspiciously what is he thinking about, [[OnlySaneWoman Olga]] [[WhatTheHellHero freaks out]] and [[HarmfulToMinors prompty brings Krash and Chiko out of the house]]. Keep in mind that is supposed to be a kids' show.
** In one scene in the second movie as the plane is rocking back and forth, Olga holds on a pole does some type of dance while Dokko, Carlin and Barry make straight faces. ''
** Then there is one of the lines in "My Name is Pinky...?".
-->'''Chiko''' ''(to Krash):'' "Call me Master - you won't go wrong".
* PlutoIsExpendable: One episode is about Dokko declaring a hunger strike in protest against Pluto's demotion. Seeing it, its residents decide not to blow up Earth in revenge.
* RealAfterAll: Implied when the real Ded Moroz (SantaClaus in the English dub) apparently shows up as a shadow after the characters pretend to be him.
** The same can be said for the Shadow Prince Lovermore, a character from the episode "Scary Stories". Rosa becomes terrified after hearing that story, but Chiko assures her it's not real. At the end of the episode, Rosa finds out Lovermore is real.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Krash, Rosa and Barry.
* RobotBuddy: Bibi (named "Roboriki" in the 4Kids dub) to Pin.
%%* RedOniBlueOni: Krash and Chiko, respectively.
%%* RousseauWasRight
* RunningGag: Lots of those, including Barry's caterpillar and the Black Lovelace.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Dynamics between Chiko (sensitive) and Krash (manly as a pre-teen can be) and sometimes between Dokko and Barry.
* ShipTease: Between Wally and Rosa. Even more so in the 4Kids dub, where one of the songs written for this dub, "Opposites Attract" has two singing about their relationship.
* ShoutOut: So many that it might eventually need its own page. Barry is a close reference to Winnie the Pooh, when he eats honey and gets frightened by bee swarms.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Only two female characters out of nine--one for two of the three age categories, with the creators admitting that they forgot to introduce a "mother" character for the middle-aged category.
* SpeciesSurname: Almost everyone, with exception of Barry and, somewhat, Carlin, have names based on species' Russian name.
** Yozhik is Russian for hedgehog.
** Barash made from baran (ram).
** Krosh is from krolik (rabbit).
** Losyash is close to Los' (moose).
** Sovunya comes from sova (owl).
** Pin shortened from pingvin (penguin).
** Nyusha is apparently shortened from svinyusha (roughly "piggie"). Also, incidentally, it's a Russian short name for Ann.
** Karkarych's name made from crow's "caw" sound.
* SpiritualSuccessor: While the two shows are probably unrelated (''Smeshariki'' is older), the vivid artistic style with colourful outlines and fluid Flash animations, the combination of a SugarBowl setting and [[DarkerAndEdgier adult themes]] and the large PeripheryDemographic make ''Smeshariki'' somewhat similar to ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' but with a Russian flair. Hell, even the characters are similar (there's a vaguely southern orange farmer with a large hat, a cyan sportsman and a purple and magenta intellectual).
* WackyRacing: "The Big Race" episode, with Pin as the announcer, while other characters race in teams of two through the desert in oddly designed go-carts.


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* Krosh (Krash, Pogoriki; a rabbit), an energetic, adventurous, irresponsible boy.
* Yozhik (Chiko, Chikoriki; a hedgehog), Krosh's quiet, introverted friend with glasses who is interested in collections.
* Nyusha (Rosa, Rosariki; a pig), a girl obsessed with beauty and dreams of a handsome prince.
* Pin (Ottoriki; a penguin), a self-taught, unreliable inventor with German-like origins.
* Kopatych (Barry, Boboriki; a bear), an honey-loving farmer and garmon musician with a huge heart typically found tending to vegetables he grows in his garden.
* Sovunya (Olga, Olgariki; an owl), an archetypical Russian country grandma known for her cure-all home-made medicine.
* Losyash (Dokko, Docoriki; a moose), a theoretical scientist, albeit with occasional odd interest in such unscientific things as astrology and shamanism.
* Barash (Wally, Wolliriki; a ram), a poet with a crush on Nyusha and unreliable inspiration.
* Karkarych (Carlin, Bigoriki; a crow), a retired traveling artist and pianist with an obsession with doing things with style.

* Help, I'm Stuck!: Barry gets himself stuck inside his own bathroom stall while escaping his house and Wally pulls him out.