Squirrel and Hedgehog
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 Glorious animated series from True North Korea!
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Squirrel and Hedgehog (Chosŏn'gŭl: 다람이와 고슴도치 Dalam-iwa Goseumdochi, lit. Dharam and the hedgehog) is a North Korean animated series based on a short novel published in the 70s in a children's magazine in the country this show originated from. It's about two teenage anthropomorphic animals who fight an evil army.
Why It Shall Be Nuked
NOTE: Please don't call it a Sonic the Hedgehog rip-off just because one of the titular characters is a hedgehog, as it has nothing to do with Sonic, and this show came out 14 years before Sonic.
- It is one of those propaganda shows aired in North Korea; in fact, these types of shows always portray the U.S. in a very negative, but of course, xenophobic type of way. Sound familiar?
- Much like Tomorrow's Pioneers, there's a lot of graphic violence such as murder and suicide and swearing in this show, despite the fact that the show is made for children. The opening theme of the show labels it as a "Children's Cartoon", which leads to more irony.
- In fact, there's an episode where a character screams "Son of a bitch!", which is incredibly inappropriate for a show supposedly targeted at children
- Hidden political messages, considering the fact that it's a propaganda cartoon made to get children to have the same mindset as the people in the DPRK (North Korea).
- In addition of the aforementioned political messages, all characters represent some of the countries - brave squirrels, hedgehogs and ducks portray North Korea, strong but dumb bears portray Soviet Union/Russia while cowardly mice, nasty weasels, and badass wolves portray South Korea, Japan and America respectively
- Half of the time, the lip-sync does not match the dialogue. Sometimes, the characters mouths do not move at all when they are speaking. This is especially apparent during the beginning of the 31st episode "To the Den of the Wolf Unit".
- Odd sound effects. This is also apparent in the aforementioned episode as said in WISBN#4. In fact, in one scene, an opening door sounds more like a vibrating cell phone.
- The duck characters in the show looks strangely similar to Donald Duck, even wearing blue and white sailor uniforms similar to the one Donald uses. Either this is a coincidence, or North Korea intentionally plagiarized the design.
- The pacing is very mediocre and bland.
Redeeming Qualities
- The animation is pretty impressive for a 1977 cartoon, although the character animation is sometimes slow, and the aforementioned lip-syncing could be touched upon and improved.
- The premise of an army of animals is actually quite interesting, despite the horrendous execution.
- It does have some sweet and heartwarming moments, despite the still-visible violent moments.
- Decent voice acting.
- The music is very well-composed.
- It's considered "so bad, it's good."
Reception
It has a rating of 4.6/10 on IMDb.
Controversy
The show was criticized by The Chosun Ilbo for its violence, brutality, and blatant allegorical propaganda. The show was also controversial for its political messages as explained in WISBN#3 surrounding the animals in the show, despite this interpretation not being revealed with the staff at SEK Studio claiming it's false. As they repeatedly alleged that the show's animation was made to teach kids love, friendship, and patriotism, North Korean defector Choi Sung-guk said that the "weasels, mice, and wolves symbolize foreign invaders (imperialists)".
Trivia
- The show has ironically garnered a huge fanbase overseas.
- Despite this, however, the show was actually banned outside North Korea for reasons stated earlier.
- An English dub of the show was produced under the name Brave Soldier. The plot was also changed in this dub as well as Mondo TV's Spanish dub Soldaldos Valientes to remove the references to North Korea and propaganda.
- The translations for these dubs were also criticized by the show's cult following for having generic voice actors and the dubbing being out-of-place. Season 2 of the show was not released dur to licensing issues since Mondo TV only owns the rights to the first selection of episodes.
- SEK Studio also produced other stand-alone cartoons with animals as characters, with some being part of a series called Clever Raccoon Dog. Contrary to Squirrel and Hedgehog, Clever Raccoon Dog, focuses on road safety education, science, sports, summer volunteer work, etc.