How North Korea Uses FURRY CARTOONS to Brainwash Children 

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At this point, Saber doesn't even bother about explaining how he's not furry anymore.

Fun fact: The Korean folklore equivalent of a succubus is a kumiho. The are transforming fox demons, but unlike the kitsune of Japan, kumiho are always depicted as malevolent demons of sex and bloodshed. I can see this folklore characterization in North Korea's depiction of foxes within their media.

Note : Mick Pollock isn't just Eggman's voice actor in Sonic X, but SINCE Sonic X. He's still voicing Eggman to this day in the games.

Can we just all acknowledge the thumbnail of this video? Saber knows what he is trying to enable lmao

Anthropomorphism is incredibly helpful in storytelling. Just look at Disney's Robin Hood. Robin Hood is a fox because foxes are associated with cleverness and tricks, the king is a lion because lions are the kings of beasts, the nurse is a hen because she's a mother hen, ect. Its universal

Its equal parts funny and nightmarish to see how important the messages kids see in cartoons are.

What really gets me about the animation style of racoondog is that the fluidity of the villian animations are so much better than the main characters.

i read this one autobiography about a guy who escaped/survived north korea for school. in the book he mentioned watching squirrel and hegdehog as a kid, and the only reason i even batted an eye at that is because i saw your original video. thank you for giving me the knowledge that a furry cartoon was mentioned in a serious/emotional autobiography

"One often meets his destiny on the path they take to avoid it"- Master Oogway. You say you're not a furry but always sink deeper into the rabbit hole of anthro 😂

Oh no Saber, Pulgasari is much worse than you realize. Kim Jong Ill himself had the entire cast and crew of the movie kidnapped from their homes in Japan, south Korea, and China and forced them to make the movie. Most of the crew was never seen again, and the director only made the movie under threat of his wife and children being publicly executed.

North Korea: *makes anti-american propaganda cartoons with anthropomorphism* The western world: *makes NSFW art of said anthro characters from north korean propaganda films* North Korea: WAIT! THAT’S NOT WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

Korea, Japan, and China all feature a fox trickster femme fatale in folklore (kumiho/kitsune/huli jing respectively), hence why there tends to be a lot of evil sexy fox ladies in Asian animation. Japan is the only one to also have benevolent portrayals of these fox tricksters.

There's an amazing graphic novel called _"Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea"_ by french-canadian cartoonist and animator _Guy Delisle_ who got sent to a north korean animation studio (I think it even had been the very same SEK studio mentioned here, but I'm not perfectly sure) for quality control and overlooking the outsourced production by a french studio. He spent several month in Pyongyang where he experienced a plethora of north korean percularities and absurdities and turned it into a graphic novel traveller's report of sorts - he shows the professional aspect and how he experienced work with a north korean animation studio as well as his everyday life off work compared to how north koreans live their lives. It's extremly interesting and insightful, and it's anything but dry thanks to the author's/artist's great humor. I can definitly recommend it, and as niche as it is with its focus on north korean animation through the eyes of a western animation expert as perfectly does it fit to Saberspark's video here.

If anything, North Korea created their own worst enemy with this Fox Girl. She's American, in the Military, intelligent, and kinda cute. North Korea is a Country that bans p0rn. They were asking for trouble with this character. Its a symbol of resistance as far as im concerned.

Fun fact about the man on the left at 3:34 His name is Yang Kyoungjong, an IJA soldier who was captured by the Soviet Red Army during the Battle of Khalkin Gol in 1939, sent to Stalingrad in 1942 where he got captured by the Germans, and then ended up in Normandy during D-Day in 1944 when he was captured by the advancing Western Forces.

It will never not be funny to me how Squirrel and Hedgehog portrays Americans as huge, buff wolf dudes whose main base of operations is a giant B-17 Flying Fortress shaped like a dragon! Even in propaganda, NK can't help to admit that America is, as RussianBadger put it, "the final boss of planet Earth!"

I can't believe how well done are the homoromantic scenes in this show. What the hell??!! Golden and Stripped Squirl has more tension between each other than many irl couples

Unironically probably the cleanest transition into an ad I have ever seen and I can't even be slightly upset. Well done Saber.

Place your bets now ladies and gentlemen, will saber FINALLY admit to being a furry?

9:11 the movie, empress Chung had a little to no release outside of North Korea, even in South Korea, the movie is considered lost because the only known copies are locked within north korea

Ah yes, the furmunists

I do find it funny that most of the "Not-American" wolves are practically himbos. That combined with Lt. Vixen just checks off a lot of furry check boxes.

You did an incredible job in this video, Saber!! Thank you so much for giving Squirrel and Hedgehog another chance and checking out Clever Raccoon Dog as well! I'm honored to have been able to work with you and contribute to your research; thanks for letting me! Your video years back was the foundation of the fandom and lots of people discovered it through you. Thanks so much again!

Golden Squirrel and Striped squirrel are just roommates who happen to be best friends and occasionally hug a little. It's fine

Regarding _why_ they chose squirrels as sort of a symbol, I don't know if this is intended but squirrels, despite their harmless front, are actually quite brutal in nature. They're omnivorous, a lesser known fact, and will hunt smaller - more defenseless - animals like juvenile birds. They can even cannibalize eachother! This is to say that it could have a double-sided meaning of sorts, they seem small in defenseless and, being lower on the foodchain, do have to be more vigilant of their surroundings in order to not fall prey to a more robust animal, though their strength (or seemingly lack thereof) should not be taken at face value.

They are not just friends. They are very close comrades.

For people curious, the Avatar episode outsourced to SEK was "The Awakening" (S03E01). The animation work is pretty decent honestly

The “just friends” can be implied with almost anything anime related

Wanna know the reason Squirrel and Hedgehog ended on a cliffhanger? The short answer is, The Korean Central Television cut several animated programs in 2013 as part of their changing broadcasting schedule.

Korean folklores in general has a lot of anthromorphic characters and we have described animals with spiritual meanings in our literatures and poems for centuries. So anthromorphism in Korean literatures is very common thing. Following that, NK promoting their own traditions and Juche politics, these anthromorphic characters are very much in line with their objectives in propaganda animations. Squirrels and rabbits being shown as innocent and hopeful, tigers being a strong protector of their culture and tradition and foxes being malicious and brutal infiltrators. This representation of animal characters are very familiar for kids reading folklores and easier for them to understand and absorb the content of the propaganda.

Interesting thing: squirrel in the "Squirrel and Hedgehog" might be a slight mistranslation. North koreans have a single word for both squirrel and chipmunk and since main characters clearly have fur patterns on their faces and tails, it is highly likely they are in fact chipmunks. I'm from Russia and we don't have an official dub of "Squirrel and Hedgehog", but we have a fandub called "Бурундук и ёжик" (Chipmunk and Hedgehog). It might be because russian word "белка" (squirrel) is female gendered, so male gendered "chipmunk" was chosen instead, but I still like to believe our translators have done a better job with original korean title :-)

Every time you point out an animation error, there is a non-zero chance that you are sentencing someone in North Korea to death.

Saber sincerely going into great depths about legit international relations to the point where I completely forget that he has cat ears

Considering how many fan arts that the American Vixen from _Squirrel and Hedgehog_ have, I can't imagine the looks on Kim Jung Un's face when he discovered the 34th rule of the Internet.

I’ve always found international and national propaganda cartoons morbidly fascinating too Saber. I feel the same way, it’s interesting seeing how animation is used internationally for both art and politics. Thank you for bringing more attention to this. Love your videos!

A few historical items of note. You're right that North Korea was flourishing after the war. They were outstripping the South despite heaps of foreign aid being pumped into it. Its current economic state is due largely to the collapse of the Soviet Union and many other other Eastern countries during that time, depriving North Korea of many of its trade partners that it was reliant on. This is exacerbated by Western sanctions that even America fully admits exist to make living conditions so bad that it will drive suffering civilians to rebel. To me, that sounds like a pretty inhumane policy. I also think the affect of the war on the country was understated. What the United States did was nothing short of a genocide. Not only were there many massacres committed such as at No Gun Ri, but the bombing campaign indiscriminately targeted civilian structures as well. Millions were killed both by the bombs and the starvation, thirst and disease caused by the destruction of infrastructure. Beyond that, the South committed some horrific atrocities against anyone who was even suspected of having Communist sympathies (It's definitely worth looking up the Bodo League.) To be honest, while these cartoons certainly are propaganda, we need to realize that much of the news we get about North Korea comes from very unreliable sources like Radio Free Asia (Literally a state department propaganda outlet) and half of them are completely unsourced or vetted. So there is a certain irony to be looking at North Korean propaganda and acting like it's so infantile while we, ourselves are inundated with just as much propaganda about North Korea that attempts to manufacture our consent for hawkish foreign policy against them. And with regards to nuclear weapons... Sadly, that's kind of a necessity for them to retain their independence. Look at Western intervention across the globe. We invade and force regime change on countries completely arbitrarily and when those tactics aren't available? We fund and arm far right rebels in the country to enact a violent coup. Do you think there would be a self-determined North Korea still instead of a puppet state if they didn't have an appreciable military?

10:59 The real reason why Robotnik wants to destroy that damn hedgehog.

These cartoons actually look halfway decent! I feel so bad for the animators who are clearly talented but have to make these cartoons

As a Korean viewer of this channel, i never thought that i would hearing this deep into my country's history, while i'm watching video about my nasty Northern cousin's furry cartoon.

I appreciate how you were able to share your conflicting feelings on the show and it's origins. Most folks take a stance and back it with fervour. You relayed a more balanced viewpoint.

What makes all of these propaganda shows all the more bizarre and unsettling is just how well-drawn and animated they often look.

This just goes to show how powerful story telling is and how important it is to us. I mean who doesn't like a story with dragons or dinosaurs or prehistoric mammals?

Good job on making this video, Saberspark. Those cartoons you reviewed intend to pander to kids, manipulate them, and make them act just as insane as the characters!

I remember when I watched this when I was like, 13, and I LOVED it. I found myself outright rooting for the characters and being invested in it. Such a good time, wish I could go back.

He mentioned the Japanese invasion of Korea during the first bit of the video. While I lived in Korea, I went to a museum of sorts that showed this history of this. I think it was called “Independence Hall” and it was quite a thing to see. They had animatronics depicting what the Japanese did to the Korean women. It was very graphic. I enjoyed the rest of the museum and learning about Korea’s history though!

Small theory here; The show may be intentionally hard to follow, to encourage kids to initiate discussion with adults about the plot, which makes the kid's brain work harder while thinking about the show, embedding it deeper into their memory.

North Korea: *ruled by evil Kim Jong Un, follow his strict ass laws or there will be consequences* Also North Korea: *has anthro furry fox cartoons* Also also North Korea: *robot crab pinches Fox girls chest*

Donald Duck: “I have 2 sides. Side 1: “Quack” Side 2 “ERIKA”

I love how universal villains being the more interesting characters in children's shows are even across countries

Suddenly I'm reminded of a George Orwell quote "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others"

He has now finally come to terms with his furriness. One of us.

Saber: guys, I’m not a furry! Also Saber: 🦁

In all seriousness, this show (Squirrel & Hedgehog) being so well to North Korean kids, who are so impressionable, well, that is legitimately horrifying. I agree with Saberspark here; once you know the context of the show, it's VERY difficult to focus on anything BUT the context. And that shakes me more than most recent horror movies. 😬

Mike Pollock didn't just voice Eggman in Sonic X, he's still the official English voice of the character in the games!

Funfact: The Clever Racoon-dog was dubbed in Poland back in the end of 80's. Some of the well-known dub actors appeared in this dub like Joanna Wizmur (polish voice of Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory) or Ilona Kuśmierska (polish voice of Gadget from Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers)

I do believe the reason the "bad" animals are specifically weasels and rats is because those are major pest animals in North Korea. At one point the North Koreans thought of sparrows as pest animals too and even ran a campaign to hunt them to extinction in their country, which sorta worked in massively reducing their numbers, *BUT* basically let locusts and other actual pest insects run rampant across their tiny chunk of country, which is something they're *still* trying to recover from even now.

No don't worry, he's totally not a furry. He's just cosplaying as his favorite character, Moses from "Joshua and the Promised Land"!

The irony is this animation is only really known in the west because of the result capitalism had on the s3xy fox lady.

The most important thing to remember. Nations are more than just the governments that run them. The people are most often overlooked. But we can never forget that those who fly different flags are all still people trying to survive.

37:16 both ideas coexist. the argument that "the usa also has nationalist and pro war propaganda" isnt the gotcha some ppl might think it is, but rather reinforces the idea of how insidious certain programming is. i dont find it hypocritical at all to rightfully point out that propaganda can come from anywhere, especially pointed at young and impressionable audiences, and that nobody is immune to it

Mike pollock actually voices eggman in EVERYTHING besides the movies, not just in Sonic X. (for a few years, the entire sonic x cast became the voice actors for the games aswell, and Mike pollock is one of the few that have stuck around)

It's actually astouning, that the show managed to get out of that prison country. Most people don't manage that.

You know that someone is going to make a yaoi fanfic about Golden Squirrel and Stripped Squirrel, hell, I'M CONSIDERING IT!!!😳 Also, HOW is it that a animation studio from North Korea, which is against homosexuality, managed to make their two main characters "totally-just-bros"!?

Honestly, that's just such a typically American thing to do - Take something from the opposing side that is meant to be an insult and re-purpose it as an item of pride and cultural identity.

Saberspark: "I'm not a furry." Also Saberspark: "E621."

Hey Saber, did you already make a video about "Nu, Pagadi!"? (English title is apparently "Well, Just You Wait!") Its a russian anthropomorphic cartoon about a wolf living in the city and trying to eat a hare living in his neighborhood. Its like Zootopia but 50 years earlier and with more cartoon violence

Who clicked bc of the thumbnail?🗿

I'm totally convinced that *Mike Pollock* has done work in nearly every low budget cartoon production ever lol. He's a nice guy though 👍

I think Episode 5 was supossed to be based on that one time a Japanese politician that happened to be a former Pro-Wrestler worked together with Kim Jong-Il to host the biggest Pro-Wrestling event to boost his popularity cause he had ties with the Yakuza; Also apparently he was really popular with North Koreans for some reason. He also called a bunch of American Pro-Wrestlers to participate incluiding Ric Flair.

i think both koreas south and north tend to be a less respected but equally popular animation culture in the world that follows along with canada and japan. because when you watch a domestic animation made by these countries. you can tell how culturally and ethically different they are in their storytelling, humor, as well visual styles in their animations. they are not often the same as ours. Squrriel and hedgehog is no different to this example, despite it being made out of a infamous nature of north korea Now if there was another series thats similar i would recommend checking out for a review, i would say check out Chinese animations such as Black Cat Detective (黑猫警长) or Rainbow Cat & Blue Rabbit (虹猫蓝兔).

Saber spark being a furry makes me happy. Its not only because i am, it also because hes a great channel who supports even the most interesting minded people like furrys. Hes a cool RU-vidr who doesn't waste their time crying ranting and screaming about furrys and if they're either cringe or stupid. Nor does he brag about being one too. This makes him a great person

The wrestling episode is probably based on a real event imo. I checked the dates, the episode seems to have been released in 1997, and in 1995 the Collision in Korea happened. The Collision in Korea was a wrestling promo between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling hosted in Pyongyang to a crowd of 190,000 North Koreans. The main event was a match between Ric Flair and Antonio Inoki, and was also kind of a weird political promotion for Inoki's re-election campaign to Japanese Parliament. Honestly the whole thing is a crazy story in itself

You know. If they wanted America to look bad by having that Fox character on, they ain’t doing a good job at it.

I can't put my finger on it, but I'm pretty sure Golden Squirrel and Stripped Squirrel are more than friends.

'hedgehog commits sudoku' at 27:55 sudoku is a game, i think you might be talking about seppuku? lol

I hope these cartoons get an unauthorized satirical dub. Maybe the guys from TeamFourStar can do it.

This channel is slowly becoming Saber's downfall I to insanity 🤣🤣🤣 YES join us! JOIN THE MADNESS

"They both worked on an animated tv show" "Boy I wonder what show that was" "Pororo the Little Penguin" "Pardon?"

You should definitely review this series called “Year Hare Affair”. Similar premise but from China. Although I think not all of it is translated as far as I saw.

I find it fascinating how in almost all propaganda, the enemy is always shown to be simultaneously extremely powerful and a genuine threat to the heroes, yet at the same time are somehow stupid and incompetent enough to get their asses wiped by the heroes every episode. If they're so bad at their jobs, how are they even a threat?

Me watching the clips of _Squirrell and Hedgehog:_ "man, the janky animation and the weird contrast between the violent shootouts and thr cartoony character design reminds me of _Speed Racer"_ Saberspark: "I think the batch of episodes after the original miniseries is heavily influenced by _Speed Racer"_ Me: "Yay! Validation!"

North Korea has Squirrel and Hedgehog, USA has Mickey Mouse... And Mexico... We have as anthro characters a bunch of chicken eggs in an adult humor movie that eventually became just for kids at the fifth movie

14:49 Correction, S.E.K., or Korean April 26 Animation, uses Moho, or Anime Studio, to do their cartoons. Not Toon Boom. Though, I think they used Toon Boom back in the 2000's to replace their cel animation duties. Who knows.

14:11 How dangerous does a city or nation has to be when an animation studio was given the task of making an episode teaching kids how to deal with highway bandits If I was living there, and I saw that episode, I would’ve packed up all of my stuff and gotten the hell out of there. (then again, this is North Korea after all)

You know? Being honest, a cartoon that brainwashes through anthro creatures definitely makes sense

The furry transformation has begun. Cant wait for the awkward mid form like the animorph books

the fact that North Korea even has roads for CARS when people cant even own cars.

While everyone's talking about Sabre being a furry, meanwhile I'm in awe of this mad lad 8:27

Maybe they choose squirrels because there gathers. Hear me out. Hedgehogs = Defense Ducks = Water Squirrel = gather You mention how the squirrels where doing undercover work and making there goes attack themselves, so they would gather information aka a spy. Also a gather could also be a reflection of farmers or father whom gather the food for family and friends. This could mean that in war time's, everyone must join the fight even the farmers.

Just asked my wife "Hey, do you want to watch the North Korean furry cartoon video?" Just Saberspark subscriber things.

The spikes in the ground to stop paratroopers is a real tactic. (I think it’s outlawed by the Geneva Conventions, but, you know, in an actual war, it’s really just the Geneva Suggestion)

Love the new look Saber! Also god I wish they put out another season of this, seems really interesting and love following videos about it. The pure brutality is also quiet something. Think they really came up with a strong and unique style too! Imagine what could be coming out of North Korea animation wise if they weren't a hermit kingdom!

0:42 Saber is probably the first person to ever say that. That is the most brand new sentence ever spoken, and I freaking loved it.

We're getting closer and closer to witness saber to fully embrace his furryness

Thank you for using the Korean War gif, the crazy back and forth always makes me laugh. It's literally just whenever new/more foreign troops arrived for each side.

01:15 fun fact: a lot of Italian cartoons were made in North Korea by SEK Studio, one of the most recent monsters coming out of that factory of animation is a show called Adrian, a propaganda mini-series by an Italian singer, Adriano Celentano. I wonder if there's an English subtitled version, for you'd go crazy with all the things he said and claimed through that show (and I speak as a right-leaning person: he pissed both left and right with that show...).

That'd be interesting if some small team on RU-vid made a short video where Squirrel was kicking ass and being a badass...then gets shot with a tranq. He'd get brought into a room, completely unharmed and not tied up, and the enemies would talk to him. And after a long while, with them being courteous, but keeping him locked up, they would bring a child in to talk to him. But this child would be some creature that would be too small and innocent looking to be one of theirs. So he'd think anyways. As they would get to talking, and bond, and the child would reveal to him that someone killed their dad, and it was a squirrel of some sort (not him, some rogue), then he'd get sympathy, and start to see the others for what they actually are. He would realize he'd been killing, not innocents, but creatures just like him, and begin to realize that his country had totally lied to him. It would be a struggle for him to keep the truth alive in his mind, but he'd continue going on and just help behind the scenes, no matter what side anyone was on.

Saber is slowly going to become a furry more and more in each video

It’s things like this that absolutely blow my mind that North and South Korea are on the same peninsula.