Western Animation / Squared Zebra

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Squared Zebra is a 2020 Russian animated children's television series produced by Cyber Group Studios and Soyuzmultfilm.

The show is about Checkery, an unusual zebra with squares on her body instead of stripes. She lives in a jungle on a faraway island with her friends:

• Polly, a vain and somewhat ignorant zebra with the traditional stripes. She believes all zebras are the same and that everyone should follow her example regardless if they're a zebra or not, but her beliefs are challenged by Checkery. Despite Polly's initial disputes with Checkery, the two zebras quickly become friends.

• Rodion, a soft-spoken and intelligent elephant. He is the smartest and most level headed of the group.

• Gosha, a crocodile with an appetite and exceptional physical strength.

• Yana, a playful and somewhat mischievous monkey.

• Pasha, a clownish ostrich who loves to tell jokes. He is the fastest member of the group.

• Petya, an ostrich egg who is the youngest out of all the animals. He is the little brother of Pasha.

Each episode involves Checkery and her friends hanging out or getting into some type of comic mischief. Regardless of whatever problems arise amongst her friends, Checkery will always come up with a solution thanks to her lack of bias and tolerance for others.

The series aired in English on ABC Kids in Australia and airs in Spanish on Vme Kids.

Tropes:

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Petya wears a stylish pair of black shades. In certain episodes, Polly wears a pink hat.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Checkery is a beige-colored zebra with red and orange squares on her body.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: In "The Squared Zebra," Checkery mentions her parents, but they're never seen in the show. However, this may be justified, as Checkery moved to the island by herself.
• Art Shift: Halfway into "A Dream in Black and White," during Polly's nightmare, the character's and the entire island's color palette changes to completely monochrome.
• Berserk Button: If you make fun of Gosha for his inability to play hide and seek, he will show you the brutish side of his crocodile nature. As seen in "Hide and Seek."
• Big Eater: Gosha is shown numerous times, especially in early episodes, to enjoy eating, scarfing down piles of fruit. He has experience in the culinary side of food in addition to this.
• Bigger on the Inside: Everyone being able to fit inside Checkery's house despite what it looks like on the outside would tell you. Rodion even has to duck under the door to get in!
• Birthday Episode: "A Surprise For Gosha" and "A Touching Gift" celebrate two characters' birthdays: Gosha and Checkery, the latter episode focusing on Pasha and Petya trying to find the perfect birthday gift for Checkery.
• Bowdlerise:
  • In the original Russian version "Joking Around", Gosha raises his claws to strike Pasha when he becomes fed up with his pranks, only to be stopped by Checkery. In international airings of the episode, he just calmly lectures Pasha instead.
  • During her nightmare in "A Dream in Black and White", Polly gets ensnared in a vine trap. This scene is cut entirely in international airings.
  • Polly faints when her bow is about to get carried down a waterfall in "The Bow", the scene is edited in international airings to her just covering her eyes.
• Character Title: Checkery is the titular "Squared Zebra."
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Polly becomes this after the first couple episodes, especially after "A Dream in Black and White".
• Distressed Dude: Gosha needed help untangling himself from some vines in "My Grandma's Wonderful Hat". Petya also needed rescuing in the same episode.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The theme song is sung by the entire cast.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In certain early episodes, in particular "Hide And Seek," "My Grandma's Wonderful Hat," and "Banana Island," every character has subtle design differences, with characters like Petya being especially noticable.
• Ethereal Choir: One briefly plays during "A Song with Friends" when Polly tries explaining to Pasha how to correctly vocalize.
• Fake Interactivity: Checkery addresses the audience in "Joking Around" and "The Bow" at the end to preach the moral of the aforementioned episodes. In "The Fix It Club," Polly, Gosha, Yana, Pasha, and Checkery respectively all directly talk to the audience.
• Gentle Giant: Rodion is an elephant and the largest of the group, but he is very well mannered and wouldn't hurt a fly.
• Girlish Pigtails: Polly has two pigtails protruding from her jet black hair.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Polly is overtly feminine in comparison to the other girls, but she is shown to participate in sports with everyone else.
• Hammerspace: Checkery pulls out a radio from seemingly nowhere in "Masquerade"
• "I Am Great!" Song: Yana's little ditty in "The Bridge", boasting about how brave she is.
• Interspecies Friendship: Everyone in the main group is friends with each other, despite all of them (barring Checkery and Polly) being different animals.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Polly in "A Dream in Black and White" upon thinking that she made Checkery leave the island by wanting her to be like everyone else, even retracting said statement.
• Tutti Frutti Hat: Checkery wears one at the end of "The Hair Salon".