Masha and the Bear (Russian: Ма́ша и Медве́дь, Masha i Medved, IPA: [ˈmaʂə i mʲɪdˈvetʲ]) is a Russian animated television series created by Oleg Kuzovkov and produced by Animaccord Animation Studio (Moscow, Russia), loosely based on the oral children's folk story of the same name. The show focuses on the adventures of a little girl named Masha and a fatherly bear that always keeps her from disasters. The first episode was released in 2008.[1]
The series has been translated into 25 languages[citation needed] and was broadcast in more than 100 countries.[citation needed] The series was released on Netflix and through NBCUniversal.[2]
Many of the episodes have been successful on YouTube; in particular, one copy of the video "Маша плюс каша" ("Recipe for Disaster", in English version) has received over 2.7 billion views, making it the site's seventh most viewed video of all time, and the most viewed video on YouTube that is not a music video.[3][4] The remaining top ten most viewed Masha and the Bear videos are: "Bon Appétit", with over 1.0 billion views; "Laundry Day", with over 890 million views; "La Dolce Vita", with over 670 million views; "The Foundling", with over 640 million views; "Hocus-Pocus", with over 540 million views; "Two Much", with over 460 million views; "One, Two, Three! Light the Christmas Tree!", with over 460 million views; "Little Cousin", with over 420 million views; and "Home-Grown Ninjas", with over 330 million views.[5][6] Masha and the Bear is the only non-music artist to have two videos exceeding a billion views.
The show consists of three full seasons, with 26 episodes each. The first thirteen episodes of the fourth season have been launched already.
For the first season in English, Elsie Fisher — the voice of Agnes, the youngest of the three girls in the Despicable Me films — was chosen to dub the voice of Masha.[2]