For YMMV on Nu, Pogodi! Kanikuly, go here
- Accidental Innuendo: Episode 15 shows Volk trying to find Zayats in a choir of similar-looking hares by crouching behind them and grabbing them by their tails one-by-one in a way that looks more like he's pinching their butts.
- Adaptation Displacement:
- For many people, the cartoon's version of Alla Pugacheva's Iceberg is much better known than the original.
- For many viewers (especially kids) from former Soviet block, it was one of the first (and legal) chances to listen to contemporary western hits.
- Adorkable: The Wolf's tall and lanky body combined with his artistic and graceful movements make for some humorous contrast.
- Alternate Character Interpretation:
- A popular interpretation among post-Soviet fans (most of whom grew up watching this show) is that Volk is less a predator and more just a petty bully, comparing him to a gopnik
(a stereotypical Eastern European hooligan). - When the Wolf hangs around areas largely populated by children (a fairground, a circus), is he waiting for Hare to show up so he can chase him? Is he just such a loser that he has nothing better to do than hang out at kiddie shows? Is he a Psychopathic Manchild? Or does he plan on harassing children if he can't find Hare?
- A popular interpretation among post-Soviet fans (most of whom grew up watching this show) is that Volk is less a predator and more just a petty bully, comparing him to a gopnik
- Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Referring to Volk as a pedophile is a sure way to severly piss off fans.
- Fan Nickname: "Soviet Tom and Jerry" is a common nickname for the show for both fans and detractors, even though the creators insist that they had never seen (more specifically, they were unable to see) Tom and Jerry cartoons before creating the show.
- Foe Yay Shipping: Often, Volk comes off more as a sexual predator than a more literal predator.
- One episode features an elegantly dressed Wolf coming over to Hare's house with apparently very friendly intentions, with a bouquet of roses and a bottle of cider (rare in the Soviet Union at that time). To millenial foreigners, it looks like they're having a date, but a Soviet viewer would interpret this as Volk merely sucking up to Zayats to lure him into a false sense of security, not outright courting him.
- There are multiple times when Volk makes coochie-coo noises at Zayats or snuggles his cheek after catching him.
- There's their tango in episode 2, complete with the Volk holding a rose in his teeth.
- They have also danced a ballet duet.
- The merry way they link arms and stroll up and down the deck of the ship in episode 7.
- Once, when those two appeared in the radio show for children, Wolf threatened to bang Hare so hard that he won't be able to stand. With an ABC book.
- Friendly Fandoms:
- With Zootopia, after Russian Twitter users started comparing Nick and Judy to Volk and Zayats. There are jokes that Nu Pogodi! and Zootopia take place in the same universe, but in different countries and at different times.
- Beastars, which also shares fans with Zootopia, has been jokingly called a Nu Pogodi! High School AU (or alternatively "Nu Pogodi! THE ANIME!") by fans of both, due to the main characters also being a wolf and a hare (or rather, a rabbit, very similar to a hare). Many fan videos on YouTube mimic the opening of Beastars with scenes from Nu Pogodi.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
- It has a small but dedicated cult following in America, thanks to its lack of dialogue and being Popular with Furries. It also has a following in, of all places, the Republic of Cyprus.
- Unsurprisingly, the series is very popular in CIS countries and former Eastern Bloc countries, where Soviet animations were often exported, such as Vietnam. And speaking of Vietnam...
- As evidenced by this video, Nu, Pogodi! has a sizable presence in Vietnam akin to Doraemon, given the existence of children's book adaptations and DVD releases. It is so popular that in fact, a Vietnamese animation studio created their own "adaptation" of Nu, Pogodi! in the 1990s. The end result was a shoddy copycat with some of the most atrocious animation to ever exist — even by their Soviet allies' standards. Ironically, when the shorts made its way to Russia, fans become really interested, mainly because they want to see the atrocious animation by themselves.
- As evidenced by this video
- Hilarious in Hindsight: In episode 4 (made in 1971), Volk steals a camera and snaps several close-up photos of himself◊ with exaggerated poses and expressions in a way that matches the modern fad of taking gratuitous selfies.
- Jerkass Woobie: As often as he harasses the hare, Volk also seems to be a down-on-his-luck blue-collar man with no job and presumable nothing better to do, whereas Zayats may come off as a bratty little kid.
- Memetic Molester: An occasional (though understandably very unpopular) interpretation of Volk's tactics in capturing Zayats is that they appear predatory in a... different way then they were most likely intended. In addition to Zayats's Vague Age, Volk often follows him into or hangs around places largely populated by children (see above). To say nothing of the slow, almost sensual way he sometimes grabs Zayats by the torso or the creepy baby noises he sometimes makes at him. It doesn't help that we rarely see what Volk's actual intentions are in stalking Zayats (only twice is it implied that Volk wants to eat him).
- Memetic Mutation: The Catchphrase and, to different extents, most of the (minimalist) dialogue.
- Misaimed Fandom: There are those who feel that Volk should be allowed to eat Zayats for being a twerp, even though a lot of the times he only acts that way is because he's being harassed by Volk when Zayats was just minding his own business (and that he doesn't wanna get killed). And Volk's misfortunes are mostly caused by his own foolishness more than anything.
- Nightmare Fuel: The hare-like android from the hi-tech exposition episode. It spends most of the episode staring at Volk with an empty smile and pointing mechanically back and forth between itself and Volk saying "Volk - Zayats! Volk - Zayats!" over and over in an equally mechanically way that's as unsettling as it is annoying. Volk can't get away from it fast enough and when he finally has enough and tries to squash the thing with a giant hammer, it reforms, T-1000-style, into something much worse.
- Sacred Cow: The original series is so beloved in its home country of Russia, that any reboots of the show could be considered tarnishing. When the series was rebooted in 2021 as Nu, Pogodi! Kanikuly, one of the living creators of the original series disowned the reboot, and the Communists of Russia were furious at the show for appealing to nostalgia.
- Seasonal Rot: After the fall of the Soviet Union, Soyuzmultfilm lost a lot of funding (as evidenced by the gratuitous Product Placement in the two 90s shorts), and there was a significant drop in the production quality as the show fell under new management. The post-90s shorts are considered an improvement, albeit not by much. It's led to a joke among some fans: "In Soviet Russia, Nu Pogodi! is better."
- Self-Fanservice: Fanart (especially those drawn by furries) would occasionally draw Volk with a lean but muscular figure, in contrast to his pot-bellied and rather out of shape depiction in the cartoon proper, though some would draw him as is and make him appealing in... other ways.
- They Copied It, So It Sucks!: The show gets passed up a lot by those who see it as a non-English knockoff of Tom and Jerry, despite the creators insisting that they were unable to see any Tom and Jerry cartoons during its production. Ironically, it's actually gained fans who see it as a Soviet "reinterpretation" of Tom and Jerry or Coyote & Roadrunner.
- Values Dissonance:
- While Zayats does distinctly adult things like smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and even holding employment in several episodes, he still looks and sounds like a toddler, which makes a lot of Volk's antics come off significantly more pederastic than were most likely intended.
- One short featured Volk being captured by a group of African bunnies complete with big lips and tribe outfits.
- Modern-day non-Russian fans will see the frequent use of guns, alcohol, knives, and smoking and find themselves asking What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: Zayats for non-Russian viewers. This isn't much of an issue in the homeland, since he's A Hare Named "Hare", and the Russian word for it is masculine by default (and he's is also wearing shorts). In the countries that caught the export version, however, it was easy to mistake him for a girl as his gender was never brought up. Zayats' somewhat high-pitched voice as imitated by the English VA, and his engagement in feminine activities, were left untouched, and many didn't really notice the shorts or assumed him to be a tomboy. This also applies to a lot of other anthropomorphic animals appearing in the series, whose genders are determined mostly through the pants vs. skirt method. Zayats is seen being dressed in a style similar to Volk several times and wears swim trunks with no top in beach episodes, which is where most confused viewers should figure it out. As of his 2021 redesign, Zayats is given more overtly male features by making him taller, removing his eyelashes, and having a male provide his voice, ensuring that no matter the language, nobody could mistake him for a girl.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The show was actually highly subversive for something made behind the iron curtain, being largely apolitical and lacking any Soviet imagery at a time when propaganda was at an all-time high. That said, its moralistic intentions — the villainous Volk being an unambitious (and presumably uneducated) lowlife, while the protagonist Zayats is virtuous and intelligent — have been interpreted as a reflection on the animosity between the bourgeoisie (Hare) and the working class (Volk). Per word of series director Vyacheslav Kotyonichkin, the show doesn't have any greater message than simply "don't hurt the little guy or you will yourself get into a foolish situation," which can apply to any political leaning.
