Curucuru and Friends

Lore & Background

The series originated as a pilot film in 2003, selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency, and was officially greenlit in 2004 with support from the Gyeonggi Digital Content Agency. The first season aired on KBS2 from November 24, 2006 to February 16, 2007, totaling 13 episodes. It was broadcast in mainland China by China Central Television in 2008 under the name The Family of Greenwood. A second season of 26 episodes aired from September 2014 to February 2015, produced by Ffango Entertoyment and Comma Studios. A movie sequel, Curucuru and Friends: The Rainbow Tree Forest, was released in Korean theaters on November 19, 2015, and a third season followed in 2016.

Reader's Guide

Curucuru and Friends is significant as Ffango Entertoyment's debut original stop-motion series, demonstrating the studio's technical approach using customized ball-jointed puppets and 100 Canon EOS-1D Mark II Stop Motion Control cameras. The series received multiple awards: Grand Prize at the 2003 Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival, best animation at the Gyeonggi Digital Art Center in 2004, the 13th Korean Animation Awards for best animation in 2007, and the Golden Monkey Award at the 8th China International Animation Festival in 2012. Its legacy includes an official musical (2007–2011), international distribution by Iconix Entertainment, and being the first project to apply KOCCA's OSMU (One Source Multi-Use) model in a Korea-China collaboration. Total Licensing Magazine noted the series 'is not didactic in its approach but, through animation, conveys originality, sociality and propriety in a way to interest the children.'

Did You Know?

• The series was animated using customized ball-jointed puppets created by Thinking Hand Creative Studio and Darak Workshop.
• The main character Curucuru is a brown bear boy who likes to cook but is lazy, sleepy, and a slow runner.
• The movie The Rainbow Tree Forest was released in 2015, after Season 2, and involves pirate hyenas stealing a legendary item called the Pingya.
• The second season introduced two troublemaking characters: Archie (a gray jackrabbit) and Dangdang (a brown monkey).

From Pilot to Premiere

Curucuru and Friends began life not as a television show but as a pilot film in 2003, produced after the Ffango animation studio rebranded itself as Ffango Entertoyment. That pilot caught the eye of the Korea Creative Content Agency, and Seoul Movie subsequently expressed interest, leading to the project being officially greenlit in 2004 with government funding and backing from the Gyeonggi Digital Content Agency. By 2005, the series had been elevated to one of KOCCA's Star Projects, a designation that signaled institutional confidence in its potential. The finished product—Ffango's first original stop-motion animated series—finally reached Korean audiences on KBS1 on November 24, 2006. Chung Hyun helmed the direction, while Yi Jeong-Geun and Jang Eun-Ju shared writing duties and Jin Hyo-Jung crafted the character designs. The result was a thirteen-episode preschool-oriented series that would go on to spawn a film, a second season, and a third, establishing a franchise that outlived its original studio's name.

The Five Friends of Green Forest Village

Set in the idyllic Green Forest Village, the series revolves around five young animal friends whose distinct personalities create a natural ensemble. Curucuru, a brown bear boy with a passion for cooking, is the gentlest and most laid-back of the group—lazy, slow on his feet, and occasionally timid, yet endlessly supportive of his companions. His closest bond is with Toto, a purple bat boy who dreams of becoming a pilot despite lacking wings, and whose curiosity and stubbornness make him the group's youngest and most mischievous member. Koori, a brown raccoon, serves as the village's self-proclaimed inventor; prideful and boastful, he never stops tinkering even when his creations fail, and he looks after his younger sister Haru. Pinpin, a blue-and-white giant panda, is the calm, kind-hearted artist who struggles with inspiration and often consults his grandfather by the lake. Rounding out the quintet is Lalla, a pink tabby cat girl who aspires to be a singer and princess, collects dolls, and balances her posh, attention-loving nature with genuine warmth toward her friends.

Story Arcs from Village Adventures to the Rainbow Tree

The narrative structure of the franchise shifts tone as it expands. Season 1 keeps things simple and episodic: the five friends wander the forest and the village, stumble into minor troubles, and walk away with a gentle life lesson—exactly the rhythm a preschool audience expects. The tone sharpens considerably in Season 2, where the central conflict becomes the kids' ongoing effort to outsmart a pair of troublemakers, Archie (a gray jackrabbit) and Dangdang (a brown monkey), whose schemes repeatedly threaten the peace of Green Forest Village. The 2015 theatrical film, The Rainbow Tree Forest, sits chronologically between the two seasons and raises the stakes dramatically. The village celebrates the thousandth anniversary of its great central tree, whose vitality depends on a legendary artifact called the Pingya, said to bestow Eternal Love and Life. During the festival, a gang of Pirate Hyenas swipes the item and the tree begins to wilt. The friends must retrieve it, all while encountering a mysterious Tiger child whose presence is somehow tied to the theft.

Crossing Borders – The China Connection

Curucuru and Friends found a second life well beyond Korea's borders. In 2008, China Central Television picked up the broadcast, airing the series under the Chinese title The Family of Greenwood (绿树林家族), while the English-speaking world sometimes referred to it as Tales of Greenery. The franchise's most significant international chapter came after a rights transfer that led to a fully co-produced second season. Zhejiang Chinese Cartoon Co. and Beijing Pan Gaowen Media Ltd collaborated to produce 26 new episodes, which aired from September 2013 to February 2014 with backing from the China Film Group and Guangdong Alpha Animation & Culture Co. This Chinese-season partnership introduced the Archie-and-Dangdang antagonists and expanded the show's runtime considerably. Back in Korea, the theatrical film hit cinemas on November 19, 2015, and a third season followed in 2016, ensuring the franchise remained active on both sides of the border for nearly a decade after its original 2006 debut.