Yulia Zunikova
Masha
Overview
On New Year's Eve, any miracles are possible. You can even meet the magical guardians of nature - 12 months, who come together only once a year. This is how Masha meets little January, the Lord of Ice, while the Bear and other forest dwellers prepare for an unforgettable holiday.
Cast
7 people
Reviews
5 min readThe Bear, the Ghost, and the Geopolitics of Snow
I didn’t expect to spend New Year’s Eve thinking about soft power. Then again, I didn’t expect Masha and the Bear: 12 Months to open with a shot of a little girl in what looks suspiciously like a Soviet tank-crew hat, either. The hat is red, the snow is white, the bear is grumbling in the background, and somewhere in London, 50 MPs are drafting a letter about cultural infiltration.
This is not the holiday special I signed up for.
But here’s the thing: the hat is easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. Most of us aren’t. We’re too busy watching Masha—hyperactive, relentless, a force of nature in a pink coat—charge through a forest that feels like it was designed by someone who’s seen too many Slavic folktales and not enough actual trees.
The animation is bright, the pacing is breakneck, and the bear, poor bear, looks like he’s one more demand away from a nervous breakdown. It’s the kind of show that makes parents exhale in relief when the kid finally passes out mid-episode, only to wake up at 3 a.m. asking for “just one more.”
12 Months is a special, not a full season, and it leans hard into the fairy-tale logic of its premise. Masha stumbles upon the twelve months of the year gathered around a magical fire, each one a whimsical embodiment of their season—January is a tiny, frostbitten child with icicles for hair, July is a sunburned teenager in flip-flops. The setup is pure Fantasia meets The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and if you squint, you can almost see Disney’s lawyers taking notes.
But where Disney would smooth out the edges, Masha keeps them jagged. The months bicker. The bear sighs so deeply it sounds like a deflating balloon.
Masha, of course, doesn’t just observe—she interrupts, she demands, she rearranges. She’s the id of childhood, unfiltered and exhausting, and the bear is the long-suffering superego, forever one step behind.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.5/10
"A charming but lightweight addition to the Masha and the Bear series with colorful animation and kid-friendly humor."
Viewers appreciate the vibrant animation and the familiar, playful dynamic between Masha and the Bear, which remains a hit with younger audiences. However, some find the story too simplistic and lacking the depth or novelty of earlier episodes, latestnetflix.com argues, making it feel more like a routine installment rather than a standout adventure.
What viewers praise
- Vibrant animation The visuals are praised for their bright, engaging style, which keeps children entertained.
- Kid-friendly humor The lighthearted and silly moments between Masha and the Bear continue to resonate with young viewers.
- Familiar charm Longtime fans enjoy the consistent tone and characters, making it a comforting watch for children.
Common complaints
- Simplistic plot The story is seen as too basic, offering little in the way of new or exciting developments.
- Lacks novelty Some viewers feel it doesn’t stand out compared to other episodes in the series.
- Repetitive themes The humor and situations may feel recycled for those who have seen multiple episodes.
Recommended for
Young children Fans of the series Parents looking for short entertainment Animation lovers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsFifty MPs wrote Lisa Nandy about a girl who stole a season wand
In July 2026 more than 50 UK MPs asked culture secretary Lisa Nandy whether the government could stop Masha and the Bear on Netflix and ITVX. Liberal Democrat Tom Gordon led the letter. They pointed to a tank-crew hat, a cap they tied to Soviet border guards and the NKVD, and an English-language Animaccord post that read, "A real army girl with a butterfly net! Who hoo, I'm in the army now!" Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation called the series "an instrument of Russian soft power." Estonia's foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said the same month that the show embeds "pro-Kremlin and militaristic messaging in children's entertainment." latestnetflix.com's take is that Netflix had just bought two new seasons and extended existing seasons and spin-offs across more than 100 countries.The 2022 New Year film is one of those spin-offs. 
Animaccord, a Russian studio headquartered in Cyprus, denied every charge. Spokesperson Melanie Bonvicino said the company "categorically rejects the false and defamatory suggestion that Masha and the Bear is associated with propaganda," claimed no Moscow state money, and said the series "contains no political messaging." After Ukraine sanctioned the studio and several creators, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the move a "war against cartoons." DW quoted Ukraine's culture minister saying Russian propaganda has no place on children's screens. Those sanctions are 2026 business. The catalog title on Netflix is older. ,
A 23-minute holiday short with a cinema cousin
Netflix files it as Masha and the Bear: The Legend of the 12 Months. Vasiko Bedoshvili directed. Marya Bolshakova wrote. TMDB dates the Russian release December 15, 2022, and times this cut at 23 minutes. The English Netflix card keeps West Rubin and Boris Kutnevich, a TV-Y rating, and a logline about Masha and January sneaking off with a wand that belongs to twelve season wizards. Kinoafisha lists a theatrical booking, Masha i Medved v kino: 12 mesyatsev, at 46 minutes, a 70 million ruble budget, and about $1.53 million worldwide. That is the cinema math, not a leaked political recut. Rotten Tomatoes still has no Tomatometer. , , ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-TulvlZetw
The official English YouTube drop from the Masha and the Bear channel, posted November 15, 2024, runs 22 minutes 35 seconds. Bear has 122 holiday chores. Masha will not wait. January, the Lord of Ice, hands her a nature wand. The forest gets a Christmas it did not schedule. No salary leaked. The live fight is this 2022 holiday short sitting on the same service MPs and Kyiv want emptied, while the studio keeps repeating it is a girl, a bear, and a wand. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.