When compared to Zyablikova's earlier Soviet-era cartoons, I think the big difference here is that despite an outward look that suggests that it is, this is not actually aimed at an audience of children. Which makes sense, as the once-admirable distribution network for Russian animation had by this point been broken down for many years, so the film was probably made for Zyablikova herself, her studio colleagues and other professionals at a few domestic film festivals.

The lonely woman is actually the main character, and no special effort is made to present her perspectives or worries in a way that younger viewers could easily relate to. The titular rabbit, whom a young viewer will naturally try to identify with, does nothing noteworthy or praiseworthy in the entire film other than simply exist, first as a good mama's boy and then as an insufferable teenager. We're a world away here from the cartoons of someone like Snezhko-Blotskaya in which the young, male, idealistic main character would take risks and be the main force for positive change in the world (or, more recently in 2015, Dmitriy Palagin tread similar ground).