Oruchuban
Ebichu - "Ebichu the Housekeeping Hamster"
Produced by: GAINAX
Website: Here
Ebichu is the story of a small hamster owned by a unmarried
OL (office lady, a Japanese term meaning a woman who works in an office). While
her master is off at work, Ebichu assumes the role of housekeeper: dusting the
furniture, doing laundry, and washing dishes. Ebichu does everything she can
to make her master happy.
Awww, a perfect setting for a cute, heartwarming series...
or not.
The small hamster is thrown into a bloody mess against
a wall every couple of scenes or so. When the OL and her boyfriend AREN'T having
sex, he's hitting on other girls. She smokes like there's no tommorrow. Ebichu's
house is FAR from a happy one.
The work and effort that Ebichu does for her master usually
turns out to HURT the OL more than help. Probably the best example of this is
a scene in episode 3, in which Ebichu secretly follows her master to work, suspecting
that the OL has found a new love interest there. Sure enough, Ebichu sees her
at work, flirting with another employee. The hamster jumps down, proudly proclaiming
that while her master "may seem like a playgirl, she's really an attractive
girl! She feeds me lots of food and NEVER hits me! She DOESN'T smoke a pack
a day, and she DOESN'T trim her bush to look sexy in a bathing suit! Of course,
she doesn't have a green dildo either! There's more! She's NEVER sucked anybody's
dick before either!" Of course, the OL is/does ALL those things. =P
The major plus in this series is its comedy. I honestly
haven't laughed this hard at an anime since the first time I saw Ranma 1/2,
years ago. Granted, the comedy in Ebichu is all sex and violence, but when you
see Ebichu run in on the couple having sex, blowing her whistle, or Ebichu attacking
the Camembert cheese, you won't care. The version I saw was a DivX rip of the
DVD version. There was a VERY helpful two-minute or so intro to every episode
set that explained ALOT of the Japanese culture and inside jokes. It provided
an excellent guide to understanding the episodes better, and made them twice
as funny. There's not a whole lot not to like in it, though the lack of a very
interesting storyline may be one. Also, the animation style, while cute and
simple, gets annoying a few episodes later. Those are only minor peeves, however,
and Oruchuban Ebichu is the perfect anime to watch at a LAN party or if you
want to learn alot about common everyday Japanese culture.
-Ryoga
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