Anime: Oruchuban Ebichu

The epitome of ecchi comedy in all of the extremes of vulgarity, sexuality, and repetitive humor.

When I first started this series, I grinned as each joke expressed completely the opposite sort of feeling that this show is supposed to take on. What filth. What vulgar humor. What disgraceful sex jokes. YES - I LOVE IT!

Just think about it! Let's list this out.

Cute things that should make this series innocent-looking:

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• Cute hamster. Big black, beady eyes. Insanely-cute, disgustingly-sometimes-annoyingly-cute voice.


• Though somewhat pathetic, a cute animation. Tiny bodies and bubbly faces.


• The innocent, somewhat pathetic opening and closing themes.

Ecchi things that would make any responsible parent scoop a lung out through their armpit with a spoon:

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• "manko" (Japanese for "pussy") implicated in every single episode. Also a lot of puns on sex and violence. Ebichuman and his hilarious theme song.


• Themes concerning sex, blowjobs, condoms, used tissues, cum-stained clothing, disturbing phone calls, and poop humor.


• Enough bloodied-up rats to think the show was Berserk-lite.


• Maa-kun, and his outlandishly hilarious voice actor.

Need I say more? I mean of course I will, but that outlines the plot and characters of this series. The rules to watching Ebichu are the following:

1. Do NOT look for story. There is a little bit, but it's entirely random episodes concerning life and it's daily vulgarities. It's daily life of a hard-working, hard-cleaning hamster that loves cheese, and her single master fucking her useless boyfriend.

2. Expect a sex joke at any time. If you are caught off guard, you will just hate the series gradually more and more.

3. Prepare for hentai-ish moments. It never gets pathetic about sex, but Ebichu does explore some things that really just shouldn't be aired on TV. Prepare for the worst.

With these things in mind, reviewing any specific category would seriously be repeating almost everything I've already stated. Thus, I will just mention a few other things.

Lots of cultural humor. Don't expect this series to easily come to America, since too much of the humor is Japanese influenced, and cannot simply be understood without a decent explanation. Also, I suggest that if you aren't familiar with Japanese humor at all to watch a few comedy animes (and perhaps a few ecchi comedies/hentais) before attempting this one.

Overall: Ummm...low score, but I LOVE IT!

Ebichi is seriously "da shit." Any flavor-specific, anti-nonsense anime fan will NOT like this series, but that doesn't mean it isn't good. If you can tolerate repetitive humor, confusing Japanese puns, and constant violence towards animals and useless boyfriends - this series is for you.

And yes, if you do watch this, make sure you at least see Maa-kun once. Undoubtedly, his voice actor makes one of the most disturbed screams I've ever heard.

(Writers note: If you read this review, RATE this review. Authors thrive on feedback, whether it be a simple happy face, or an in-depth critique.)

Summary/Outline: Ebichu is a talking hamster. His master, OL, is 25 years old, with a useless cheating boyfriend who only comes around for sex. And... that's about it.

Animation[/b]: The animation is pretty crappy. However, it's done on purpose, and helps with some of the comic moments. I believe it's also because if the animation was any clearer, I'd be seeing the much hated black and white smog covering up half the series. For those unaware, black or white smog is used to censor sex, nudity, and overly gratuitous violence. A handful of scenes in Elfen Lied for the violence, as well as about 9/10ths of Girls Bravo for the nudity, to name a couple. I find it very annoying, and prefer an "all or nothing" approach to violence and nudity.

Sound[/b]: The sound was... the sound. Nothing special to speak of, though nothing that detracts either. The opening song is goofy and pleasant, and the ending song is pretty nonsensical. Voice acting was near perfect, with Ebichu's constant shouting starting to wear on your nerves by series end.

Story/Plot[/b]: The story is the life of OL and Ebichu the hamster. The plot is something along the lines of, "How much sex and sex jokes can we put into this series before censors start firebombing?" The answer being, quite a lot!

Characters[/b]: Oruchuban has a small group of characters, with most screen time going to Ebichu and OL, his master. OL's boyfriend, Kaishounachi (literally meaning "useless"), comes in third, what with his constant coming over to OL's apartment for sex, before running off home, or to another woman. Ebichu is wonderful. Her cute little hamster voice, and the way she ends every sentence with "dechu". She's adorable. Adorable, that is, till she gives us a haiku about proper doggystyle technique, at which point we drop to the floor in tears. Ebichu is the center of most of the comedy, and pulls it off brilliantly.

Enjoyment[/b]: Ah, and here we are at last! The most important category for a pure comedy. The question is, was Oruchuban Ebichu funny? The answer, thankfully, is a loud and resounding "YES!!" Ebichu is absolutely hilarious. I couldn't tell you how many times I was lying on my side, laughing hysterically. By series end, I was starting to have trouble breathing. The moment you think there will be a reprieve, Ebichu will toss out another Haiku about pussy, and you're back on the floor again, gasping for air. Oh, here's a break! It's gonna... nope! Ebichu just "accidently" told the visiting neighbors about what a great cocksucker her master is. There we are, back on the floor, dialing 911.

There is a TON of sex and nudity in Ebichu. Every episode has at least half a dozen scenes of sex and/or nudity, and it's always used for laughs. For instance, one of the side characters is in love with Ebichu. So much, in fact, that after visiting with Ebichu and OL, he goes home and, pardon my French, fucks the ever loving shit out of his girlfriend, who is more than curious about his sudden vitality. The sound, combined with the visuals and the running joke about his obsession with Ebichu, and guess what? That's right! Back on the floor again. Sex jokes, Nudity jokes, Dildo jokes, Dick jokes, Pussy jokes, Embaressment jokes, jokes jokes jokes! They're wall to wall, and absolutely wonderful.

Rewatchability[/b]: You kidding? I've only seen it once by the time of this review, but if I didn't have a stack of about two-hundred hours of unwatched anime sitting on top of the television, I'd watch it again right now. Hmm... perhaps I will. In fact... what am I doing talking to you fools? I should be lying on the couch, watching Ebichu scream at Kaishounachi and OL as they have sex, screaming that he's putting it in the wrong hole.

/wave

When I found Oruchuban Ebichu while surfing through AnimeNfo, I somewhat dismissed it. One look at Ebichu and I thought "Oh hey, another Hamtaro." Later I noticed it was labeled "Mature" and tried it out. A series with awesome high points and a few disappointing low points, Oruchuban Ebichu is one of the funniest series to come out of GAINAX ever.

Animation: Not the best in the world, but still good. Sometimes the characters move fluidly, other times it's two frames being repeated over and over. This would normally tank the Animation score, but it works surprisingly well in Ebichu. The "rough edges" in the animation add to some of the humor. Of course, it could just be that the animators were tired that day. But I have no way of knowing that. ^_^

Sound: Hard to give a low score here when you have Mitsuishi Kotono (Evangelion, Excel Saga, Fruits Basket), Tomizawa Michie (Sailor Moon, Project A-ko, Sakura Taisen), and Seki Tomokazu (Evangelion, Chobits, Hajime no Ippo) on staff. These professional seiyuus give awesome performances in their roles. The minor characters also have great seiyuus. The opening theme and "Ebichu Ai no Uta" are both sung by Mitsuishi-san, and are quite catchy. The sound effects are realistic and clear.

Story: Similar to Galaxy Angel, Ebichu's episodes are mostly stand-alone. There is some hint of a storyline, but it mostly revolves around Ebichu's owner getting laid (usually she doesn't). Ebichu is a tiny little hamster with an affinity for camembert cheese, ice cream, and divulging her master's secrets to any crank caller who happens to call her. Her owner is a 25-year old Office Lady who isn't married, and is currently dating a kaishounachi (worthless bum) who gets drunk all the time and never spends the night. The situations Ebichu and company get into are hilarious, and the Ebichuman episodes are especially funny. They usually depend deeply on their innuendo, but it never gets old. There are a lot of cultural references that cannot be carried over, though, such as Ebichu referring to her owner's vibrator by the sound it makes.

Character: Other than Ebichu we don't see a lot of character development. We don't see very many characters, either. There are many one-shot characters and a few that stick around for 2 or 3 episodes. A series like this doesn't need the best character development, but some would have been nice.

Value: The jokes in Ebichu are so outrageous you just have to watch them more than once. Some of the episodes are not funny at all, but most of them will make you roll on the floor. And you'll want to watch them over and over and over.

Enjoyment: A lot of fun. A truly side-splitting comedy if you're one for mature humor. It does contain implied sex (you see them doing it from a distance, but you never see a penis or vagina), nudity (some badly drawn breasts), and some violence (Ebichu gets the crap beaten out of her anytime she does something wrong. Which is all the time). If you can tolerate the iffy animation, by all means get a'downloading. You won't be disappointed.

(Information on the previous roles of Mitsuishi Kotono, Tomizawa Michie, and Seki Tomokazu was taken from AnimeNfo.com)

Here’s my two cents. First: the animation style in this series is the most appropriate. I was quite surprised that some found it rigid and poor but it’s far beyond that. You all know what Japanese animation can achieve by just tilting still frames around. This is the anime that nourishes on this principle and it could as well be a comic book with slight movements and one of the best sound basis around. As for storytelling it resembles to shotgun comics like Garfield or maybe that great Ghibli film My neighbors the Yamadas but it is set to test the boundaries of TV broadcast censorship. Episodes are short comprised of several small “haikus” some more some less understandable to western public. With a great sub support the whole thing is extremely enjoyable. I might also add that children (or simple minded) should avoid this series because it was made to satisfy the more adult topics and will therefore bore them.

Everybody should know by now that this ISNT the anime to show to your children.
Ebichu is about Sex, Sex, Sex-toys, Sex, hamsters, and well Sex.
Despite the other reviews, the animation isnt crap. Ok, sex-scenes are done in crap-mode to reduce the hentai-factor, but the general style is quite fitting.

The voice acting is great. You will never forget the sound of ebichus "dechuuuuuu?" before she is smacked into a wall, and the voice of the owner is excellent,too.

If you like dirty humor, you WILL love ebichu. And you will never forget the meaning of the word "manko" and forever remember that "chestnut" and "squirrel" are quite a dangerous combination in Japanese :)

Extremely vulgar, ecchi to the max (even if the crude drawing does not invite any perverted thoughts) and quite funny.

I'm not into that kind of humor very much, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. And the Fansubbing is amazingly well done.