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Oruchuban Ebichu (or Ebichu Minds the House, in Japanese: おるちゅばんエビチュ) is an anime produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno, and is based on the manga by Itoo Risa. It first aired as six eight minutes episodes in 1999 as one third of the show Modern Love's Silliness.
In contrast to kid-friendly Hamster themed shows such as Hamtaro, Ebichu is very adult in nature, and presents explicit violence, innuendo, and sexual scenes as far as the TV network will allow. Like South Park in the United States, this series treched the limits of what could be shown on Japanese network television, and the uncut version of the series is only found on DVD. Despite its adult nature, it is not considered "hentai" anime, as the content is intended to be humorous and satirical of contemporary Japanese relationships rather than arousing. To illustrate this point, the show is animated in a very simplistic and childish manner.
The story is about a talking pet hamster, Ebichu, who tries to help a single, unnamed 25 year woman, "OL" (or Office Lady) get married, following the cultural belief that after the age of twenty-five a woman is no longer considered young. Ebichu's weak point her attempts to correct OL's bad decisions, such as her berating of OL's obnoxious and untrustworthy boyfriend Kaishounachi (literally, Useless)
A major source of humor is the naive Ebichu's futile attempts to to idolize, praise, and serve her owner despite repeated indifference or abuse coupled with her near total lack of tact.
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