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"Ebichuman is going to save your sex life!!"

"That's the wrong hole!"
Ebichu

a.k.a. Ebichu Minds the House; Ebichu the Housekeeping Hamster

Ebichu is the talking pet hamster of a woman identified only as "Owner", "O.L.", or "Office Lady", a 25 year old, technically single woman. O.L.'s life consists of trying to get by, negotiating the hazards of dating her philandering boyfriend "Kaishounachi" — a nickname literally meaning "useless" — and beating Ebichu like an ugly redheaded stepchild on Sunday for minor infractions and major insults. Ebichu's life consists of thankless housework, cheese, an astonishing lack of anything remotely resembling tact, an unfortunate tendency to interrupt O.L. and Kaishounachi in flagrante delicto, and getting beaten violently. Around this core swims a sea of perverts, private moments made public, illicit liaisons, promiscuity, and the odd side character who finds Ebichu sexually attractive.

Kid's fare, this is not.

The show was originally part of an anthology series (Ai no Awa-awa Hour) and each episode is approximately eight minutes apiece. While the other two components were reputedly much tamer (and forgotten by the fanbase) the good people at Studio Gainax apparently took advantage of the late-night time slot to push the envelope as to what Japanese censors would allow. The result was a frequently hilarious, incredibly irreverent show whose short format perfectly suited the rapid-fire verbal and visual zingers.

According to one source, the origin of the anime stems from the production of Neon Genesis Evangelion; Kotono Mitsuishi would read the Yonkoma manga between takes to lighten the mood, often showing others why she was laughing. The decision was eventually made to animate it for Ai no Awa-awa, and the lead role was promptly offered to Mitsuishi.

The series eventually received a follow-up manga called Oruchuban Ebichu Chu~ which follows Ebichu housekeeping again for Office Lady and Kaishonachi after they have married and given birth to two daughters.

Absolutely no relation to Hamtaro!


Oruchuban Ebichu provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Abhorrent Admirer: In the manga, a stranger saves Ebichu from a trap in the woods and later on, Ebichu goes to their house to pay them back. Unfortunately for the stranger, Ebichu tries to give them sexual favors and a strip tease.
  • A-Cup Angst: O.L. feels this way about her own chest.
  • Adapted Out: Dobuyosi-kun and Tanukio, characters in the manga, are not present in the anime.
  • Affair Hair: Office Lady finds one long, straight hair while brushing Kaishonachi's shirt.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Numerous men in the show have shown perversion to O.L., courtesy of Ebichu's detailed descriptions about her life.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
    • O.L. and Kaishounachi very rarely show that they care for one another. The former more often than the latter. In fact, the number of times that Kaishounachi actually cares about O.L. can be counted on one hand.
    • In one comic, O.L. becomes visibly distressed after she finds herself unable to locate Ebichu in the home after watching a show on TV about how pet cats go off somewhere to die somewhere where their owners can't find them. Cue the Anger Born of Worry tears when Ebichu reveals to have been secretly eating cheese the whole time.
  • Balloon Belly: Ebichu gets two; one instance from eating an entire package of Camembert cheese, another after drinking many syrup containers.
  • Bathtub Scene: Office Lady and Kaishonachi have sex in the bathroom, but Ebichu ends up ruining the whole thing by intruding.
  • Beach Episode: "To The Beach", in which O.L., Ebichu, and Kaishonachi all spend the day at the beach.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Office Lady once said that she wished she never bought Ebichu and although she immediately regrets those words, just a short time after Ebichu goes missing. O.L. then worries for Ebichu's well-being.
  • Bedtime Brainwashing: (3:15 to 4:15. NSFW) Ebichu does both Pleasant and Troubling. She does Pleasant to her beloved master (normally a depressed and desperate Old Maid) who ends up waking up the next morning feeling completely refreshed and in good spirit. Soon after, she tries to do Troubling to said master's undesirable boyfriend by pretending to be the boyfriend's boss at work and calling him useless and all that. This attempt is subverted by the fact that the target was actually awake the entire time and hilariously beats Ebichu bloody.
  • Bestiality Is Depraved:
    • Maa-kun is definitely romantically and sexually attracted to Ebichu, but she doesn't reciprocate nor even notice.
    • O.L. actually gets turned on by imagining Ebichu being gangbanged by sewer rats. She chastises herself for thinking that way.
  • Beta Couple: At some point in the story, a pair of newlyweds move into O.L.'s apartment block and she envies their perfect relationship.
  • Big Eater: For something her size, Ebichu is a surprisingly big eater.
  • Bigger Is Better in Bed: Played with. Ebichu wonders how O.L. would feel if the former became a handsome male who is "big in that important place". O.L. gets excited thinking about large genitals, but Ebichu is actually talking about her spots.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: One of Office Lady's female friends, Watanabe, actually has romantic feelings for Kaishonachi as revealed when they all get drunk.
  • Black Comedy Animal Cruelty: It's a miracle that Ebichu doesn't die like Kenny.
  • Blank White Eyes: Occasionally happens whenever something horrifies Ebichu.
  • Blue with Shock: Office Lady becomes blue when she finds out Ebichu broke her pearl necklace.
  • Blush Sticker: Ebichu almost always has these on her face.
  • Bound and Gagged: Because Ebichu was eating too much and becoming really fat, Kaishonachi tries tying up Ebichu to make her stop. Of course, it ends up making Ebichu look like a bondage victim.
  • Brand X: Several renamed popular products. (Zabu detergent = "Zabubu". Donna Karan New York (DKNY) = "DINKY". Yebisu beer = "Yebichu", a joke carried over from Evangelion.)
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Kaishonachi asks if Ebichu is actually able to play mahjong, and Ebichu replies that she already did so pages before.
    Ebichu: Ebichu played mahjong on page 41.
  • Bring My Brown Pants: Ebichu pees herself at the end of Episode 5 when the delivery man returns and he finds out that she devoured somebody else's order of Camembert cheese.
  • Brutal Honesty: Ebichu, on occasion. It's mostly due to her lack of social awareness.
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • Ebichu, especially when Office Lady and her boyfriend beat her up. Poor Ebichu can't catch a break.
    • The Office Lady also serves as one, typically due to Ebichu's antics.
  • Catapult Nightmare: Parodied in an episode that features Maakun having several Catapult Wet Dreams. About Ebichu.
  • Chained to a Bed: When Ebichu goes missing, O.L. imagines Ebichu being tied to a substitute bed by sewer rats and getting raped.
  • The Chew Toy: Ebichu suffers from a lot of abuse from her owner Office Lady and her boyfriend.
  • Old Maid: O.L. It's probably part of the reason why she stays with her Domestic Abuser no matter what he does.
  • Class Reunion: Ebichu wants to go to O.L.'s but can't.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Office Lady often becomes this because Kaishonachi cheats on her.
  • Coordinated Clothes: The newlyweds have these, which only serves to make O.L. more jealous.
  • Cranial Eruption: Ebichu often gets this trope whenever she is beat by the humans.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: Kaishonachi reacts like one when he believes that his girlfriend has become a nude model behind his back.
  • Cross-Popping Veins: Other people may sport these when around Ebichu.
  • Cute, but Cacophonic: Ebichu; the cute part is open to question.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything? and Lampshaded Double Entendre in equally hefty portions.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Ebichu gets (drunken) physical revenge on O.L. and Kaishounachi in Episode 14.
  • Domestic Abuser: Kaishounachi is incredibly neglectful and indifferent to his girlfriend, and seems to only be interested in her for sex. He does arrive in a flash when he thinks she's in trouble, which suggests he does genuinely care about her to some degree.
  • Double Date: O.L. once double dated and played mahjong, but Kaishonachi ended up flirting with O.L.'s friend.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Regarding O.L. and Kaishonachi's relationship, the manga features abuse from both sides but the anime only ever shows the former hitting the latter.
  • Dream Within a Dream: Maa-kun dreaming about Ebichu.
  • Easily Forgiven: All it takes is a few kind words from Kaishonachi, and Office Lady will immediately forget his neglectful nature. It also helps that Ebichu frequently does something even more infuriating — instead of O.L. being mad at Kaishonachi, they both wind up being so angry with Ebichu that they forget they were just arguing.
  • Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn:
    • When Ebichu goes to the beach, she tries putting tanning lotion on O.L.'s back but with her small paws, it only leads to O.L. having paw prints all over her back.
    • Later at the beach, Ebichu tries sleeping on O.L. and leaves a hamster-shaped marking on the latter's body.
  • Engrish: Ebichuman's introductory narration consists of borderline-incoherent English (you have to read the subtitles to know what the creators were after) delivered in a fairly good but extremely exaggerated American accent.
  • Expressive Hair: Oddly enough, Ebichu gets three long single strands of hair that follow her mood. The hair is determined to be a good omen by the humans, but Ebichu notes they look like pubic hairs more than anything else.
  • Faking and Entering: Ebichu once forgot to tape a soap opera for O.L. and ends up wrecking the entire house in order to pretend that a robbery happened and a burglar took the tape. O.L. isn't impressed.
  • Family-Unfriendly Violence: Not that the show in general is family friendly, but you don't expect a tiny rodent to have so much blood...
  • Fanservice: Subverted. O.L. is shown naked or in revealing clothing frequently, but the art style isn't exactly titillating. The fact that Ebichu frequently delivers some Squick alongside this only further removes the possibility.
  • Flea Episode: Ebichu eventually acquires fleas (like any other animal) and passes it onto Office Lady and Kaishonachi. Once they realize this, O.L. throws Ebichu outside and accidentally leaves her sitting in the rain.
  • Foil: The newlywed's relationship serves as a severe contrast to O.L.'s own.
  • Footprints of Muck: At one point, Ebichu is cleaning the floor and she leaves behind these, much to her dismay.
  • From Bad to Worse: "The Camembert Cheese Incident". Ebichu just can't help herself from staring at the cheese package, attacking the cheese package, and then eating the entire cheese package. And it wasn't even meant to be delivered to her house.
  • From the Mouths of Babes: Nearly all of Ebichu's lines, and the main reason she gets beaten up so much.
  • Gratuitous English: The opening sequence of "Ebichuman".
  • Groin Attack: Ebichu tries attack Kaishonachi's groin in his sleep at least twice, that being once in the manga and another time in the anime. For the former, Ebichu actually starts turning him on by doing so. For the latter, Kaishonachi was actually awake the entire time and beats up Ebichu as revenge.
  • HA HA HA—No: A delivery boy briefly entertains Ebichu's antics before swiftly delivering a punch to her noggin.
  • Hairy Girl: Office Lady's sometimes unshaven pubic hair is often pointed out, as strange as it sounds.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Although Ebichu is typically naked, there was at least one time where she went to a club with O.L. and felt insecure about her nudity, so she put on panties to compensate.
  • Hentai: Generally averted. Characters do have sex onscreen, but the prevailing art style is so primitive as to obviate any prurient interest. The sex is secondary to the jokes about sex.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: O.L. once drugged Kaishonachi's drink to make him stay. Unfortunately, she drank out of the same glass and wound up passing out next to him.
    Ebichu: Morons.
  • Identical Stranger: Office Lady has one that's a nude model.
  • Interspecies Romance: Maa-kun and Ebichu. It's as weird as it sounds.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Despite Ebichu getting abused a lot, she surprisingly survives every beating.
  • Jaw Drop: O.L.'s jaw drops when Ebichu dominates a game of mahjong.
  • Jerkass: Office Lady and Kaishonachi. The former is usually only mean because of Ebichu's antics, but the latter has no excuse.
  • Karmic Butt-Monkey: Ebichu, Office Lady, and Kaishonachi are routinely stuck down by this by often bringing it onto themselves.
  • Luminescent Blush:
    • O.L. may get one when she actually cares about Ebichu. Strangely enough, she also blushed when she was excited about Ebichu become a human male.
    • Maa-kun may also blush around Ebichu.
  • Male Frontal Nudity: A few episodes have the rare occasion in Japanese media of adult male penises being shown uncensored, perhaps getting away with it because of how cartoony the art style is.
  • Mistaken for Cheating: Subverted. Kaishonachi tries to claim this trope is in play with him, but in reality Office Lady knows he's a lying cheater.
  • Murder-Suicide: Parodied. When Ebichu reveals one of O.L.'s masturbation techniques, O.L. states she will do this out of embarrassment.
  • Nosebleed: Maa-kun is extremely susceptible to this.
  • No-Sell: When O.L. punches Ebichu while the latter is in heat, the hamster barely even flinches.
  • No Social Skills: Ebichu. It's probably due to the fact that she's a hamster, so she can't really understand human social norms.
  • Oblivious to Love: Ebichu never notices Maa-kun's crush on her, which is probably for the best.
  • Office Lady: She's even named as such!
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: The protagonist is simply known as O.L. (Office Lady) or Goshujin-chama; her sexual partner as Kaishonachi (useless bum). We never find out Maa-kun's real name either; even his live-in girlfriend only refers to him as Maa-kun.
  • Only Six Faces: The art style isn't known for its detail, after all.
  • Panty Thief: O.L.'s house gets one in one episode. The thief is promptly laughed at when found out.
  • Pun: The "manko" (pussy) puns will surely get on your nerves by episode 15 or so.
    Ebichu: (in Engrish) LADIEZU AND GENTLEMANKO!
  • Punched Across the Room: Happens to Ebichu at least Once an Episode.
  • Raging Stiffie: Maa-kun, courtesy of him thinking about Ebichu. Other characters may occasionally get one for O.L.
  • Refuge in Audacity: The show's sexual escapades are done in deliberately crude style to keep them humorous and unappealing.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Ebichu often goes to visit a stranger's house, whose mother and son love Ebichu. The mother ends up buying her own pet hamster for the son, but the latter is confused as to why the hamster will no longer eat cake nor listen to music.
  • Right Through the Wall: O.L. and Ebichu can hear their newlywed neighbors having sex, which they gleefully listen in on.
  • Rugged Scar: When Ebichu goes missing, Office Lady imagines Ebichu being captured and tied up by various rats, one of whom has these. To fit the trope, the rats in her imagination are definitely the opposite of nice.
  • Running Gag: Many of them, run straight into the ground, through it, and out the other side.
  • Satchel Switcheroo: In "Ebichuman 3", Ebichu mixes up two packages she is supposed to deliver.
  • Sexual Karma: Inverted. O.L. and Kaishounachi are both jerks but their sex life is suggested to be the only healthy thing about their relationship.
  • Sick Episode:
    • "Ebichu Gets Sick".
    • "Master Catches a Cold".
  • Smoking Hot Sex: Sometimes, after Ebichu's owner and her boyfriend finished making love.
  • Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: Rodents can't vomit. Then again, they also can't talk.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Maa-kun's crush on Ebichu eventually crosses over into this territory; in his last appearance, we find him surreptitiously taking photos of Ebichu through the window of the apartment.
  • Stylistic Suck: In the first episode, Ebichu imagines a squirrel or chipmunk, one that is intentionally drawn poorly.
  • Superhero Episode: Ebichuman segments feature these, where Ebichu goes to save people's sex lives. She's actually pretty good at it.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: This is exactly why Ebichu is a Bad Liar.
    "I don't know anything! I didn't do anything to you in the middle of the night!"
    "I didn't break your pearl necklace."
    "While you were out, I didn't touch your Camembert, and I definitely didn't eat all of it because it was delicious!"
  • Talking Animal: Ebichu, duh. In Japanese, no less!
  • Tears of Joy: Ebichu frequently gets these and is just very emotional in general.
  • Terrible Artist: Ebichu is one herself, as shown in her diary.
  • Third-Person Person: Ebichu usually does this, which cements her as weird.
  • The Tooth Hurts:
    • Ebichu gets a cavity from drinking too much syrup in Episode 10. Kaishonachi tries to fix it himself, which earns him a punch from Maa-kun.
    • The entirety of "Cavities and Hearts Both Throb" focuses on O.L.'s toothache.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Ebichu loves camembert cheese and ice cream, and to a lesser extent, syrup.
  • Undying Loyalty: Ebichu usually has this towards O.L. For example, when a Panty Thief broke into O.L.'s house, Ebichu tried seducing the man to distract him and let O.L. escape.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A talking hamster who does chores? Nothing weird about that, no siree!
  • Verbal Tic:
    • Ebichu tends to replace "s" and "sh" with "ch" toward the end of her sentences, leading to words like arimachen, kudachai, and most commonly dechu.
    • Combined with Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode's name, except for the appearances of Ebichuman, ends with "dechu".
  • Vicious Vac: Ebichu tries scaring O.L. with one in order to coerce O.L. into taking Ebichu to her Class Reunion. Needless to say, O.L. isn't scared at all.
    Ebichu: I'll use it then, chu. The most frightening thing in the world, dechu.
  • Visible Odor: The regular hamsters that Maa-kun sees have these.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot:
    • O.L. and a drunken Kaishonachi throw up in Episode 12.
    • Ebichu throws up after drinking too much alcohol in Episode 14.
  • Weight Woe: According to Ebichu, O.L. gets upset over gaining two kilos, despite her having an hourglass figure.
  • World of Jerkass: Pretty much almost every character in this series is either a depraved asshole, a depraved dimwit, or both.
  • You Can Leave Your Hat On: In the manga, Ebichu tries giving someone a strip tease after they have helped her.

Alternative Title(s): Ebichu

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Ebichu

Why hamsters shouldn't get drunk.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (5 votes)

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