Ask John: Will America Ever See Ebichu?

Question:
How many episodes of Oruchuban Ebichu are there, and is there any chance of this series ever coming to North America?

Answer:
Following on the heels of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijoo which ended on March 26, 1999, Gainax Studios and director Hideaki Anno produced a little known late-night anime TV series titled Anime Ai no Awa Awa Hour, also known as “Modern Love’s Silliness,” which premiered on August 1, 1999. Each episode of the 12 episode, hour long program included two episodes of Oruchuban Ebichu (Ebichu Minds the House), an episode of Ai no Wakakusayama Monogatari (Little Women in Love), and Koume-chan Ga Iku! (Here Comes Koume-chan). All three programs were adaptations of manga intended for older, working class women. Little Women in Love and Here Comes Koume-chan were both slice-of-life light drama, but the 24 episode long Ebichu series was a borderline pornographic sex comedy involving a pitiful young OL (office lady) and her unfaithful boyfriend and her talking, housekeeping pet hamster Ebichu.

While Anime Ai no Awa Awa Hour remains a virtually unknown anime series in America, Ebichu has become a cult hit among American fans thanks to fan subtitled translations of the first 10 or so episodes. The popularity of the show is in part due to the series’ outrageous and extremely funny raunchy and risque adult humor, ruthless cruelty to animals sight gags and frequent graphic sex. The show is also famous among American fans in part because of its famous voice cast including Mitsuishi Kotono (Excel in Excel Saga, Mink in Dragon Half, Mistao in Evangelion), Michie Tomizawa (Linna in BGC, C-ko in Project A-ko, Doris in Vampire Hunter D) as Ebichu’s un-named owner, and Seki Tomokazu (Alex in Ayashi no Ceres, Touya in CCS, Touji in Evangelion) as Kaishounachi the OL’s good-for-nothing boyfriend.

The future of Ebichu in America is difficult to predict for a number of reasons. Because Oruchuban Ebichu was part of a larger anthology program, there’s no telling whether the Ebichu segments would be available for translation and distribution alone. Furthermore, the relative short length of the individual episodes may possibly make the series difficult to package and market, although other short episode series including Mini Ah! My Goddess, Kurogane Communication and Steel Angel Kurumi seem to have localized successfully. However, the biggest obstacle to an American release of Ebichu may be the show itself. Considering its content, Ebichu is only suitable for an adult audience in America, which potentially dramatically minimizes its target customer base and sales potential. The only anime available in America comparable to Ebichu is Ping Pong Club, a series that has die-hard supporters but has traditionally been a fringe sales success. However, unlike Inachu Ping Pong Club, which has a full compliment of 26 standard length episodes, Ebichu has the rough equivalent of only 12 normal episodes worth of animation and may very well cost significantly more than a show like Ping Pong Club to license simply because it’s a Gainax production with the marketable name recognition of Hideaki Anno attached to it. The potential expense of licensing Ebichu combined with the show’s limited commercial potential in America may make it too much of a financial risk for potential American release.