A hamster gets beat to death every episode and somehow that's the least weird thing about this show. Ebichu's absolute devotion to her master plays like a sick love letter to codependency, except the hamster is funny about it and the abuse is rendered in such cartoonish, exaggerated violence that it loops back around to absurdist comedy. This is 1999 being exactly as unhinged as it needed to be: a short-form series that treats domestic dysfunction and animal suffering as setup for the next ice cream gag, never blinking, never apologizing, never stopping.

An eager hamster named Ebichu lives to serve her owner, an office worker referred to only as OL. Ebichu handles everything: cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping. She's tireless, enthusiastic, devoted. Even so, she often ends up on the receiving end of harsh, bloody punishment. Between Ebichu's boundless energy, her weakness for ice cream, and OL's cheating boyfriend, trouble is never far away. What makes Ebichu keep trying? Genuine affection. She doesn't seem to mind the abuse as long as she manages to make her beloved master a little happier. It's a strange dynamic: sweet devotion paired with violent comedy, in a short-form slice-of-life series with ecchi elements, originally aired as part of a block of relationship comedies aimed at women.