France Televisions Licenses Ebichu



"Oruchuban Ebichu" to be renamed "Sophie nettoie la maison"

According to a recent news announcement from France Televisions, the Paris based company has acquired the France distribution rights to Oruchuban Ebichu. A staff member was able to get a hold of Julien Borde, Director of youth programs of the French TV "France 3", who had this to say in regards to the announcement. "Our recent goal as a company is to try and become more diverse. One way to accomplish this goal is to deal with other companies we've never had the chance of working with before"

In response as to why France Televisions decided to distribute Ebichu, tentatively to be re-titled "Sophie nettoie la maison" (Sophie cleans house), Mr. Julien Borde replied, "In our goal to become more diverse, we've decided to present audiences with types of shows we haven't done before. In the past, our programming has been directed towards the young male demographic. Recently, we've chosen to reach out to female viewers as well with the broadcast of programs such as Winx Club. But even though we've been able to gain a broader audience, the majority of our programming contains the elements of an average action series. We wanted to do something totally different from that. Ebichu gained our attention for a number of reasons. The main reason we enjoyed it so much was because of the simplicity of the series. The show features no super heroic characters or settings, just the basic story of a young hamster as she does her best to look after her master. This basic plot setting is what we found unique and thought it was perfect for our ideal goals"

With production already underway for the series, and plans to broadcast the series on France 3 in December, no word has been made on whether or not Ebichu will be released on un-cut, bilingual DVDs. But Mr. Borde has stated, "We'll be handling this series with the same professional quality viewers have come to expect from us. We hope that viewers get a chance to watch it, and we hope they enjoy it very much."

Source : Anime News