The highly anticipated new series of ‘real-time’ drama 24 returns this Sunday with a special two-hour season premiere.

It has already caused some controversy when it was shown in America last week due to its dramatic plot revolving around Muslims fundamentalists. But the show producers and the star of 24 himself, Kiefer Sutherland have stressed the point that television viewers should not assume all Muslims are terrorists, even though the show is portraying them as part of the story.

Despite this, I’m looking forward to the new season with great enthusiasm.

For those who missed out on Jack’s previous five days, let’s recap on the past five seasons.

Day 1:
A terrorist group plotting to kill presidential candidate David Palmer kidnaps Jack Bauer’s wife and daughter. Jack saves the future president and his daughter Kim but suffers the agony of losing Teri when his former lover Nina Myers shot her in the chest.

Day 2:
Set around 18 months after the first season. Jack is dealing with the death of his wife, Teri Bauer, and the estrangement of his daughter. Jack is no longer working for CTU, but when the White House receives intelligence that a nuclear bomb will be detonated in Los Angeles over the course of the day, Jack springs into action. Saves the day in the final hour and re-connects with Kim.

Day 3:
To maintain cover infiltrating the Salazar drug family, Jack becomes addictive to heroin. He has a new partner named Chase Edmonds, who had a relationship with Kim, much to the knowledge of Jack… Chase loses his arm in a way to prevent the deadly virus expose to all the citizens in Los Angeles and yet again Jack is the hero.

Day 4:
Jack Bauer has a new job. After being fired by CTU, he now works as a senior advisor to Secretary of Defence James Heller. Jack also found a new love in his life in the form of his boss’s daughter, Audrey Raines. But an impending hostage crisis, concerning Heller, leaves Jack’s new life in shambles. So, it’s back to CTU and back to stopping some terrorists… As the day drew to a close, a secret Chinese Consulate mission goes wrong, setting up serious consequences for Jack… Fakes his own death to avoid being detective and walks away from CTU.

Day 5:
Jack is living under a new alias, as Frank Flynn, and working on various oil rigs and refineries throughout America. Meanwhile, an unknown figure orders the assassination of the four people who know Jack is alive – Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, Chloe O’Brian and former President David Palmer – to frame him. He returns to LA to clear his name when a hostage situation erupts. But it is only a diversion by collaboration of conspirators and Russian separatists to obtain 20 canisters of Sentox VX nerve gas. Jack attempts to search for the remaining canisters and expose treachery that goes deep within the White House.

And now it’s Day 6. What will happen to Jack Bauer? Can he survive another 24 hours of non-stop action featuring conspiracies and terrorists plot? Then catch the new series of the Emmy award-winning drama on January 21st.

See all the preview trailers here

How come an innocent-looking anime featuring a cute little hamster contains so much violence, innuendo and explicit sexual scenes? Well, this is Oruchuban Ebichu, an anime based on a manga comic by Risa Ito. The adult themed show is produced by the same company responsible for Neon Genesis Evangelion (Gainax), with the talented Hideaki Anno in the director’s chair.

The leading character is Ebichu, a sweet-looking hamster that can talk and is obsessed with cheese. Ebichu tries her best as a housekeeper for her owner, who is a single 25-year-old office lady who desperately wants to get married. Unfortunately, her boyfriend is a useless layabout (his name in the show is Kaishounachi, which is quite literally, “useless”) who’s not very good at anything, especially where it counts…

In most of the episodes, Ebichu suffers the occasional beatings from her owner despite the hamster’s endless praise and compliments. However, such abuse is usually caused by Ebichu’s almost disturbing lack of tact or propriety, often embarrassing her master in front of other people.

Ebichu is a complete opposite of Hamtaro, a popular children’s anime featuring a hamster in more wholesome adventures. The stories in Ebichu are more violent with raunchy scenes.

The episodes itself are rather short – broken up as two parts with an appealing theme tune as the show’s signature. The voice acting is excellent and if you feel lost with references to the Japanese culture don’t worry, as there are subtitles to help you understand – which includes slang words!

I would highly recommend this series to anyone who isn’t afraid with adult oriented content and humour.