Usavich (from the Japanese “usagi” — or rabbit, with “vich” appended for a pseudo-Russian feel) is a series of surreal ninety-second shorts animated for MTV Japan by Kanaban Graphics.

Usavich is about a pair of rabbits named Kirenenko and Putin, who are prisoners in an un-named Soviet jail, and their unusual pets Komanetsyn (a transvestite chick) and Leningrad (a frog who will eat anything).

The show eschews dialogue in favor of background music, sound effects, and indistinguishable mumbling (although the latest season does feature some lines in Russian); this works in favor of the ultra-short ninety-second format Usavich utilizes since dialogue does take up a lot of time.

The art for the series has a light, watercolor-like quality that belies the bizarre but funny (and even violent) situations Kirenenko and Putin find themselves in. It’s almost like reading an Edwardian-era picture book complete with rolling green fields and cute animals — and then somebody loses an eye, and it’s all downhill from there

You can watch Usavich shorts from the MTV Asia website, or all-new third season at Animation Nation on 17th October 2009 in Singapore. MTV Swag is giving away five pairs of tickets to catch the thon and meet Tomioka Satoshi — the creator of Usavich; winners will also take home an Usavich t-shirt, a plush toy, a key ring, and an autographed poster!