Himouto! Umaru-chan - Reviews

Highly reccomend this anime as a great way to spend a day (or evening). This show is a great slice of life story. Equally funny, sappy, and healing. The art is a fantastic mix between childlike and the usual flow grace and beauty seen in other anime. I loved the characters and plots, how it touches on deep topics but handles them in a diagestable way. THE FAMILY VIBES. Overall, if you're looking for a soft comedy, this is a great pick. 

I love this show! It is so kawaii. I thought the main character is adorable. There is no plot though, so if you don't like the MC forgetaboutit. It's all about her. My boyfriend loathes her and thinks her bro is a simp. The other girls are almost as cute, especially her rival, but really they just exist to show everyone how cute the MC is. This is cute, adorable, mindless fluff. Don't expect anything deep.

OK, now I'm gonna say something really controversial:

The dubbed version is better than the original. I have seen both and the American actresses for the MC and her rival have really outdone themselves! I watch dubs often and this has never happened before.

Doga Kobo released season one of “Himouto! Umaru-chan” back in the summer of 2015. Unsurprisingly it was followed up by two further seasons as the story opened up so many sub-plots that fans just had to see more. Main character, 16-year-old girl Umaru Doma has it all: popular at school, very pretty, top of her class and good at sports. She is adored by everyone she meets, but then there is her brother Taihei Doma. He is ten years older than her and shares a very small apartment with Umaru in Tokyo. He gets to see the other side of his sister: at home she is a self-centred, lazy otaku who drives him to distraction, if not despair. This, her non-public alter-ego, is portrayed as a chibi-version whereby she shrinks and becomes a hamster-like ball of terror. Although this version of her is not meant to be seen literally it is curious that several characters who see her in her “home-state” think she is Umaru’s little sister.

Arguably there is not much to see here as season one opens up more questions than it answers. There is no overall story as such. Arguably it is a ‘coming-of-age’, slice of life, kind-of-thing.  Episodes are filled with a large variety of sub-plots with endless possibilities. Some involve Umaru’s relationship with her friends at school whilst others centre upon her older brother’s relationships with his work colleagues. Fortunately, Umaru is no Bart Simpson. She is far more endearing. Although she can bend her brother around her little finger, she often has cause to be very grateful for him. Occasionally her love for her brother spills over into full exuberance as she jumps on his head. He tries hard to keep her happy whilst also trying to get her out of the house and engage in more normal teenage occupation. Above all, where-ever or whatever she is, the character of Umaru remains utterly adorable. She is never bad enough to ever come close to detestable. Hence the show’s popularity. You could watch her and her brother forever and never tire of their antics.

By strange coincidence Taihei has three work colleagues all of whom have little sister too. What they don’t realise is that those sisters are actually all friends of Umaru. Which seems unlikely. The Doma family are also, allegedly, extremely rich. Taihei is also (like his sister) extremely bright. It is unclear why they are crammed into such a small apartment. It is also strange that his boss at work is a girl he used to go to school with. What we do know is that she (Kanau Kongou) has a big crush on him which has been in place since they were at school together. Umaru’s best friend lives downstairs from them and she has a big crush on Taihei too because he is so adorably kind to her. Umaru has an academic, sporting and gaming rival in the shape of Sylphynford Tachibana. Another friend Kirie Motoba has a big crush too on Umaru. There is a lot going on here and an air of mystery too about where this is all going. It keeps you watching. So, what is a “himouto” anyway? The word is a portmanteau of “himono onna” and “imōto” mean a ‘person who is lazy at home’ and ‘little sister’. It all makes sense now.

Himouto! Umaru-Chan is a very fun and entertaining anime. I watched it as a recommendation from a friend and it did not disappoint. The story is captivating and a lot of scenes are hilarious. The characters are cute and overall the show is a funny and somewhat true representation of the life of an anime fan and couch potato.

I couldn’t get past my annoyance at the main character. She is all the things I hate: obnoxious, lazy, and messy.