Welcome one and all to another Otaku Review where we look at all things anime and otaku related. The winter season has kicked off but we are changing from the usual style of Otaku. Now we are going to let a series take shape before we look at it, a few episodes to establish itself. Future reviews for each anime season will have us looking at more established series rather than the first episode.
Since we are letting the summer season get a head start and also this anime head needs to choose some titles to watch, we are going to go back a season or two. Back to some maybe overlooked titles from season past. Each season there are so many new titles released that it is near impossible to catch them all and even more difficult to review a them alll. With this being the case I am jumping back today to last year’s summer season to have a look at Himouto! Umaru-chan.
Double Life
For anyone who does not remember this little slice of life, comedy and school anime from the last summer season Himouto! Umaru-chan originally aired on July 9. An adaptation of the manga of the same name the anime follows our main protagonists Taihei and his younger sister Umaru. As the namesake of the anime Umaru is the centre of the anime, in the outside world she is a girl to idolise.
She is the ultimate image of perfect, cute as a button and unintentionally great at anything new she tries whether it be academic or sports. A stark difference to the girl who lives with Taihei, once Umaru’s day ends and she comes home she transforms into the gluttonous, lazy and selfish Umaru. Even reducing in size she dons a hamster hood, plays video games, reads manga and chows down on chips and cola. She drives her brother crazy and uses him as her own personal ATM machine and servant. Umaru goes out of her way to hide this persona to from all her friends and the outside world thus living her double life.
It is a well-known fact that I have voiced my utter distain for any anime that come under the slice of life banner. It would always be a vice as each season there would always be an abundance of slice of life anime to wade through. There is no real reason for this hatred except that I had not found or enjoyed an entire slice of life series in recent seasons. Even now few anime have stood out as interesting or worth watching. This could be the reason that Himouto! Umaru-chan fell through the net for me. Although I will also attribute this to the fact that that summer season in particular was more simmer than sizzle.
However, someone close to me came across this anime months later and we watched it. I cannot express how much I truly enjoyed this anime. I loved every entertaining moment. Do not get me wrong there is nothing in particularly stand out about this anime. It is a general slice or life comedy anime that is based on a closet otaku who drives their sibling mad, nothing majorly interesting there. What makes this anime is its characters and how they interact within this simple narrative.
Make or Break
There is a fine line with good and bad. This anime is pushed into the good category and this is solely down to the characters. Something I did enjoy about this anime is the fact it took the time to give characters the correct amount of time to develop and properly interact. Thankfully we are not overloaded with characters in this anime like in others similar to it. We have a handful of all round hilarious but easy to connect with characters including the large chested friend of Umaru who thinks people stare at her because she is from the country and not because of her large chest and the overly competitive girl who shows off and attempts to constantly overthrow Umaru as most popular.
Where all the characters are fantastic without our main lady this anime would be nothing. Umaru is exactly what you imagine being, as her outer self she is the epitome of perfection. She excels in her everyday life but the real highlight of her is her inner self. The little cape clad ball of gluttony. This form she takes on is hilarious. In reality she is what we all wish we could be like instead of being adults every day and we see this when others join her. They slip all too comfortably into the slob mode she has created.
The best moments of the entire anime is when she interacts with those around her in both forms. She does have friends in the outside world that do not know about her inner self. This means she goes out of her way to hide that side of herself from them leading to hilarious mishaps and interactions. She pretends to be her own little sister when a girl from her school discovers her at home.
Although a short anime each episode is a new story and adventure for Umaru to face whether it is competing in a local video game tournament under her gamer tag UMR or simply filling her day with gaming and junk food. The premise is so simple but it is done so well that each of these individual episodes flow into each other perfectly while the characters are developed along the way.
Lastly this anime has one of the catchiest opening themes with the funniest opening sequence that will have you in a good mood before the anime even starts.
Discovered
A perfect anime for the summer that deserved far more recognition than it got from its own season. If you need a feel good anime that is genuinely funny and is easy to watch this is the anime for you. We all have an inner Umaru side to us, it is just time to embrace it.
