Himouto! Umaru-chan

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tl;dr: Decently varied and paced comedy, but lacking in substance even for a comedy manga.

*Note: This is a review of the main series, the Ebina spin off, and the sequel G because the Ebina spin off and G are short enough that it doesn’t make sense to review them separately, but they are important enough that it doesn’t make sense to ignore them either. *

This series is one centered around a girl named Umaru who is a Himouto, which the series defines as “a lazy little sister who never lifts a finger around the house”, with the word’s origin being a “portmanteau of imouto (little ... sister) and himono (a woman who is elegant and polished in public, but secretly a slob at home)”. Though it’s actually a bit more complicated than that in that there are three Umaru’s, the inside Umaru who’s a lazy slob, the outside Umaru who’s majestically perfect, and UMR who’s an expert gamer. There’s a large focus on the imouto aspect in that she lives solely with her brother, Taihei, who has to deal with her nonsense but does so as well as he can in the straightforward and kind manner he lives his life. But there’s just as much focus on Umaru’s bonds with her friends, which ultimately have a very interesting dynamic in that most of her main friends are closest to different Umarus and she’s doing her best to keep it a secret that all of them are the same person.

Due to this, the manga is very careful about slowly and steadily introducing new characters and establishing bonds between them and the already introduced characters. This manifests in both development of new friendships, but also in terms of revealing that two characters were actually already friends or related. At times this may be revealed to the reader long before it’s revealed to Umaru or Taihei, but it still stresses it when it is revealed. This may sound exhausting, but because this is pretty much entirely a comedy focused manga it works surprisingly well. Though there aren’t that many characters, by focusing on so many connections separately on top of the general group dynamic, it results in it always feeling like it’s adding something new which keeps things fresh. These connections also being partitioned off from each other to a degree also results in it being able to swap around at will to keep things varied despite it featuring the same characters. Thus, while the range of the comedy is pretty narrow, it rarely feels like it’s getting repetitive. Combine that with how all the main cast members are all really colorful and pretty likable and the manga ends up being reasonably amusing from beginning to end.

However, it should be emphasized that there is very little in terms of substance. The relationship between siblings is a constant theme, but it never ultimately feels like it does much with it or hits any good emotional beats. There are some hints here and there of what feel like plot related things that it felt like it was going to tackle later, like going more in depth into what happened with their parents or certain characters acting mysteriously and knowing things that there’s no explanation for them knowing and this being highlighted, but it just never does. There’s an emphasis put on the relationship between Umaru’s friends Ebina and Sylphyn and their brothers throughout the manga, but in the end they just suddenly get resolved super quickly off screen essentially. I think it was trying to give a lot of the cast character arcs, but the only one that felt like she actually had proper character development was another of Umaru’s friends, Kirie, and even that was only decent. What was especially a letdown is that it constantly felt like it was teasing Umaru growing up or her personalities merging or her revealing the truth to her friends, but in the end that never happens, and the series ends with her being pretty much exactly the same as she started.

As such, neither the ending to both the main series the sequel G feel like proper endings, rather the manga just stops as it would with any other chapter basically, and it’s just suddenly over. Interestingly enough, the Ebina spin off is the one that felt like it tried to take things most seriously in that it puts a surprisingly strong emphasis on romance. It even gives a full on time skip epilogue proper ending that’s reasonably satisfying as a conclusion, though the fact that it’s pretty rushed, ambiguous, and only an ending for two characters without telling you anything about the rest of the cast diminishes that.

The art is decent but not particularly great. It works pretty well for the comedy, especially the visual gags involving chibi Umaru and manga logic, but I never really thought it looked all that good, even in the color pages or covers. The character designs were surprisingly varied and distinct, but also somewhat plain and not used particularly well I felt.

"Himouto! Umaru-chan" is a story about a young girl, very selfish and caring only about being perceived like the perfect girl in the outside world. But as she gets friends, she will try to appear good to them in a private setting, and with time she will realize that being a kind and caring person with others makes her happy.

Overall, that manga is very wholesome, the characters are very endearing and unique (i wish i had more time with them), the art is very cute and the emotions of the characters are very well expressed. However, the ending (if you can call that an ending) ... is very abrupt, and will definitively leave a "what_?_that's_all_!?" feeling as many things are left unsolved.

Most importantly, that manga contains many important messages. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who suffers from low self-esteem, anxiety or depression.

Big warning : the story takes a lot of time to construct itself. Please, i beg you, do not judge it only from the first chapters. If you can't take how unbearable umaru is at the beginning (because she is), i strongly advise you to skip many of them and see how it is once there, you can still go back when you want.

[TW: There are no trigger warnings for this series! :) ]


Story [8/10]
I don't have evidence for this claim, but I feel as if series centering around sibling relationships where the sister character is actually a huge nerd are becoming increasingly popular and more numerous these days. I can think of two other series [Oreimo and Watamote] off the top of my head who have a similar theme to Himouto! Umaru-chan. Despite this, I feel as if Himouto does the best job at tackling this theme. It's simple slice-of-life with the only real difference being that Uramu tries to keep nerd side somewhat secret from all ... her friends. It's not overly romantic nor does it have any incest themes like Oreimo, and it is actually easy to watch without painful secondhand embarrassment like Watamote. So for that, I am really thankful.

Even then, the mangaka does a splendid job at conveying the characters' relationships with one another, whether it is siblings or friends, you can really relate to them and probably are reminded of your own relationships in life when reading. Also, the mangaka's main strength in my opinion is being able to convey a sense of nostalgia through simple tasks, whether it be a meal with others, or the passing of the seasons.

Art [5/10]
There's nothing wrong with the art in this series, there's just nothing really noteworthy about it either. It's fairly forgettable, but the relaxed style does fit the theme of the series very well.

Character [7/10]
I love the female characters in this series, like a lot. They aren't bland copy and paste manga archetypes that you can find in essentially every series, they're unique and are able to stand by themselves. Each female character gets a decent amount of character development and screen time, and in addition has a unique little quirk to her that makes her so endearing to the reader. I honestly can't pick a favorite, I love each of them so much, for different reasons.

Also, Umaru is totally the perfect example of any girl who is into anime/manga. Even if you aren't a girl you will totally relate to her habits and antics, I promise.

Enjoyment [7/10]
I really like this series. I'm not sure I will keep up with it every week since it is published weekly, but it was extremely enjoyable to read it and I will be following the anime. I will complain that I feel as if the story kinda stagnates in some spots and it takes an extremely long time for any plot progress. But that's not the really aim for this genre so I can't really fault them too much I suppose. Near the end of my reading it did get a bit tedious, though presumably that wouldn't happen if you read all 100+ chapters in one sitting.

Overall [6/10]
Would I read it again? Maybe. Would I recommend it to others? Oh yes. It's relatable on essentially every level, from the sibling relationships, to the nerdy side of Umaru, and the antics she gets up to with friends. It's great. A wonderful series that you can read without worrying that someone is going to die.