Himouto! Umaru-chan

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Himouto Umaru-Chan does not use cliche harem scenes or exposed underwear shots to entice readers. Don't let the title and synopsis to deter you from reading this slice of life, as through the 92 chapters that Norway Scans (I miss you) has scanned, there has not been a single case of sibling romance. Its not a manga that focuses upon the idea of romance, but rather, it implements it in small doses, often with hilarious ways.

Himouto Umaru-Chan tells the everyday life of the lovable Umaru and her interactions with her brother and her friends. Umaru is renowned for her beauty and talent throughout her entire ... school, but the moment she puts her foot into her 'base', she turns into a internet-addicted, NEET-like individual, much to the dismay of her brother.

The manga has no real guiding plotline. Each 10-page chapter involves Umaru doing something remarkably stupid or funny, relative to her alter-ego. As the story progresses, each character is introduced in a way which exposes their bad-traits. Take for example, Ebina and Kirie, friends of Umaru. Ebina is expressed immediately by the manga as a self-conscious individual. Kirie is socially awkward. From what I've read, short slice of life mangas often leave the characteristics of side characters the way they are through the entire story without developing them at all, especially if the said character's traits caters initially to readers. The interactions between Umaru and the side characters, however, gradually change the way they act without directly stating their change to the audience. In fact, the audience notices subtle changes from chapter to chapter of the side characters. Kirie may finally talk to a classmate, and the manga doesn't make a huge deal out of it to display their wondrous character development

Himouto! Umaru-chan's lighthearted chapters brings a sense of peace to the reader, as it describes the idea happiness through a lighthearted comedic tone. The manga establishes a nice balance between comedy scenes and heart-warming scenes, often mixing them together. However, this does come with flaws that every 10 page-chapter mangas possess. Fairly often, some chapters cut of without an ending. Himouto Umaru-Chan is not plot driven, and because of this the manga cuts off sometimes, leaving the reader wondering what happens next, and the next chapter just starts a new event often without recapitulation. For some readers recap-ing may provoke annoyance as getting to the story is much more important, but fast paced, short story mangas like this, without recap readers sometimes truly do not have a single idea upon what is truly going on.
Overall, Himouto! Umaru-chan did have its flaws and probably wont stimulate emotions like other slice of life manga/anime, the light-heart nature of the story will evoke readers to come back to read a second chapter every time.

7/10

"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.

And then, this wildly cute ride is finally over.

There may be a sequel or just a spinoff follow-up (will read it regardless), but here's a small review for this clever little gem.

Himouto! Umaru-chan is a Slice of Life manga about a super-active hamste- highschool girl who has very bad life habits inside her house, is a completely obnoxious and very dependant spoiled little brat towards her brother (which is the completely opposite of her in every single aspect)... but who is actually a prodigy with whatever she actually want to do (including being at times quite a bit too manipulative and egoistical for her own ... good... yet, interestingly enough, never actually egocentrical at all).

What helps her habit to become a partially healthy one is the fact that she is at least sufficiently responsible with all of her must-do-ings, including school. However this is a bit of a problem for her, who ended up developing multiple personality issues when it comes to interacting with people outside her usual inside house life.

As the story progresses, she starts better building her inner self based on her interactions with many other friends she meets and develops relationships with, all of this while trying to equilibrate and hide her alternative personalities she only uses with exclusive people and/or events ending up making her life a character development crazy ride in all possible ways.

I think the best part of this series isn't just the smart and soft take on the multiple personality issue while using bildungsroman structure of storytelling (she goes changing her egoistical attitudes and trying to handle with these problems progressively better), but the fact it is almost 100% adorable family friendly fun for anyone to read, besides the demographic being for adults.

Not to mention this manga has such a nice cast with every enjoyable interactions and a very colorful light plot (which actually carries some interesting twists here and there as the manga progresses, which in many occasions give certain depth not only for the main cast, but also for some secondary characters as well).

It's a very enjoyable and heartwarming time-killer, would recommend giving it a try at least because of its unusually smart setting besides being so apparently simple at first.

7,8/10
Too many Umarus (just to end up in a "videogame reference" note at that, which this series has plenty of as well)

[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.

Himouto! Umaru-chan, is your typical everyday life diligent turned otaku girl who spent her days with her brother, whining around and throwing tantrums at him. Poor Taihei. I gotta say, it kinda relates to my everyday situations as i have a younger sibling who loves to throw tantrums at me. And this is well, my first review on a manga series.

Well, since the manga is still on going, i managed to catch up the latest chapters excluding the chapters that had been adapted into the anime version. I started reading the manga from where the anime left off, seriously i don't really read manga ... before that much but due to eagerness to know the continuation of Umaru-chan, i decided to read the manga. The contents are pretty similar enough to the anime version except it has more content than that anime, well i honestly had to agree that the manga has no explicit or excessive fanservice*ahem boob scenes not like what other manga did. Seriously, i had enough looking at fanservices that is taking too much.

Romance content was not that much but Ebina X Taihei still continue with Kirie supporting both of them! Well, overall i gotta say, i enjoy reading the manga as much as how satisfied i am. Glad it is still ongoing.

Sankakuhead, the creator and the character designer of HMC, i really like the art style he did, it's really cute and decent. Though simple, i really like the way of his drawing. I respect thy drawing, Sankaku! Manga iconography is used which is to appeal the audience's view, though the concept of moe is used but it is not being overly used which is a good thing otherwise.. But overall, his character designs attracts me the most. Wonder if he published another manga?

Not much to say on characters, but they're comparatively similar to that the anime version, hence i'll move on to enjoyment.

Honestly, i find it enjoyable and fun to read the manga since it's kinda similar to that anime version. I do always make some imagination on how the scenes of the latest chapters would be if it were to adapt the second season. And waiting for a new chapter is painstaking especially for the translated part since i'm no expert in reading japanese [level 1 though]
Overall i still enjoy reading it.

Well who to recommend? Those people who loves comedy and slice of life, and those people who want to fill up their free times.

Keep it up Sankakuhead! Keep producing more chapters to impress the audiences!

With that, have a Happy Umaru Day~

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.

Story: A fun and enjoyable story about Umaru, a 16 year old girl, who is perfect on the outside but is lazy brat in he private life. It takes you through all the adventures Umaru has with her brother, Taihei, and her friends.

Art: Decent and detailed

Characters: All the characters have unique personalities that makes you love the manga. Umaru is smart, athletic, and friendly but indoors she is spoiled by her brother, lazy, and loves playing video games. Umaru has split personas like Komaru (lazy mode), and UMR (gamer mode). Taihei, Umaru's older brother, is a hardworking salaryman who loves cooking and taking care of ... his sister, weak to outside pressure, he easily falls into Umaru's tantrum. Ebina, Umaru's shy friend who is from Akita, is unique with her love of food and Taihei and her Akita dialect. Sylphynford Tachibana, a competative girl who is rivals with Umaru but be-friends her later. Kirie, a lonely, shy, and timidating girl who friends Umaru to help her be more social.
Enjoyment: The most funniest and enjoyable manga I have ever read.
Overall: Unique characters, detailed art, funny plot. Masterpiece manga.