OP Sequence

OP: 「Kakushinteki☆Metamaruphose!」 (かくしん的☆めたまるふぉ~ぜっ!) by Doma Umaru (Tanaka Aimi)

“Umaru and Onii-chan”


「うまるとおにいちゃん」 (Umaru to Onii-chan)

Dogakobo Delivers:

If you liked what Dogakobo did with Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun or Love Lab, then Himouto! Umaru-chan will be right up your alley. Dogakobo really do know what they’re doing when it comes to comedies, adapting just the right material that fit their trademark style – both in how funny the gags are and how fluid and squishy the animation can be. The more they release anime of this sort, the more it cements the brand of their studio. Of course, not all their series fit into the anime comedy category, but they’ve done it enough time that I’m starting to recognise a Dogakobo anime before I even know it’s by them. I’d consider that a sign that the studio is heading in the right direction.

Umaru – The Beautiful, Intelligent, Perfect Highschooler:

As you would have guessed by the name, the series revolves around Domo Umaru (Tanaka Aimi), a girl of two identities. This fifteen year old highschooler has the looks of a celebrity, glittering wherever she goes, having everyone turn to admire her prettiness. She’s smart as well, getting perfect scores in all her subjects with ease. And she’s popular to boot – the boys idolise her, and the girls are smitten with her.

Her best friend, Ebina Nana (Kageyama Akari) seems criminally ordinary in comparison, but they do appear to have a very genuine friendship – it must be painful though, to always be compared to your gorgeous, generous, kind best friend. I feel for the poor, plain Ebina and her terrible test results! Someone give her a hug. Heck, even Umaru’s self-proclaimed rival, Tachibana Sylphynford (Furukawa Yurina) basks in how impressive she is. I suspect even they will become more friendly down the line. How could she not? After all, Umaru is perfect in every way. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with her…?

Umaru – The Slob, Gamer, Eater of Junk Food:

Except none of them know her other side – her true self. As soon as she gets home, the bishoujo-ness is swapped for chibi-ness, her prim school clothes are thrown in a pile, and she spends her time reading manga, playing video games, eating junk food, and annoying her big brother. Doma Taihei (Nojima Kenji) is a good Straight Man, constantly reacting to Umaru’s ridiculous antics with deadpan or irritated expressions that never failed to make me smile.

It’s nice to actually a brother-sister relationship in anime that isn’t sexualised and borderline incestual. Here, Umaru and Taihei bounce of one another in a series of hilarious gags, and even if that’s all the anime amounts to, I doubt I’d get bored of that. I’ve heard Himouto! Umaru-chan be described as a “sibling gag comedy”, and from this episode, I think that just about sums it up. But what matters most with a comedy is whether it makes you laugh, and I certainly laughed at all the points I should have. Whether it Umaru hiding her obsessive love for One Piece; her drama over not having the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump; Umaru and Taihei playing zombie shooters; or Umaru pouting throughout their grocery shopping. Everything that was supposed to be funny was funny, and that’s all that matter in the end.

Overview – What’s Next?:

I got plenty of laughs from this one, as I anticipated. Umaru’s two sides are amusing, but her chibi form is super cute, and her many reaction faces were practically begging to be screencapped. Dogakobo have given us another well-animated gag anime to sit back and laugh at over the summer season. Last year it was Nozaki-kun, this year, Umaru-chan. If the series continues with gags like we saw in this first episode, I won’t have any complaints, but I expect Umaru’s hidden side may be revealed to her friends in due course. If that happens, I’m sure there’ll be lots to laugh about over the next few months.

Note: There are currently no plans to blog Himouto! Umaru-chan on a weekly basis.

Full-length images: 20, 24, 28, 29.

ED Sequence

ED: 「Hidamari Days」 (ひだまりデイズ)” by Doma Umaru (Tanaka Aimi), Ebina Nana (), Motoba Kirie (Shiraishi Haruka), Tachibana Sylphynford (Furukawa Yurina)

Preview

21 Comments

  1. Great series! Who’d thought there was a whole lot of thought that goes into the combination of snacks you eat and whether you’re gonna watch anime/movie or play games, which Umaru-chan carefully pointed out. Oh and those are some very well trained hamsters to obediently just stand on the table when they’re out of their cage.

    Zhinvu
  2. Man… I don’t know why but I just don’t found it funny to see the big brother being push around by his little sister like that just to fulfill her own selfish need. Maybe it’s because I’m the eldest son so I can sort of understand how it feels like when your sister starts to cry in front of the public just because you said no to her. That really gets on my nerve…

    XXmakeitrainXXX
    1. I get the same impression. But maybe, just like Seinfeld and Friends did before her, Umaru-chan proves that people find unsympathetic comedy protagonists and the suffering of well-meaning but weak supporting character funny.
      I’m gonna give it another 2 episodes. also, I don’t mind if readers enlighten me (in spoiler tag, of course) if Umaru’s gonna get a character development and starts treating her brother better or if her characterization will stay until the end for comedic value.

      metalder
    2. Yeah I chuckled for the first 3 min, then I realize I was laughing at the poor oni-chan suffer. This is pure torture and can’t even be compared to Gekkan Shoujo (first impression, might change after 3ep rule)

      Hao
  3. I’ve been reading this manga for a while now, and Doga Kobo has done a great job animating it without making it weird. They did a great job with the ever-changing shape of Umaru. That had to drive some animators to drink heavily. (They also did a great job with the overall sound FX.)

    As for Ebina being plain? I have to disagree on that point. She stands out… in her own way. As do Sylphin and Kirie, who made their cameos this episode. (And feature prominently in the ED.)

    The way Umaru forms relationships is pretty interesting… anyway, you’ll see it if you watch the show. (Or read the manga.)

    The source material does have more than just the simple gag comedy, but I don’t know just how deep Doga Kobo is going to go into the manga story-wise, or if they’re just going to keep it on the gag level.

    A shame it’s not getting covered, but it’s a busy season, and it’s a comedy, so it’s understandable.

    Still… it’s right up there for AOTY for me. (Norway!)

    s_w
    1. That can actually happen.

      I usually go through two bags of chips, two chocolate bars and five cans of pop a day among other snacks and people worry that I’m under-eating despite the fact that I eat full meals every day.

      They didn’t believe me until I showed them a receipt for $380 worth of candy that I bought *after* halloween.

      At least Umaru is athletic. That and she didn’t touch her steak(!).

      Keaton
  4. No references to Ore no Imouto? Has basically the same premise. And everyone also thought it’s very family-friendly until midway. How does this compare to that?

    asdbsd
  5. As someone who’s raised their little sister for just about 10 yrs i cant help but sympathize with the older brother, at the same time disapprove of umaru’s attitude most especially the keeping your older brother up late assuming he is a working adult and works the next day, and instead of waiting for ur brother to rest from work u act like a brat demanding things knowing he cant deny you much. i wanted to laugh but i just found myself annoyed by umaru’s actions and some of the gags just werent hitting like gekkan shoujo were. still gonna try watching the next 2 episodes and decide whether im gonna continue.

    shuusui4869

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