Shelf Life

Himouto! Umaru-chan

I've covered a lot of comedy series in my time with Shelf Life, and a lot of them seem to stem from very simple, almost one-joke premises. There are some pretty great series that have mined a lot of material from setups like “What if a romantic comedy starred someone who wasn't conventionally attractive?” or “What if all of the mascots in theme parks were really magical creatures?” Heck, my favorite anime comedy of all time is probably Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun, which essentially starts off by asking “What if a successful shoujo manga artist was oblivious to romance in real life?” It's not a complicated setup, but with the right amount of heart, charm, and creativity, even the most basic of ideas can turn into something really special.

Coincidentally, Himouto Umaru-chan has a couple of things in common with Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun. First off, the same studio that produced Nozaki-kun, Doga Kobo, created this adaptation of Sankaku Head's popular seinen manga, which I definitely found promising when Sentai's new Blu-Ray set of Umaru-chan found its way to my doorstep. The series is also a slice-of-life comedy centered around the same kind of one-joke premise, this one being “What if the most popular and beautiful girl in school lived a secret double life as a cola guzzling, junk food inhaling, super otaku goblin child?”

This brings us to the titular Himouto-chan, whose actual name is Umaru Doma. By day she's a valedictorian, varsity-sports playing super-teen, but she transforms into a hoodie-obsessed junk-food-monster when she gets home. She's even animated as an exaggerated chibi-version of herself to drive the shift home. Her older brother Taihei is the one who refers to her as a "himouto," which is a portmanteau of imouto (younger sister) and himono (dried fish), which is slang for girls perceived to live lazy or obnoxious lifestyles. As the days go by, the siblings' circle of friends becomes bigger, and their domestic adventures become stranger, leading Taihei to ask just one question: will his obnoxious little sister ever grow up?

Umaru is the front-and-center focus of almost every single scene in the show, so your enjoyment of this series will rest entirely on whether or not you can handle her particular brand of anti-charm. A lot of folks will find her character charming and hilarious, and it's easy to see why. Her lackadaisical attitude seems like an appealing way to go through life, and her incessant desire for junk food, anime, and video games mirrors the kind of life I'm sure many high-school and college-aged viewers would kill to live. (I know I did when I was that age.) Unfortunately, I had the opposite response to Umaru and her antics, because I think she's kind of the worst.

It isn't just that she binges unhealthy food or prides herself on being kind of lazy, it's that this all comes wrapped in one of the most selfish, duplicitous, manipulative, and all around aggravating packages I think I've ever seen in an anime. For the most part, that's exactly the point; the central joke of the series is the contrast between Umaru's perfect public persona and her nightmarish private life, but after a while the shock factor wore thin, and I just found myself feeling bad for Umaru's relentlessly helpful and unfathomably supportive brother. The other characters are all perfectly fine, and I will admit that even Umaru herself becomes noticeably more tolerable about halfway through the series, but at least 50% of my viewing experience left me wanting to see Taihei put his foot down and set his sister straight. To put it another way, it would only take a few minor tweaks to turn this slice-of-life comedy into a harrowing family drama about a harried guy desperately trying to make ends meet while his self-obsessed sister actively ruins his life.

That's the problem with a one-joke premise. If the joke doesn't work, everything else comes tumbling down with it. The series itself isn't bad – many of the jokes are funny, the characters surrounding Umaru are endearing, and the production values are just solid enough to keep things visually engaging (though the soundtrack is fairly bland and repetitive). I just have a tough time getting over my intense dislike of the series' central figure. If Umaru was a side character or even toned down her madness by just a notch or two, I'd have an easier time laughing along with her. As it stands, she makes an otherwise decent comedy series much more unpleasant than it needed to be.

On the flip side of this is the set that Sentai Filmworks has put out for this series, which is absolutely brimming with extras. The biggest draw here would probably be the Japanese commentary track for every episode of the series. Not only do we hear from all of the voice actors involved with the show, we even get behind-the-scenes info from folks like the author of the manga himself. To get even a few of these in a set these days is pretty generous, but to get 5 hours worth of commentary is another thing altogether. Not only that, but the set includes a series of hangout-style chats with the main Japanese actresses of the series, which themselves total almost three hours. Couple that with a half hour's worth of anime shorts (that include an English dub), plus a bevy of trailers and TV spots, and you have one of the most shockingly feature-rich anime sets I've seen in a while.

Speaking of the dub, it's fine. The series absolutely plays better in Japanese, as the puns and overall sense of humor just go down more smoothly. Emily Neves gives her all to emulate Umaru's dichotomous personality, and while I wouldn't say she does poorly, the nature of the script just doesn't do her any favors. Her handling of Umaru's brazen immaturity and idiosyncratic pronunciation of words like “cola” and “potato chips” would be fine in short bursts, but after hours and hours of the shtick, Umaru ends up feeling more like a strange Eric Cartman-esque gnome than anything else. This is more a fundamental problem of the character than anything about Neves' performance, but it came off as grating in either case. The other actors do fine, with Sara Ornelas and Jad Saxton faring the best as Umaru's friends Nana and Kirie, but the cast doesn't really get enough to do to have any chance at outshining Umaru's black hole of a personality.

So yeah, I wasn't the biggest fan of Himouto Umaru-chan. It isn't a terrible show by any means, and there are even a few episodes late in the season that I enjoyed much more. It just takes far too long for the central character to develop more endearing traits, and even when she does become a bit more likable, she never really grows or changes enough to redeem her earlier awfulness. Comedy is the most subjective of genres though, and I know there are many people who will love the bits of this show I couldn't stand. All of that combined with an overabundance of bonus material makes this set a must-buy if you're a fan of the show already. Anyone else will want to check out an episode or two before committing to a purchase. As Taihei himself might tell you, Umaru isn't the easiest girl to live with.
-James[TOP]