Himouto! Umaru-chan (Japanese: 干物妹!うまるちゃん, Hepburn: Himōto! Umaru-chan)[a] is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sankakuhead [ja]. After two one-shot chapters published in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Miracle Jump [ja] in 2012, the manga was serialized in Weekly Young Jump from March 2013 to November 2017, with its chapters collected in 12 tankōbon volumes. A sequel manga titled, Himouto! Umaru-chan G, was published in the same magazine from November 2017 to April 2018, with its chapters collected in a single volume. An anime television series adaptation aired from July to September 2015. A second season titled Himouto! Umaru-chan R aired from October to December 2017.
Premise
Umaru Doma is a high school girl living with her older brother Taihei. At school, Umaru appears to be the ideal student with good looks, top grades and many talents. However, she transforms into a kid-sized layabout, and spends time at home having food and video game addiction, much to Taihei's dismay. Throughout the series, Umaru uses her alternative personality to make friends with others. She buys wanted things for herself, but is forced to get needful things for Taihei.
A high school girl with beautiful looks, top grades and excellence in everything. She has a secret lifestyle at home,[6]Ch. 2 wearing a hamster hoodieCh. 4 and being a fan of otaku.[7] While indoors, she is drawn in a chibi manner,Ch. 1 later calling herself Komaru (Umaru's sister) when Kirie catches her in the persona.Ch. 19 She lives with her brother Taihei. She wears a cap while at the amusement arcade, where she is a well-known gamer who goes by the initials UMR.Ch. 12 She wears a mask to hide her identity from Sylphynford.Ch. 51, 56
Umaru's older brother working at the company.Ch. 14, 41 extra He lives in a 1DK apartment.Ch. 77Ep. 2 The siblings move in a year before the series.Ch. 1 He is described as having a kind and methodical personality. He reprimands Umaru for being lazy.[8]
Umaru's buxom classmate living in the ground-floor apartment near the siblings. She is very shy,[7]Ch. 2, 8 and is originally from Akita Prefecture, occasionally reverting to dialect when she is nervous. Because of her breasts, she has a lack of confidence as people look at her. The first person to look her in the eyes is Taihei, whom she later has a crush onCh. 13 and gets flustered whenever he gives her compliments.Ch. 32 Nana's brother works at a restaurant in Tokyo. Taihei suspects he might have met him on his business trip.Ch. 98 She appears in the spin-off manga "Akita Imokko! Ebina-chan" (秋田妹！えびなちゃん, lit. Akita Native Little Sister Ebina), after having placed first in a Niconico Seiga poll among other characters.[11]
One of Umaru's classmates. She is very openly competitive, and considers Umaru a rival in academics and sports.[7]Ch. 2, 16 She becomes friends with Umaru's persona with hopes of beating her at school,Ch. 56, 65 and later gets along with her friends.Ch. 82-84 She is half-Japanese and German.Ch. 77
A classmate and a petite girl with frightening eyes to scare others.Ch. 18 She is shy and has a great admiration for Umaru.[7] She becomes friends with Komaru, thinking she is her sister. She is a servant calling her Master.Ch. 18-20 She considers Ebina a rival for Umaru's affection.Ch. 25 She is a member of the swim club,Ep. 1, 3 and is good at other sports like tennis.Ep. 4 She aspires to be a picture book author.Ch. 93
Kirie's brother with an afro.Ch. 34 His nickname is Bomber (ぼんば, Bonba).Ch. 14 He likes to slack off at work.Ch. 11 extra, 22, 41 extra He and Taihei became friends since high school, but he was not as studious.Ch. 57 He gets jealous when sees Taihei hanging out with the girls, but when he meets Komaru, he feels she is cute too. He tries to interact with Kirie, but she gets annoyed from him.Ch. 34 When he meets Umaru in her outdoor persona and Ebina, he becomes very nervous and shy. He thinks Komaru and Umaru are two different people, and cannot recognize his sister during the trip.Ch. 66-67
Sylphynford's brother. He works in Taihei's department.Ch. 14 He is part German and has relatives from Europe.Ch. 15 He enjoys playing video games.Ch. 51, 52 He knows of Umaru's dual personality.Ch. 71 He later reveals that when he was in middle school, he was a shut-in. He later moved to Japan to work with Kanau.Ch. 111
Kanau Kongou (金剛 叶, Kongō Kanau) is the boss of Taihei, Bomber, and Alex, described in Young Jump magazine as beautiful and excellent.[12] She met Taihei and Bomber at high school ten years ago.Ch. 11 extra, 96 She is very fond of Taihei,Ep. 5 but gets annoyed by Bomber. Kanau is a single person and living on her own.Ch. 41 extra Umaru becomes upset of her. Taihei reveals that she is the daughter of the president, a year younger than Taihei, and that they attended different schools.Ch. 96 She has a younger sister Hikari.Ch. 125
A top student from the Gifted Youth Program with a hairpin[b] and Kanau's sister.Ch. 125 It is hinted that she interacted with Taihei, before knowing the set of constellations that he tried to show Umaru.Ch. 107-108 She refers to Taihei as a big brother.Ch. 125
Nana's older brother and restaurant chef. He left home when the latter was seven.Ch. 98
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Sankakuhead [ja], two-one-shot chapters of Himouto! Umaru-chan were first published in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Miracle Jump [ja] on August 16 and October 16, 2012.[14][15] It was later serialized in Weekly Young Jump from March 14, 2013, to November 9, 2017.[16][17][18] Shueisha collected its chapters in twelve tankōbon volumes, released from September 19, 2013, to December 19, 2017.[19][20] Following the series' ending, it was announced that series would continue with a sequel, titled Himōto! Umaru-chan G, which ran in Weekly Young Jump from November 30, 2017, to April 19, 2018.[21][22] A single tankōbon volume was released on July 19, 2018.[23]
A spin-off manga series, Himouto! Umaru-chan S, was published on Niconico Seiga and Tonari no Young Jump, from March 20, 2014 to July 27, 2015.[25][26][27] Shueisha released a single tankōbon volume on August 19, 2015.[28] Another spin-off manga series, Akita Imokko! Ebina-chan (秋田妹！えびなちゃん, lit. Akita Native Little Sister Ebina), focuses on Nana Ebina, after the character ranked first on a Niconico Seiga's popularity poll,[11] was published on Tonari no Young Jump, "Yanjan!", Niconico Seiga, and other platforms from December 7, 2015 to September 19, 2017.[29][30] Two tankōbon volumes were released on November 18, 2016,[31] and December 19, 2017.[32]
An anime television series adaptation is produced by Doga Kobo.[7] The series was directed by Masahiko Ohta and written by Takashi Aoshima, with character design by Aya Takano and sound direction by Yasunori Ebina.[7][56] It was broadcast on the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation in Japan from July 9 to September 24, 2015.[57][58] The opening theme is "Kakushin-teki Metamarufōze!" (かくしん的☆めたまるふぉ〜ぜっ！, lit. Core Basis: Metamorphosis!) performed by Aimi Tanaka, while the ending theme is "Hidamari Days" (ひだまりデイズ, Sunshine Days) performed by Tanaka, Akari Kageyama, Haruka Shiraishi and Yurina Furukawa. An original video animation was bundled with the manga's seventh volume on October 19, 2015, with another to be bundled with the tenth volume of the manga in Q2 2017.[59] In the Weekly Young Jump magazine's 20th issue of 2017, a second season of the anime series titled Himouto! Umaru-chan R was announced for fall 2017 with the same cast.[60] The opening theme is "Nimensei Ura Omote Life!" (にめんせい☆ウラオモテライフ！) performed by Tanaka. The ending theme is "Umarun Taisou" (うまるん体操) performed by Sisters (妹S), the voice actresses of the four main girls.
The series was simulcast worldwide by Crunchyroll.[61] The series is licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks.[3] The second season was simulcast on Anime Strike in the United States,[62] on Hidive outside of the US,[63] and on AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand.[64] Sentai Filmworks has announced on September 27, 2017, that they have licensed Himouto! Umaru-chan R.[65] After the acquisition of Crunchyroll by Sony Pictures Television, Himouto! Umaru-chan, among several Sentai Filmworks titles, was dropped from the Crunchyroll streaming service on March 31, 2022.[66] In the UK, MVM Films announced they had licensed Himouto! Umaru-chan R.[67] In the Philippines, Umaru-chan was broadcast in Tagalog on the Hero and Yey!pay TV channels.[68][69]
Video game
A PlayStation Vita sister-raising simulation game developed by FuRyu, titled Himōto! Umaru-chan: Himōto! Ikusei Keikaku (干物妹！うまるちゃん ～干物妹！育成計画～, lit. "Himōto! Umaru-chan: Himōto! Training Plan"), was released on December 3, 2015.[70]
Reception
The manga had over 2.2 million copies in circulation by November 2015.[71] It had over 2.7 million copies in circulation by March 2017.[72]
The series ranked 16th in the first Next Manga Award in the print manga category.[73]
Works cited
^ "Ch." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the Himouto! Umaru-chan manga by Sankakuhead.
^ "Ep." is shortened form for episode and refers to an episode number of the Himouto! Umaru-chan anime.
Notes
^The "himōto" in the title is a portmanteau of himono onna (干物女, lit. "Dried Fish Woman", used to describe someone who puts up an appearance in public but acts lazily at home) and imōto (妹, "little sister").[3]
^Kongou translates to "diamond" with the name and logo of the company.Ch. 125
^『干物妹！うまるちゃん』アニメ公式サイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 14, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2015. ABC： 7月8日より 毎週水曜26:14～ (ABC: July 8 than every Wednesday 26: 14 ~)
