Cafe Snowbelle: Anime ATM 71 Himouto! Umaru-chan R

I started this anime as my "treat yo self during winter break show" even though, technically, we hadn't even taken our finals before break anyways but like *bitter laughter* Anyways I guess you could call it my "treat myself for waking up at 5 everyday for like 12 for work bc I need money as a poor affffff college student." Wow I wish I could get money off of binge watching anime, but sadly that's not a thing yet T^T I guess next best thing would be making money off this blog? Ahaha in my dreams bois. I watched all of this one Youtuber's videos and now I'm starting to talk like them. I'm losing myself. I also just took my last final today so you know your girl's not in a good place.

{How can there be spoilers in a fuwa fuwa slice of life *cough DDLC cough* anime?}

Alrighty, so if you haven't watched the first season of Umaru I'd say it'd be better if you watched the first season to get some insight into say something like why Kirie calls Umaru sensei or why Sylphin doesn't know that Umaru is UMR, but other than those sorts of details you don't really have to. Although, thinking about it, why would you watched the second season before the first one? Eh, but who am I to judge? *thinks back to when I tried to get into Fate/Stay Night (who knows what order those are supposed to go in? I went through so many blog posts and such on how I should watch it, but I never got a clear answer so I watched like 4 episodes and abandoned it sorrymasen)*

I'd say that this season definitely got a lot deeper than I was expecting. The first season was a lot of really cute slice of life scenes and Umaru just being Umaru, but this season we got into a variety of different themes and miniature arcs. You got to see a lot of character development as the main four, Umaru, Sylphin, Kirie, and Ebina, got closer together as friends and started to hang out more. Of course there's a lot of cute and calming slice of life aspects of it like the summer fireworks festival or ringing in the new year together, but there's some nice little themes and nuances going on. For example, Kirie has this internal turmoil and self-doubt that anyone with social awkwardness or social anxiety feels on the daily with doubts of if their friends actually like them and if they can trust the people around them to support their dreams. As time goes on she starts to realize that her friends do genuinely like her and that she's surrounded by people that will support her pure af dream to be a storybook author. The theme of friendship really carries through in all of them as Taihei observes that Umaru has changed from being a lazy hamster that just wants to stay home and game into someone that genuinely enjoys going out and playing with her friends. As far as Ebina goes, she's been the constant pure character during the whole duration of the show and she continues to be the one that you can't help but love and support, especially in her crush on Taihei a little bit. Things got especially emotional between Sylphin and Umaru/UMR. Like the mini arc of the two of them going to the old shopping mall with the tiny amusement park on the rooftop. Sylphin knew that the place was closing down, but she wanted to make happy memories with UMR before it closed down. And in that moment Umaru realized that the memories that they made together would outlive any location, that no matter how much their surroundings change, the feelings and memories they experience together will be immortalized. I know that's super duper cheesy and an overused trope I guess in slice of life anime, but I think it's a nice sentiment to keep in your heart no matter how times are changing. I'm such an emotional sock it's disgusting (lol do you get the ref?).

Another theme that kind of goes too far, but is also kind of touching as someone that has siblings is the theme of family. You see a lot of different and kind of unclear relationships between each of these girls and their older brothers. All of them have the older brother-younger sister relationship, but each have their own dynamics. Like Ebina and her brother who left to chase his dream and now she's been searching for him in Tokyo. It makes you wonder why he never contacts his family and leaves them to worry about him. Or Kirie and Bomba. Their dynamic makes it seem like they're not close, but from what I can see, it seems like they actually are really fond of each other. Bomba wants to dote on Kirie, and though Kirie is really awkward, it seems like she doesn't actually hate him, but is instead unsure of maybe how to express her feelings. Sylphin and Alex have an interesting dynamic. Because it seems like when they were younger they were close, though Alex did leave her to live in Japan, but now it seems like they've got the perfect otaku sibling dynamic. And Umaru and Taihei have the most followed relationship as this whole show revolves around Umaru. I think their dynamic has evolved over time with Umaru realizing how much her brother does for her, and also how much Taihei's life revolves around Umaru. If she didn't leave a mess or was adept at cooking, he would never have anything to do. Eventually Umaru realizes that she can do things for her brother, like get him a Christmas present, that his nagging isn't for nothing, like playing in moderation with her hamsters, and that he's extremely kind. To be honest, the whole sibling jealousy of Hikari and Umaru over Taihei reminded me of when my siblings were young and I wanted a lot of attention. I wasn't neglected or anything, but it just made me realize that no matter how unrealistic it is for someone to be smart while living off of cola and potato chips and playing Wii, there's something to be found, some commentary on the human condition that slice of life does so well. j

One thing I have to note is the mild incestuous vibes I got. Maybe it's a cultural difference between Japanese and American culture, but something didn't really sit right with like the OP or maybe how Ebina saying Taihei reminded her of her brother, but she also had romantic interest in him? I dunno, something about the nuances were a bit off. But I don't think it really detracted from the anime as a whole. Just something to note.

Another kind of minor thing that struck me was Taihei. He was the top of his class and studied super hard, but he didn't have a dream which is why he ended up as a corporate worker. I mean there's definitely nothing wrong with earning an honest living like that, but I guess in my mind I always thought that if you were smart you could do anything. But I guess you need to be smart and have a vision for the future in order to move forward. That really got me thinking about why I'm trying to get a degree and what I should strive for. I'm still relatively young, so I think it's foolish to work blindly and hard without a goal. Don't let the system steal your soul~

Overall I'd say it's a really fun and lighthearted show. I really enjoyed the OP and ED. Just the quirky little Umaru ways are super fun and I was singing parts of the ED to myself for a while. It's really cute and has a lot of different characters with different personalities to enjoy. It's not hard to get into at all and it leaves you feeling really happy. I feel like since most of my Anime ATM's are slice of life anyways you could say they all end the same way, but they're just nice to watch and soothe your soul with. Yep. That's all from me today. I hope your day, your week, your month, your year, your life is going well and that it only continues to get better with a dream in mind and a lot of laughter.