Himōto! Umaru-chan R

Episode 4

It seems that nothing can stop Umaru's quest for domination, not even Amazon Strike neglecting to add subtitles to the show's most recent episode for almost an entire day. Baffling streaming issues aside, a late episode of Himouto! Umaru-chan R is still something to be celebrated, especially when the episode is an early Christmas special. Weirdly, this episode might have made more sense later on in the season, and not just because Christmas is still two months away; much of this episode's storytelling serves as a neat little encapsulation of everything this second season is doing so well. If someone told me that this episode was the series finale to Himouto! Umaruchan as a whole, I almost might have believed it.

The first vignette of the week is the longest by far, taking up almost half the episode's run-time to depict Umaru spending the holidays with her friends. Taihei has a side story about getting dragged to an idol concert with Alex and Takeshi, but it doesn't add up to much, merely serving as a pretext to get Umaru out of the house and spend time with Ebina, Kirie, and most importantly, Sylphyn. The first couple episodes of the season did a lot of work on their own to establish Sylphyn's expanded role in the ensemble this year, and this extended holiday story belongs entirely to her. Not only is her ferocious cuteness amplified tenfold, her excited monologuing about UMR, coupled with her childhood flashbacks, paint a touching picture that really bring the season's themes about the value of personal growth home.

Sylphyn is excited to have UMR show up for Christmas because she's the person who taught Sylphyn how to differentiate between friendship and competition; when she was younger, it made sense to use the competitive fighting game scene as a way to meet new people and establish a personal identity in Japan, but now that these girls have become closer and more confident in themselves, Sylhpyn is more comfortable simply spending time with other people and having fun. It's a sweet and touching moment that provides a perfect cap to the arc of Sylphyn and Umaru's friendship, and when Umaru takes the time to snag her UMR mask and a cute-as-heck Santa outfit, it's clear that our heroine has gained as much from this relationship as Sylphyn has.

The second and third segments are shorter and put more emphasis on comedy, but they also work together in a way that could serve as an appropriate capstone to Umaru and Taihei's relationship with one another. The second segment is fairly slight on its own, as it simply reinforces that while Umaru has made some great strides in her development over the past season, she's still capable of being selfish and underhanded. Taking the New Year's money intended for Ebina is definitely obnoxious, but not unforgivably so, since the show establishes that Umaru is so wrapped up in the high of gift-getting that she never even stops to consider that the money might not have been intended for her. It's a naïve and kind-of-stupid thought process, but it isn't malicious, which is the key factor that makes the segment charming enough to work, even if it isn't exactly laugh out loud funny.

The final segment ties everything together better though, putting into plain text what Umaru has been experiencing all season: the long overdue realization that she can be an insufferably selfish little gremlin. I'd complain that Umaru's casual conversation with Ebina is an oddly random inciting incident for this revelation, but given the context of the season itself, I'll give it a pass. The segment is too short to hold any deep wellsprings of emotional development, but it's just enough to set up the central joke of Umaru realizing how much she'll miss Taihei when he leaves on a business trip, only to renege on her affection when he reveals that he'll only be gone for a couple of weeks, and his prime concern was how much of a mess she'll make when he's gone. Again, while it's a bit funnier than the New Year's money sketch, it's too brief to make a real lasting impression.

The generally breezy quality to the last two vignettes mean that they wouldn't quite work as finales to the show, though they do provide solid evidence for how comfortable and confident the series has become this season. While it may have eased up on the brazen attempts at laugh-out-loud humor, they make up for it with a genuine emotional honesty that I find a hundred times more compelling. Umaru loves her friends and her brother, and for once she's doing a decent job at showing it, without losing her childish charm. The show may not get me belly laughing every episode, but scenes like Slyphyn's teary-eyed meeting with UMR are enough to fill my heart's Unbearable Cuteness Reservoirs for ten weeks over, which is reason enough to be thankful that this isn't the show's finale, and we'll have more time yet to spend with these adorable dorks.

Rating: B+

Himōto! Umaru-chan R is currently streaming on Amazon's Anime Strike.

James is an English teacher who has loved anime his entire life, and he spends way too much time on Twitter and his blog.