I was quite surprised episode two strayed off the regular rhythm of Himouto home drama but we got to see Himouto juggle the semantics of her double life and spend some quality time with her older brother. This week we follow Himouto’s friendship with Ebina and Ebina’s point of view towards Taihei, Umaru’s older brother.

Rating: 3.5 curious clouds

Initially I thought it was the home setting that triggers Umaru’s Himouto form, however it seems like it has to do with the people she encounters. We saw Umaru bring Ebina into the apartment to study which is already a rare case in itself. Taihei is shocked to find out that Umaru has cleaned the entire house LOLLL

Most of the episode is told from Ebina’s perspective. She happens to be a busty country bumpkin girl who moved to Tokyo for high school. She ends up crushing on Taihei just a little bit because he’s the first person to show her kindness when she arrives at the apartment. I found Ebina quite exasperating and not quite as entertaining as Himouto but nonetheless a good character addition to the story because she foils Umaru so smoothly. Whereas Ebina is more blunt and outright with her expressions and reactions, Himouto can easily slip in and out of her act. Taihei begins to entertain the idea that keeping Ebina around will actually make Umaru a functioning human being LOLLL

Umaru and Taihei bump into Ebina quite a few times this episode. The most difficult encounter comes on the day that Umaru is whining for a new game and Taihei is trying to persuade her otherwise. Ebina’s presence means Umaru must keep up the act BUT Umaru somehow ends up cracking anyway. Luckily for Umaru this time, Ebina was so focused on the food in front of her, she completely did not notice Umaru’s tantrum. I suppose there are benefits for Umaru’s friendship with this ditzy girl. I find Ebina quite tiresome because she’s always so insecure with herself. I kind of want to see her stand up for herself and speak up more. If anything, Umaru probably chose Ebina as a friend because she’s so harmless.

Really great stuff from Himouto Umaru-chan. I’d prefer more Umaru scenes but I supposed the supporting characters will also play their own unique part in this slice of life story. I’m curious to see how Umaru will interact with the other characters in subsequent episodes as well as how Taihei will become involved in Umaru’s friend group.

– Cloudy

What are you pondering today?