Himouto! Umaru-Chan R Episode 4 Review

By: EyeSpyeAlexAfter a late start due to some technical issues from Amazon, I was finally able to watch this week’s latest episode of Himouto! Umaru-Chan R! Need to catch up on previous episodes? Check out my review here!Christmas time has come to Japan and Umaru is more than ready. She, Ebina, Kirie, and Sylphyn go out to see the lights, and then head back to Sylphyn’s house to celebrate. While they feast, Sylphyn mentions that she is waiting for her friend UMR to show up. As Umaru frantically tries to remember if the two had plans, Sylphyn expresses her appreciation for UMR to her friends. She tells them that UMR taught her that it was more fun to play with others than it was to be the best. Without that lesson, Sylphyn admits she never would have been able to make friends.After enjoying the festivities, Sylphyn falls asleep at the table, which is the cue for the rest of them to leave. Before heading out, the three each leave Sylphyn a thank you note. Outside the house, Umaru’s phone pings, and she looks to see it was an invitation from Sylphyn to UMR. Parting ways with Ebina, Umaru rushes back to Sylphyn’s house, donning her UMR persona. Sylphyn wakes up to see the notes from her friends, and then hears Umaru yelling for her. Outside, Umaru – as UMR – is decked out in a Santa costume to surprise her friend. Little does she know that she’s given Sylphyn something she’s always asked Santa for – a friend.Later on, Taihei and Umaru ring in the New Year with New Year’s allowances. When Taihei accidentally gives Umaru two allowances, she struggles to decide if she should keep it. Just as she justifies keeping both, she finds out one envelope was meant for Ebina. In her haste to not seem greedy, she gives Taihei back the other envelope.When talking to Ebina later, Umaru complains about how strict Taihei is with her. For once, Ebina disagrees with her friend, calling Taihei nice and a good listener. This rebuttal causes Umaru to reflect on her relationship with Taihei. As she thinks back on their time living together, she realizes how much Taihei has done for her, and how little she’s done to return the favor.Realizing that she may be selfish, Umaru gets to work on preparing to be nicer to her brother. This gets cast to the wayside when Taihei comes home and tells Umaru he needs to go on a business trip. The water works begin for the two siblings, until Taihei reveals he will only be gone for two weeks. This revelation brings back our feisty Umaru, who insists she will survive two weeks alone.Leading up to me watching this week’s episode, all I read online was how people consider it one of the best episodes of the series. Having watched it, I completely agree with them. So far this season, we’ve seen Umaru starting to mature, but this episode has major character development. She goes out of her way to be selfless, is aware mindful of other people’s feelings, and is incredibly introspective. For a show that seemed stuck on a shtick, this is fantastic. I don’t think the show could continue successfully if all of the background characters were rounding out while the title character remained flat. I look forward to seeing how all of the characters are fleshed out.On top of having a pretty stellar story, this week’s episode had neat animation. It was nice to see Umaru in outfits other than her hamster cloak. The scene with the different chibi Umaru personas was one of my favorites. I wish the episode had done a little more with the Christmas and New Year’s themes. It would have been nice to see more background design, or traditional celebrations, like in the previous season. Overall though, it was top notch.New episodes of Himouto! Umaru-chan R stream on Sundays exclusively on Anime Strike.