A little tardy to the party with this review, since the hype surrounding it has died significantly in the past year. I tried to avoid this series, since nothing about it looked like it'd be appealing to me, but caved in and made stomached the entire series in a night. In a nutshell, I'd advise to just stay away from it altogether! I didn't hate the show as much as I thought, and at times I actually had fun with it, but I expected to give this a 0, so being slightly better than garbage doesn't warrant a positive recommendation. This is my first review and I don't really have a solid paragraph structure, but I felt I had a responsibility to warn people of this abomination and avoid this trap of an anime!
Positives:
The OP is probably the sole reason I kept coming back for more punishment; it's just so damn catchy
Every once in a while I'd have a laugh.
It was cute for a moment.
Clever metaphor, I think, of the ugly appearance representing her inner beauty.
Will make you laugh from time to time
Negatives:
The soundtrack, outside of the OP, is one of the worst I've ever heard.
The plot was non-existent, so don't expect any kind of compelling story here.
After recycling the same joke over and over again, the series fails spectacularly in recapturing any kind of fun that may have been present in the beginning, making the series sort of drag on.
The supporting cast is a collection of your typical, generic moe tropes with the added bonuses of being boring, one dimension, and generally unlikeable.
Umaru-chan herself, the short version, is just a complete piece of shit!
For one thing, it's literally impossible to live the lifestyle she live; eating all junk food without getting fat, straight As without ever having to study, being awesome at sports without exercise, etc.
If being unrealistic wasn't enough, she's also a total degenerate, showcasing arguably the shittiest personality in a human being. She's a manipulative, lazy, self-entitled, selfish, spoiled bitch.
Unrelatable and unlikeable, she's just every weeb's ultimate fantasy of being awesome at literally everything and having the world dote on them.
The final episode made me wish I never started watching this nonsense. After hinting some sort of growth from the protagonist in a few eps prior, the show ends with her reverting to the same personality as the beginning. I probably shouldn't have gotten my hopes up thinking there would be some sort of payoff for sitting through this, but the finale was pretty much a huge slap in the face to its audience and I'm sure I've lost some IQ points by episode 12.
Overall:
There are some things to like here, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it to some extent.
If you want to shut your brain off, like all the way off, then sure why not go ahead and watch it, you might like it too.
However, objectively speaking, this is one of the worst shows to ever come out.
Personally I found some enjoyment in this, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to overlook the sea of flaws that this series is very obviously suffering from.
Ultimately, this series is just a huge waste of time.
Avoid this trap!
You've been warned
