Anime Watcher / Manga Reader

Imagine you are a working-class man with a little sister who is the apple of everyone's eye.  Everyone thinks she's hot stuff and only you know the truth of who she really is.  This is Himouto!  Umaru-chan. Umaru is the center of attention wherever she goes.  She's good at everything she does and never, ever loses.  She she's a radiant beauty who makes teen boys drool and grown men cry.  She's is the ultimate female. Umaru as the public sees her. That is until she gets home.  Then she transforms into a cloak-wearing, chip-eating, cola-swilling, video game-playing chibi character.  That image she presents to the world is total BS and the only person in the world who knows it is her big brother, Taihei. Umaru's true self... ...and the only person who sees both sides of her, Taihei. Of course, Umaru also has a best friend, a rival, and a female admirer, none of whom even come close to learning her secret or are too stupid to connect the dot

Comedy.  Drama.  Intense moments.  Competition.  Guys in little shorts.  Haikyu!! has it all in spades. As mentioned in an earlier post, Haikyu!! is a manga that did everything right, yet I couldn't stay interested.  The whole time I was thinking, "If only there was an anime adaptation..."  Then, low and behold, here it is. Just like the manga, the story follows Shoyo Hinata, a boy who wants to become the greatest volleyball player in the world.  There just one problem.  He's small.  So he's a little man trying to rule in a big man's world.  While he never gives up, he realizes he's fighting an uphill battle. Hinata wants to be a volleyball player after watching the Little Giant... ...realizes his height is the ultimate handicap in the volleyball world. Of course, he's not alone in his quest.  He has an entire team behind him, including rival turned ally Tobio Kageyama.  Together, they play volleyball until their asses fall off.

Do you like bears?  Do you like middle-school girls?  Well, this is the manga for you.  This is Kuma Miko, where bears and middle-school girls come together. Machi Amayadori is said middle school girl.  She is a miko, a shrine maiden, and lives in the mountains with a bear called Natsu.  This isn't just any bear, though.  No, Natsu is a talking bear. So why is Machi living with a bear?  It seems to be some kind of diplomatic measure to keep peace between humans and bears.  In other words, they make it so people can live that area without getting killed and eaten by bears.  Seems fair. Of course, Machi is at that awkward age where she's grown tired of living in the mountains and wants to live in the city.  Natsu decides to be a prick (or so it seems at first) and prove she can't by sending her out to do various tasks.  This is where the humor of the series comes from.  Watching Machi fail or succeed in such an awkward fashion, it might as well be failure. There a