Chibi Mode Activated: The Hidden Selves We Only Share With a Few

The series is about a girl, Umaru. To the average person, Umaru seems like the perfect girl: beautiful, with top grades, excellent at sports, nice to everyone, and much more. Her brother Taihei sees all this, but knows the other side of Umaru. When she gets home, she transforms into a chibi version of herself, decked out in a hamster outfit. She lies about watching TV, reading manga, and playing video games all day while eating junk food, her favorites being potato chips and cola. Will anybody get the chance to see the real Umaru?

In the show, we see Umaru act differently depending on whom she is talking to. Nana sees the perfect side of Umaru that everyone sees at school. Kirie actually gets to see both versions of Umaru. However, she doesn’t realize they are the same person. When Kirie sees Umaru in her chibi form, she quickly pretends to be Komaru (Umaru’s younger sister who doesn’t exist). Sylphinford is rivals with Umaru at school, but becomes friends with Umaru’s gamer alias UMR (Umaru always hides her hair and wears a mask when she is out in her gamer attire). Taihei is the only person who sees Umaru for who she really is, faults and all.

The show gets criticized a lot because Umaru acts like a brat when she is in chibi form. She often tries to make Taihei cater to her every whim, whether it is only serving her the food she likes, making late-night runs to the manga store or grocery store, or often interrupting Taihei’s sleep. However, I felt that the show illustrated something important. We present different faces depending on whom we are talking to. It is not something that is done with malicious intent. Sometimes, we just feel comfortable sharing a part of ourselves more than others. In the show, Umaru considers Kirie, Nana, and Sylphinford as friends. She just likes hanging out with them in different ways. You can tell she feels the most comfortable with Taihei, though, because she lets him see her true self, knowing that he will fully accept her even when they get on each other’s nerves.

In my own life, I will only discuss different things depending on whom I am talking to. For example, I wouldn’t be able to talk about Haunted Hotel in my household because of the character Abaddon, who is a demon. That would get shut down automatically because my family is very religious. However, things like Abaddon don’t bother me as much. I just see it as enjoyment for entertainment purposes. I also don’t really talk to them about watching anime. Mostly because they are just not interested, and that is okay. I have other people to talk about anime with.

Overall, I felt that the show is a good illustration of human behavior. People present differently depending on who they are with, and that’s okay. Not everything about us is meant to be shared with everyone. You can select who has access to every part of you without worrying about what other people may think. It is important to protect your boundaries and make sure others respect them. I am curious if the series were to ever continue, if Umaru would let anyone besides her brother see the real her. It would definitely make for an interesting story. In the spirit of the show, I ask the following questions: Do you show different sides of yourself depending on whom you talk to? How do you decide who gets access to every part of you? Is it dishonest to present different versions of yourself to different people?