The wonderfully silly otaku anime series Himouto! Umaru-chan will celebrate its 5th anniversary with an online exhibition. The exhibition is free (you do need to register to join) and available to international fans of the series from now through 30 April.
Visitors can ‘walk’ (or scroll) through the exhibition, which includes an entrance area and five chapters. The chapters are designed to look like a real art gallery, complete with benches and chandeliers (and fake ‘side corridors’ which you can’t click on).
The first time that you enter, the girls from the show will welcome you and explain how to walk through the exhibition. Each ‘gallery’ features framed pictures of scenes from the series. Click on the pictures, and you can hear commentary from the voice cast. Note that everything is in Japanese.
If you have a favorite scene or character from the series, you might find it in the exhibition, as each section has ten pictures in it. The first section is called ‘Umaru and Everyone,’ followed by ‘The Ecology of Umaru,’ ‘Umaru and Onii-chan,’ and ‘Umaru’s Secret Base.’
The fifth ‘Collection of Umaru’ section is a little different, as it features the limited-edition merchandise for the exhibition. However, even this section is fun to look at, as you get to hear the girls comment on the merchandise. Funnily enough, this includes PG-13 rated dakimakura pillow covers, which Ebina-chan seems understandably embarrassed about.
Of course, like with any exhibition, you exit through the gift shop. The items for sale include framed art, acrylic stands, towels, tapestries, and the aforementioned body pillows.
Vote on Your (Less) Favorites
From now through 31 January, you can also vote for the ‘less popular characters’ from the series. It seems that the exhibition was originally way too large and data-heavy to fit everything in, so they had to cut the less popular stuff. The ten items that get the most votes will be added to the exhibition. There’s a huge list of random, miscellaneous otaku junk and other funny stuff that you can vote for. The possible choices include Pokee sticks, Patsune Migu, cola, melon pan, Tabasco (they didn’t copyright-proof this one; did they have permission?), okonomiyaki, Puru Puru pudding, Anumate, and omurice.
You can watch the first season of Himouto! Umaru-chan at Crunchyroll. The second season (Himouto! Umaru-chan R) is available at Amazon Prime.