Summer 2022 First Impressions – Chimimo

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Mutsumi, Hazuki, and Mei are three sisters that share a charming suburban home. One day while Mei is reading, she notices a strange white blob-like creature dive into a cabinet. The sisters extract the creature from its hiding place, only to find that they have no idea what it is (other than cute). They assume they have an abandoned animal on their hands, so they wait for the owner to come knocking on their door.

In the meantime, the creature seems to be multiplying, or at the very least inviting its friends to come hang out. Soon the sisters are dealing with more than a dozen little horned marshmallows, each with its own personality. Eventually Jabberwock the 8th, a messenger from Hell, comes calling after his minions, though as the oldest sister Mutsumi is more than capable of getting him to hit the road. But as a demon sent to Earth to scope out new territory on behalf of Hell, Jabberwock has it kind of hard and the sisters take pity on him, inviting him to live with them until he can get on his feet.

Impressions: Anime comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I recall many years ago when the TV anime Kaiba was coming out, and I recall someone online complaining that it “wasn’t real anime” because it didn’t look like a typical anime. I like to think that type of sentiment is something that we’ve collectively gotten over with as a fandom, but that said I think we all still have our prejudices. Case in point: I assumed that Chimimo was a series of shorts based entirely on the way the characters look, when in fact it’s just a very unique-looking (and full-length) comedy series.

The chimimo, named as such because of the noise that they make (“chimi!”) and the term “mouryou” referring to a type of yokai, seem to me to be a merchandiser’s dream – they’re cute, cuddly, and unique-enough that one can pretend that they have different personalities and pick a favorite to cuddle. They’ve also got just a little sprinkling of evil to them (they are hell creatures, after all), so it has that attraction for people who are into the juxtaposition of spooky and cute. After some cleaning-up, even their boss is kind of nice to look at.

But it’s after thinking about all this that I begin to feel a little bit duped. Living in a society that runs on consumerism means that it’s difficult to take many things at face value. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the chimimo would make great toys or that the characters are all relateable young women or that the Jabberwock guy is kind of hot. There have been many times in my life where I know I’m being sold to and this is simply another one. But sometimes once you see it, that’s all you can see.

I think that this episode is very cute and fluffy, and I appreciate how different it looks. But having said that, it also feels like a product being sold. Most anime are that as well, but for whatever reason this one just kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

Pros: I love how this episode is animated. I know there’s always been a lot of grumbling out there about simplicity in character design – having also been a fan of some recent American animation and even some offbeat-looking anime over the years, I can definitely sense some disdain out there for things that differ from a more realistic and/or “typical” aesthetic. I think the look of this show really fits the subject matter perfectly.

I also appreciate that the important characters are three sisters, and that they clearly love one-another even though their personalities differ a lot. There’s a thread that runs through this episode that shows itself at the end which basically speaks to the fact that everyone needs help at times and it’s the kind thing to do to offer it when needed, and I get the feeling that’s something that can best come from a place of sympathy. I imagine if these characters are living together without any obvious other family, then they must have needed some kindness at some point in their lives, too.

Cons: Aside from some occasionally fun visual humor, much of this episode just feels insubstantial. I actually feel like it has some similar issues to The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting which I just reviewed, in that it doesn’t seem to want to commit to a particular emotional tone long enough to land properly. Rather, it just ends up undercutting itself.

Content Warnings: Mild gross-out humor involving vomit.

Would I Watch More? – This season is working itself out to be a bit lighter on stuff I’m enthusiastic about, so in that light I might watch another episode or two just to see if I might be looking at things a little too harshly.