Horimiya

On the surface, the thought of Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura getting along would be the last thing in people's minds. After all, Hori has a perfect combination of beauty and brains, while Miyamura appears meek and distant to his fellow classmates. However, a fateful meeting between the two lays both of their hidden selves bare. Even though she is popular at school, Hori has little time to socialize with her friends due to housework. On the other hand, Miyamura lives under the noses of his peers, his body bearing secret tattoos and piercings that make him look like a gentle delinquent.

Having opposite personalities yet sharing odd similarities, the two quickly become friends and often spend time together in Hori's home. As they both emerge from their shells, they share with each other a side of themselves concealed from the outside world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Miyamura, Izumi Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Hori, Kyouko Main

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Yoshikawa, Yuki ing

Kozakai, Yurie Japanese

Hori, Kyousuke ing

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Sawada, Honoka ing

Asakura, Momo Japanese

Yanagi, Akane ing

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Iura, Shuu ing

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Ayasaki, Remi ing

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Ishikawa, Tooru ing

Yamashita, Seiichirou Japanese

Kouno, Sakura ing

Kondou, Reina Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Odagiri, Narumi Producer

Reviews

Apr 3, 2021

Twumi

Recommended

[Overall Score: 8.5]
Horimiya is one of the most anticipated adaption ever. After years, when everyone gave up on an adaption, there was an announcement. It might not be an exaggeration to say that Horimiya is Winter 2021 most anticipated anime right after SnK final season. After reading the manga for so many years, I was also happy to hear the news. Did it live up to my expectations? Yes.

Horimiya feels like it’s about to cross that line between a light-hearted rom-com and an over the top romance drama, but it never does, which is a good thing (A reference from the Oscar winning film, Parasite). ... On one hand, we have stuff like overwhelming drama like White Album, on the other hand, we have Horimiya, which balances between drama and simplicity so elegantly. The simplicity of Horimiya is what makes it stand out from other rom-coms, and is part of the reason why the manga was crazy popular, long before the adaption.

Horimiya (Full title: Hori-san to Miyamura-kun) at first glance, might seem like the typical “Popular girl dates unpopular guy” story, but it isn’t. Kyoko Hori is a popular girl at her school, almost like an idol for students. Everyone looks up to her, this pushes a burden onto her, she always has to maintain her perfect-girl attitude in front of everyone else. After all, its the people around us who decide our social standing, not us. She has a side she doesn’t want to show to others. In one scene, a bunch of girls saw Hori near the supermarket, one of them exclaimed how she resembles Hori, but then they say that she was too ‘simple’ to be Hori. You can see the burden that is pushed onto her. It’s not easy being popular and act perfect when you are not. Hori only shows her simple and imperfect side to those she cares about a lot—like her family, her close friends like Yuki.
Miyamura on the other hand, is a gloomy student who barely converses with others. He can definitely off as a side character because he’s that unremarkable among students. In his flashbacks, we see Miyamura get bullied and ignored by his classmates, we also get to see him do his piercings by himself with a safety pin, side-by-side to those events. In this way, the act of piercing his ears comes as a response to the bullying. He also has tattoos on his body. So to hide all these features of him, he has grown shoulder length hair and wears a jacket, even in the hottest of days. He stands out among the other students in his school, but not in a good way.
One day, both Hori and Miyamura just happen to meet, but not under normal circumstances. Both of them show their hidden sides to each other. Miyamura happily accepts the real Hori, just like she accepts Miyamura. Thanks to Sota, their wingman, they spend a lot of time together and slowly starts developing feelings for each other.

The story is hardly remarkable at this point, so what is it that’s so good about Horimiya? The characters. I have to it, the characters in this anime feel so much more genuine than I’ve seen in hundreds other rom-com. Horimiya is by far the most genuine feeling rom-com I’ve ever seen. The character interactions elevates this anime to another level. First off, the interaction between the quartet—Hori, Miyamura, Yoshikawa, Ishikawa, they feel so calming. There is a certain warm feeling in this anime, and it’s all thanks to the characters. It’s almost surprising how they can develop the side characters so well in an anime that focuses on two characters.

Yoshikawa is a character that hides her true feelings. She won’t tell people what she truly desires. As said by Hori, “The less she wants you to know she’s upset, the bigger she smiles”. True feelings can not always been shown, there are many circumstances to people. Ishikawa is a long time friend of Hori and Yuki, he is also becomes good friends with Miyamura. Though he’s one of the more simple characters, he cares about others a lot. When Yoshikawa tried to make cupcakes but it didn’t turn out well, Toru was poking fun at her, he happened to glance at her fingers and notice some bandages, which is proof how hard she tried to make those cupcakes. He immediately starts eating those, even though it looks inedible, he eats all of it, with a big smile on his face. There’s the student council president, Sengoku and Remi who have their own unique dynamic. He is with her because he thinks she’s weak and he likes the feeling like he can protect her. But actually, she isn’t weak at all. Remi lets him feel that way on purpose because she likes him so much. Kouno is also very insecure because she’s always with Remi, who’s like an idol at her school, similar to Hori. They are together so much, that some students call them “Beauty and the Beast” beauty referring to Remi, beast referring to Kouno. Similar to how Miyamura felt that he brought down Hori’s image by being with her so much, Kouno also feels the same.

Of course, not all the characters are good. There is Sawada, who’s the damsel in distress and cockblocks Miyamura for a few episodes. She’s annoying and doesn’t know the idea of personal space. She desperately forces herself into the cast and takes away screen time. There’s Yanagi, everyone pretends that he’s so hot and beautiful that in front of him, their own ugliness wants to make them puke. This whole bit with Yanagi is just not working at all and taking away the screen time.

The characters are definitely what makes Horimiya so great, but is that the only aspect of what makes this anime great? Definitely no.

CloverWorks is gaining a reputation because of their well directed anime. The Horimiya anime (much like Kimetsu no Yaiba) is a lesson in how to properly adapt a manga series. The anime’s direction, pacing and the excellent voice cast elevates every scene to the next levels. Ishisama is a great director who knows what he’s doing. The opening of Horimiya is possibly the most well-directed opening of Winter 2021. CloverWorks is quickly becoming one of my favourite studios. The camera work in this anime has been pleasant. Especially the moments of vulnerabilities, I was wondering how will they handle that, but it was handled amazingly. When the background goes white and vibrant watercolors shift their silhouettes, you know that they’ve given extra care to the more dramatic scenes of Horimiya. Horimiya is a treat, beautifully animated by CloverWorks.

The beautifully animated scenes, combined with the OSTs, especially during the dramatic scenes, the sound is yet another aspect Horimiya thrives at. Starting from the mesmerizing opening sequence, which perfectly fits Horimiya’s theme, to the unique ending sequence.
One other thing that I must separately mention is the dialogue delivery. This is one of the most important factors to me when I watch an anime. The dialogue delivery feels WAY TOO genuine. The casts are so talented because it is music to my ears. There is no girl who talks in a high pitched voice which is borderline annoying, even Remi talks in a normal way, I expected her to sound annoying. Dialogue delivery is definitely one of the thing I expect the anime to do well, since it doesn’t exist in manga. And Horimiya absolutely nailed it, starting from the conversations to how they were executed, all of it.


In summary, Horimiya is a satisfying adaption. Many people will find plenty of reasons to hate it, since even I it that this isn't a perfect anime or something. For example, people might not like Hori's masochistic side or how he often hits Miyamura. Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. I am well aware of the fact that Hori is a bit violent in nature, but it is explained why, and it's not like she's the Tsundere from Zero no Tsukaima (An actual bitch), she its her mistakes and its how she knows she was wrong but she blames it on Miyamura anyways, she can't help it. Miyamura chose to accept that side of her, so who am I to judge what's good for him? Besides, S&M is getting more popular day by day among people, I'm here to watch anime, not to kinkshame anime characters.
After waiting for so long, I am nothing but happy to receive such a quality adaption. This definitely lives up to the manga. The manga ended weeks ago, and I was looking forward to the anime every week. This Winter season has been a pleasant ride, with a mix of almost everything, Horimiya takes the spot of the best rom-com. It adapts the starting few chapters, which is the glorious chapters of Horimiya, even in the manga, so naturally I enjoyed it to the fullest. This is as best as it gets, so if you didn’t like this, don’t go into another season or into the manga.

As for me, Horimiya is all I could ask from an adaption. Through ups and downs, the anime has proven itself with the stellar direction, well written and likeable characters, and an acceptable story. It definitely became one of my all time favourites. Since I have no Horimiya chapters to look forward to every month now, I’m gladly waiting for a second season :)

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 3, 2021

KANLen09

Mixed Feelings

"You are worth more than you know, capable of more than you think, and loved more than you can imagine."

Undoubtedly the rom-com of the season, Horimiya has the potential to be great in every aspect of the genre, but the elephant in the room is obviously CloverWorks and the production team behind this show: the classic case of quantity over quality. I'd like to think that we're playing a baseball match with CloverWorks for Winter 2021: Strike 1 for the horrible adaptation of The Promised Neverland (Season 2), Strike 2 for the abominable business practices of hampering Wonder Egg Priority's Behind-the-Scenes tragedy of director Shin ... Wakabayashi and his production team, and finally Strike 3 for what is a total-misfire repeat of Strike 1 of going for a loose and inconsistent adaptation of the original source material (since it's basically marketing for the already completed manga). And you're out!

"You say "There's more to this than meets the eye" when you think a situation is not as simple as it seems to be."

The main star of the show is the central couple: Hori Kyouko and Izumi Miyamura, two very distinct people, and so different-yet-alike each other. The former is a perfect social butterfly but the truth that she’s a brash homebody; the latter hiding a gentle heart, along with piercings and tattoos while under a gloomy façade. Both have things that don't want people to know that are best kept in secret, and a chance meeting proves to break the mirrors of their perceptions and in the perchance, solidify their relationship altogether within that short span of time. As time grows, both Hori and Miyamura learn of each other's quirks and what makes them tick that helps make their relationship grow stronger by the day. Kinda cute in spots, and to the people whom are having a relationship with their significant other will definitely feel those puppy-love moments that are relatable...well, except for some cringe S&M moments (unless the girls are like bad-ass Hori that secretly adores boys like bad-ass Miyamura, and vice versa) and the eccentric familial conditions.

"If I look at the one thorn that is in my side of all my life, it is my weight. I fret about it, I'm anxious about it, being an actor on TV - it drives me insane. It just seems to be something that plays a central part in waking up in the morning and thinking: "How am I with myself today?" - Deborah Mailman

You would think that for such a self-titled show that all you're gonna see is how these two central characters would blossom, right? But instead of the rose that we got with Hori and Miyamura's relationship, there are more thorns on the stem of the side characters, as significant or insignificant as they may be (that's to your POV that I won't judge). By themselves, the side characters can be taken as a side story altogether, but since they're connected to the main bubbly girl, I'd guess that this works primarily to advance their circumstances, rather than being tied onto the main couple, and for a rom-com that deems to be a romantic "drama" altogether, I'm not sure if mixing in too much of slice-of-life moments is a good choice. Pretty much like Tomozaki-kun, the best way to infer is through the clique method:
- Toru Ishikawa, Yuki Yoshikawa, Akane Yanagi and Hori herself.Toru being avid about his prospects of getting together with Hori only diminishes when he sees that the central couple are getting closer, quicker than it looks on the outside. Instead, he tries his best to steer clear of that direction, leading him to Yuki...but not quite the "closeness" as of yet. It's with the fickle-minded Yanagi that consciously brings Toru and Yuki close together, despite both playing the friendship treatment of going so far as to notice the affinities they have for each other. A potential couple, but played off as one of friend-zoning.
- Kakeru Sengoku, Remi Ayasaki and Sakura Kono (with a wild Toru on the side): the Student Council trio. For the most part, both Sengoku and Remi has had quite the relationship with each other: a weak but capable guy and a bubbly, playful girl whose differences match one another, and they're as close to being realistic and vulnerable towards each other in their moments of time alone. Sakura is quite the character that most people will feel quite frustrated about, but for those who've gone though the love ennui moments of noticing your crush from afar, you'll definitely find yourself in Sakura's shoes. She's an introvert through and through, but someone who's an extrovert when trying to reciprocate between the give-and-take of feelings, as such when she develops a crush on Toru, only to find that his kindness is returned, but not in the way she expected it to be. And it hurts real bad.
- Miyamura, Koichi Shindo and Makio Tanihara (with a wild Hori on the side): the middle-school "Happy Three Friends" of a convoluted past. The reason why Miyamura is surfaced as a lonesome otaku geek at the beginning is because of Tanihara and his clique of friends who used to bully Miyamura for his ostracized looks, to the breaking point where what Miyamura once confided in was taken away from him, leading to the gloomy aspect. It's only through Shindo that Tanihara would come to start accepting Miyamura for who he is, with the heart talks between both cementing the reconciliation years later. Other than that, Shindo is the casual butt of a joker, and with Hori adding into the equation only makes the S&M aesthetic look more prominent.
- The others who have significantly less screentime: Shu Iura is the objectively loud airhead of a character whom is exactly like Shindo, Honoka Sawada whom is seen as the detractor of the Horimiya relationship, and the Hori family of a beautiful, yet somehow kinda "broken" family (in particular to Best Dad Kyosuke).

Ideally I would want to paint this picture as someone whom has been in a relationship, but for the general audience, whether you're in one or not, Horimiya is as bare-bones as it can be, trading the romance aspect for its comedy of the Pareto Principle: 80% comedic slice-of-life, 20% romance.

“We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness — and call it love — true love.” – Robert Fulghum

I find it quite the fascination of not just the OST that Horimiya has, but more of less its visuals and the intended picture of how people are supposed to perceive both the small and big moments, and this is something that I have to give the animators credit for. Starting off with the OP, it's interesting that there's 2 variations of Miyamura's theme: the 1st half where Miyamura is just like his old self, from reaching for the cube alone to most characters feeling dejected and frustrated, to the 2nd half where Hori's hand reached out for Miyamura with the cube, to the director's credit roll of him slicing the monochrome feel to showcase the colours of life with happiness overflowing. Capping off with the ED, it's using the twixt of a mix of animation in a dress-up model style between the central couple. Even with scenes that are depicted in the style of the OP of the potential couple-like feels, it's these Easter Eggs that not everyone will notice, but I thought it's worth mentioning. As for both OP and ED, it sounds great, no faults there.

If I can sum Horimiya up in a quote, it'd be this one by the famous Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley:
“You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”

As mentioned in the beginning, it's a loose adaptation of HERO and Hagiwara Daisuke's manga of the same name, but if I'd reckon something that the anime lacked over the manga, it's good progression. The anime felt mostly like the typical slice-of-life situations of characters gone awry, and though the allegory of what got lost as the series progressed, so to did the anime that had to relinquish some good character development moments for simpler ones, and that to me, is a shame of how much Horimiya could've been on par with the manga, but it wasn't meant to be...

...or so could be best said: "The source material is so much better."

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 22, 2022

RebelPanda

Not Recommended

On the surface, Horimiya is a finely polished anime—Glistening character art, bright lighting, realistic backgrounds, glittery visual effects. Every voice actor's suited their character, and their performances are convincing. Both the opening and ending credits are slickly animated with the utmost care and talent. The original soundtrack is average, but it fits every scene. Though I was immediately drawn to this anime for its impressive technical qualities, they weren’t good enough to overlook the subpar writing.

Beneath the superficial presentation, Horimiya is a computer-generated romantic comedy story that thinks in cliches: It merges tropes from the mediocre rom-com anime with the worst parts of sappy shoujo ... dramas. I should start by saying, I have never read the manga and this subpar anime didn't convince me I should.

Chances are you've heard this premise before: A male high school student with no friends meets a girl through a chance encounter. She's popular at school; still, she works hard to take care of her family, and she doesn't have time to socialize: The pair bond over their secretive lives. Despite his edgy appearance, the girl does not judge the boy. She encourages him to come out of his shell and find friends. In return, he does everything within his capability to make her happy. While it is a bog-standard plot, Horimiya was my kind of show. It had a simplistic trajectory: Make progress on Hori and Miyamura’s first love, tackle sexual awakenings, develop the side characters, and develop the themes of self-acceptance. That’s not quite how it went. Instead, they rushed through the story at a breakneck pace while repeating identical jokes and throwing in endless cliches. Fake dating scenarios, love triangles, perpetually pissed off heroines, and a tidal wave of misunderstandings.

Even though the premise was simple, I liked seeing Hori and Miyamura together. Their relationship felt genuine; beginning as playful friends who got along despite their differences. Miyamura was a cipher at first—Quiet and introverted, he does not like school, cliques, and social requirements. He spoke very little about his personal life and he stood out from every other generic character design. Simply looking at him raises questions: Why does he have tattoos, nine piercings, and such long hair? All of these questions are answered in a very cut and dry manner. About two minutes of each episode is saved for flashbacks to his dark past. His backstories are presented with washed-out colors, quiet background sound, and darkened backgrounds to highlight his depressed state of mind. The solid presentation makes his melodramatic past seem more interesting than it is. With Hori's help, he overcomes his trauma, depression, and isolation (rather quickly). Miyamura's most significant obstacle was his inability to say how he truly felt. Characters joke about it because they reference how stereotypical his behavior is. If your story makes fun of a genre cliche, then repeatedly uses it, you are not subverting anything. The story is aware it is annoying and it does not care.

Miyamura is a respectful guy; he's not possessive of Hori. He does everything she asks, and then some. When his friend Toru asked him for permission to date Hori, he said 'it's her choice' because he's a decent person. Most importantly, he had plausible reasons for falling in love with her. His first reason was, "She doesn't judge people based on looks." She embraced him even though society frowns up students with long hair, piercings, and tattoos. In reality, kids would be lining up to be friends with someone like him—but we need anime high school drama logic! So let's say being Cool makes him Uncool. Hori's classmates made fun of her for dating Miyamura since he's so uncool. Though she never let their words bother her. She accepted him, which made his high school experience better. He's the perfect guy for her. Yet in love stories, there's a problem if one of the partners is a little too perfect.

Miyamura does anything he can to make Hori happy, even at his own expense. Though the story frames his selflessness as something good, his dedication strips him of individuality and all intriguing aspects. Such as to prevent Hori from getting teased, he cut his hair and stopped wearing his piercings because people looked down on him for them. However, Hori never needed help. I hate how the show frames his edgy appearance as a problem he must fix to have a good relationship. Part of what made this show so appealing was Miyamura's distinct appearance from generic high-school anime protagonists. As we found out, that amounted to little more than a marketing gimmick. In the first few episodes, it pitched itself as an emotional portrayal of bullying and depression, but those themes were bait. When it comes down to it, this show doesn’t give a rat’s ass about “Not judging people by their appearance.” When Miyamura tells his friends about people talking behind his back, they tell him to man up—in a show about bullying that we’re meant to take seriously.

The only problems in their relationship that weren't Hori's fault were caused by contrivances. Miyamura's phone dies for five days, so Hori goes into panic mode and assumes the worst. The grand reunion is played up with dramatic slow motion, loud, emotional music, but it rings hollow. It's meant to feel like they've been apart for a long time, but to us, it was only five minutes. What should've been a significant turning point for their relationship felt inconsequential. Alone, this one contrived moment isn't a big deal; however, it is a persistent problem with the anime. The pacing issues are more noticeable the longer the show drags on. However, no amount of adaptation magic could've saved Hori from being an awful person. She treats Miyamura like sewage water—yet no one ever meaningfully criticizes her, so she is never redeemed! No matter what Miyamura does, she’ll yell at him, whack him, or get silently pissed off.

Girls compliment him? WHACK!
She's feeling nervous? WHACK!
He compliments her? WHACK!

There's no winning with her. She's like every bad shoujo author's idea of a strong female character. Making your heroine hit and berate her boyfriend totally makes her a girl boss. These 'issues' only got worse the longer they dated. First, she became possessive, then jealous, angry, and creepy. Mind you, Hori's short temper is not a character flaw. No, it's merely a sign of her love! Because this is how sane people act when they're in love, right? Hori could work on solving her anxiety and jealousy by communicating with her boyfriend. Or better yet, she could confide in her parents, who occupy background space for no reason. Her little brother acts as a bridge between the two when they're having one of their misunderstandings. When Hori finally expresses why she is upset about Miyamura getting attention from other girls, it is revealed to be all in her imagination! If they were able, to be honest, then these misunderstandings would stop. But we can't have that. We need Hori to be jealous because that's one of her three jokes! If I this show three months from now, it will be for those God damn misunderstandings.

Relationships are about compromise. Loving someone requires giving and taking. Hori takes, Miyamura gives. Some relationships are acceptable this way, but this one is toxic. Miyamura is the glue that keeps them together because he's always patient and submissive. When Hori asks him to act dominant by berating and hitting her, he tries. Expectedly it didn't work, but it's not just played off as a joke. Hori asked him to be dominant, and she always gets what she wants. This is the level of humor in the second half of the show. She constantly asks Miyamura to hit her and insult her. He says no, and that he's not into that—yet she continues to pester him! I would've ghosted her at this point, but he is perfect; therefore, he mustn't reject his queen. He even tries S&M it for her sake, but it makes him uncomfortable. Even stranger, they do their S&M shit in public. Their classmates just watch it happen and say "Wow Miyamura is so cool..." for calling his girlfriend a bitch. What kind of bizarre alternate reality is this writer living in? Still, Hori keeps asking him. If you're a masochist, and your partner isn't a sadist, don't force them to be one! To make her happy, he ignores his discomfort to berate and slap her. The writer must've assumed S&M just meant consensually abusing your partner in broad daylight. No, that is not how it works, nor is it good humor.

Miyamura confides in Hori's father, saying he feels uncomfortable with the S&M dynamic and asks for help. Finally, he spoke his mind! Hori's father tells her how Miyamura feels and to be considerate of her boyfriend's feelings. I felt blessed; finally, the show listened to my cries: Please stop being boring! You'd assume this would be enough to get through to her… but no, she responds with, "Stop blabbing about stupid crap and help me out with the chores." This could've been a problem they resolved to strengthen their relationship, but no, it is played off for humor. I knew for certain Hori wouldn't get any worse than this. Right?

Wrong. It's time to address the worst joke. Miyamura expresses attraction and considers dating other guys; it's apparent he's bisexual. That's cool! Bisexual people are great partners... though Hori would disagree. At the slightest implication that Miyamura is bisexual, Hori says, "Gross," with a nauseated expression. A little bromance? "Gross." To get the joke, we have to understand it from the way she does, and that is to believe it's gross. Very cool, girl boss.

Toru's entire character encapsulates this joke. He was in love with Hori, but he got turned down in the first episode. Afterward, he stuck around to Miyamura. The thing is, he's into guys too! He'll call a guy attractive, then everyone will go, "Whaaaaat?" How quirky! I swear some of his dialogue was ripped straight out of a BL manga. This isn't just a Hori thing. Random extras act disgusted when they see Toru being friendly with Miyamura. They tease romance with full intention of never making it happen because it's bait. So what's the point of the joke? There is none—the show tries to have its bisexual cake and eat it too.

Every ing character can be placed in at least one of three categories: 1. Nice on the outside, mean on the inside. 2. Constantly acts happy to avoid burdening others. 3. Too dumb to understand what's happening. Although some of them get a few seconds of characterization, it is skipped for the sake of dramatic romance. Ultimately none of their side plots mattered. They're simply a diversion from the primary couple, who could use more screen time because the anime skims through dozens in the blink of an eye. You probably won't all of their names, but thankfully their candy-colored hair makes it easy to tell them apart.

Hori's friend, Yoshikawa, falls into all three. Her character flaw is that she has trouble communicating. She acts sweet to make everyone around her happy, but she actually does it because she's a spiteful person underneath. Like most of the cast, she narrates her thoughts and puts herself down because she lacks self-worth for unknown reasons. She hides her emotions for the sake of others to not be a bother. Aside from Very Original character writing, this doesn't make her unique. Everyone in the show is terrible at communicating—not because this is true to actual high school students, but because it's repetitive writing. It's never a mystery what a character is thinking, and if you can't tell, the directing makes it even simpler.

When they don't know how to communicate the characters' thoughts, they just put a text box on-screen. Adapting a manga involves more than copying and pasting s—you creatively develop ways to show emotions through body language, music, camera angles, and editing. The extent of Horimiya's visual storytelling is by focusing on a character, slow motion, changing the backdrop to a white wall, and adding a colorful shadow. The first time, it was unique. It conveyed Hori and Miyamura's thoughts. Even though they were evident without the sudden art style change. Then they kept doing it. Eventually, it would happen five times per episode for each side character. It lost its effect right away and became forced. There are numerous more ways to convey the character's thoughts without recycling this mindless visual effect. It just made me roll my eyes. Before it felt personal like I intimately knew who these people were. But then it happened again. Then again. And before I knew it, every irrelevant character had their little introspective moment and I realized I didn't know these people at all. By the end I still had big questions, even about the main characters, for one—why does Miyamura continue to date Hori even though she's a toxic asshole?

Nearly everyone has said Horimiya is a masterclass romance, that it is the anime of the season. All I saw was a subpar, run-of-the-mill anime weighed down by superfluous characters, annoying misunderstandings, rushed pacing, and a viscerally unlikable heroine. After sprinting past over a hundred chapters, the story screeches to a halt at the thirteenth episode with a tearjerker ending. I enjoy watching shamelessly corny love stories that make me tear up with joy. But I don't like anime that are so cliche that they do the tearing up for me. If you're new to anime, a lover of romcoms, and have a high tolerance for cliches, you'll get a kick out of this. To everyone else, there are much better choices than Horimiya.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Mar 24, 2023 11:01 PM by Discuss (22 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for February

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for February. Week 1: February 7 - 13 Anime Releases Horimiya Complete Season Blu-ray & DVD Co...read more

Feb 14, 2023 4:00 PM by Discuss (0 comments)

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