Review of Horimiya

I'd like to think that my standards haven't risen or changed, but looking at Horiyama, this has to be the case of affirming a change. I read this way back in 2015-2016, all the way to around chapter 58. I remember thinking that it was pretty good, but now? I can't seem to see anything that stood out. It's not like I didn't revisit the manga. I quickly read a few chapters just to compare with the anime, and honestly, scenes are played out the same exact way with little to no change in pacing. Definitely the aspect of characterization is done a lot more in depthdue to the amount of chapters there are, but for the most part, Horiyama's anime does not deviate much from the manga. That being the truth, it's hard for me to believe how average this series truly is.
Horiyama features an extremely boring, predictable, and lackluster cast of characters that never past their surface characteristics. Any sort of development in their characters has to be crutched by some romantic interests that make them understand their feelings or figure more things about them. To say it nicely, Horiyama is your orthodox rom-com show, but let's be honest here, it's just boring.
It's hard to truly believe that Horiyama is super realistic. The bonding of all characters seem extremely forced and unsatisfying. However, it also is just a romance show. I'm not exactly looking for realism. I'm looking for a good romance series. How many romance series, of any medium, have you seen that you could be like "that was super realistic." It's more of: this was feasible, and the journey towards that romance was great.
The problems is that Horiyama features shallow characters. Even the two main characters have extremely mundane base personalities that never cross anything past their original scope. The whole idea that Hori and Miyamura have special relationship due to their "secret" appearances and personalities is truly a bit of a stretch. In the end, what happens to Miyamura's appearances? He cuts his hair and shows it off anyways. What about the idea that Hori was busy at home and can't socialize? Yeah, you never see that problem again past episode 1. Any srot of interesting traits about them is scrapped after they get into a relationship. Using gimmicks in order to forcefully get a relationship between the two main leads is a common tactic in romance, yet even the "post-relationship" phase is not very good. What happens after Hori and Miyamura develop a bond? Boring stuff like random sub-romantic plots take hold. How uninteresting. What's even the point? Even Miyamura and Hori's relationship, for how much time is invested into their development is lackluster, so of course these sub-plots become boring. And of course, this series loves to integrate forcefully placed obstacles in order for any characters to develop a love interest. Hey, how about we add a random love interest in order for Yoshikawa to realize her feelings? How about we have Remi confront Hori about Miyamura for no good reason at all?
Once you litter obvious plot devices about ways to unnaturally progress a relationship, the series becomes so generic and uninteresting that it hurts. Tropes can happen in a romance. At this stage in the game, it's expected for there to be some, but there can only be so many before it destroys the integrity of the series.
Miyamura's traumas in middle school can be a recurring theme in the series, yet, at the same time, I truly wonder if it was necessary. I think it's so much better than what Wonder Egg priority had, since almost anything is better than that, but seriously, this show tries too hard to make Miyamura a sad piece of garbage that got saved by Hori.
A dime in a dozen shoujo romance with too many tropes to be counted on one hand, with unsatisfying relationships and character dynamics, Horiyama's an overall unmemorable blip in the radar.