Review of Horimiya

This series gives you a "can't quite put my finger on it" feeling toward the end. When it first started off, I was binging it. I enjoyed every minute of it, but some things gradually did not add up. I think it was right when he got his haircut, that I began to feel something was off. It wasn't BECAUSE he got his haircut. It was what lead up to it. I would not call this anime cliche at the start, honestly. A romance anime where they end up together HALF WAY THROUGH? A wholesome friendship that turns into a relationship and it feels genuine? Well,yeah. Except, it started to ruin itself sometime after that. What makes it cliche is Hori. An emotional, hot-headed, and jealous toxic woman dates a passive, bland, emo man.

I loved the way side characters and side stories were treated.. Except for one thing. They feel both rushed and unresolved. Episodes end and you can't wait to pick up where you left off! Oh, except you never do. You start the next episode and we're onto the next story. That interaction or character moment you were looking for was just skipped over. Happens about three times.

Honestly, I thought this series was a goldmine when I started it. Genuine 10/10 just enjoying their friendship and the potential relationship developing. I loved every minute of it and I was so confident in it. I even told my friends it was now my second favorite romance of all time. I was wrong.

The show had much more potential in it too. Maybe if there was more episodes to flesh out and resolve some of these side stories and revamp some personalities, it would have easily been a 10/10. Sadly, another romance anime that does not satisfy. The romance genre is an itch that cannot be scratched. Yet, right here, I thought I had found a gem.