Review of Horimiya

When reviewing an anime there are 3 main things: Plot, Characters, and Animation. I like to leave voice acting is left out due to sub and dub preferences. Personally, the plot and characters are above animation, but if the animation is distracting or spectacular, it will alter the result. Also, no anime is worth being rated any lower than a 5 unless no work went into the finished project, and in that case, a 3 or 4 is deserved. Plot- The plot is basically about Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura, two classmates that fall in love and go through relationship ups and downs throughout their lastyear of high school. It's quite a simple plot with little to no plot twists or points that keep a watcher with a low attention span interested. Along with this, the anime spends a lot of time on other relationships besides the main one. Even though these ships are great, the anime focuses too much on them, making the reader want more of the main ship, especially near the end. Overall, the plot gets a 7/10.

Characters- This is honestly the most crucial aspect of an anime. It could have an amazing plot, animation, and voice acting, but with dull characters, it will be boring and you'll be checking the time bar until the end of the episode every 2 minutes. In Horimiya, there was no personal connection to any of the characters. Yes, they had individual personalities, but when they did something, there was no emotional reaction from the audience, towards the characters or their actions. The characters weren't terrible or made the watcher want them off their screen, but none were very enjoyable either. They were quite forgettable and I started just calling them "red-haired president guy" or "talkative green dude". I even had to look up their names while writing this review, and that is a huge red flag for characters, especially ones that show up so often during the run time. Overall, the characters get a 7/10

Animation- Considering when it was produced (2021), the animation wasn't distracting or spectacular, but still very smooth and connected. Overall, the animation gets an 8/10

In the end, Horimiya gets a 22/30 (14/20 not counting animation). However, someone could just as easily rank it way higher or lower and their point would be justifiable. It's an overall good romance anime but lacks attention retaining elements as well as connections between the characters and the viewer.

Watch this anime if you:
Have a long attention span
Like short romance
Like multiple ships happening at the same time
Don't like to think hard
Don't mind not having an extreme plot

Don't watch this anime if you:
Have a short attention span
Want to have one main ship
Want exciting plot points
Want a banger ending
Want major character to viewer connections

This is my first review but I hope this helps anyone planning to watch Horimiya. Also, this is an opinion, not fact, meaning you could personally have a completely different takeaway, which is absolutely 110% amazing.