Review of Horimiya

For me, the art style was easily the main draw to this show, it seems to focus on bright, vibrant colors but also quite unique and quirky character designs that make them easily recognizable. It is a very pretty show and the animation flows beautifully making for really easy viewing. There are 13 episodes of Horimiya, which when I learned that the manga has been going for many years, it seems like there should be way more! I found the first half of the anime to be very typical backstory episodes with a lot of angst. I think it was totally necessary so that we couldlearn the characters and see interactions that are being set up. Towards the second half of the show, it seemed to be less on backstory and more on pairings, love triangles, angst, and random funny happenings.

I don’t hate how it was paced, but I think it really could have benefitted from more episodes so that the things that happened towards the end didn’t feel so rushed or out of place.

The characters in Horimiya are all very cute and I love how colorful they are. I think some of them actually have very good personalities and have lots of potentials if they had the chance to be fleshed out in the show.

There were a lot of cutesy moments that felt very wholesome, but also a lot of quite deep and emotional scenes too that had me reflecting about my own life and things I had been through that were similar.

Overall I think Horimiya has a quite wholesome feeling to it but does get deep at times, so it doesn’t lose touch with the viewer - which I liked.

Overall the show is cute, very angsty, and quite funny. If either of these things is your cup of tea I’d recommend it. If you like the anticipation and angst that comes with romance then this is one for you. There are only 13 episodes so it’s a short anime. I don’t think it’d be a waste of an afternoon to watch it if you are looking for something new to try!