Review of Horimiya

[ This review contains minor spoilers since it goes in depth] Horimiya Anime Review By: Azrael Anacleto aka "Cyranical" Let's get it!!! Have you ever read a good romantic comedy manga before, and then you found out that it had an anime adaptation. Only to be dissapointed because the adaptation did not live up the expectations, and you got bored of it quickly making you appreciate the manga a lot more. WellI certaintly did with this Horimiya anime adaptation right here by Cloverworks. Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Cyranical, and welcome to my Horimiya anime review. Horimiya is the second anime adaptation of the famous webnovel and manga series by Hiroko Adachi.

It tells the story of a loner high school boy named Miyamura, and her ever so popular classmate Hori-san, the former being seen in class as an otaku weirdo outcast, while the latter is recognized as your typical most popular girl in school. Little do their classmates know they both have hidden personalities, Hori being a klutz that's not really into trends and all the normal normie stuff that you would expect her to be since her parents are always home late, so she's forced to spend her time housekeeping and taking care of her brother Souta. Miyamura on the other hand is an only child of a bakery owner that has a lot of piercings and tatoos on his body, now he is indeed a weirdo just not as much as people think he is, since he is actually described as handsome and charismatic by people especially after he cuts his own hair and glows-up for the sake of Hori-san, by a chance of fate the two individuals meet and their life circumstances intertwine with each other and start changing for the better.

Now first things first this Horimiya adaptation right here is not the first one that it has, the first one is actually an OVA series titled Hori San to Miyamura-Kun which is based off the original web novel, since the manga is also based on that, the latter is not the og source material unfortunately, the Ova series was made by Gonzo in collaboration with Hoods Entertainment.
Now where do I start here? I think Imma kick it off with the positives first. Let start off by praising how the anime executed it's premise, the premise is very simple and can be found in many shoujo manga and anime, a gloomy isolated mc meets popular girl with hidden personality they get closer and fall in love together, sound familiar kinda like Kimi no Todoke, but reverse it this time. Normally romcom anime utilizes all the cliches and ever so popular
troupes of the genre, since people seem to think that by doing so they make something great, but that is wrong in order to make a good romcom you need to focus on the characters, and the main couple's dynamic together, that alone can carry a show, and then put in some spicy conflicts here and there, now if you wanna make a generic romcom then yeah go for the utilization of the troupes and cliches, also make sure you put in characters that are self inserts and don't develop them further than their initial character stereotype, there you go, congratulations you have generic thrash. Fortunately Horimiya is not generic thrash it does use the troupes and cliches, but not as much as it's predecessors and then it combines them with shoujo elements, which makes the anime feel like a breath of fresh air for this reason alone.

Okay let's move on to the animation and the artstyle , the animation is great and compliments the anime well, for example the show has this thing where it changes the background colors to vibrant colors when the characters are happy and full of resolution, while it changes it to darker colors if they are feeling worried or reminiscing about their past that they would rather forget than remember, though the latter is mostly just done with the MC Miyamura. Now the artstyle is very shoujoish, I mean it's very obvious, you can tell just by looking at the characters maybe the author was a shoujo mangaka or something, anyway I've never been a fan of shoujo artstyle but there are some that I liked such as maid-sama, code geass artstyle, and kareshi no kanojo since it just oozes with "oohh the show is very low budget" but they still managed to make it extremely good somehow. Horimiya's artstyle is something that grew on me, I used to not like it as much, but since I fell in love with the characters and grew to like them even more and more, even though that's mainly because of the manga and not the anime, I've come to like the artstyle a lot more now over time now, I say that but it just feels like I don't notice it anymore, well not in a bad thing but in a good way since the artstyle just feels synonymous with the show and it's characters now, that's how much it has grown on me ever since.

Now let's move on the last positive the characters. Let just start off by stating that the main couple absolutely just steals the show ever single time, like they even managed to awaken my crave factor that made me finish the manga in a mere four days, like that was the time where schoolwork and college applications where on the line, I guess that really just states just how much I enjoyed reading the Horimiya manga, now with the anime it practically remains the same, since the characters are the same, so is their traits and characteristics, everything about them is the same except for maybe the fact that they are all on the big screen now, anyway as I was saying the main couple's dynamic is crazy good, like there is no time when the story or the scenes revolve around Hori and Miyamura does the anime remain dull, since they compliment and play-off each other perfectly, and it's an absolute shame that their screentime got cut since omakes exist.

Now the side characters, a lot of people actually hate them, but I don't I actually like them a fair bit, my favorites are Yoshikawa, Sengoku, Kouno and Remi, I despise Iura and Yanagi though since they don't really do anything and are not really that interesting, even though they did try to make Iura a decent character he just didn't come off like that to me. Now let me get on to why people hate the side characters and maybe I can depend them a bit, granted they are nowhere near as entertaining nor as interesting as Horimiya and Miyamura, but those two are only great since they play off each other perfectly, maybe excluding the part where Hori is a masochist and wants physical abuse from Miyamura, but that doesn't really bother me that much unlike other people, since that was a change I wasn't expecting and I honestly found that little tidbit a bit interesting. Now back to the side characters, I actually liked Yoshikawa more than Hori in certain cases, which is weird since she's more shallow as a character than the latter , but she strikes me as more of a real person than someone like Hori or Miyamura is and that contributes to the fact that I like her too, since I like her I also like her relationship with Ishikawa Touru, plus the dude seems like a chill, cool, caring guy anyway so what's there not to like about about it, next up I absolutely adore Sengoku and Remi's relationship together since it's literary the cutest thing ever, and Kouno is a decent character it's a shame she didn't win the love triangle with Yoshikawa, but the latter fit Ishikawa more anymore, so it is what it is. Now the reason people hate these characters is because they rob us of screentime for the main couple, and yes when you compare their endeavors, relationships and interactions with each other alongside Hori and Miyamura then yes these characters do feel lackluster and kinda fall flat on their faces, you can even say their annoying like Iura and Yanagi, but at the end of the day, their side characters so just let em off the hook a little bit, since the author likes these characters and wanted them to shine just like the main couple, though they couldn't ever do, they still an appropriate amount of time for character development and a bunch of screentime anyway, so you're just stuck with them anyway so just let em be there for the ride, if you don't wanna encourage them, then yeah that's fine, but if you do like some of them like me, then I'm glad these characters don't come off as annoying or worthless to you, as I like some of them and found them fairly entertaining.

Now let's move on to the negatives, I did say I was dissapointed with this anime adaptation, so let me explain why that's the case. First of all it has no consistent pacing whatsoever, like how do you go from chapter 37 to all the way up to around chapter 112, like what and that's not just the case for it, it does this many many times where it adapts a chapter, then it goes for an omake and then it goes way back to the earlier chapters, like chill anime where is your continuity, it's so confusing to watch and interpret if your a manga reader like me.

Next up all the parts that I liked were not adapted, for example the part where Ishikawa is asking Miyamura for advice on what to get for her present is funny af, and they cut off their bromance as well which was entertaining and hilarous for me, so when Hori jokes about in the anime that some guy was gonna steal Miyamura from her it's not nearly as funny, and comes off as kinda weird and out of place. This is why the anime became boring for me, since if I didn't see the parts or chapters that I absolutely adored from the manga then what sense would it make for me to watch the anime, you know I started feeling like the fact that this show was airing weekly and I only needed to watch a episode once a week was a real blessing in disguise. Now I get it that the studio rushed the anime in order to capitalize on advertising the manga since it just ended about a week ago, but come on man, this trend of making anime just simply to cash in on source materials like LN's, VN'S or Manga needs to stop since it's ruining the industry, granted their are making hella money for it, but by doing so they are making the quality of these shows horrendous, and it's really a shame since I really enjoyed the Horimiya manga.

Pros:
-Good animation and decent artstyle
-Main couple is interesting and has good character dynamic
-Decent ED and OP
-Side characters are entertaining and great
-Combines troupes and cliches with Shoujo elements making the show feel like a breath of fresh air

Cons:
-Show has no consistent pacing whatsoever
-Some side characters like Iura and Yanagi are annoying and
pointless
-Anime was rushed since they wanted to capitalize on the ending
of the manga in order to sell it
-Did not adapt parts my favorite parts and chapters that I think are
important and necessary for the story
-Some scenes come off as weirdly placed since they don't have any
prior context to them
-Get's boring and feels terrible to watch if you're a manga reader
like me

Overall Horimiya is a good romantic comedy based off a really good, fun, plus wholesome manga of the same name. Too bad that compared to it's source material that it's inferior in every way shape or form. As for a seasonal anime it did it's job of attracting attention and changing up things for the romance genre even just for a little bit, and no normies it is not the new goat romcom sit down first and develop taste, so cringe jeez. It was entertaining and decent though I have to admit, but nowhere is it as good as the manga nor did it live up to my expectations of it unfortunately. I would recommend reading the manga though if Horimiya has somehow managed to catch your eye, instead of watching the anime, trust me on this one, it's the better decision anyway at the end of the day. I give Horimiya a 7/10 for my overall anime rating. Thanks for checking out my review of Horimiya, I really appreciate it. Cyranical Out