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“I don’t think there’s a person in this world you can’t eventually be friends with” - Izumi Miyamura - Ep 9

Horimiya is a flawed high school romance story about a quickly established relationship where the couple strives to learn more about each other. With the composer of Your Lie in April and an award-winning cast working together, this show was capable of success. However, poor editing and pacing by Cloverworks led to its downfall.

Bad: Side Characters, Pacing, Editing
Hit-or-Miss: Comedy, Dialogue
Good: Concept, Soundtrack

Romance: 6.5/10
Story: 6/10
... Art: 6.5/10
Sound: 8/10
Characters: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10

The story isn’t told by a narrator, but by the characters. Their inner thoughts and interactions with each other are what drive the plot forward. The first half of the season focused mainly on Miyamura and Hori, while the second half (after they get together) was more divided and shifted towards the side characters. Horimiya didn’t have overused plot devices, anything hard to wrap your head around, nor much to get bored of. As a person who has seen a decent amount of romance stories now, it’s predictable how everything plays out. But that shouldn’t be an issue as long as it’s done well… which it isn’t. The goal for the studio, Cloverworks, was to adapt the entire manga, Horimiya, and its 100+ chapters into 13 episodes, resulting in skipped scenes and sudden character appearances while expecting the viewer to appreciate them as much as Hori-Miya. The editing, however, was by far the biggest problem. They were focusing on more comedic aspects of the story rather than the progression of these students as human beings, making tender moments end suddenly without sufficient reflection. This is most apparent with Hori-Miya. Instead of starting off the story with them together, they showed how they got to know each other. While the “prologue” had tenderness, the silence between their dialogues was too short. Less is more, and if they took a second longer to reflect, it would’ve made that much more of a difference. In a rush to finish the story, it ended abruptly, leaving behind plot holes and unresolved conflicts.To make up for this, however, the comedy of this show was witty and amusing. Most of the jokes and gags were enough to make a semi-giggly person chuckle, while others were stale.

The art style is typical, with sharp-chinned characters and neutral backgrounds. Along with this, no mixed media like CGI or live action was used. Overall, nothing super different from what Cloverworks and the artist, Hagiwara, usually do. However, the anime isn’t completely basic. In some scenes, the characters go into a trance state (their subconscious) that displays a colored shadow behind them. I think this is supposed to represent what they truly feel inside (or maybe I’m overthinking it). This is done fairly well and is kind of unique compared to other romances, as those stories have characters that go into a trance state as well. The animation was inoffensive and remained consistent. Nothing bad, nothing really notable. The character design on the other hand, was pretty basic, as the biggest defining factor was the color of their hair (very saturated colors in my opinion). Miyamura had the most interesting appearance in the beginning, (mild spoiler) but began looking like everybody else by 3 episodes. Also, you know how anime/manga usually goes back and forth between normal and chibi art styles? Horimiya overuses chibi way too much. For example, when there is a sweet moment with Miyamura and Hori, one of them suddenly turns chibi, destroying the sweetness. I get that there should be funny things going on, but not at the expense of potential character development.

The sound department for this anime however, was very good. The characters had very distinct personalities which were displayed well. That’s mostly because the voice actors behind them are talented and have done more demanding roles before. Along with this, the soundtrack was by composer Yokoyama, who made the music behind other romance anime like Your Lie in April and Fruit’s Basket. His work made the tender moments feel very real and human, balancing out the poor editing. With a mix of garage band, orchestra, and electronic instruments, a bittersweet tone was added to the overall story. All of this was then complemented by the opening, which had fun and memorable tunes that I often hum during the day, while the ending was more lowkey and left a warm feeling in my ears.

The main/side characters themselves had unique personalities. They were flawed, but worked to battle them. Hori-Miya felt well-rounded, while others were a bit flatter. This however, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since everyone at least had a sense of care for each other. Special shout-out to Miyamura, as he had some very sweet and memorable dialogues, such as the one in the beginning of the review. Most of them overcame situations in a realistic way, while others took exaggerated measures. They weren’t very relatable, but I still enjoyed them nevertheless. However, Horimiya also had an ever-growing supporting cast, with a new person arriving every single episode. Due to the lack of screentime for each person, I rarely felt a connection with any of them and even forgot a few. None of them were unlikable, but neither were they memorable. On the other hand, the background high school students were despicable. This is an ongoing problem with so many stories, as they tend to make students act like complete jerks for no reason. Even if it’s for “character development” or anything else, they aren’t like that in real life, and I take offense when creators place them under such a bad light.

Despite all of the gripes I have for Horimiya, I still had a nice time watching it and think others would enjoy it even more than me. The biggest reason for that however is because I am more critical than the average anime watcher. Most people would only care about the comedy or romance in the show, and Horimiya doesn’t do a bad job with that. It’s just that it could be better with more finesse behind the editing. Manga fans will definitely not like this adaptation as much as the original manga itself due to major pacing issues. However, non-anime fans might like this, since Horimiya approaches romance from a different angle, which others might appreciate. I don’t think I’ll rewatch this again for a while because I won’t gain anything from it like new information or a deeper understanding. However, the manga is on my radar, since I’d like to see what the anime could’ve been like. I don’t plan on buying a physical copy of this either, mainly due to the low rewatch value. It was a memorable show, but unfortunately couldn’t reach its fullest potential.

Thank you for reading.

When I first saw this anime air, I thought nothing of it, only to realize that it immediately gets placed in the top 20(I think an 8.93 or something like that) by the first episode. So I started watching it by the second week. And it was ok in my opinion, while watching it for the first time. I saw the ratings that people gave this show and I was like, well I guess people really like these slow anime. I wouldn't go so far as to call this boring, but a chill one. And I mean no disrespect at all by calling it slow, ... since some shows work that way, and I can enjoy those ones. I would call this anime one that doesn't really have any flaws to it at all. It's an all round good anime.

At least, that's what I first thought of it. Bit of a backstory, but I've been watching anime SERIOUSLY ever since March last year(my anniversary!), with me binging Attack on Titan. And like almost all first-time anime watchers, I was a dopamine-loving, action hungry, fiend. This phase continued on while I was watching Frieren as well, making me think of it as an ok show. However, this was the longest anime that I have been committed to watching time-wise. I've spent more than half of my anime career watching this show, and I have seen MANY more anime during that period. It made me grow as a watcher of this medium, becoming more accepting of slow moments and focusing more on the details. And by the final episode of the show(aired today as I'm writing), I was in LOVE with it.

To be honest, the main reason I started enjoying the show was because of what other people were saying about it on forums and YouTube video essays. And by the time the 23rd episode aired, I wanted to rewatch the show to understand how great of a show this was. And might I say, it is beautiful. So much so, that I rewatched the show AGAIN just in time to watch the finale once I'm done rewatching.

The show is great in practically everyway, but I only say this AFTER rewatching the show. The acting is on point, with little issues found. The characters are all memorable and unique in their own ways. While Frieren is this supposedly emotionless mage, she grows and tries to become better. I watched Violet Evergarden, where the main character goes through this similar development, and in my opinion, Frieren does this SO MUCH BETTER(no hate on Violet, I still think it's a beautiful show, but Frieren's better). The animation of this show is also marvelous. I have been spoiled with Wit Studio's AOT and Studio Bone's FMAB & Mob Psycho, and like how they all have unique masterworks in there respective areas, Frieren is on top with these in it's own way. And that is it's color pallete. I think that the colors in this show are so pretty and dreamlike that they knock me out of reality. It by far is one of the most prettiest looking anime I've seen(I'm not disregarding any of the other ones I mentioned, they're also amazing).

Then there is the soundtrack, which is also world-class, with every single piece perfectly matching the scene it's playing over. Every single time it plays, I get goosebumps all over my body. And the story, which is actually pretty iconic. I think this plotline is on par with the masterpieces before it, like FMAB and maybe even AOT. The pacing makes it even better. While it is true that the story moves slowly, it does it in a beautiful way. During the middle of the season, the episodes would have so many things happening in them, yet they still somehow make space to have silent moments where we can reflect on what we just saw. This is literally nothing short of MAGIC. What other shows try so hard to make memorable moments happen, this one does it like child's play. It's absolutely fascinating to me. With all of these parts of the show combined, you have an anime that is so polished, that you can see the reflection of yourself. Who would've guessed? A show about magic has people doing magical things to make it as perfect as it is.

There are minor inconveniences that do annoy me at times though, but they're more personal gripes. I feel like Stark's character is trying too hard to be the story's punching bag. There are also other things that I'm sure was frustrated about, but they were too subtle to really care. Everything that I said before this completely shines over these problems, redeeming itself easily.

While my review is NOT as formal and informative as others, there isn't any doubt in me when I say that Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is indeed one of the most beautiful works ever made, and I am oh so glad that I rewatched this show in order to perceive its glory in the way it was meant to be. As a high school teenager who spent half of their anime watching career on this show, I grew with the characters. I learned lessons that I haven't learned before. I began to understand things more deeply than I have before. This credit doesn't only go to Frieren, but to the countless other stories I watched in the middle of it. To me, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a celebration of all that anime can be and will be. I know that even with a review as long as this one, I don't think I will ever do justice with how good of a time I had watching this show(This is also my first ever review, so that might explain some things). I am proud to say that Sousou no Frieren is one the most outstanding anime, forget season, I have ever seen, but the pieces have only just been set, and the journey is yet to end...