Apr 3, 2021
I have mixed feelings toward Horimiya, mainly due to its inconsistency. One day the comedies fine, the characters are likeable, and the extremely generic story doesn’t feel problematic; while the next day the comedies gone stale, the characters feel as basic as the storyline, and I’m dying at the contrived drama. Majority of the time, it’s the latter. It feels like they blatantly don’t know what they’re doing. But there’s still something in Horimiya that managed to keep me invested, despite the aforementioned complaints. I’ll try to break down both sides of the spectrum throughout this review, since I’m split down the middle.
Horimiya started off
...
super strong. At first glance, I was intrigued by the characters. The whole concept of “not judging people off their appearances” was interesting, and I wanted to see where they went with it. When we first see Miyamura, we’re made to see him as a gloomy shut-in without any social life. But it turns out he’s the complete opposite. I really liked this idea, because I think this is an important moral that can be used in the real world. But as each episode progressed, this unique concept turned bland and generic, to the point where it was hardly bearable. It’s an emulation of every rom-com in existence, and it fails to add anything distinctive to separate it from the countless contemporaries in its genre. A tsundere main heroine and a slightly dense MC fall in love. Sounds like most of the other rom-com anime I’ve seen. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it failed to engage me any further, and it had nothing memorable about it. The pacing was extremely irregular, adapting 15 volumes in 13 episodes. Along with that, rather than feeling intense or emotional, most of the drama added in felt forced and cringey. I feel like the story completely fell flat, and that’s where Horimiya gets the most criticism.
On the plus side, there were infrequent times where I did enjoy the characters, regardless of how basic they are. I always love watching relationships blossom, whether it be romantically or not. In Horimiya, we see Miyamura build tons of relationships. Not only with Hori, but he builds friendships with people he never expected he would have. He fights back the previous hardships he had with his social life, and learns to overcome it. It’s hard to not like Miyamura, and I feel like Horimiya did a great job in making us feel connected to him. His interactions with others are fun, and sometimes super wholesome. We also get to witness things through some supporting characters’ point of view. Though I felt that the supporting characters were forgettable and uninteresting (besides Tooru and Yuki, I love them!), it was still great to see them develop. With better pacing, the character department could have improved to greater heights.
One thing that I have no complaints about is the art. The art felt crisp, and it looked gorgeous. The character designs aren’t anything outstanding, but they’re still appealing in their own way. Each character stands out with their own, unique hair color/style. One of the reasons I felt any enjoyment to this show was due to the artsyle. As for the sound, I also have no complaints. Nothing in that department stood out, but it was passable enough to avoid any issues.
Horimiya isn’t anything special, but sometimes a basic story isn’t a fault. But there were definitely times where the comedy ran dry and some arbitrary drama forced its way into the story. The pacing was also extremely bad, but compared to the massacre which was TPN S2 (which also aired during this winter season, also made by CloverWorks), this was a little less bad. But all that aside, by no means do I think Horimiya was terrible, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy some episodes. That’s where this inconsistency factor takes play. In short, if you’re planning to watch Horimiya, don’t expect anything too special.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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