Horimiya

I'm not a big manga person and in fact, this is the first manga I've actually seriously gotten into. Because I read my manga online I haven't been able to completely finish Horimiya but I've seen the majority so I definitely feel like I have a solid take on it. Horimiya is nothing special when talking about an innovative story. The slice of life genre suffers from this although it's not necessarily its fault. The selling point of Horimiya I personally noticed was the characters and how they interact. You have some very in-depth looks into each of these characters' personalities from what they portray to others vs what they're actually feeling inside. I feel everyone can at least personally relate to at least ONE character in this manga and they are able to do this without going into the typical rom-com character troupes (e.g typical tsundere, childhood friend, imouto, etc). All in all, you should definitely check out this manga if you're looking for something not too deep but also very funny, cute, and entertaining.

I've been reading this manga for 6 years and it's my favourite romance manga. Since it ended I have to write something and it will be my first and maybe my last manga review ever. The enjoyment Horimiya brought for me can't be put into words. Horimiya isn't an overly dramatic romance manga or has some world shattering plot. It is just a solid romance manga where the characters feel real without trying to be something they aren't. There are no needless disputes to make something more interesting. The author also didn't use unneeded third wheel characters to bring out some emotions from the main cast, which are a stable in many romance mangas nowadays, which i truly dislike. It is just wholesome to the core and that is why I love it.

What can I say about this manga that others already haven't?

I stumbled upon this manga while looking for something interesting to read. The art was very nice so I decided to give it a go.

STORY - 9/10
The story is simple and has been done many times before. So why is this manga rated so high? There are many reasons for that. The setting is your usual school romance story, guy meets girl and they slowly fall in love with each other. You have the usual third guy who is also in love with the girl and so on. The difference to many other similar manga is that the interactions between the characters feel natural. The pacing is good and there is little to no forced drama. In fact there actually is very little drama. And when misunderstandings happen (which every single other romance manga has) they usually get sorted out in the same chapter. The lack of drama actually serves this manga good.

The story is really calm and without needless drama that so many other manga suffer from. It's simple but captivating and just makes you want to read more. In fact that this manga is on a monthly release really makes it a pain to wait for a new chapter :) You can always check the webcomic this manga originated from if you just can't wait anymore.

ART - 10/10
Not much to say about the art. It is amazing.

CHARACTER - 9/10
The characters are all lovable. There is also a surprising amount of character development that you wouldn't expect from a simple manga like this. They are schoolkids so the interactions between them are not complicated which is a good thing.

ENJOYMENT - 10/10
I can say that I enjoyed every chapter I've read so far. For a manga that it's this simple (I've now realized how much I said simple in this review) this manga is surprisingly enjoyable. If you don't like drama and you just want to read a happy romance story this manga is one I can definitely recommend to anyone.

This is my review for Horimiya. I'll be referring to the characters by what they are most commonly called in the manga. Please note that this review is structured around how I personally felt about the manga: objectively, it deserves an overall rating of 8 (individual ratings being 6/9/8 for story, art, and character, respectively), but subjectively, I give it a 9.

Story: 8/10

Horimiya is a high school romance that revolves around Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura. You can tell because the title is a combination of the last names of these two characters. As I'm accustomed to Western culture and habits, I'll be referring to the characters by their first names. The beginning is nothing that really catches your attention as being different, as it's set as boy meets girl. Pretty cliche. Both have secrets that they don't want to reveal to others, and they try to hide it as best they can. A bit less common, but still fairly cliche. However, Horimiya deviates from the classic high school romantic comedy from there, as it does something that you wouldn't find everywhere: progress in a relationship. This manga focuses on the relationship between Kyouko and Izumi, but the other characters also receive development. Their relationship is realistic as it shows that a relationship cannot be perfect in every way, and that there are obstacles and insecurities that need to be overcome. It is not idealized like many people hope their relationships will be, just like how it is in real life. Horimiya does this very well, as it successfully portrays the kind of thoughts and situations normal high school students experience all the time. There is also progress in their relationship, and it's easy to tell that their love for each other is natural and not forced for the sake of anything. It goes so much beyond the confession scene that a lot of romance manga seem to even have trouble achieving, let alone advancing the actual relationship. The interactions between the characters are very light hearted and certain to put a smile on the reader's face. Full respect and admiration to the author.

Art: 9/10

The art in Horimiya is amazing. Each character is designed differently so that the reader can easily tell which character is which, with no confusion. The artwork is very soothing to look at, which is completely appropriate for the light hearted setting that is Horimiya. This is actually a manga meant for boys, but it's not surprising that some readers initially think this is for girls, as there isn't any fighting or dark shading that is so common in the former. However, no matter what gender, boys and girls alike will enjoy this. The artist draws much more gentler and softer than what others might expect, but that just adds to how outstanding the artwork is. You won't find much art that has characters as wonderfully drawn as this. On the flip side, the background aside from the character designs is fairly simple. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the focus is obviously on the foreground instead of the background. Most of the panels consist of just the characters, but the background art is well done when needed, with the objects appropriate to the setting and situation. The art is consistent throughout each and every chapter, props to the artist on this one.

Characters: 9/10

While some of the characters do fall under categories that you come to expect from a work of this genre, they are still very memorable. Izumi does resemble the shy male protagonist, but you still can't help but cheer for him. Kyouko resembles the girl that is perfect at everything, but she is likable as well. Yuki and Tohru are the dizty best friend and person who has known the main character for a long time, respectively. Despite the fairly usual archetypes, their personalities are not plain and generic that one might be expecting. All of them have some kind of twist in their personalities so that the reader can't always tell how a character might react in a situation they find themselves in. Other characters, such as Kakeru, Remi, Shuu, and Kyouko's family members are interesting as well, especially the way Kyouko's family is like. The supporting characters go along very well with the main characters of the story. A very solid area of Horimiya.

Enjoyment: 9/10

As a boy who likes to read romance way more than action and super power manga, I was absolutely blown away by Horimiya. (Yes, there are boys that like romance. It's not only a girl's thing) I loved each and every chapter of it, and it is one on going manga that I always eagerly await for the next monthly release. This manga is targeted at a male demographic, but female readers will no doubt fall in love with it as well. The story is interesting, the artwork is amazing, and the characters are wonderful. It's not big surprise that my enjoyment rating is the maximum score. I recommend Horimiya even for non fans of the romance genre, because this is something that you should definitely read. My favourite romance manga of all time. I hope that you will enjoy it as much as thousands of others have.

That's all I have to say. Thanks for reading!

This manga is a very enjoyable one. I love reading it. It is funny and a wonderful romance story! The reason I think I liked it so much is because I like manga's that aren't to serious. It has dramatic (if you call it that) moments. But overall it is really funny! The first time I read it I couldn't stop! I never can wait for the new chapters to come out. If you like serious romance this is not for you. This is warm hearted loving manga that is funny. I love the character design they really express who they are and how they are when they are their different selves. When I read this manga I'm always flipping the pages without stop I reread it frequently. I especially love how it's fun and makes you want to have a romance like this one! At first I thought it moved a little fast...But how fast can love go when is it to fast or to slow?

Horimiya is a series that I enjoy no matter how many times I have read it. It has the perfect blend of romance with a hint of comedy timed so well that you will laugh out loud every time. It is a calm series that kind of makes you wish you could be like that in a realistic way. Daisuke Hagiwara's drawing style is amazing it matches the story so well. It is a drawing style that I feel could not be animated and that just makes it more special. It is something that is reserved for manga readers and manga readers only. It is like a toy you had when you grew up that you never wanted to share because it was so good.

Horimiya is probably one of the sweetest highschool romance manga I've ever read. It has my love and will always have my love.
The story is more laid back, compared to the usual drama-drama and it sometimes seems like there isn't much of a plot. But, there is one, it just get dumped over with jokes and funny misunderstandings and a few side-stories. Which are super enjoyable and funny. I like that about it, that and it's character personalities and pairings.
The way the characters interact with each other is interesting to see/read and their personalities makes it that much better. And the authour just make the pairings so awesome that I can't explain. It just want to 'squeee' every time the pairing have a sweet moment or interact.
And, the art is unique, in my opinion. I haven't found another manga/manhua/etc. with the art style. It's definately a must-read~!

Honestly, Kou-chan.

Story - 9

The story is very great a boy who was once a loner crosses roads with a beautiful girl.

Art- 10

Compared to other mangas out there this one has good quality

Character - 10

The characters are great, Hori is the best girl I ever saw, she doesnt have a dere side but despite that she is very lovable [minor spoiler] later in the manga she shows sign that she likes being abused (masochist). Miyamura is weird in a sense that he randomly does things through his instincts, but if it isn't for that hori wouldn't have loved her, he is not a dense like raku from nisekoi, in fact he is very mature and calm at times

Enjoyment - 10

Every chapter I read never fails to amuse me this also made me laugh all the time

Overall - 10

I GAVE IT A 10, it made me laugh, and I really enjoyed the cute couple together

I actually bulldozed through 76 chapters of Hormiya in two days and without further ado, I'm gonna jump right into a review while my thoughts are still fresh...

Story 6/10
I gave this an average rating because Horimiya doesn't have an interesting plot, but that doesn't mean that the story is bad. Horimiya is basically about a guy (Izumi Miyamura) and a gal (Kyoko Hori) who display very different personas in and out of school. They accidentally met outside of school and found out about each others' secrets, became fast friends and then lovers. That's about it. If you're expecting the plot to twist and deepen, forget it.

But why do I say the story isn't bad? Perhaps to compensate for the lack of plot, Horimiya offers you lotsa cute and funny scenes and conversations. What entertains me the most is the interaction between Izumi and Hori and how they got to know each other more over time, and despite all the shortcomings, their love deepens. They're the most endearing manga couple, IMO. I also love the interactions amongst Izumi and his new friends. Some are hilarious!

Horimiya's storytelling style is not your conventional shoujo romcom. Some say romance does not exist in Horimiya but that's not true. Horimiya simply delivers romance in a very different, and I would say, adorable way. When it happens, it catches you by surprise, almost random. Horimiya also approaches R-rated topics in a very cute manner - you gotta read the manga to understand what I mean.

Characters 8/10
Much of my high rating is credited to Izumi Miyamura who is easily my favourite manga male lead. He is gentle and kind but he is also very straightforward. There were a few times where I gasped at his sudden words and actions, in a positive way. Also, he may seem quiet and shy but he is more than capable of defending himself and others if the situation calls for it, and that's why I love him! Kyoko Hori is my 2nd favourite character in the manga for being strong and cute at the same time, evil yet kind, and totally the badass gal if anyone dares to even come near her guy.

There are many side characters is this story, and while I don't care about most, there are some whom I really want to see little more developments.

Art 8/10
The art style is great with clean pages that are not cluttered with unnecessary text (which is something I really appreciate).

Enjoyment 7/10
While I have enjoyed Horimiya, but I hope that the later chapters will show me an expansion on the story between the main protagonists and the other secondary characters. If that happens, I will raise my rating to a 8 or even 9.

All in all, Horimiya is still a very enjoyable read so give it a shot.

So, I have decided to give this manga an all around score of 7 and heres why:

STORY - 7:
So, basically the store started off with the concept of being different. At the time this really appealed to me because after reading so many romance novels/mangas, you see the same premises over and over. It just feels like it drags on. This one stood out in the beginning because you get these two who are opposite but mentally they are on the same wavelength mentally. If you are looking for a little out of the ordinary slice of life, school manga then I'd probably suggest this one. *spoiler* Now, the reason why I have dropped this was because the story life started off with this concept, then essentially just was not going anywhere. Which, to be honest, typically happens with this type of manga. I had high hopes that horimiya may be a gem, but it just went off into a rather boring plot.

ART - 7:
The art style I will give about a 7 as well, I would not say it was super simplistic but it was not also very detailed either. I do like art styles like this because it feels refreshing and more casual. It's not over the top but nothing to be obsessing over either, imo.

CHARACTER - 6:
Character development is about a 6. The reason being was because it started off wonderful and the characters actually seemed really promising. Then after a while there was just no character development. I love characters where you feel as if you can connect with them and grow with them in a sense, with horimiya you don't really feel a connection with the characters. Not only that but the romance just wasn't really there, they had cute moments but nothing that made my heart melt. Alas, that could have just been me.

ENJOYMENT - 6:
I'd give the enjoyment about a 6, I remember reading this when I was in high school and I'd invest a lot of my time in reading this and waiting for each chapter to come out every month. I can't deny that I didn't enjoy this manga.

OVERALL - 7:
Yes, overall I would give this series a 7. It is not one that I'd obsess over, but it is enjoyable towards the audience that is searching for a cute and casual slice of life, school, romance(ish) anime. I did not get super invested into this story line or anything like some may have, but I wouldn't deny I enjoyed this manga at some point. The only downfall was that the story started off super promising then the character development and story line was not going anywhere, thus resulting in me dropping it after so long.

Horimiya or Hori-san to Miyamura-kun is a... slice-of-life, rom-com (romantic comedy) manga. But, instead of taking the usual route every rom-com, slice of life anime or manga took (which is the MC realized the love pretty late or is just a dense character for the LOL's) they straight up building the romance from the get-go. This kind of approach took me by surprise (Well, I don't read manga that much but I do watch anime a lot to understand the usual approach of a rom-com, slice-of-life genre). The pacing of the story is just perfect. Not too slow to let you hanging like a fool but not too fast either. The story will make you craving for more and more story about our MC and their romance life. The comedy here blends perfectly with the romance. There are arcs here but they are not serious enough for you to exert maximum brain power just to understand it. It's pretty laid-back and calming. The art is well made and not rushed. The art change according to the situation. It's a comedy time? Change the art into a simplistic and chibi mode. Oh, we're getting drama and serious? Change the art into a more refined but not overdramatic tone. The shifting is good, you won't complain about it.

Overall, I enjoy this a lot. It's a rare thing I could read such great work and I'm glad that I did give this a chance.

Before you read the manga, you can take my review and others as comparison to what you imagine.

Horimiya (Hori-san to Miyamura-kun) use so many perspective, that is the good point of the manga, you can know what the feeling of the other character of something.

Story: 8/10
I give 8! Subtle yet charming love story inside! Prepare your heart (ultimately for anyone who are single). A lot of romantic, less cliche love story inside.

Art: 8/10
The art is so smooth, clear. I should give the author 8 thumps (if I can)

Character: 9/10
The development of the character is so good, I like Miyamura-san development. Hori-san is so adorable here

In simple terms, this manga is extremely easy to understand.

We have a quiet male protagonist, a popular girl who has a secret, each side character has their own role to be played out in the story; every character has a moral, a developed story line and above average refreshing personality.

Now, people who dislike this manga or have a strong hate for it have their reasons, i.e way too much side character development (I have to admit, it gets annoying sometimes) but the comedy totally makes up for it. Horimiya has something fresh to deliver, something not quite like other romance manga. It rarely has drama and makes you feel connected to the characters. It has something that other romance manga fail to deliver. The eccentric father character in manga is extremely comedic and is the reason why the female protagonist is very powerful in terms if strength.

Now, at first, I too -- like many others-- got sort of irritated at the lack of romance for the first few chapters, e.g no one showing their feelings or getting a little red. Though, I assure you, there is a large amount of romance between the characters; in the beginning at well -- but soon enough, I came to realize that, the plot pacing was perfect, and there are several reasons to support this fact; in real life, no one would confess after a few months to some one they like/have fallen in love with. The romance for the next chapters increased and soon enough, It came to the point that the two started going out, the jealousy between the male protagonist and other guys is hilarious and all in all, this was a very light-hearted manga and it delivered the plot, story line and character development at a good pace. The female protagonist doesn't have a complex design, she is neither tomboyish, nor is she really girly i.e a pushover.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this manga and can't wait for the next chapters to come out. The other side of the female protagonist (the fact that she is a little sadistic) was a very good decision, and showed the fact that everyone has flaws. No one is perfect.

This manga(Horimiya) is one of my very first manga's I have read, but it got me almost instantly hooked. Although the character development was slow and almost repetitive at times, I was almost instantly rooting for Hori and Izumi. It's the type of manga that is so superbly made that you can emphasise to an almost extreme with the characters, and to be honest it was something I couldn't stop reading. I wouldn't say it's original, neither would I say that it wasn't somewhat dull at times, but those times where scarce and made up for well and truly by the rest of the manga.

One thing I would like to note that others have not done so that commonly, is that the use of comedy was used superbly in this manga, and instead of retracting from character development or the plot as in many cases humour does, this comedy just added a new dimension to the story.

Therefor because of my time reading this manga the reason I am writing this review more or less is because I am grateful to have been lucky enough to read this manga, and I hope that other people will make the choice I did and pick it up and give it a try.

- You never know until you try it.

Honestly, it was amazing until the filler chapters. The story was progressing smoothly and consistently, then suddenly there was 20 something fillers and the main story never really picked up after that. The ending was mediocre, there was a lot of loose ends and a lot more the author could've done. Despite that, the characters are easy to fall in love with and the story itself is cute overall. I got hooked pretty quick and binged the entire thing in a few days. Kinda frustrates me cause I was so hooked and didn't really get the ending / answers I wanted. I still recommend it tho.

This manga started out amazing, it was paced well and the romance wasn't going super fast. Usually slow romances bore me, but this one, aside from not being the slowest romance manga out there, actually entertains you throughout each chapter giving you just enough as it leads up to the romance.

What bothers me is (spoiler?) chapter 37. Don't worry, I won't say anything.

It's just, I read it all the way up until what is released so far and I've started to feel disappointed. The manga doesn't have any plot to be honest, it gives you something new in each volume to entertain us. My problem is that it went from being an innocent, slow paced romance into something completely different. My guess is that the author is having a tough time figuring out where she wants the story to go, and is just throwing in whatever she can think of to get readers excited and surprised. But when you start a manga one way, you must finish it that way. The feelings I had for the manga are slowly changing, and for the worse. I just hope it takes a positive turn, for the sake of the romance being depicted in this manga to have a happy, well thought out ending.

Horimiya is definitely one of the best slice of life romantic stories out there, you get all these kinds of feelings of being bubbly and stuff and scenes that make you go HNNNGG.

It starts of quite interesting and you kind of get hooked into it very quickly, the introduction of the main characters Hori and Miyamura happen very quick and their relationship together starts to gradually build up very quickly as well. As its building up, if you’re here for the romantic and HNNGG moments like I am, your desire to see what they are going to do next just plummets as you keep reading.

The difference between this and your average Romcom, the drama in Horimiya is quite toned down where as most Romcom, theres just an endless smack of unnecessary drama in your face after every chapter.

Hori and Miyamura are a great couple together, personality wise they compliment each other and it’s just a joyful and bubbly ride seeing them have fun together. They are a great couple and the way Hagiwara Daisuke portrays that, was great.

It’s a great read and I would recommend you hurry up and get on it if you’re the romance type of person because without a doubt, you will enjoy Hori and Miyamuras interactions together!

Overall (6/10):
Despite its lack of focus and significant character flaws, Horimiya is a heartwarming and enjoyable slice of life story that is worth a look.


In Depth review (Contains minor spoilers)

Story (6/10):
Initially, the story is fairly straightforward. The idea of them being friends and sharing their secret sides to each other is cute, and their interactions are enjoyable. Although their romance could be developed more, it is nice to see the two of them come together.

The series does start to lose its way after around chapter 40. After Chapter 38, there are only a handful of chapters* that really center around Hori and Miyamura, while most of the chapters feature the side characters. Furthermore, the pacing drops to a glacial pace, as the story is shifted from romance to hardcore slice of life. Although I wish that the story would stay focused on Hori and Miyamura, I did enjoy the interactions and stories of the supporting cast. That being said, I don't fault anyone for dropping this story because of the lack of focus and glacial pace of the later chapters.


Art (8/10):
The art is clean and simple enough without being distracting. It definitely improves with the later chapters, but the art is consistently good.


Characters (6/10):
Both Hori and Miyamura are likeable. Hori's hotheadedness is balanced with Miyamura's pacifism, although both of them have a kind side. Although we get general bouts of unrest, seeing their kindness and love for each other is heartwarming.

However, in the later chapters, the author ratchets up Hori's jealousy, anger, and unreasonable demands, while also increasing Miyamura's passivity and gentle nature, up to the point of ridiculousness. The characters start to lose their charm and become caricatures as the story progresses. It is frustrating to see how unreasonably difficult Hori makes everything out to be, while Miyamura passively takes whatever Hori throws at him. I understand that it is played out for laughs, but I would prefer having a nice, cute romance between the two.

The side characters are fun and have their own motivations and arcs, but (for better or for worse) they don't really develop and progress as the chapters continue. There are minor developments, but these are not significant enough to truly develop the characters, nor enjoyable enough to offset the frustration of Hori's and Miyamura's changing dynamic.


Enjoyment (7/10):
The changing dynamic between Hori and Miyamura, combined with the glacial pace and meandering story, are by far and away my biggest criticisms of this story. That being said, I did enjoy reading this. The side characters are fun, the chapters are loosely connected, but are lighthearted and left a smile on my face. The romance between Hori and Miyamura is cute and enjoyable. I would have enjoyed it more had the story focused on these two, but it was a fun read nonetheless.






*Ch. 1-38, 57, 63, 64, 79, 89, 99, 108, 118.

I really like this manga, it's not your typical cheesy romcom you see so often. It actually takes its time to develop the relationship between the characters and you end up rooting for them and being invested in their relationships. It can be a bit slow-paced at times but it is never boring.

The art is really nice and the characters are adorable, but sometimes you can get confused about who is who because some of the characters have similar face shapes and structures but the different hairstyles often help the situation.

Character-wise, they are all really funny and nice and you can believe they are all friends, although Kyoko is a bit aggressive and crazy, it is credible that her friends and Izumi love her for who she is.

9/10 definitely

Horimiya, Happiness, disappointment, death.

Being a fan of romance manga is hard. The trash heap of mediocrity we have to put up with in order to find the actual good stuff is embarrassingly high. From lackluster characters, no progress, to uncomfortable self insert harems, to the entire shoujo genre, one begins to question, is it really that hard to portray this common aspect of the human experience?

Part 1: Happiness

That’s where Horimiya comes in. Horimiya’s every romance manga reader’s wet dream, second only to being in a real relationship. It single handedly fixes everything wrong with the genre. It introduces interesting non generic characters, establishing their good and bad points upfront, making me instantly want to root for them. It gives its main characters a life outside of being in love with one another, by this I mean neither character’s personality is just to be in love with the other. You realize this when you think about what they would do if they’d never met in the first place. Hori would probably go on to university while Miyamura would most likely end up running his family's bakery. Both would end up as somewhat functional adults, though you’d wonder how’d they deal with their personal hang ups had they not met each other, which makes you appreciate how positively they were impacted by the relationship. It is clear that both of them function better as people when the other’s around, making you want them to be together. A simple but perfect pack wrapped in a gorgeous and expressive art style.

But by far its biggest strength is that things actually happen. Crazy right? This is the most common critique of the genre as a whole, and what people mean by this is not necessarily that there’s no confession, no skinship or whatever, but rather that the characters don’t seem to be affected at all by their newfound feelings. A lot of romance manga is just a bunch of haha i like u, lol jk, unless?? moments. They realize they wanna fuck by the end of the first chapter to then proceed to fail terribly at conveying their feelings in the most manga ways possible. It’s fine if that’s the joke, but it really gets stale and you end up wondering what’s the point. There are a bunch of series that showcase the characters’ personal growth without having the main couple actually get together. But when you have both? White liquid on the wall. By the end of the third volume we already get a solid confession, and not long after that they become an official couple. They kiss, they fuck, they even propose to each other at some point (as serious of a proposal two highschoolers can make).

So what gives? What’s the point of this discussion? Why aren’t we just becoming the romance version of the jojo fandom and start spreading the good gossip of Horimiya wherever we go?

The answer is slice of life. If you’ve been around lately (and by lately I mean in the past 5 years) you know that the development kinda stops. It just ends. It seems like every other discussion about this series is about this, and understandably so. You could’ve stopped reading at the proposal chapter, leap to the last chapter, skipping everything in between, and you wouldn’t have missed much, if anything. There’s no real progression between the main couple, nor any of the potential ones. Everything just halts. Stuck forever in SoL hell.
However, I could never truly understand these people making angry threads about how they were dropping the series as if anyone cared. And for two reasons. The first is that I had already fallen so much in love with each character, that Horimiya achieved the status of “I could watch these people do whatever for another thousand chapters and I’ll still be content”. I can count on one hand the number of pieces of media that have reached this personal status. I cannot express how much I truly loved and cared for these characters. The manga did such a good job at presenting relatable and down to earth, well written characters. I mean I’ve been using a Miyamura profile picture on almost all my social media for half a decade at this point. I really felt a strong connection with them.
The second one is a bit more general. You know me, I love me some good SoL. I watch Yuru Camp religiously, I welcome the vast nothingness and foreheadness (lol) from every Yamamoto work, I have and will continue to pester anyone who’d listen about Ojiro Makoto, and I rewatch K-on and Hyouka to this day. I love a good slice of life show.
And as you can imagine the latter part of this series was very enjoyable for me. It was like an endless detour and I was up for every second of it. At some point I even scored Horimiya a 10 with only around 60 chapters out; I’ve never really taken scores seriously, but the one rule I follow is that I think it’s unfair to rank something that you haven’t seen to completion. This was the one exception. I thought to myself, this one has given me so much it could end tomorrow and I’ll still rate it a 10. Or so I thought.

Part 2: Disappointment

Overtime Horimiya became something that I wouldn’t aggressively look forward to, but rather a nice 10 minute or so read that I’d have every once in a while. You see the one problem with monthly publications is that it takes forever for anything to happen, which, if the series is popular enough, means really long run times. Horimiya has around 120 chapters total over 10 years, something that would only take a bit over 2 with a weekly one. But what’s the problem with this? What’s wrong with the authors keeping their sanity?

I’m sure this effect has a name (you know I’m not looking it up to look smart), but the longer you look at something the more apparent its flaws are. Was this really the ground breaking story I once fell in love with? I still vividly remember ditching the next day math test I had to read this new exciting manga I had found on fucking mangarock, back when that was a thing. Hagiwara was the first artist I ever followed.

This feeling became more and more apparent when talking about it with friends who were just getting into it, and became especially prevalent while watching the anime adaptation. I just didn’t feel the same charm as I once did.
I figured this was only normal, in these five years I’ve changed as a person, and read way more manga and watched way more anime that I’d like to admit. I know it’s corny to say something like that in regards to some dumb teenage romance story, but I can’t find another way of describing it, it’s a first for me to have been actively consuming a piece of media for such a long time that didn’t already have deep nostalgic value.

However this wasn’t nearly as dramatic as my writing could lead you to believe. It was a weird realization sure, but it wasn’t anything more than that. I mean Horimiya would still be publishing for a long time right? At some point they’ll get around to exploring the relations between Tooru and Yuki and Sakura and Yanagi and all these other characters that I hold very dear, right?

And that’s when it hit me. The “I could watch these people do whatever for another thousand chapters and I’ll still be content” statement had an asterisk that I had overlooked. And that was “as long as everything is resolved eventually”. It was wishful thinking. The teasing chapters with side characters sprinkled throughout this SoL phase gave me confidence that this was gonna happen eventually, in 10 or 100 chapters, but eventually. And that’s when the news hit me.

Part 3: Death

When the news about the ending dropped it hit me like a truck. It was so sudden. I basically went through all the stages of grief, which this review might be a part of. I mean at first I went around saying that I didn’t believe it, there was no way. Until I read the tweets from the authors and had no other option but to accept it. Ok that sounded way too dramatic, but sounds cool no? Anyway.

Where was my development? There were so many stories left untold, why end it now? Did they get (rightfully) tired of working on the same thing for a decade? Was it monetary? Did they just run out of ideas? As far as I’m aware the original webcomic does end on graduation as well, but why not expand it? Horimiya isn’t a to a T adaptation anyway. I still ask myself these questions, even though it’s pretty pointless. They must have their reasons, and they most likely weren’t anything petty.

All my expectations went to nothing, just like the progress earlier in the series. In a way it’s my fault, but why on earth have basically the best progression in any romance, into nullity? If the orders would’ve been reversed it would’ve been fine, but this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It’s such a waste honestly, they’ve shown they were capable of doing it once, why not more?

This seems to be more or less the consensus among long time readers, surely without as much doomer energy, but half are sad it’s ending and the other is thinking “finally”. I haven’t seen anything complement the ending at all, unsurprisingly. They just dropped the ball, and didn’t care to pick it back up. (I know there has been an unbelievable amount of care put into this work, I’m not trying to diss the authors, I’m just talking about this as if the manga just spawned into existence). I know I should focus and cherish the good parts, but to me the root and the fifth of a story is having an engaging start to lure readers in, and a satisfying conclusion to reward them for their commitment. Obviously how you tie these two together is extremely important, but without a good beginning people wouldn’t bother, and without a good ending people will feel betrayed and disappointed. This is a case of the latter. This dismay just bleeds into the rest of the manga; I begin to question if the “good parts” were truly that good in the first place. It’s terminal.

One might say that I’m just venting my frustrations, that I’m just writing this in the heat of the moment, and in a way I am. I don’t think this is a proper review. I’ve talked more about myself than about the actual manga, but that’s the point. I find art analysis largely uninteresting. I don’t wanna hide under the “I’m just doing it for myself” shell, but more so than to provide actual literary critique, the reason I’m doing this is to “immortalize” my thoughts and emotions (mostly emotions) on something that was once very important to me.
The only reason I still favour this site over objectively better alternatives is that this account holds all the records of my anime watching from more than five years ago (not only the list but also the dates), and for every second of that time, Horimiya has been at the top of my favourites list. Gonna be weird not seeing it there again.