Horimiya
Studio: Cloverworks
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Streaming: Funimation
Horimiya is a series whose gorgeous art in the manga version caught my attention a while back but for some reason, I just never got around to actually reading it. This season sees it receiving an anime adaptation at last, however, so I figured now was the time to finally leap into this series. The anime is focused on high school students, Hori and Miyamura (their names making up the show’s title), who couldn’t be more different from one another in how they are in school. Hori is a cute popular girl, whose friends imagine that she has a wild romantic life outside of class. Miyamura on the other hand is practically invisible, the other students forgetting he even exists and suspecting he’s just an otaku. In reality, however, both students have been keeping secrets about their real selves, and when the two end up a meeting outside of school, an unlikely friendship between the two forms.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this storyline done in various animes and mangas, but this anime has possibly one of the most charming portrayals. Rather than the two having big misunderstandings, once they realise they’ve accidentally stumbled on the other’s secret, they start depending on one another, and a friendship blooms. The characters are this show’s strong point – both Hori and Miya are extremely likable, and their interactions are charming and very adorable. Hori is extremely pragmatic and relatable in how she reacts to others around her, and Miya is something of an airhead making a nice contrast between the two – they complement each other quite clearly. The side characters also are vividly imagined and whilst initially coming across as fairly two-dimensional, there are signs already of development such as with Hori’s male friend who has clearly been harbouring a crush for her. I expected a lot of unnecessary drama to come from that, but actually, his character was much more perceptive than I would have thought, which was a nice change from other rom-com animes I’ve seen.
Whilst romance is obviously going to be in the cards in the future for Hori and Miya, I actually like that so far there has been little awkwardness in their interactions and they’ve just naturally become friends. Whilst there are a few hints such as Hori noticing Miya at times, a few comments, and Hori’s jealous feelings about not wanting to share how Miya is outside of school, it doesn’t overtake their character dynamics and I for one, appreciate the more slow burn that their relationship might potentially take. I often find it rather fake and cheesy in other animes when a relationship between two characters seems to only be seen from a romantic perspective, whereas these two have connected more naturally. I will say that this first episode felt almost more like a stand-alone one-shot than the start of a series – I’m not really sure at current how they’ll continue on, given how well the main couple already gets on. Judging by the promo images, however, it looks like a lot more characters will come into the story
The character designs are very attractive and colourful, and the opening particularly had very gorgeous visuals that leaned more towards introspective than the usual cute and bouncy type we see in rom-com series. It reflects the tone of the series well – it’s cute and heartwarming but with a surprisingly thoughtful touch. I can’t wait to see how the pair’s relationship develops over the course of the series and for me at least, Horimiya is probably going to be my most anticipated anime to watch each week.
Horimiya
A heartwarming and quirky start to this anime makes Horimiya one of the most charming watches of the season so far
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