Horimija

If someone introduced me to any anime represented by nine characters with extremely flamboyant hair on a poster, which according to the synopsis was going to be a teen comedy romance between a girl and a boy with tattoos and piercings, I would definitely kick that good-natured person to the curb, with a wry smile on my face. Fortunately, over the years, I have realized it is not good to judge an anime based on its synopsis, but rather on the names on the production team - and since the director of the unforgettable From the New World is responsible for Horimiya, I went for it. What I got was an excellent anime, which, despite all my preconceptions, is excellent from the beginning to the end. It is adult, confident, realistic, with great care taken over the drawing and animation, and a healthy dollop of both intelligent and simple situation comedy. Above all, however - is the well-crafted psychological side of the main and supporting characters, which combined with the impressive and playful audiovisual style means that practically every episode of Horimiya reminds you of where From the New World’s greatest strengths lay. It will certainly please people that the fact that Horimiya, like a good cross-country runner, successfully avoids all obstacles in the form of any silly tropes usual for this genre, and provides room and depth for the supporting characters - and, let us be honest here, this does not happen much with teen comedy romance anime. It has a few weaker moments (especially in the scenes without either Hori or Miyamura), but I have no doubt about the overall rating: a strict five stars, which includes my praise for the excellent opening and ending, which was the icing on the cake. (04/04/2021)

For me personally, Horimiya is an outstanding production in every way. The way the show combines humor, romance, emotion, and psychology is extremely good, and I think it just makes for a great show. Yes, I have heard criticisms that this anime series should have had at least twice as many episodes, so the characters would have had more time to breathe, and everything would have been more fleshed out so the audience would have felt they had a deeper insight. However, I do not agree with that really! If this anime series had been longer, then I think the general brisk pace of the show would have suffered, and above all the realistic straightforwardness and compassion with which all the problems are dealt with would have taken a beating. Truth be told, that is probably what I liked best about the show really, and the idea of going deeply into every little trifling drama for God knows how many episodes (basically just a lot of unnecessary pathos), would have been really very irritating by the end! I thought that actually everything developed quite nicely and naturally, I found it all believable, and even though, in some people's opinion, there was not enough time, there was still a chance to get to know all the supporting characters well enough, and they interacted with each other in a good, reasonable and funny way. I also think the animation is good and it has an excellent soundtrack. In other words, I for one have nothing to fault, and I enjoyed it. 9/10. (04/04/2021)

A gentle, harmonious, and almost exemplary representative from the romcom stable, Horimiya ably lives up to the high expectations of the popular manga and felt like a fresh rain after a long dry spell. The excellent direction guides the story at well-oiled high quality without a single blip, skimming high from the ingredients of its cheap counterparts and focusing on the civility of the developing relationships of the high schoolers featured, especially the romantic ones, with a light touch of the comic situations of the most minor absurdities. The characters are literally nurtured with almost parental tenderness; it's important that not a hair is harmed on anyone’s head, and if I found any flaw, it was in the total lack of conflict. Relationships are thus put through minimal tests of endurance and the characters' greatest enemies are themselves and how much they let themselves, their counterparts, and their surroundings get away with. And yet it still bothers me a little, since the relationship between the temperamental and insecure Kyouko and the icily poised Izumi is as sweet as coffee with a glass of sugar added, and even if Kyouko doesn't forgive herself for a bit of suspicious jealous outbursts in the face of Izumi's non-existent usurpers, the mutual respect and overall sensitive future of their relationship is a joy to watch. It's a shame that the romances of the supporting candidates, who had more than enough promise and deserved to be satisfyingly fleshed out weren't similarly fleshed out; without them, some of the characters began to lose their purpose. With a heavy nod of my head, I welcome the total absence of annoying fan service, which only added gravitas to this anime, gave the more poignant scenes a more thoughtful atmosphere, and yet without costing the characters even a crumb of their charm (those peepers!). In terms of character design, the only thing that bothered me were the color creations on the heads, wilder than the KEY visuals, with the "same hair, same eyes" policy which caused confusion when it came to recognizing several characters. The rest of the CloverWorks mold turned out wonderfully, and while I didn't enjoy the opening and closing songs, the soundtrack was colorful. I can understand that some may find Horimiya a bit boring without the central duo on the scene, some may miss the emotions running at full steam, but if you're looking for a fulfilling, appealing, and wholesome high school rabukome, you've come to the right place. (09/06/2021)

Quirky anime from a school setting focused on relationships. Cliche? We know! What do we do with them! Let's dial it up to the minimum and slide on! The anime is called HoriMiya, i.e. Hori and Miyamura are the main characters, and these two get the most space, of course. The two have acquaintances, friends, and classmates, who we also learn something about, but the anime doesn't go into unnecessary detail. A minus for some, but a definite plus for me, because that's life – not everything has its depth and "final solution". Mostly because of this, the anime flows by briskly, the tender and realistic romance is intertwined with excellent situational comedy, and you have great characters to enjoy every episode with. I'm not saying the whole thirteen episodes is some great diamond in the rough, but I'd definitely call it the best high school romance in a long time. I enjoyed it, it was great on the projector, there were scenes that had me laughing out loud, and I enjoyed seeing Miyamura and Hori pull it off almost from the very beginning and build their relationship. At times it went on too long for my tastes and the opening and ending didn't have much to offer, but otherwise perfect. A strong 4 stars. (05/04/2021)