Horimiya
wasn’t one of the initial new anime I picked up at the start of the Winter 2021 season, but along with Wonder Egg
Priority, I just had to start watching it mid-season, because it’s
generating much buzz. In the end, even
though I thought it was a bit overhyped, I did thoroughly enjoy it.
Horimiya follows
a group of high schoolers experiencing the usual stuff from your conventional
high school drama anime – developing friendships, goofing around, bantering,
the occasional angst, and of course, romance.
The title of the show is derived from the portmanteau of the main couple,
Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura.
Hori-san is the typical popular
anime high school girl – smart, beautiful, and seemingly perfect and excelling all
around. At home though, she dresses
down, ties her hair, wipes away her makeup, and is fond of housework and taking
care of her little brother – a side of hers that she prefers for her classmates
to not see.
Meanwhile, at school, Miyamura-kun wears
glasses and maintains a reserved, conservative image that makes everyone around
him assume that he’s a nerdy otaku. In
reality, he doesn’t get high grades, is not obsessed with manga or games, and
has tattoos and nine piercings. When not
in school, he dons a punk-style look. While
genuinely timid, he’s actually more laid back, friendly, and handsome than what
he appears to be at school.
After the two stumble upon each
other’s real personas, they agree to keep each other’s secrets from their
classmates, and become friends. After
hanging out for some time, they grow romantically closer, and soon (as far as
the anime’s pacing is concerned), they become an official couple.
A significant part of the show
focuses on their romantic arc, but appropriate time is also given to explore
the other members of the clique that they’ve formed during the course of the
series.
Overall, Horimiya doesn’t truly have anything notably distinctive from other
similar anime. We’ve seen its core themes
and tropes play out countless times before.
However, it does them so well that it’s still pretty engaging. It also helps that the animation and music
are fittingly appealing.
I love how one minute Horimiya can feel like a droll, goofy,
and breezy slice-of-life like Nichijou,
and the next feel like a deeply resonating and emotionally pensive arthouse like
A Silent Voice. Izumi’s arc in particular – his transition from
a life of gloom and emotional isolation to a life of meaningful bonds and
warmth – is effectively moving, even though the whole thing is a big cliché. Meanwhile, the running gag about Kyoko’s
masochistic kink and the awkwardness and distress that the meek, sensitive Izumi
has to undergo whenever he has to force himself to fulfill it is utterly darkly
hilarious.
I understand that a huge part of why
Horimiya was a big deal during Winter
2021 is because the manga has quite a fandom.
I haven’t read the manga, but if I did, I probably would be bummed a
bit. For, surely, plot threads have been
cut from the source material, as an entire manga run’s worth of storyline was
crammed into a 13-episode season (by the way it ended, I doubt there’s a season
2, unless the narrative continues over to their college years. I don’t know if that’s what happened in the
manga, since, again, I haven’t read it).
While the anime adaptation manages to do this in a way that doesn’t make
the whole thing feel messy (at least, for someone like me who hasn’t read the
manga), its condensed nature becomes apparent whenever a scene unfolds in a
distinctively dramatic manner, but nothing really comes out of it down the line. It’s obvious that the anime just wanted to
show an iconic scene from the manga, but it didn’t really have the intention to
follow up on the subplot that stemmed from it.
The best example of this is the scene where Izumi, now in his no-glasses, after-school look, jumps like a badass over a fence, and is seen by Yuki
Yoshikawa, Kyoko’s bestfriend.
In the end, Horimiya has been a pleasing watch.
It doesn’t have anything truly innovative or special to boast, but it’s
a genuinely chill and investing show, thanks to an endearing cast of
characters, energetic humor, stylish melodrama, cozy vibes, solid production
value, and an attractive overall presentation.
No comments:
Post a Comment