'Horimiya' Is a Bit Overhyped, but Still a Genuinely Pleasing High School Rom-Com

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.