Horimiya

On the surface, the thought of Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura getting along would be the last thing in people's minds. After all, Hori has a perfect combination of beauty and brains, while Miyamura appears meek and distant to his fellow classmates. However, a fateful meeting between the two lays both of their hidden selves bare. Even though she is popular at school, Hori has little time to socialize with her friends due to housework. On the other hand, Miyamura lives under the noses of his peers, his body bearing secret tattoos and piercings that make him look like a gentle delinquent.

Having opposite personalities yet sharing odd similarities, the two quickly become friends and often spend time together in Hori's home. As they both emerge from their shells, they share with each other a side of themselves concealed from the outside world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Miyamura, Izumi Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Hori, Kyouko Main

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Yoshikawa, Yuki Supporting

Kozakai, Yurie Japanese

Hori, Kyousuke Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Sawada, Honoka Supporting

Asakura, Momo Japanese

Yanagi, Akane Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Iura, Shuu Supporting

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Ayasaki, Remi Supporting

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Ishikawa, Tooru Supporting

Yamashita, Seiichirou Japanese

Kouno, Sakura Supporting

Kondou, Reina Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Odagiri, Narumi Producer

Reviews

Mar 31, 2025

Waddl3r

Recommended

Enjoyed all throughout, Finished in one sitting. Would've actually ben a 9/10 purely went down two points due to a flat ending because of the cancelled Season 2, Left the ending to be a bit unfulfilling. To put Horimiya into a couple sentences, It's your average story of teenage high school quiet boy falls in love with popular girl and they end up in an unlikely relationship. It explores both characters vulnerability and how they push through problems together. Wasn't expecting the ending at all, Especially considering how early the relationship was but it was definitely a good setup for them anticipating a second season. ... The art style is extremely fitting for the story, Although I had no flaws noticed within the art style there was also nothing that popped out to me about it, Felt a bit generic. Others would definitely enjoy this series but also find the ending unfulfilling.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 3, 2025

GT1Studios

Mixed Feelings

“I don’t think there’s a person in this world you can’t eventually be friends with” - Izumi Miyamura - Ep 9

Horimiya is a flawed high school romance story about a quickly established relationship where the couple strives to learn more about each other. With the composer of Your Lie in April and an award-winning cast working together, this show was capable of success. However, poor editing and pacing by Cloverworks led to its downfall.

Bad: Side Characters, Pacing, Editing
Hit-or-Miss: Comedy, Dialogue
Good: Concept, Soundtrack

Romance: 6.5/10
Story: 6/10
... Art: 6.5/10
Sound: 8/10
Characters: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10

The story isn’t told by a narrator, but by the characters. Their inner thoughts and interactions with each other are what drive the plot forward. The first half of the season focused mainly on Miyamura and Hori, while the second half (after they get together) was more divided and shifted towards the side characters. Horimiya didn’t have overused plot devices, anything hard to wrap your head around, nor much to get bored of. As a person who has seen a decent amount of romance stories now, it’s predictable how everything plays out. But that shouldn’t be an issue as long as it’s done well… which it isn’t. The goal for the studio, Cloverworks, was to adapt the entire manga, Horimiya, and its 100+ chapters into 13 episodes, resulting in skipped scenes and sudden character appearances while expecting the viewer to appreciate them as much as Hori-Miya. The editing, however, was by far the biggest problem. They were focusing on more comedic aspects of the story rather than the progression of these students as human beings, making tender moments end suddenly without sufficient reflection. This is most apparent with Hori-Miya. Instead of starting off the story with them together, they showed how they got to know each other. While the “prologue” had tenderness, the silence between their dialogues was too short. Less is more, and if they took a second longer to reflect, it would’ve made that much more of a difference. In a rush to finish the story, it ended abruptly, leaving behind plot holes and unresolved conflicts.To make up for this, however, the comedy of this show was witty and amusing. Most of the jokes and gags were enough to make a semi-giggly person chuckle, while others were stale.

The art style is typical, with sharp-chinned characters and neutral backgrounds. Along with this, no mixed media like CGI or live action was used. Overall, nothing super different from what Cloverworks and the artist, Hagiwara, usually do. However, the anime isn’t completely basic. In some scenes, the characters go into a trance state (their subconscious) that displays a colored shadow behind them. I think this is supposed to represent what they truly feel inside (or maybe I’m overthinking it). This is done fairly well and is kind of unique compared to other romances, as those stories have characters that go into a trance state as well. The animation was inoffensive and remained consistent. Nothing bad, nothing really notable. The character design on the other hand, was pretty basic, as the biggest defining factor was the color of their hair (very saturated colors in my opinion). Miyamura had the most interesting appearance in the beginning, (mild spoiler) but began looking like everybody else by 3 episodes. Also, you know how anime/manga usually goes back and forth between normal and chibi art styles? Horimiya overuses chibi way too much. For example, when there is a sweet moment with Miyamura and Hori, one of them suddenly turns chibi, destroying the sweetness. I get that there should be funny things going on, but not at the expense of potential character development.

The sound department for this anime however, was very good. The characters had very distinct personalities which were displayed well. That’s mostly because the voice actors behind them are talented and have done more demanding roles before. Along with this, the soundtrack was by composer Yokoyama, who made the music behind other romance anime like Your Lie in April and Fruit’s Basket. His work made the tender moments feel very real and human, balancing out the poor editing. With a mix of garage band, orchestra, and electronic instruments, a bittersweet tone was added to the overall story. All of this was then complemented by the opening, which had fun and memorable tunes that I often hum during the day, while the ending was more lowkey and left a warm feeling in my ears.

The main/side characters themselves had unique personalities. They were flawed, but worked to battle them. Hori-Miya felt well-rounded, while others were a bit flatter. This however, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since everyone at least had a sense of care for each other. Special shout-out to Miyamura, as he had some very sweet and memorable dialogues, such as the one in the beginning of the review. Most of them overcame situations in a realistic way, while others took exaggerated measures. They weren’t very relatable, but I still enjoyed them nevertheless. However, Horimiya also had an ever-growing supporting cast, with a new person arriving every single episode. Due to the lack of screentime for each person, I rarely felt a connection with any of them and even forgot a few. None of them were unlikable, but neither were they memorable. On the other hand, the background high school students were despicable. This is an ongoing problem with so many stories, as they tend to make students act like complete jerks for no reason. Even if it’s for “character development” or anything else, they aren’t like that in real life, and I take offense when creators place them under such a bad light.

Despite all of the gripes I have for Horimiya, I still had a nice time watching it and think others would enjoy it even more than me. The biggest reason for that however is because I am more critical than the average anime watcher. Most people would only care about the comedy or romance in the show, and Horimiya doesn’t do a bad job with that. It’s just that it could be better with more finesse behind the editing. Manga fans will definitely not like this adaptation as much as the original manga itself due to major pacing issues. However, non-anime fans might like this, since Horimiya approaches romance from a different angle, which others might appreciate. I don’t think I’ll rewatch this again for a while because I won’t gain anything from it like new information or a deeper understanding. However, the manga is on my radar, since I’d like to see what the anime could’ve been like. I don’t plan on buying a physical copy of this either, mainly due to the low rewatch value. It was a memorable show, but unfortunately couldn’t reach its fullest potential.

Thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 19, 2024

Shinobu25

Not Recommended

Funny

Hori and Miyamura was one of the most toxic relationships I've seen in a while

Hori is an angry girl with masochistic tendencies, but it didn't matter to me. The problem started when she forced Miyamura to beat her against his will, and how did the director show this? what a cool guy!! His schoolmate admires him!

But the problem is even deeper.

In another scene, Hori's father asks her not to treat Miyamura so badly and not to yell at him, and Hori's reaction? Yes, as usual, she said to shut up and continued to rant, which she does throughout the series

Contrary to what the series wanted ... to show, Miyamura did not change at all.
Miyamura remained the quiet and secretive young man who allowed the demands of others to prevail over him. That's why he was able to tolerate Hori so much. Why should it be shown that making many friends will change you?

In a healthy relationship, you give something to your partner and you get something. But Miyamura only gave from the beginning to the end of the series. The end of this show is very cliched and superficial. Hori and Miyamura's relationship did not last long

The rest of the characters do not have much to say. They get lost in the shell of the story and cannot make room in the heart of the audience as they should
Maybe iura can be considered as a good character.

People start a series with different goals, but if you are looking for a deep and lovely romance, Horimiya is not a good choice.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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