#ALSO SOUTA AND MIYAMURA

[nonexistentirl]

Can we get a Horimiya manga sequel?

I need to see ToruYuki end up together. Theirs was a slower burn romance than the main couple. It felt like their relationship had made some progress during the latter parts of the manga but then the series ended without giving them a proper closure.

We never got to see Papa Sengoku find out about his son's girlfriend either. He'd have loved Remi!

What happened with Chika and Shindou, whether they succeeded in convincing Chika's parents about their relationship or not.

Heck we never even got to see Miyamura's father! I think there was an illustration of him by the mangaka. That man was HOT! Too hot to not make a single appearance throughout the series.

And Sengoku finding out about Miyamura's tattoos finally! Now Sengoku's gonna just believe that bazooka lie for the rest of eternity.

If nothing else they should have at least given us Miyamura and Ishikawa calling each other by their first names! Remember how jealous Miyamura got when Ishikawa got on a first name basis with Yanagi before he did with Miyamura, when the two have known each other for longer?

Yeah, it kinda felt like none of the earlier plot points were properly wrapped up by the end. As much as I liked Yuna and Souta's romance, I'd have loved to have these in the main story as well.

And at the same time I'd like to talk about how the manga struggles with consistency.

Hori and Miyamura did the deed but Miyamura doesn't know her boob size?

Sengoku and Hori were childhood friends but she and Papa Sengoku couldn't recognise each other?

The matter of Hori's insecurities about being seen without her make up by her school friends is never addressed again. The early chapters Hori was so self conscious about how people perceived her and keeping up appearances.

We should have had more development on that front as well with their friends coming over to the Hori house and seeing her in her comfort zone. It would have contributed to her character development. I think throughout the entire series, other than Miyamura, only Yuki and Sengoku got to visit the Hori household. Sengoku is her childhood friend so he doesn't count. But they should have had the whole gang come over to her house at some point. Maybe a girls sleepover with Yuki, Remi and Sakura.

The thing with her parents too. In the beginning one of her biggest issues was her parents being absent all the time and her having to take care of herself, her brother and the house by herself most of the time. But as the story progressed the whole thing went to shits because the Hori parents are home pretty frequently. Kyoko never confronted them about her feelings after being left alone as a child. The issues with Miyamura, like the bullying and stuff, were addressed and dealt with pretty decently as the story progressed. But often times it felt like Hori's character was completely butchered for the sake of funny. Hori did not deserve that, tbh. While Miyamura's character developed for the better, Hori's went through the biggest downgrade of the century.

As much as I love this series, I also have many gripes with it. Despite running for the course of 9 years, the ending somehow felt rushed and incomplete to me.

[mayoiayasep]

why was horimiya next gen focused on souta and not sawada and kitahara eyeroll emoji. slash jay i love souta. but also

the more important question is why where there even timeskip chapters at all if they werent going to give us the future appearances for all the main group. like im over the moon about what we got with hori but still....we didn't even see miyamura.....

[braveryhearted]

More obscure muses ( Introduction ) series.

Fandom: HoriMiya.

Muse #1- Izumi Miyamura.

Age 17-18 ( manga and anime )

Izumi Miyamura is the male protagonist of the Horimiya series. He is a student in Class 3-1 of Katagiri Senior High School.

At school, Izumi initially gives off the impression of a quiet, gloomy, and anti-social person. His classmates' perception of him is that he is an otaku with good studying capabilities, but a hard person to approach and maintain a conversation with.

Izumi was noticeably shy and struggled to interact with others when he was a child up to his time in junior high, resulting in him being frequently ostracized and bullied—especially by Makio Tanihara and his friend group—as his peers considered him a dreary and distant individual. This treatment caused Izumi to adopt a pessimistic nature, and he would give himself piercings with a safety pin whenever he felt school was giving him a difficult time.

However, one day, Izumi met Kouichi Shindou, who was, at the time, friends with Makio. Kouichi treated Izumi much better than their other classmates. The two became good friends, even with Makio's attempt at interference, and they kept in touch despite going to separate high schools. The two are close enough that Izumi changes his personality into a violent and foul-mouthed temper towards Kouichi, a complete 180 compared to his usual demeanor. Izumi credits Kouichi for his positive change in personality between junior high and high school.

Between the beginning of high school and his third year, Izumi retains a dark aura that his classmates consistently point out. However, he himself is less pessimistic (likely due to Kouichi's influence), and a younger Kyouko Hori points out that Izumi isn't as gloomy as others make him out to be after the two pair up for a project.

When Izumi and Kyouko meet each others' hidden sides for the first time, Izumi has a friendly and laid-back attitude, a trait Kyouko hadn't anticipated. When Kyouko doesn't try to avoid him the next day at school and explains her reasoning, Izumi is noticeably happy about her actions. Izumi is also quite laid-back towards his studies and believes that everything is fine as long as he can graduate, resulting in him doing poorly on tests and assignments. Although he tends to mispronounce certain Japanese words, Izumi is quite good at tongue twisters.

Upon interacting with more of his classmates, Izumi is shown to be a good friend and a caring person that often goes out of his way to help others (especially towards Kyouko and Souta, after realizing the hard work Kyouko put into maintaining her home and taking care of her brother). He has violent tendencies when his friends are involved in argumentative affairs and may resort to physical attacks if he deems it necessary.

At times, Izumi can be relatively dense and impulsive, which is likely why he got the tattoos that forced him to dress in layers and take extreme measures not to reveal them to others at school. Although he is careful to hide his secret, close calls result from Izumi’s dense nature. Outside of school, he can show off his piercings and tattoos and has no trouble displaying them.

He appears to have very low self-esteem and is awkward when talking to people he's not close with, often saying he can't connect well with others. He worries that it would be embarrassing for Kyouko to be seen with him. Miyamura hates drawing unnecessary attention to himself, preferring to be treated as "invisible" in class. However, he feels that Hori is being made fun of for dating him because of his appearance, which leads him to cut his hair and stops him from wearing glasses to school. This causes a lot of girls to start approaching him and commenting on how good-looking he is, even flirting with him and snapping pictures of him with their phones, much to Kyouko's annoyance.

He fears anything related to horror but usually watches horror movies because Hori enjoys them.

[foxstens]

I LOVE HORIMIYA SO MUCH

[tamaharu]

making a brave decision with my horimiya rewrite (which. sigh. i guess is what it is at this point) by refusing to clarify hori and miyamuras relationship. i know this is an odd choice considering this is an anime where they got together officially e5, but - not to suck my own dick - i think its a good one. sometimes there are more important things than characters dating.

[horimiya-incorrect-quotes]

Horimiya quickly becomes an “omake” after a plot driven story to bring characters together in the Horimiya friend group we know and love today. It’s one of the biggest reason people don’t rate Horimiya highly. They feel “dumbing it down” to a pure slice of slice took away the original intent of the story. I get it. I do. While I actually enjoy the omake aspect of it since it actually develops the character’s relationships with each other, here’s a list of hidden sides we get to see for each characters that actually show up in later chapters and was never part of the “central plot”:

Iura: Quiet and nonchalant in front of his sister Makoto because his loud personality drove her away. In an attempt to bond with her, he adopted a new personality that wasn’t too overbearing for her at home. Eventually, it became a part of himself. (Shown in the anime, but didn’t give a reason why)

Yanagi: A shoujo fanatic at home and also extremely grumpy in the mornings. Although the manga doesn’t expand on it, we can tell Yanagi is really scary when he’s angry. He also admires Kouno the most out of all his friends (and it’s mutual).

Kouno Sakura: shown as inherently capable and feminine. She actually started to learn baking in an attempt to feel more feminine. It was likely because Remi’s reputation took a toll on her. (Note I’m NOT saying any of this is Remi’s fault, actually far from it)

Hori: Even though Hori is popular, another part of her hidden side is that she can’t do traditionally feminine things other high schoolers at her age pride themselves on, including baking. This really is something she thinks is lacking in herself. When Hori admits her insecurities to Kouno, her perspective of Hori changes from the unreachable popular girl to a girl trapped in the same social standards.

*spoiler*

Souta (aged-up): cool on the exterior but actually a very caring and family-oriented person at home

Yuuna (aged-up): An air of maturity, but embarrassed easily around the people she’s grown up with (Souta). A little self conscious about her forehead. Really, she turned out like Hori and Souta turned out like Miyamura with his violent tendencies. It’s obvious they both looked up to Hori and Miyamura and started to mirror them, so they’re dynamic is really similar.

*spoiler end*

[knitmylove]

also hiii beloved give me some manga and/or anime recs please! <33

hiii love this is gonna be long but i hope you'll enjoy em!!

manga:

bbalgan jajeongeo. it's really short and cute. it's about a mailman with a red bicycle who travels through rural korea, delivering lettersand conversing with letter-writers and recipients.

blue period. blue period tells the story of yatora yaguchi. it's about the challenges and rewards of a career in the arts. he realises he's only doing things to make other people happy, but then he discovers the joy of painting.

children of the whales. cotw is the story of chakuro, a young guy who lives on the mud whale, a massive ship that sails aimlessly through a sand sea. chakuro serves as the mud whale's archivist, penning an objective record of the events that happen on ship. he's also one of the "marked," or short-lived bearers of thymia. the mud whale's ppl live quiet lives, but when a wrecked boat carrying a young woman drifts by, they discover that there is a huge world out there.

diamond no ace. this is about eijun sawamura, a pitcher who is invited to seidou high school by a scout who recognises the potential in his peculiar pitching style and enthusiasm. eijun declares that he will be the ace of the seidou baseball team, which has a plethora of talented and skilled players. the seidou baseball team, along with the rest of the team, aspires to defeat other similarly skillful teams to win the nationals in japan.

honey lemon soda. this one is about ishimori uka who was bullied in junior high school who gradually changes after meeting kai miura, a boy with lemon-colored hair.

shall we have dinner tonight? it's about do-hee woo and hae-gyung kim who are both single. they meet each other when they were trying to eat alone at the same resturant and shortly became friends who dine together every week.

with a dog and a cat, every day is fun. a cute and hilarious manga about the mangaka's cat, neko and her dog, inu.

few one shots i would rec!

kimi wa ai

49 kaime no kokuhaku

ai de birerong

gokurakugai sanban-doori no ken

goodbye, eri

sakana no time

sunny & rainy

anime:

a place further than the universe. a place further than the universe is a story about four friends, who meet each other by chance and decided to stay together in order to travel to antarctica.

astra lost in space. it's a story of nine students who became the victims of a conspiracy that took them thousands of light years from the destination of their trip. they retrieve a spaceship and try to return.

horimiya. it's a story about izumi miyamura and kyoko hori, who transform from secret keepers to lovers.

keep your hands off eizouken! it follows the lives of three high-school girls trying to make an anime of their very own.

kimi ni todoke. the story follows sawako kuronuma thru high school where she makes the first real friends she has ever had and explores her very first love.

natsume yuujinchou. takashi natsume is a 15-year-old boy with the ability to see spirits. this extraordinary ability caused him to have a difficult and lonely childhood. natsume soon learns that his late grandmother reiko left him the "book of friends," which contains the names of the spirits whom she brought under her control. natsume decides to free all of the spirits of those contracts, making friends along the way.

honobono log. it's very cute and short. it shows lovely snippets into the lives of couples and families.

poco's udon world. this anime follows souta as he returns home to his family's udon shop. throughout the series, he meets a young boy named poco who turns out to be a tanuki, and the two gradually form a bond. it's a really heartwarming show!

few movies!

a silent voice

children of the sea

ride your wave

doukyuusei

hal

josee, the tiger and the fish

sing a bit of harmony

summer ghost

words bubble up like soda pop

[jheyjette]

Now that the Horimiya anime’s over, here’s a list of very important things that were skipped over:

- Tooru’s weird dreams about Meowmura (aka catboy!Miyamura).

- More of Souta’s best friend Yuna.

- The boys sleeping over at Sengoku’s house.

- Yanagi and Sakura friendship.

- Tooru telling the teacher that Miyamura’s on his period so that he won’t have to swim and Miyamura immediately going along with it because he’s just that desperate.

- Miyamura and Sengoku bonding over hating swimming class (in Sengoku’s case, it’s because he’s insecure over how skinny he is).

- Miyamura and Sawada’s platonic sleepovers.

- Remi and Sengoku’s disastrous cooking skills.

- Motoko’s crush Kitahara, who unfortunately for her is her older brother’s number one fan.

- Miyamura’s alter ego, Konoha.

- Nakamine Kazuya

- Chapters taking place during the obligatory school trip, school festival, and Valentine’s Day (Miyamura makes an entire cake for Hori!).

- Sawada making her first friend in her class (said friend also has a crush on Iura!).

- Time skip feat. Souta in high school.

- Flashback to how Hori’s parents met.

This:

[luckycheesefoodie321]

So I start off by thinking... man I wonder if they’re gonna animate Horimiya Ch 37... SPOILERS FOR ANIME ONLY

Bc there is some heavily implied hanky panky and if you will witness here:

A shoulders up nakey Hori and a shirtless Miyamura with his belt unbuckled... so pretty undeniable what went on... so it’d be wild if they did animate it bc this is probably the most natural, non-event, two teenagers have sex moment in a manga I’ve read so far...

But I always forget that my precious boi Souta SAW WHAT HAPPENED... and yes it leads to a cute convo where Miyamura won’t steal Souta’s sister but he asks for Kyouko... but STILL

ALSO ANOTHER THING: let’s put aside the clay candy moment - their first moment of lip contact.. and when Miyamura fed her an orange with his mouth...

THEY HAVE IMPLIED SEX IN CH 37 WAY BEFORE THEIR FIRST ACTUAL PROPER KISS IN CH 100 AND THATS GODDAMN WILD TO ME

Just wanted rant about that one more time

EDIT 27/02/21: They really animated this shit I was so fucking hyped

[ambad]

Horimiya Anime Episode 1/Manga Chapter 1-3 Review/Comparison

All of this assumes you have watched episode 1 already. If you haven’t, please go watch it.

TL;DR: there are problems in both the manga and the anime

The manga opens up with Hori as the clear main character, which we don’t really get in the anime. This isn’t to say that this is a bad thing, just that the anime puts a broader scene on display, while the manga is more introspective into Hori’s thoughts.

We see that, of course, Hori doesn’t hang out with her friends after school and the manga demonstrates that this is a little tough on her, which is good setup for drama (I am told this series is 100% goofs btw).

In the manga, Hori’s monologue tells the readers she fills in the household mother duties because both her parents work and are extremely busy.

However, the anime chooses to show this through a phone call from Hori’s mother, which gives off the impression that Hori’s family is one featuring a single mother with the father not in the picture at all. 

This is further compounded by the picture we see Souta drawing on the day Ishikawa confesses to Hori (we see 4 figures, which, since he’s a child, are likely who he sees as his family, which include himself, Miyamura, Hori, and his mom, but more on this later).

Hori tells us her being pseudo-mama has been her daily life…

At least until Souta meets a dog.

What’s interesting here is the abruptness with which this is brought in. The manga immediately cut to this incident without even a panel that followed up the “this was my daily life.” Meanwhile, the anime brought it in right after the opening, which is fitting because of how the opening can break up the events when there needs to be a sudden relocation. 

However, whereas the manga has this goofy situation as Hori and Miyamura’s first meeting outside of school, the anime cutely put Miyamura in the Souta-go-home scene.

To me, the anime put the weight of Miyamura staying over onto Hori, whereas the manga put it on Souta. 

While we still have the same shirt-tug in the anime, we need that dialogue to really put Miyamura in the predicament that sets off the relationship between Hori and Miyamura.

It's Souta doing this that legitimizes these later lines from Hori:

Without Souta having that role, the story becomes HORI FELL FOR MIYAMURA DAY 1, which makes me a little uncomfortable when female protagonists end up this way. Even with the anime’s “main character” being the “Horimiya scene,” Souta adds a lot of backing to the Horimiya relationship.

To the anime’s credit, Souta does like Miyamura (he sits in Miyamura’s lap) so it’s a valid reason for Miyamura to come over, but at the very least there could've been an anime-only scene after Miyamura leaves where Souta is like "onee-chan, can we have that cool onii-chan come over to play again"

And the thing is, with Souta so interested in Miyamura like this, we automatically have to door open for Hori to have instances where she gets to say "come over for souta" but it's really “come over for me”

I really love how the manga characterizes the interactions between Hori and Miyamura, by showing us “yeah they’re very silly and it’s cute because it gives the relationship so much more character besides "oh we both want to hide our private selves, and wow we love each other now.”

Personally, I’d love the anime to give more of interactions like this:

Here’s where the manga does huge lifting in establishing the Horimiya relationship: 

“We both share this time that we’ll show to no one else.” These introspective boxes are so important, and the anime could use more lines like this to really hammer home the point that "they like each other because they share this time that they don't want to share with anyone else," which is so powerful.

In Chapter 2 (not shown in the anime) we have this beautiful set up for a scene where Miyamura comes in with a gift for Hori, because when that happens, it’ll be so special.

We also see how Souta is necessary to the relationship development between Hori and Miyamura: Miyamura happens across Souta’s daycare, saves Souta from a bully by picking him up from daycare, and even buys Souta juice and a book.

And in keeping with the silliness of the relationship, this cute one-off-line from Hori (”where’s MY juice?”) leads to the two of them drinking the same drink, which is a huge step in a relationship, especially one we’re seeing in an anime.

We also get the opportunity to set up future emotional moments, which are so powerful in the relationship Hori has with Miyamura, where Hori’s basically Souta’s mom, and Miyamura is like a fun dad.

But what’s more amazing is that this same chapter foreshadowed the first gift Miyamura gives to Hori at the end of the chapter, which is an absolutely essential scene the anime needs to have (eventually).

Now we’re In Chapter 3, and thanks to the “latte instead of juice” interaction from Chapter 2, Hori and Miyamura are able to take such a big step in their relationship that they’re sharing drinks at school. This, of course, is exactly why Ishikawa and Yuki notice and remark how close Hori and Miyamura are. It’s the perfect transition into the scene with Ishikawa asking Miyamura about Miyamura’s relationship with Hori.

However, the anime has Hori and Miyamura chatting, though very casual, it’s still not as loud a statement as drinking from the same drink. It's one thing to talk to someone, BUT SHARING THE SAME DRINK?? That's a sure sign two people are pretty close. And the interaction they have around the juice is perfect fodder for someone to be like "wow you're pretty close"

We get this scene after Ishikawas’s confession, and I actually appreciate the anime’s choice of lines here, where Hori instead says “Wait, THAT (is the issue)?!” because it legitimizes the option of a same-sex relationship, but still acknowledges, “Yeah Japan is still touchy on the subject of same-sex relations.” Also, this means Miyamura is bi, haters can get out.

Also, the post credits anime-only scene was cute too. Again, Horimiya anime said there’s nothing wrong with same-sex relations!! 

The manga on the other hand… it’s two guys who are being very judgmental about Ishikawa being in tears.

[timingmatters]

Son of a bitch they did a 10 year jump and didn’t show miyamura im fucking suing shdjjdhd

Hori looks amazing as always rocking short hair.

Souta looks so much more like his dad ultimate props to the artist for drawing him so well to his genetics sjdjdjd its so funny bc he is blunt like miyamura but gets angry like hori lmaoooo. Its adorable how he has a little of both. I LOVE that him and yuna have things that belonged to hori and miyamura. Im just so sad we didn’t see miyamura 😭

YUNA GREW SO CUTE. THE CUTEST. And I love her with souta????????? Part of me wish they had stayed just the best of friends but like sjfjfjjfjf those two chapters were so fucking cute?????? I have decided to adopt them. I has already adopted them but i’ll do it again they are two dumb tiny lovebirds it was so cute.

Again, souta saying things exactly like miyamura and hori recognizing it was so funny, and i love how now they all just call him ikkun. I’m guessing they live together now??? But where are the parents??? And if yuna is still the neighbor are they in the parents’ house????? (Was yuna a neighbor before actually??? Bc they introduced her character through sota’s school so maybe she is the neighbor after sota moved in with miyamura and hori????) but also why would sota not live with his parents????? Aaaaah im sure we’ll get more time jumps later on bc not showing miyamura was clearly a tease for later. Idk if its next chapters or if they are saving it as sort of a reveal for the ultimate last chapters, but i hope they explain where the parents are and what house was that sidjdjd (is it me or was it a different house?).

AAAH I CANT WAIT FOR THE ANIME THEY ALL BETTER BE AS CUTE AS IN THE MANGA.

[eatsbop]

So you're gonna mention "Ikkun" and not show who this "Ikkun" is? (Because I remember Souta has a friend with the last name Izumi)

Then give us short haired Hori but no Miyamura?

My dude, I don't care if you show him to us bald.. just make sure he's a happy Miyamura or I swear I will snap someone's neck

I'm

I'm just emotional right now I'm so sorry

(Also, no. I would much prefer long haired Miyamura lol)

[cowgrl]

what are u reading rn?

ahhh tysm for asking; i love talking books!!

i’m perpetually reading 25 books but anyway

a promised land by barack obama - well, this one needs no introduction lol. i’m listening to this on audiobook with my mom and it’s wonderful so far, but it’s like a tome and we’re only on chapter 3 so come back 7 months from now when we’ve finally finished it. if you’re going to read this physically, definitely give the audiobook a listen at some point too. it’s just so nice to hear his voice (and i love listening to authors read their own biographies/memoirs anyway)

horimiya series by hero - i’m reading vol. 3 right now and i love this manga so much! slice of life anything is instant serotonin for me <3 hori must be protected at all costs, miyamura has made me seriously reconsider my stance on man-buns (still hate the term tho), and souta is my fav! it’s got a maid-sama vibe but without the enemies-to-lovers element (which is a trope i typically i hate in 99% of media) and there’s an ova adaptation too that i haven’t watched yet but i’m excited

a very punchable face by colin jost - i am slightly embarrassed to say this but this is kind of a thirst read 😳 i mean, i do actually want to read this book but i’d be lying if i said 60% of the reason why wasn’t because i really like colin and snl (weekend update specifically). 

i may or may not have teared up when he was on late night with seth meyers because i love their friendship and i was so excited for this book to come out...i also may or may not have been pms-ing but i can’t remember so we’ll never know! anyway, it’s pretty interesting! his childhood is more intriguing than his adulthood would lead you to believe and i’m still an snl-apologist (yes they’re lame try-hards but they’re MY lame try-hards <3) so it’s nice to read the little snl stories too :-)

the island of sea women by lisa see - this was recommended to me by my favorite co-worker and i’m trying really hard to get through it but it almost put me in a reading slump. historical fiction is probably one of my least favorite genres; i’d much rather read about the real people who lived during that time period than a fictional account. obviously, there are exceptions but in general, it’s just not my cuppa. 

i’m only 100 pages in and i’m struggling so i might end up switching over to the audiobook. i will finish it eventually; i want to give my co-worker’s rec a fair shot and it’s a critical darling -- everyone seems to love this book -- so i’d feel pretty bad if i dnf’d it. i would love to learn more about the real haenyeo of jeju because i am genuinely fascinated and inspired by them! i love women’s history so i’m sure that’s why it was recommended to me. americans are taught very little about the korean war and japanese colonialism so i think it’s going to be an enlightening read for me as well once i really get into it.

how not to get shot: and other advice from white people by d.l. hughley and doug moe - a satirical take on the black experience in america featuring lots of tragic (and infuriating) real events in african-american history but hey, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. obviously, that’s an oversimplification but it’s a satirical advice book for black people based on the illogical, ignorant, and racist arguments of white people in america; i don’t really know how to explain it beyond that. i have quite a few hughley books on my tbr but this is the first one i’ve read and it’s poignant but i’m laughing a lot too. if you think reverse racism is real you’ll hate it but at the same time you probably need to read it more than anyone 💀

yotsuba&! vol. 14 by kiyohiko azuma - MY RAMPION, MY CHAMPION, MY FAVORITE <3333 kiyohiko azuma is the king of slice of life and you can’t change my mind. this is currently the last volume so even though i checked it out a while ago, i’ve been procrastinating because i don’t want it to end 😭 (it’s still ongoing though, i just don’t want to finish vol. 14 and not have vol. 15 to start reading immediately after) 

yotsuba is an adorable, hilarious 5-year-old girl navigating the world with her dad and her neighbors and it’s just one of the cutest manga series ever created. nothing’s perfect but yotsuba&! is literally flawless - mr. azuma does not miss!

okay there are a few more that i’m reading but that’s probably enough for now! thank you so much for the ask, anon!

[cesium-sheep]

new episode of horimiya was cute, I expected to get chapter 14 but we ended up with chapters 16-20 in order, except souta doesn’t hang out with yuuna on screen and tooru never gets his ice cream.

we get to see kouno meeting tooru, miyamura hanging out with shindou and how his behavior changes and the flasback to them becoming friends (without the hori cameo), and The Flu Chapter.

overall animation, voice acting, and design sensibilities continue to be very good. they’re doing a good job with pacing even though some very good moments are quite fairly getting sacrificed for it, cuz they only have so many episodes and there’s a lot of chapters that are a lot lighter on the “romance” and a lot heavier on the “slice of life”. and if you’ve gotta pick one or the other to prioritize, prioritizing the romantic scenes is 100% reasonable especially if you still make sure they’ve got a reasonable foundation.

but also they’re doing a good job of keeping the momentum of the volume cliffhangers where things are still hanging in the air and uuuuuuuguuughhh why isn’t it already next weeeeeeeeek

[wldanime]

Anime 104

Hori-san to Miyamura-kun This is a four episode OVA from 2012, and I’ve watched these through the last five years or so. Needless to say I don’t remember much from each episode, but i really like the manga. I also wish this was an actual 12-24 episodes anime, not just an OVA, but hey, it’s still a little bit entertaining. The art style is also really cute. 

Title: Hori-san to Miyamura-kun 

Director: Natsume Shingo

Watched language: Japanese

Genre: Comedy, romance, school, shounen

Studio: Gonzo, Hoods Entertainment

Episodes: 4 

Release year: 2012

Synopsis: 

Within everyone there exists a side preferably kept hidden, even from close friends. For the smart and popular Kyouko Hori, it’s the fact that she has to do all the housework and care for her little brother, Souta, because of her parents' busy work schedules. For the gentle Izumi Miyamura, whom everybody sees as an otaku, it's his nine hidden piercings and large body tattoo. So what happens when they accidentally discover each other's hidden sides? Sharing parts of themselves that they couldn't with anyone else, strong bonds of friendship soon begin to form between Miyamura and Hori, as well as those around them. As their hidden personas start to dissipate, they slowly learn how to open up to others.

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Hori-san to Miyamura-kun (Horimiya)

I read around seven chapters of the newer manga (which almost never happens because I prefer anime to reading manga), but I recently watched three OVAs (anime) of the series, and I really liked it. It’s not your typical shoujo romance but it’s not your typical shounen romance either. It’s not sparkly, the guy isn’t your “ideal” bishounen, the characters don’t rely on fanservice, and it’s as realistic as anime can be. 

Within everyone there exists a side preferably kept hidden, even from close friends. For the smart and popular Kyouko Hori, it’s the fact that she has to do all the housework and care for her little brother, Souta, because of her parents' busy work schedules. For the gentle Izumi Miyamura, whom everybody sees as an otaku, it's his nine hidden piercings and large body tattoo. So what happens when they accidentally discover each other's hidden sides? Sharing parts of themselves that they couldn't with anyone else, strong bonds of friendship soon begin to form between Miyamura and Hori, as well as those around them. As their hidden personas start to dissipate, they slowly learn how to open up to others.

[source: MAL]

It really sounds plain at first, but after watching it, I seriously felt some kind of attachment to all these characters, and I’m not just saying that because of the voice actors. I was attached even when reading the manga. I just didn’t continue reading because I’m a flake. That’s rare for me considering the fact that I usually don’t like some of the characters in romance series. Sure, I haven’t met some of the characters yet, but three episodes to introduce a whole cast is a bit steep anyway. I would even read ahead in the manga if I didn’t feel like I was going to flake again.

One complaint about this series is without a doubt the art. It’s really simple and plain, but I personally got used to it and found it to have its own charm. I would’ve gladly suggested a higher budget for this, but we all know that they don’t have that kind of money. The two studios that had this project were Gonzo and Hoods Entertainment. While Gonzo does have notable series to date like Full Metal Panic, Special A, and Seto no Hanayome, Hoods Entertainment... they don’t. They have some hentai, I’ll give them that. That promotional poster is something that cannot be unseen no matter how much brain bleach I use. 

There’s nothing to say really music-wise because I usually give a longer period to judge that, and the soundtrack, to me, sounded even plainer than the art style. I enjoyed the ending songs which were sung by Asami Seto and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. 

Speaking of those two, the casting was done exceptionally well. I read seven chapters of the manga beforehand, and I could not have picked a better cast to play these characters (unless they picked some newbies or something because I can’t compare or judge people I haven’t heard). First, I’m a fan of both of the leads they chose. Seto makes her sound more down-to-earth while Matsuoka sounds a bit nerdy which fits the character’s false persona. Besides that, we have Kana Ueda and Yoshimasa Hosoya playing the two main side characters. Hosoya’s character is probably one of the more major characters out of the cast (besides the two main leads). His character got his fair share of time for the time given. Nobunaga Shimazaki also plays a side character, and Hiro Shimono plays the guy who introduces the anime at the start.

Overall, I really want this whole series to be adapted in an anime form with a bit more of a budget to provide more leniency. It’s been out for a while (the original manga), and it’s a shame that it hasn’t been really adapted yet. Even though it has “finished airing” according to the site, I only have access to three out of the four episodes, but nonetheless, I would recommend it to anyone who has the time. (*cough* @akaskira , @levichan17 , @bungou-stray-alies-tales-of-aly hopefully you don’t mind the tag, but I’m just recommending it!!)