Characters:
Placid, flat and bland. Basically stereotyped clichés walking around.
I don't feel emotionally connected to the characters at all. Too one dimensional, shallow and flat for my taste.
Even their supposed "quirks" aren't that much endearing. Same with their supposed "secrets" house chores+ tattoos & piercings, how fascinating!
I mean it would've worked if this were the early 90's... Nowadays that just qualifies as deadful & sloppy content.
Same with the rest of the mobs. they don't have any redeeming qualities as fictional "beings of paper".
Just like the main pair, there isn't much contrast between the stereotypical side characters neither, except maybe their different shoujo tropes and hair colors...
Plot:
The story is contrived, tedious and mediocre at best.
This plot so far seems fragmented, as if a bunch of shoujo clichés and tropes were thrown in together into a romcom ontology melting pot in order to make this anime happen. Which isn't really that diverse nor appealing, since there would be nothing engaging about this type of story if it has no depth, nuance nor complexity.
Same goes for the placid diligent candy girl and the monotonous Yankee character. They had a lot of potential to be an adorable, relatable, endearing pair but both don't live up to it. Neither does the story.
Even the serious discussed topics are brushed off as mere cliché bad past experiences, misunderstandings and flashbacks that eventually will get magically resolved. Which otherwise, could have painted a great canvas or used as an efficient plot-device to showcase the leads' growth process.
Romcom you say?
It is known that romance relies on certain patterns that can be somewhat clichéd and cheesy, but flatly reinforcing them (instead of innovating) through bad writing and compensating with cutesy art won't make it a good story.
Even the humour isn't even that funny nor engaging. The flaws within the characters just seem superficial. Even the supposed climactic emotional moments, seem forced and random instead of beautiful feelings arising from meaningful interactions.
Art:
It's actually one if not the only good trait this anime has. Cute, colorful shoujo art. The characters were drawn nicely and the animation seemed fresh.
Sound:
I didn't like the OP nor the OST. They weren't that memorable tbh. However, i quite liked the Voice Actors.
In conclusion:
Romcomland still has a lot of thrilling, heart-pounding, fluttering, exquisite and emotionally complex stories to tell. Unfortunately, Horimiya isn't one of them. Therefore, i consider it to be a mediocre anime at best.
