Horimiya is the story about Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura. One is a model student in her school who is liked by everyone but keeps it a secret that she is a plain girl who takes care of her house and little brother and other is gloomy looking, introverted student who has a side to him that he doesn't want anyone to know. Both on the surface seems polar opposite, but they both have a lot in common. Such as they both have dual identities and they both keep it a secret from everyone in school because they fear they will be judged and thus they are insecure regarding themselves. In short Horimiya is a love story between two students who find out each others secret and become each other's confidant and blossom into a couple. But to think Horimiya is just a rom-com would be wrong as it has many slice of life elements. Even though the name is portmanteau of Hori and Miyamura, they are not always the center of attention as the story also shifts its focus to other characters in their life whom may have been seen as insignificant initially but once we got to know them, we managed to love and relate to them in our own way. [It is to be noted that Horimiya was originally started as a webcomic by its author HERO]
The manga doesn't just end with their confession as I have said before because they have confessed to each other at chapter 30 out of 125 chapters (episode 04 of the anime), and the story focuses on their advancement as a couple. As the plot mentioned that Hori is a model student who is loved by all, so when she dates someone like Miyamura who has introverted and gloomy atmosphere, a few bumps are bound to appear. Or when the people behind Miyamura's introverted nature comes back to his life, you can imagine a few things happening. But they both persevere through it together no matter what.
I did say that Horimiya is more of a Slice of Life than a rom-com and most of the credit goes to it's authour HERO for fleshing out characters other than Hori and Miyamiura. If I were to say who is my most favorite character out of all of them except for the main lead, I'd say it would be Toru Ishikawa who started as a guy crushing on Hori and tried to antagonize Miyamura when he started hanging out with Hori and developed into Hori and Miyamura's best friend and Best Bro respectively. When he was turned down by Hori after his confession, Miyamura comforted him, when he was still getting over the heartbreak and hear the possibility of Hori and Miyamura dating he was hurting, when he guessed that Hori likes Miyamura and Miyamura feels the same he tries to bring them together despite his own feelings towards Hori and when they do get together, he is the first one to support them and be happy for them. I like how they didn't put his character in a certain cliche and made him a rival character but rather a bro.
Even though I enjoyed Horimiya, there were some things that bothered me but not enough to make me put it down and forget about it. At a certain point into the manga, Horimiya becomes just fillers. Telling stories that are either relevant or irrelevant to the manga itself. There were some gems like Sports Day story, Christmas story, Kyousuke Hori (Kyouko's dad)'s love story, Shota Hori (Kyouko's little brother)'s love story and my favorite Meowmura short stories. And then there are a few short stories that would have been better than to skip them and thank god they weren't adapted to the anime. Still, it wasn't enough to ruin my enjoyment. Because this is coming from a guy who sat through the entire filler arc of Naruto to get to the ending. But if I were to say what was my biggest disappointment with Horimiya, it would be that it ended with them graduating. And that is because as I have mentioned Horimiya originally started as a webomic, and in the webcomic Hori and Miyamura not only get married but also have a kid. And I was hoping to read that part but I found that the chapters weren't made in the manga and the webcomic is hard to find. So, I can only sit back and wait for the chapters to arrive and I can finally die with peace.
Horimiya is a Slice of Life manga disguised as a rom-com with several fleshed out characters and enjoyable stories. And even though there is a filler section, it doesn't completely ruin the reading experience and makes the read satisfying. If you are a sucker for rom-com but are tired of the usual tropes, then Horimiya is just for you.
