Episode Two Thoughts
“Iro Kousui (色香水)” by You Kamiyama, is honestly so smooth. The OP is not hard on the ears and isn’t as energetic as most OPs tend to be. It sounds great, it has a nice beat, and it’s very monotone; which is something I personally like.
Episode two really played into the comedic aspect of the anime. Who would have thought that Hori would cause so much trouble and fuss over finding out Miyamura’s first name. But anyway, Miyamura is a character I personally really like. Simply because he seems to be a very selfless person, always caring for Hori’s little brother, always visiting to play with him and to bring him sweets. Miyamura’s concern for Hori wondering if she could handle all the work that was pushed onto her lap by the student council, and most importantly, being able to back up and support Hori was admirable. My favourite part of the of the episode was when Miyamura grabbed Sengoku (Student Council President) by the tie and headbutted him, that was epic.
Apart from that, I’m quite surprised at the pace of which we’re going in. While it may only be the second episode (that I’ve seen), you can tell that the two characters already have feelings for one another. It’s just a matter of when the two will eventually realize their feelings for one another. This is something that is to be expected of course. As the whole story is surrounding them and their dynamic, then it’s only a matter of time until their true feelings are realized and expressed to one another.
I honestly wish that build ups to potential relationships take a little longer to materialize and develop. Being confined to twelve episodes, there’s only so much you can fit. Which I think is the unfortunate side of anime in general because to me, one of the major joys and appeals to anime for me is character development. Ones where we experience that gradual growth are my favourites because it feels like you were there every step of the way.
Episode Three Thoughts
Episode three does it. I am official declaring Izumi Miyamura as my favourite character, on the grounds that he is the one character that is the most relatable and is a personality that I can relate to on a personal level. That person deemed “weird” by society, shunned by your classmates. No one really wanted to include you in groups or pair with you on school projects. Always being the odd man out, not knowing if you really belong.
“Are we friends, thought?”. This is probably the one line I think everyone and their mother can relate to, that is for sure.
Not to mention, we’re also proceeding apace! We are moving real quick, 0-to-100 in three episodes. I don’t know what happened, but I like it. First we have Hori declaring to Remi earlier in the episode that she (Hori) would never let her (Remi) have Miyamura because he’s hers (Hori). We then have our two characters holding hands in Hori’s house where they I guess, express their affection (??) for one another. It feels like one of those moments where you and someone you like know you like each other, but you don’t know what to do next so there’s sort of like this awkward vibe between the two until either you or the person you like makes the next move. Insert that friend who is caught in the middle Tooru Ishikawa, who likes Hori and is friends with both Hori and Miyamura. You can kind of piece the dots as to what role he played during the episode. The jealous, not willing to accept role.
Overall I liked the episode because we covered a lot of ground. Episode three represented the Slice of Life aspect of the anime because the episode was multiple parts stitched together to form a 20 minute episode. However, for me anyway, the same sort of issue is there. I love character development and since we’re running down this tunnel at 100km/h we’re speeding through character development, and Miyamura’s ‘flashback’ scene at the start of the episode was something I loved but wish it would have been expanded on into something deeper than what is portrayed in the episode. I wanted Miyamura’s past to be like Yuu Ishigami‘s past from Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen and how he eventually overcame it. If we had that in Horimiya, ohmydays, I would love this anime till death. But alas, it was not meant to be.
One response to “Horimiya | Episode 2 and 3 Review”
Having also watched the first 3 episodes I agree that Miyamura is a great character. Really enjoyed the first 3 eps and will binge the rest once it is done.