Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#126:Horimiya

Have you ever wanted my spotlight to be a little more black and white? If so, you're in look because I will be covering my first official manga here in the spotlight: Horimiya by Hiriko Adachi.

Summary

She's a perfect honor student. He's a gloomy introvert with an uninviting aura. On a surface level, one would think these two are in entirely different worlds. But after a fateful encounter outside of school Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura see the sides, they keep hidden from one another.

She's a big sister who often has to replace the duties of her parents. He's a pierced himbo with more tattoos than a gangster. Yet, with their knowledge now in their possession, the two form a connection that seems to get impossibly stronger with time. As such building over into a one-of-a-kind love.

Characters

Hori: Due to consistently caring for her brother Souta, Hori had to grow up much faster than most. She's hardworking, kind, and incredibly energetic in all aspects of life. However, upon meeting Miyamura, she can be a little more "childish," exposing her to a far more aggressive, petty, and jealous side. Though this also stems from her sadomasochist tendencies (yes, really).

Miyamura: By displaying a depressing demeanor in his younger days, Miyamura became the subject of rampant bullying. Eventually, this chipped away at his self-confidence, developing a deep self-loathing that comes to him. However, through his friends' help, he reveals certain aspects about himself. Like his more friendly, laid-back nature, genuine kindness, and dense attitude.

Tooru Ishawka: Miyamura's best friend, Ishawka, is best characterized by his down-to-earth nature and friendly demeanor. While initially having a crush on Hori, he later catalyzes Miyamura to follow his feelings, albeit with an explosive temper behind it. Despite this, he's a naturally supportive friend.

Yuki Yoshikawa: As Hori's best friend, Yuki's ditzy and cheery personality inspires everyone around her. However, sometimes this smile is empty due to her often having a low opinion of herself.

Overview

While I don't exactly have the biggest bar for romance series, something tells me it will be a minute before Horimiya leaves some of my top spots. While Yumi Cell's story remains my favorite romance for actively having a search for love across well-established suitors, Horimiya pretty much crushes the "will they won't they" a quarter into its run.

So instead of gripping melodrama, dynamic love triangles, or intricate dates, we are subject to a sincerely palpable slice of life experience. Hori and Miyamura feel like genuinely real teenagers; they get into fights for stupid reasons, get finicky over what they say, and get worried when their not around each other. Which makes every step forward the other takes within the relationship feel both earned and grounded. And that development gets rather serious too.

At the core of their relationship, Hori and Miyamura are a couple who find beauty in the mundane, eventually revealing more about each other as time passes. Though Hori better watches out for her man because I will happily snatch Miyamura so fast it ain't even funny. My baby boi gets the lion's share of development, and his self-loathing story is relatable af for me. Small tangent aside, though, the overall theme of deeper sides also extends to the cast because Horimiya wasn't satisfied with making just two great leads.

Yuki, Ishawka, and later on, the addition of Horimiya's other friends add some gripping side plots and fun one-off chapters. Most of the enjoyment of Horimiya is seeing the friend group bounce off each other during average school activities with lots of running gags peppering their way through. Whether it be Miyamura's bad excuses for not revealing his tattoos at school or Hori's kinky desire to get yelled at, you'll have as much time laughing as you do "aw"- ing at the beautiful moments (that's a word, right?).

While I like any romance to have a cute couple at its center for proper development, having a strong supporting cast that can operate independently from the main pair is amazing too. Sure they may all share a collective brain cell, but that's neither here nor there. With so many fun and memorable characters, you'll have fun with this as long as you're semi-interested in grounded stories.

Finally, on a visual level, the manga's art style relies heavily on its characters' thin outlines and gentle shading. Though for me, the art style comes alive in the colored panels through the volume covers and artbooks, which are so gorgeous, I swear to god.

Epilogue

I'm glad I made Horimiya the first manga to cover in this next cluster. It's a one-of-a-kind coming-of-age story that depicts the beauty I hope we can all find in someone enjoying secret aspects of yourself. I only wish I could one day feel for myself one day. While this spotlight mainly focuses on the manga from the Mangabuddy website, there is also a 13-episode anime to enjoy.

For me, though, with how much it skips over, the original material is still where you need to go. Regardless, this was still a fun ride from the beginning to an unfortunate end. So with this spotlight done, let's try and shine it on another along this unique cluster.