Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be diving back into the delightful drama of Horimiya, where our leads just recently Did The Thing, and admitted they have feelings for each other. Heck, Hori even announced that Miyamura is her boyfriend! Admittedly, that announcement was mostly intended to make her embarrassing father shut up, but I’m still counting it as a confession. Either way, our leads are now in an actual relationship, putting Horimiya wildly ahead of the pack in terms of its dramatic momentum.

Anime romantic comedies/dramas rarely get to the point of portraying ongoing, active romances, both because the journey towards romance provides such a clear dramatic template, and also because such experiences are likely to be a bit less relatable to their teenage viewers. But in truth, the give and take of an active relationship provides a fascinating venue for drama, while also allowing for the steady dopamine hits of watching characters you love express their love for each other. Horimiya is now uniquely equipped for the dispensation of warm fuzzies, and I’m hoping it will take this opportunity to utterly melt our hearts. Let’s get to it!

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Hello all, and welcome back to the show. Today I am eager to get back to Horimiya, which appears to have reached a critical juncture courtesy of last episode’s final scene. After two episodes of wandering around their feelings for each other, and lamenting the approaching end of their domestic happiness, Miyamura finally Did the Thing. Having assured Hori that he would stay so long as she wanted him to, he ended his visit with a tossed-off “I love you,” leaving the ball firmly in Hori’s court.

By only admitting his feelings to Hori’s silent back, Miyamura intentionally left her an exit route: “if you don’t feel the same way, you can just pretend you didn’t hear me.” But Hori does feel the same way, and at this point, it’s become clear that their bond reflects more than just enjoying each other’s company. Both Hori and Miyamura responded to their isolated, unhappy childhoods by becoming self-sufficient individuals, but both of them still bear a sense of profound loneliness and uncertainty, something they cannot admit to their general classmates. Each of them has found a confidant in the other, someone they do not have to perform strength for, and someone who understands their fear of isolation. One of Horimiya’s finest features is its refusal to draw out personal drama, so I’m hoping for some romantic fireworks as we enter episode five. Let’s get to it!

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to dive back into Horimiya, as it seems like we’re rapidly approaching a turning point in Hori and Miyamura’s relationship.

So far, they’ve essentially been enjoying the comfort and familiarity of a long-term domestic partner without any clear romantic strings attached. Both of them seemed relatively happy with that relationship, but as their third year of high school begins, it’s becoming impossible to deny that the status quo cannot last, and that they will either begin a relationship in earnest or eventually drift apart. Ayasaka’s interference forced Hori to realize that while she might not be actively considering Miyamura in a romantic way, she still doesn’t want anyone else to date him – and after that, their mutual praise for each other’s “beautiful hands” made it pretty clear that they’re on the same page here. I expect Horimiya’s structural/pacing quirks to continue, but you know I’m a sucker for earnest romance, and Horimiya seems right on the verge of its confession moment. Let’s get to it!

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’d like to dig back into Horimiya, which has so far proven to be a compelling but lopsided production, with some clear strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side, the show’s character writing has proven quite good so far, with its main cast offering nuanced, multifaceted personalities that incorporate not just goals and attitudes, but also a variety of personal quirks, interests, and anxieties. Combined with the show’s refreshingly grounded dialogue and general avoidance of melodrama, the overall package feels remarkably true to life, an earnest and unpretentious exploration of adolescent feelings.

On the negative side, the adaptation so far has felt awkwardly disjointed, with clear break points delineating each episode’s mini-conflicts, rather than any sense of congruity or ongoing, escalating drama. Because of this, it’s hard to really sink into the fiction of their daily life; it frequently feels like they’re performing a set of skits, rather than simply living through day-to-day interactions. Additionally, while Masashi Ishihama is doing a fine enough job directing, it’s becoming clear that Horimiya will offer far fewer opportunities for his expressive compositional flourishes than something like From the New World. Ishihama might simply be better suited to works he can storyboard from the ground up, rather than adapting manga panels; either way, this adaptation’s conservative approach is limiting it in a few ways, so I’m hoping the staff embrace a little more flexibility going forward. With all that in mind, let’s poke through the third episode of Horimiya!

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Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to one of the year’s most compelling productions so far, as we check out the second episode of Horimiya. Horimiya’s first episode impressed me on a few fronts, with the most expected of them clearly being Masashi Ishihama’s excellent direction. Ishihama has tuned down his frequently aggressive style a bit for this laid-back production, lightly employing the post-processing and collage-like elements he tends to favor, but his excellence is clear in Horimiya’s abstract visual flourishes, as well as its terrific OP. Meanwhile, the actual story is demonstrating a welcome nuance of characterization, neatly sidestepping cliche dramatic beats through its characters’ willingness to actually, honestly communicate. There’s a lot to enjoy so far, and I’m eager to see where this story goes. Let’s dive in!

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m planning on breaking the mold a bit, and writing up a show that’s actually airing right now. I know, timely criticism, what a concept. We’ll be diving into the first episode of Horimiya, a show I’ve been anticipating since the summer, for one clear reason: it’s directed by motherfuckin’ Masashi Ishihama.

Ishihama is currently one of anime’s greatest hidden treasures. He’s likely best-known for his phenomenal work directing opening and ending sequences – his sequences have elevated shows ranging from ERASED to Occultic;Nine to Encouragement of Climb. Through all of his work, he demonstrates a singular understanding of color contrast, composition, and visual drama, complete with playful flourishes of typography, dramatic silhouettes, and carefully controlled soft focus. And though he’s rarely spearheaded projects of his own, his incredible From the New World stands as one of the best anime of the last decade, and a genuine credit to the medium at large.

While I’ve got plenty of opinions on Ishihama, all I really know about Horimiya is that it’s a high school romance, and that people I tend to trust say it’s a good one. So I’m going in relatively blind here, ready for whatever twists may come, and eager to see how Ishihama elevates it all. Let’s check out the first episode of Horimiya!

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