OP: “Iro Kousui (色香水)” by You Kamiyama
In a curious way, you go into a premiere with expectations as high as they were for this one with more downside than upside potential. It should be a joyous experience, but if that’s what you expect, the only surprise can be disappointment. An adaptation for a series like Horimiya would always carry huge expectations, but then you add in the length of the wait and the surprise that it ended, and they double. Throw in the redoubtable Ishihama Masashi directing and they explode exponentially. Frankly, it’s a recipe for disaster.
That it was avoided is a testament to just how good this premiere was. Certainly the best premiere of the season so far by a wide margin, but again, the only surprise would have been had that not been the case. Starting with the OP (directed by Ishihama, who’s one of the best in anime history in that area), the episode itself, the ED – this was pure class all around. The pacing may have been a little faster than the start of the manga (more on that shortly) but it didn’t dull the impact of the intro chapters at all from my perspective. This was great, and timeless in the best way.
Ishihama of course did his best work as a director for A-1 Pictures (CloverWorks’ parent company) as well, with Shin Sekai Yori. That masterwork is more closely aligned with his usual genre choices as a director, and there’s no question Horimiya represents a bit of a departure for him. But really elite directors seem to transcend genre, and Ishihama’s quite recognizable visual style worked beautifully with this material. His masterful manipulation of light and shadow, fast cuts, deep focus – not used here to create existential unease as with SSY, but adolescent insecurity and feelings of isolation.
Those feelings are centered around two people. One is popular model student Hori Kyoko (Tomatsu Haruka), the other social outsider Miyamura Izumi (Uchiyama Kouki). Though in the same class their worlds rarely intersect at school – Miyamura is basically anonymous to Hori, a quiet bookish kid who might be (gasp) an otaku, but hardly worthy of consideration (or, it should be noted, any meanness or bullying). Hori’s best friend is Yoshikawa Yuki (Kozakai Yurie), and the guy with an unconfessed crush on her is Ishikawa Tooru (Yamashita Seiichirou).
The catalyst that causes Hori and Miyamura’s world’s to collide is her younger brother Souta (Terasaki Yuka). Souta is the reason Hori always seems to skip out on karaoke or other after-school hijinks, as she seems to do a lot of the heavy lifting in caring for him. Miyamura comes to Souta’s aid after he falls down when startled by a dog and brings him home, and Souta decides he likes having a man around the house (of Dad, there’s no sign). The catch – Hori initially has no idea the kid with the piercings and man-bun is the glasses guy from her class, and is quite unsettled by learning the truth.
Make no mistake, this “two faces” element is very crucial thematically in Horimiya. As Hori-san notes, everyone has a “secret side of themselves they don’t want anyone to know about”. It’s more obvious in Miyamura’s case (he has major ink in addition to 9 piercings) but no less true for her, since the frumpy surrogate mom she plays at home is as far removed from her image as the rebel is from his. Circumstances (and Souta) conspire to force these two to reveal their secret sides to each other, and she quickly realizes that this is a subtly powerful form of intimacy, whether she asked for it or not.
There are a lot of “click” moments here that just resonate with me, as they did in the manga. On the whole I think the easy family dynamic that springs up between Miyamura and the Hori siblings is probably the most winning part of the series (though the competition is fierce). Learning that Ishikawa is actually a really nice guy tells us what sort of series Horimiya is going to be – and what it isn’t. And the fact that what upsets Hori most about Miyamura’s disclaimer to Ishikawa is that he suggested she was just being nice by allowing him into her life is heartbreaking in an emotionally subtle and profound way. Spot on.
Again, this just flat-out works. It’s a great source material in the hands of a great director, and somehow it actually ends up as good as it should be. Casting does its part – Tomatsu-san is, as she always seems to be, astonishing emotionally accurate. Uchiyama is really good too – my personal biases make me thing not having Miyu Irino in the role is a missed opportunity, but Uchiyama’s work is well beyond competent. The only fly in the ointment is that Horimiya will be 13 episodes (better than 12 I suppose), and not the two-cour fans were hoping it would. It could be a split cour or get a second season, but 13 eps is only going to be enough to scratch the surface of the miles-deep charms Horimiya has to offer.
ED: “Yakusoku (約束)” by Friends (フレンズ)
leongsh
January 10, 2021 at 2:49 pmBased on the amount of buzz for it, this show has high expectations placed on it. However, for me, I have not read the manga and thus, indifferent to the expectations. This first episode is a positive. It has enough interesting characters, plot, and elements adequately laid out. It is good enough now for me to continue following.
Litho
January 10, 2021 at 7:18 pmThey sure covered a lot. Personally don’t see the need to rush. I just caught up with the translated manga chapters, and personally feel there are a lot of filler chapters that can be left out of the anime without ruining the main story in 13 eps. Some of the filler (like most recent chapters) are decent though. Then again, I suppose it’s better to set the pace early on than to simply rush-cram too much in the end like many adaptations.
Poor Ishikawa. They made him look like his hair is receding. At this rate, he’ll be forced to don an obnoxious insurgent combover by the time he’s 25.
Haraga
January 10, 2021 at 8:05 pmI’ve never read the manga. So far I like the setup, the characters, the visuals and the direction, but the comedy bits were really off-putting. A dumb and offensive teacher joke that goes nowhere, the heroine physically assaulting the hero and calling him “baka”, using reaction faces not ad a punchline but instead of telling actual jokes… that’s a lot of boilerplate anime/manga humor for a show that looks inspired in all other aspects. I hope the comedy improves as the story progresses, I really want to love it instead of just liking it.
Guardian Enzo
January 10, 2021 at 9:22 pmThe teacher bit was the lone off-key note for me, agreed about that (nice to see Tsuda Kenjirou getting some work at last…). But I like the rest of the humor, mostly – more than off-putting I find it charming in an “old-school anime” sort of way.
Kim
January 10, 2021 at 8:38 pmI felt the first episode was rushed too. It’s been awhile since I read the early chapters of Horimiya but I sort of remember interaction with other classmates came a bit later and I was expecting the 1st episode to only focus on the two main characters
As for it only being 13 episodes personally I think that is fine. I rather they not rush the material because there is a lot of great stuff but I am also one of those fans who isn’t as into the later manga material and does think there is a natural stopping point for the anime. So I think it will be okay.
Guardian Enzo
January 10, 2021 at 9:20 pmWell you know, I think there is a sort of contradiction between thinking it was rushed and being OK with 13 eps, because that’s the reason it did rush a little. The first couple of chapters do focus almost exclusively on Horimiya and Souta, and the school stuff is a bit later. Even if they stop where you’re suggesting they’re going to have to keep compressing things somewhat to make 13 episodes.
Kim
January 10, 2021 at 11:44 pmPerhaps it is a contradiction. I don’t want them to rush through the early material but I also don’t think this is a series that needs to be super long as the best part of the series is the early Volumes. But perhaps 13 episodes is not quite enough
Princess Usagi
January 11, 2021 at 2:25 amGlad I’m not the only one who thought the episode was a bit rushed with the manga material; at first, I thought maybe I had mis-remembered how things went in the manga. At first, I wasn’t sure how I’d like Uchiyama Kouki as Miyamura, as I didn’t really picture Miyamura’s voice being deep like his, but like you said, his voice-acting worked well. At least from the premiere, it looks like this will be my favorite show of the season!
IMO
January 11, 2021 at 2:42 amJust an opinion but I think the OP kinda made it seem like it was a much darker or that Miyamura was a lot more introverted or depressed that he is in the manga and hopefully the anime. Horimiya was great at being a relatable low-intensity drama with funny quirky characters (and somewhat effeminate male cast) so hope that continues in anime instead of overdosing the drama
Guardian Enzo
January 11, 2021 at 8:44 amYou’re not the first person I’ve heard say that. I think it may just be Ishihara’s visual style that gives that impression, but we’ll see.
The other interpretation would be that choosing Ishihara to direct is an indication that they do intend to play up the emotional drama over the comedy. We’ll see.
Panino Manino
January 11, 2021 at 10:03 amI remember getting this one to read years ago and then the “drama” of the girl was that she helps at home… “nope, not for me”.
Guardian Enzo
January 11, 2021 at 10:20 amI don’t quite get the objection TBH. It’s not that sort of series.
Panino Manino
January 11, 2021 at 11:43 pmIt’s one of those cases where the mindset of the characters and culture feels to alien to me, and a bit irrational.
Happens a lot watching jdramas.
I remember that the girl helps at home, she does the home work, she takes care of her brothers, and for some unknown reason to me this causes her pain and shame, being a little secret that she wants to hide. Why? Why is that? Why anyone would be tormented by that, that way?
Not that I really want to know, that’s why I stopped reading.
Guardian Enzo
January 12, 2021 at 7:41 amWow. I never got any sense that Hori looking after Souta and being a surrogate mom causes her shame, or that we’re supposed to think it does. It’s just that it’s not very glamorous, and being a teenager not a side of herself she wants to publicize.