Horimiya

 Horimiya (堀さんと宮村くん) is a 13 episode romance based on the manga of Hori-san to Miyamura-kun by Adachi Hiroki.  The series originally aired during the winter of 2021.

   Hori Kyoko is intelligent, beautiful and well liked by her peers..  Miyamura Izumi is a dark loner everyone ignores and rejects.  A chance encounter between them after school reveals hidden personalities which starts a strange friendship between them.  While Hori is viewed as one of the goddesses of school, in truth she is really devoted to her family and takes on more responsibility than she can handle.  Miyamura appears to be gloomy, alone and possibly depraved but in reality he struggles with social rejection and depression.  In a chance encounter, Miyamura helps Hori's younger brother get home after injuring himself.  Not familiar with how he looks outside of school, Hori gratefully invites the cool stranger into her home for a thank you snack.  Soon enough she realizes that the tattooed and pierced wild guy is the gloomy loner.  At the same time Hori has unwillingly revealed her less put together home self to a classmate.  They agree to hide their hidden selves from their peers and begin spending more time together.

    It doesn't take long for their friendship to become exposed to the class as they don't hide their interactions.  The previously shunned Miyamura finds himself in Hori's small friend group along with being a frequent guest at her house.  Their friendship becomes more complicated as they become more familiar with each other.  Everyone around them can see the growing closeness and hidden feelings, but no amount of input from others will make them accept reality.  While Hori and Miyamura struggle internally with their growing feelings for each other, those around them begin to be effected by changing emotions.  The pebble of emotions cast by Hori and Miyamura's unexpected friendship grows in to stronger and stronger ripples for those around them, who in turn struggle with their own feelings and relationships.

    Initial reaction to Horimiya is that it was inspired by the romance series Kare Kano.  Both series deal with two people forming a bond over sharing secrets about themselves.  There is little in common after that.  Kare Kano delves deeply into internal turmoil and personal darkness.  Horimiya, while more dramatic than not, peppers light hearted situations through out, balancing the darker pieces.  Thats not to say the series isn't good.  Its incredibly satisfying and one of the best romances in recent years.  The primary characters are well developed and enjoyable.  Their relationship moves along at a good pace.  The side characters on the other hand are less developed and take up more story time than they probably should.

    The artwork for the series is middle of the road compared to current shows but does not detract from the series.  It is an enjoyable, endearing and fun overall.  Grounded in reality and not stuck with past cliches for romance series, where the main characters can't overcome their own internal dialogues to move their relationship forward.  The characters take fate into their own hands and try to make progress, even if a little slowly at sometimes.  There is little in the way of episodes worth of misunderstanding forcing tension and drama.  The biggest complaint is that there is not more of the show, but it ends in a satisfying way.

    The series is currently available in dub and sub formats as well as streaming on Crunchyroll.