The cute overwhelms me.

For those who have not read volume 1, Horimiya is an adorable manga about a seemingly perfect girl (who is secretly a homebody/overworked older sister) and a loner, emo sort of boy (who is secretly a tattooed and pierced semi bad boy) who accidentally stumble upon one another’s real selves. Hori, our main female character, is the perfect student until she gets home (where her parents never are) and spends all her time taking care of her brother and trying to keep up with her studies. Miyamura is a quiet loner at school, but after meeting Hori’s brother one day and bringing him home, Miyamura and Hori realize they know one another and have now exposed their secrets.

In volume 2, the relationship between the two grow as their friends and those outside their inner circle start to realize how much time Hori and Miyamura spend together. Hori is treated badly by the student council members, especially Remi, who blames a mistake she made on Hori and thus gets Hori berated in front of her entire class. In retaliation, the secret bad boy Miyamura simply walks up the the student council president and headbutts him for treating Hori badly. Talk about sticking your neck out for your crush eh? Later in the volume Remi decides she wants Miyamura and confronts Hori about their relationship, and though she first tries to go with her ‘good girl’ instincts and shrug off her own crush, she comes to some realizations about her feelings and basically tells Remi to fuck off. I like Hori. She has spunk. Miyamura’s bff, who has a crush on Hori, overhears this and gets in a fight with Miyamura for refusing to realize his feelings. It’s very teenage boy. By the end the slow burn is in full effect for our star crossed lovers!

Volume 3 has everything you need for a good romance manga. Confessions while someone is asleep! Other girls wanting Miyamura! Hiro cooking for him! HUGS! It even has the plucky best friend (Ishikawa, who Hiro turned down for a date) meeting a new girl at school that he may end up having feelings for! Everyone has some story! We also meet Miyamura’s old middle school friend Shindou, who joins the group even though he goes to a different school. He has known and accepted Miyamura for years so yay, backstory! Additionally we get the age old romance trope of “character is sick so the other cares for them!” Hori comes down with a fever and Miyamura stops in before and after school to make sure she’s okay and in the process *GASP* CONFESSES HIS FEELINGS! WHEN HE THINKS HORI IS ASLEEP! BUT *GASP* SHE’S SECRETLY AWAKE!

*insert oh shit gif here*

I like this series. It’s cute. It’s fun. It makes me happy. Enjoy yourself.

Title: Horimiya (Volumes 2 & 3)
Author: Hero, Daisuke Hagiwara (art)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 185 //  176
ISBN: 9780316268691 // 9780316270106

Three Descriptors: Romantic, adorable, sweet