Friday, March 3, 2017

Horimiya Vol. #06 Manga Review


The person I like is really weak.

Creative Staff:
Art: Daisuke Hagiwara
Story: Hero
Translation: Taylor Engel
Lettering: Alexis Eckerman

What They Say:
For Hori and Miyamura, being together, even at school, is now completely natural. But they don't just have each other! As the pair navigates the intricacies of being a couple, they interact and connect with the people around them., who in turn make their world all the more colorful. But Hori and Miyamura's friends are no strangers to the bittersweet pangs of love either...

The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)
Now that Hori and Miyamura have settled into their respective roles as high school sweethearts, everything gets a little bit easier. Hori, for the most part, remains jealous and possessive (Albeit in a cute way) and Miyamura is finally coming to terms with who he is as a person. With that in mind, however, we begin to notice traces of love within the cast apart from just our two protagonists. In fact, pretty much everyone at this point has someone that they're falling in love with. Well, everyone except Shindou -- but he's just that token best-friend character so it doesn't really matter.

In the first few chapters of volume six, it is finally revealed that the lovable Yuki Yoshikawa has feelings for the friendly, compassionate Tooru Ishikawa. But, being someone who consistently sacrifices her own feelings to make others happy, Yuki has a hard time handling the situation. Especially when Sakura starts spending more time with Tooru in an effort to get her own feelings across. So now we're at an impasse where two different girls have feelings for Tooru while he's made it clear he only has eyes for Hori...despite his best friend being in a relationship with her.

On the other side of things, Sengoku's feelings for Remi being to come into play. In a conversation he has with Sakura, he informs her that when he's near Remi, he feels as if he needs to protect her. Chapters later, we're greeted with an excerpt that is entirely in Remi's point of view. In this chapter, it's also revealed that Remi likes Sengoku -- making them the only other two characters in the series that have romantic potential at this point in time. I guess this also means that Remi has lost any interest she may have had in Miyamura. I'd go ahead and blame this on the fact that Hori is absolutely terrifying when it comes to Miyamura.

Steering away from all of the uncertainty that comes with the other romantic prospects, we do get to see a bit more from both Hori and Miyamura that better demonstrates how they feel about themselves. It's irreverently evident that they have no doubts about their affinity for one another, but with both Hori and Miyamura not fully understanding themselves, a few minor issues begin to show up. The biggest of which comes in the form of Hori finally understanding that she's been subconsciously selfish in this relationship. Whether it be in the form of never watching any movie Miyamura wants to watch or simply just not apologizing to him when she knows she's in the wrong, Hori finally comes to terms with her not being an A+ girlfriend. Miyamura, of course, doesn't see things that way and continues to assure her that she's a wonderful human being, further assuring us that there is no trouble whatsoever when it comes to their relationship.

All things considered, the material contained within this volume is perhaps the most diverse yet. Centering primarily on the love interests of the supporting characters gives us a solid change of pace from the normal Hori x Miyamura happenings but still shines a light on them when the need arises. What I don't understand, however, is that Honoka does not make an appearance despite being on the cover of the volume.

In Summary:
The sixth installment of Horimiya is another excellent addition to a series that has remained interesting throughout its 40+ chapters thus far. Development emerges for essentially the entire roster in this supporting character-focused volume. I expect more screen time for said supporting characters in the upcoming books as each of them begin to understand their own feelings a little better. Also, the Yuki x Tooru ship has finally set sail and it's a damn fine ship if I do say so myself. As always, I'm looking forward to the next volume.

Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: January 24, 2017
MSRP: $12.99

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