After eleven volumes of generally enjoying Horimiya, I found myself cringing at the skits more often than I was laughing at or with them. As has been brought up in some past reviews, Horimiya has a bit of a “gay panic” problem and, as a queer reader, it’s no fun when the volume starts out with one of those!
Sure the gag in the first chapter is supposed to be “the male characters have a sleepover but they don’t plan it out well”, combined with Miyamura’s reluctance to let anyone see his tattoos (a gag that has been running since the very first volume), but it all plays out in an “oh crap, I’m touching him!” unfunny sort of way.
A later chapter continues this trend where it has Miyamura hanging out with a male classmate (who mistakenly thinks that Miyamura is a fellow horror fan) and Hori just hounding Miyamura the next time she sees him, talking about how she can smell other men on him and how jealous she gets about it. It’s a weird “gag” for sure but, since Hori straight up says that she doesn’t care if Miyamura hangs out with other girls, just if he cheats on her with a guy, it does seem like Hori is acting out on some irrational homo/biphobia. There’s never any explanation given for why Hori has this “fear” (I don’t think we’ve ever seen a male character hit on Miyamura, although we have seen women hit on the both of them) which makes the continued inclusion of this joke seem really bizarre and it honestly is enough to yank me out of a chapter. I really wish that Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara would just stop with that joke, there are so many funnier ways to have these characters interact!
Much of this volume was spent focusing on the side characters, which isn’t a bad idea since Horimiya has a generally likable extended cast of side characters, but I found myself more bored than entertained with these chapters as well. One entire chapter was about side character Shuu, who I don’t think has previously gotten any time in the spotlight so far, and his younger sister and it was all just really dull. Another chapter revolved around Ishikawa and Yoshikawa’s “will they or won’t they get together?” situation which also felt more cliche than interesting. I’ve enjoyed Horimiya for so long since Hori and Miyamura didn’t have a long, awkward period prior to dating so it’s no fun to see the exact narrative obstacle those two avoided pop up in another couple’s story!
My favorite chapter in this volume by far was a relatively short one where Miyamura puts Hori’s hair up in a cute bun when she’s half asleep and everyone is surprised by it. And that’s basically the entire chapter! It’s a fun moment for the couple, and Miyamura’s very serious inner thoughts about how well this style would work for their classmates are rather cute since it shows just how much he thinks about Hori and how he really does love many different things about her. I enjoy Horimiya for the simple moments like this and hopefully the next volume will go back to having more of those gags.