Uzumaki

Horimiya: Why the First Arc Is Consistently Rated Above What Follows

Horimiya’s reputation splits fairly cleanly along a specific line — its first arc, adapting the strongest material from the original web manga, is widely praised, while the material covering the manga’s later, more compressed content is generally considered noticeably weaker.

The premise (two students discover unexpected sides of each other’s lives outside school and grow close) delivers grounded, well-paced romantic comedy in its opening stretch, adapting what’s generally considered the source material’s strongest, most carefully developed content.

Once the anime moves past that initial strong material, pacing becomes noticeably more compressed — this is frequently attributed to adapting content from a continuation manga with less material to work with, resulting in faster, less developed romantic and comedic beats than the opening arc delivered.

This split reception is consistent enough across discussion of the show that it’s worth setting expectations accordingly — the strong opening doesn’t guarantee the same quality holds for the full run.

Expect the opening arc to be considerably stronger than what follows — this is a consistent, widely-shared reaction, not an unusual complaint, so calibrate your expectations for the back half accordingly.

  • 1

    Strong opening arc

    Adapts the original web manga's strongest, most developed material — the most consistently praised portion of the show.

  • 2

    Compressed later content

    Pacing noticeably tightens once the anime moves past the initial strong material, generally considered weaker.

  • Does Horimiya stay consistently good throughout its run?

    Reception is fairly split — the opening arc is widely praised, while later content is generally considered noticeably weaker due to more compressed pacing.

  • Why does Horimiya's pacing change partway through?

    This is frequently attributed to the anime moving from the strongest original web manga material into continuation content with less material to adapt from.