Hori-san to Miyamura-kun

Version française

Hori-san to Miyamura-kun volume 1
source: Amazon

Edit : I talked with the manager of HERO's website but I couldn't get permission to use excerpts from the web comic. However as stated below, Square Enix published 10 volumes of Hori-san to Miyamura-kun so here's the cover of the first volume (source : Amazon).

Title: 堀さんと宮村くん
Author: HERO
Website: 読解アヘン
Chapters: original series 140 (complete), including bonuses 491 (ongoing)
Keywords: slice of life, romantic comedy, school life, 4koma, friendship, self-acceptance
Related media: an OVA in 2012, an adaptation by Hagiwara Daisuke under the title Horimiya published in GFantasy magazine since 2011

I chose to write my first review on Hori-san to Miyamura-kun because it was my first web comic in Japanese. It's one of the most popular web comics in the Japanese speaking community : it has an OVA, a new adaptation and 10 volumes were published by Square Enix. It's also been on top of the Comic Room ranking for a while now.

The story is pretty usual : Hori Kyôko is a highschool girl with a cool beauty image but when she's at home she's in full housewife mode. One day her little brother brings back a young man with long hair and many piercings. He's actually Miyamura Izumi, the gloomy four-eyes in her class. She realizes he isn't that gloomy, they become friends and the rest you can guess.

This is a (sometimes romantic) comedy but some chapters (especially chapters 47 and 49, and any chapter followed by an asterisk) are pretty dark. I didn't really like Hori's character (neither Shû nor Honoka but that's another story). It feels like Miyamura's the real main protagonist especially toward the end. He has a complex train of thought and you can see him grow up and learn to accept himself as the story goes on. I won't say more or else I'd be spoiling the whole story.

As you may have seen with the number of chapters, it's long, very long. The bonuses are pretty light hearted, they mostly take place during the original series and some of them after, like in Hori's little brother's case. They're very slice of life-ish.

The Japanese's pretty hard. The grammar isn't difficult but it's mainly spoken Japanese. It's a good way to learn Japanese slang and familiar vocabulary. The main difficulty would be HERO's handwriting because everything's handwritten. Once you get used to it, it's okay but until then your eyes will suffer. 

To sum it up, Hori-san to Miyamura-kun is the perfect web comic if you wish to study casual Japanese and become able to read handwritten kanjis. I recommend it for people between the intermediate and advanced levels (somewhere between JLPT N4 and N3). Having an electronic dictionary could make your reading easier but you can do without.