Manga Review: Horimiya, Volume 8, by Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: July 18, 2017

Volumes: 10+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 7. 9.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The sweet "aww"-inspiring tale of school life continues!!

The Kiri High crew dives into the sports festival...and thanks to some fighting words from Hori, even phys ed-phobic Miyamura is fired up and raring to go?! As Sengoku's apathy, Sakura's lack of rhythm, and Hori's manly cheerleading take center stage, his fellow third-years might get some great last memories out of their final sports fest, but for Miyamura, they'll be his first!

Review:

We get to see how the sports festival plays out in the first half of this volume. It's started, and Hori and Miyamura are on opposite teams. It's super cute seeing them cheering each other on and competing, same as all their friends. I also quite love seeing how much Sengoku hates partaking in this. I love all of the little moments of hilarity throughout it.

After that, we get to see the rivalry between Miyamura and Mizouchi come to fruition. And I absolutely love it. Miyamura shows a bit of their sado-masochistic fetish, and I just... I just love it. I love both that such a thing is included, but also that they're so open about it and there's no shame, even when Miyamura mentions it and then does it at school. There's also the fact that he's clearly doing it more because she loves it, than because he wants to. And I appreciate that.

We get a bit more insight into Miyamura's old rival as well, the guy who bullied him. This series is full of comedy, with some sweet moments, but it also shows the delicate moments of growing and overcoming past hurts. We see that both from Miyamura's side having grown past it, and from Tanihara having done it and trying to be better.

I love this series, unabashed and irrationally, even. I need more of this in my life.