When does a story end? The most obvious answer is that a story ends when an author decides that it should end. The creative director has full reign on when their creation will reach its conclusion. All they have to do is stop writing. That's not the kind of end that I want to talk about though. What I'm talking about is when does a story stop being a story anymore. Is there a point where a story devolves so far that it dies while being written? That's what I want to talk about today.
The manga that sparked me to write this was "Horimiya". It's a story of two people struggling with their social lives at school, meeting each other, and helping each other and becoming stronger through each other's presence. At least, that's my interpretation of the story, as there seem to be people that don't agree with me, but I'll get into that later. Firstly, I want to take a quick look at how this series has changed over the course of its serialization.
In the beginning, our two protagonists, Hori and Miyamura, discover each other's secrets. Respectively, being Hori being a plain-looking, busybody mother figure in her household and Miyamura having an insane number of tattoos and piercings. This created a brilliant framework to plaster the slice-of-life sketches onto. They worked off of each other's flaws and became exactly what the other person wants most from life. They created a world all their own at home.
The two characters felt so similar, yet completely different at the same time. Similar due to having alternate selves outside of school, and different because of how different those personas were. This contrast is incredibly important to making this relationship work properly. Miyamura is level-headed but goofy and awkward. Meanwhile, Hori is hot-tempered but competent and caring. Their ability to love each other in spite of their differences is essential to "Horimiya's" execution.
But even beyond all of this, what really makes the beginning of "Horimiya" so special is that its slice of life story always had something to do with Hori and Miyamura's relationship. Miyamura and Ishikawa become friends after fighting over Hori. Hori makes stew for Miyamura despite how much she hates stew to thank him for what he's done for her. Shindou was a way to naturally show the reader how much Hori has changed Miyamura. Likewise, Sengoku was a way to compare Hori before and after meeting Miyamura.
You see, every little story was tied to the main characters in some way. Every side character added some new spice to Hori and Miyamura's relationship in some way. They were the center of each other's lives. So even if there wasn't always conflict, even if there was some silly slice of life comedy going on, it still felt relevant to the story. If you take those elements away and just make it a series of brainless comic relief, then it's like a hotdog with ketchup without the hotdog.
Now that I've explained what I love about "Horimiya's" early-mid chapters, let's see what "Horimiya" is like today. Hori and Miyamura have just about resolved every single problem that could have ever popped up with their relationship. All of the square dancing that was going on with the side characters has also fully stabilized. So what else is there to show us in the story? Good question, I'm still trying to decipher that myself.
Half of the characters are practically interchangeable. If you literally just replaced a drawing of a character and left their dialogue, it would still work because there is no character anymore. Remember how I said that Hori and Miyamura were so great because they had contrasting elements that complimented each other? Say goodbye to that. Miyamura's tattoos and piercings never come up again even though they were so important to him before. He just looks like a generic dude now.
Now, before I drive the final stake into "Horimiya's" throat, I should mention that the slice-of-life comedy is still well-executed enough that it can bring a smile to my face by sheer force of cute. By its own merits, these pointless chapters aren't the worst things ever. My problem is that it should not be a part of the main series. Why are these chapters that completely betray every element that gave the original series its heart and soul allowed to stand alongside those chapters? It's like taking a graduation photo with the person who stabbed up your parents.
Imagine if at the end of "Nisekoi", the story didn't end, and the author just started releasing "Magical Patissière Kosaki-chan!!" chapters under the main title. Imagine if "Koe no Katachi" didn't end at the festival and just kept going on and on about Shouya making up with his classmates, becoming popular, dating Shouko, and other unnecessary, inane garbage. I think the defining moment of "Horimiya" was when the mangaka felt the need to put someone's face underneath a reference to their name. They know that we've forgotten all about these useless characters now.
You know, I genuinely had someone try and tell me that these recent "Horimiya" chapters are necessary because they were adapted from omake chapters from the web novel. These chapters were released after a time skip to graduation and the end of the web novel. Do you know what this means? It means that nothing in these recent manga chapters are actually allowed to do anything that could affect how it ends. There can be exceptions to this, but if you don't know what you're talking about, here's a quick guideline to follow. If whatever's going on in a story doesn't have any impact on how it ends, then that story is wasting your time.
Here's the other thing that I tend to hear from people who can't use higher order thinking skills. "Why are you reading it if you don't like it?" "If you say the story is wasting your time, then stop wasting your time with it?" To anybody who tries to use this argument, I'd like to tell you to slice your ears off and poke your eyes out. That way, you won't have to deal with dangerous things like opinions and criticism stopping you from consuming things that you like.'
Anyway, let's digress back to the original question of this article. Why am I complaining about "Horimiya" for dragging itself out when plenty of other stories like Detective Conan and One Piece seem to stretch on far longer? That's because those series are still preserving the spirit from which the original was created. "Horimiya" was one of the greatest school romance manga ever written. Unfortunately, it's been stretched and milk for all that it's worth to the point that getting a satisfying ending is all but impossible. I pray that it's put out of its misery as soon as possible.
If anybody has any feelings about "Horimiya", throw them down into the comments below. Whether it's about the early chapters or the more recent chapters. As long as you don't write, "Just stop reading it if you don't like it," I'd love to hear what you're thinking.
