Horimiya
I remember watching this anime.. loving the comedy and art style, even the development of each character was amazing, the fact that the anime didnt mind showing majority if not every character in depth backstory and their personality was for me so suprising and nice to see... but the way it ended was so sad and felt like wasted potential. At the very start anime introduced to us the two main characters... male MC honestly felt slightly like Hachiman... and i feel like after watching few romcoms that this is a baseline for any male MC in a highschool romcom... not that i mind it :DDDD. After this i felt like that it might be a normal highschool romcom without much depth... at the first half i was SO mistaken.. the anime took its time showing us almost every single characters present and past story.. showing us why they behave a certain way... or how they have builded certain ideals over the time... this i believe made it truly open to anyone picking their favorite character. At the second half tho i and im sure lot of other people were shocked or dissapointed by how the storyline got speeded up like a starwars ship in a hyperspace. I personally was so pissed after seeing so much space and development for each character... i was thinking like damn this can be a multi season romcom even as good as Oregairu was.. well it didnt happen and i think it wont even have a chance to happen since the anime part ended almost at the end of the school.
Kyouko Hori
Kyouko Hori i would say displayed a less usual personality for the main female MCs in the romcoms (im judging from the ones i saw). The things Hori liked (Izumi acting badass) were fairly unsusual.. thus this i think made her character very unique. I really liked how anime displayed her personality as stubborn and energetic.. but also very kind and caring when it came to people she cared deeply about. The fact that she was the one to change and open up social life for Izumi shouldnt be a debate (i think) it was mainly thanks to her that Izumi started feeling more comfortable with expressing his feelings and not running away. This would be the thing i really took away from Horis character in this anime.
Izumi Miyamura
Izumi Miyamura reminded me at first of Hachiman from Oregairu... this quickly changed as he met Kyouko Hori... she helped him change and grow his friend group. He also was able to develop more self confidence through the anime.. did he become more extroverted? probably no.. i would say he rather thanks to other characters felt more comfortable talking with them. What i was suprised by in the anime and was very happy to see is how Izumi was able to stand up for Kyouko Hori.. something i think we should appreciate.
Main takeaway
I think here are so many takeaway... i will try to sum them all up. Kyouko Hori - it is completely okay to be yourself 100%. Izumi Miyamura - its never too late to grow friendship/relationship. Tooru Ishikawa - amazing showing of not holding a grudge against friends (Tooru was interested in Hori.. later found out that Izumi aswell.. even tho Izumi ended up dating her.. Tooru still remained friend with him). Yuki Yoshikawa - you shouldnt hold a grudge and use your situation to destroy others (Yuki was aware of Sakura being interested in Tooru, but she didnt want to give her any space and kept playing a couple with Tooru... this is something we could have seen more in depth i think). Sakura - be honest with yourself and others, dont feel bad for confessing.. but if it doesnt work out, move on and accept the situation.