Horikoshi: A Tale of Love

Horikoshi: The School Idol's My Friend (Japanese: 堀越：スクールアイドルは僕の友達, Hepburn: Horikoshi: Sukūruaidoru wa bokunotomodachi), is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryotaro Sekizawa, with illustrations provided by Nozomi Ōsaka. It was published by Kodansha starting on March 12, 2004. It is the first light novel series to be written by Sekizawa and his first work he didn't illustrate himself. The series follows a hapless Horikoshi High School boy named Naoki Miyashita, who is diagnosed with ADHD and fairly antisocial until he meets Katsumi Hino, who is considered to be the princess of the class he takes, and, through finding out they both share common interests, they both strike up a friendship, and Naoki becomes part of her social circle. Although the series considered a romantic comedy, Ryotaro Sekizawa stated that it was more of a "Slice of life" series with romantic elements included. The series was originally published in the US by Yen Press before the publishing rights were assumed by Kodansha USA.

In addition to the light novel series, a manga adaptation of the series, also written by Sekizawa, was published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine starting in 2006. A 26-episode anime television series produced by Shaft and Feel aired in Japan between June and November 2008. A film adaptation, serving as the conclusion to the series, was released on May 16, 2009. Bandai Entertainment licensed the anime series until their closure in 2012. Sentai Filmworks has since relicensed the series, whilst the film was licensed by Universal Pictures.

Plot
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Characters
Naoki Miyashita (宮下直樹, Miyashita Naoki) Voiced by: Hiroki Takahashi (Japanese); Jonathan Meza (English)

Coming soon!

Katsumi Hino (日野克己, Hino Katsumi) Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese); Kira Buckland (English)

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Light novels
The series began as a light novel series written by Sekizawa, with illustrations by Nozomi Ōsaka. Kodansha published six volumes from March 2004 to May 2009.

Manga series
Coming soon!

Anime series
A 26-episode anime series directed by Masahiko Murato, written by Ryunosuke Kingetsu, and produced by Shaft and Feel aired between November 2, 2007 and May 30, 2008 on TV Tokyo in Japan. The episodes aired at later dates on AT-X, TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting. Several BD/DVD compilation volumes were released by Geneon Entertainment beginning in June 2008. An additional original video animation (OVA) episode was released with the final BD/DVD volumes on December 17, 2008. Animax has aired the anime in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Taiwan. At their industry panel at Anime Expo 2008, anime distributor Bandai Entertainment announced that they have acquired Horikoshi: The School Idol's My Friend for a DVD and Blu-ray Disc release, with Bang Zoom! Entertainment producing an English dub for the show. The series was released over eight volumes for each format, starting March 10, 2009. Bandai released the entire series on DVD under their "Anime Legends" line on February 2, 2010. Manga Entertainment released the series in the UK in individual DVD volumes during 2009, and a complete series release followed in 2010. After Bandai Entertainment ceased operations in 2012, Sentai Filmworks relicensed the series and released it on DVD and Blu-ray on September 16, 2014.

Following the acquisition of Crunchyroll by Sony Pictures Television, the parent company of Funimation in 2021, Horikoshi: The School Idol's My Friend, among several Sentai titles, was dropped from the service on March 31, 2022.

Film
Main article: Horikoshi: Believe

A film sequel to the series titled Horikoshi: I Want to Believe (堀越：信じたい) was released in Japan on May 16, 2009. It closes the story of the series, leaving the clear relationship between Naoki and Katsumi and acts more as a romance drama film than the slice of life romantic comedy the series was. Developed as an original story, it was produced by Shaft and Feel, directed by Masahiko Murato, and written by Ryotaro Sekizawa and Ryunosuke Kingetsu. The film's opening theme is "Crazy Love" by TVKQ. The ending theme is "Life" by Mika Nakashima. By the end of it's run, the film grossed ¥965,329,039 at the Japanese box office. Sekizawa wrote a pair of light novels based on the film to tie in with the release.

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on February 10, 2010. It had it's US premiere at the Anime Expo on July 2, 2010, where it was announced the voice cast from the English dub of the series would reprise their roles, and that Kevin Conroy and Tom Kenny would also appear in the dub. Unlike the series, the film was licensed in the United States by Universal Pictures, who also released Call of the Falcon: A Quincy Story later that month. The film was released in a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 19, 2010 in both English subtitled and dubbed formats and under the shorter title of Horikoshi: Believe. The DVD and Blu-ray came out on February 8, 2011. A double pack DVD release with Call of the Falcon: A Quincy Story was released later that year.