Horimiya: Piece

Preliminary Grade - [9/10]

'Horimiya: The Missing Pieces' is clearly an anime that works excellently as a slice-of-life romance. Among the anime series that I have watched, this is one of my favourite animation and art styles developed by Cloverworks. Although it may act as a side-story to the original season, Horimiya still works well. Somehow, a series that takes small pieces from the parent story can still conduct a relatable storyline and insert wholesome moments from time-to-time, and the comedy through dialogue between supporting characters remains just as entertaining as before. It is clear that people's expectations for this series were a bit high, and ... it appears there are some criticisms regarding how parts of this season feel 'spliced' in a way. However, this does not concern me.

I feel as if the whole point of a slice-of-life genre is that people are supposed to enjoy these small, heartwarming moments between characters, and not have a single worry about what happens next unlike the many primary shonen action series that require a storyline and exciting plot to be good. Even though this 'second' season lacks a continuous storyline like others, that does not make it bad. Other creations by Cloverworks like the second season of the Promised Neverland don’t work well because it needs a storyline to be successful—this is completely different. The whole objective of this was for people to watch the original parent story and feel emotion through a captivating storyline between Hori-san and Miyamura-kun, and through this series, casually and comfortably watch a feel-good show—sort of like Spy x Family in a way—but I hope that it ends in a way that remains just as memorable as its predecessor. For those whose preferences do not align with that, this season will not be of interest to you. Nevertheless, I cannot deny that Cloverworks dug themselves into a hole by skipping many parts of the original manga of Horimiya. However, that doesn't mean they have not executed this side-story nearly just as well.

Horimiya: The Missing Pieces was always going to be something that would not fit everyone's tastes from the start, but unlike others, it is definitely something I have found a remarkable series. It is something that I would highly recommend if you thoroughly enjoyed the first season and if you just want to chill and enjoy the pleasant moments that come with it.

I am just beyond overjoyed and delighted that we'll have more Horimiya to cherish and remember for years to come. Thank you for reading :)

This used to have a plot. Even if the plot was basic af, it somewhat had one that also fit its vibe and artstyle. Now its just a slice of life with slow pacing and no expectations. Watchable but boring and definetely a downgrade from the 1st season.
It feels like it switched to a cutesy route where it just shows daily interactions between the characters in a roullete style not focusing on anyone and creating zero eagerness on what is to come. If that is your thing i guess you will still enjoy it since the characters are all likeable but dont expect anything that ... might wow you or make you want to come back for more. It's just hard to relate with highschool slice of life especially when there is nothing else there like intense romance or drama.

What's a better alternative title? "Wasted Opportunity" or "How not to adapt a series"?

The "first" season of Horimiya was fine with the biggest gripe being that in order to cram as much as they could into a single cour they decided to not only cut content but then throw in an inexplicable time skip to the end of the season cutting out even more in order to jump to the end of the series and wrap it up for god knows what reason.

At the time it just made no sense. It's not as if other series haven't just stopped at an ... appropriate end of a story arc and maybe wrapped things up with an anime original "ending" that left viewers with an "and now go read the manga/light novel" feeling or left things open as a cliff hanger for a second season. Why on earth rush yourself to end the series like that if it meant cutting out so much content and pissing off fans and confusing people new to the series in the process?

And now two years later they decide to take that cut content with NONE of the context of the first season it should have taken place in and just regurgitate it back as a string of side stories over an additional thirteen episodes.

The only way to properly watch the series at this point would be to chop up Pieces and insert the side stories where they belong in the original season, like some fucked up rom com version of Haruhi needing to figure out how to resolve a timeline aired out of order.

If you're new to the series and have that kind of patience I'd bet it would make for a great first time viewing. If you're a hardcore Horimiya fan and can pick up all these stories where they are and still feel like you're getting the full experience then you'll probably enjoy this. But for people that just enjoyed watching the first season already and are now expected to pick through Pieces and go "Oh yea... that should have happened at this point in the original series maybe?" this should be a hard pass.