There are many anime rom-coms set in school. Most of them are lively romps, but a few are calming and peaceful while still having funny parts. Horimiya is one such anime. It’s often emotional – mostly exploring positive change and growth – and has a gentle, healing atmosphere. So, I was happy upon hearing about the second season of Horimiya.
So far, things have been different than expected. First of all, the second season is not a continuation of the first, but rather, some extra mini adventures that happened over the course of the characters’ time in school. This was disappointing to me at first, but I’m used to it now. Also, I might be wrong, but it seems to me like season 2 is more humor-oriented and less about emotional character growth. And half the time, the humor isn’t great. My final complaint is that the visuals don’t look quite as good to me as they did in the first season.
Despite those issues, I’m sticking with Horimiya for now. There are just barely enough sweet and beautiful moments to keep me watching and writing episode reviews. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on the first three episodes of Horimiya: The Missing Pieces.
Episode 1: Class Trip
The first episode shows our characters on a class trip to Kyoto in Autumn. This is happening before Miyamura and Hori are dating, and Miyamura’s hair is still long. However, Hori knows about his tattoos and his gentle personality, so she feels comfortable with him.
A problem arises when Miyamura realizes that the hotel only has a public bath for the men. (The girls have private showers in their rooms.) Desperate to keep his tattoos hidden, the unusual boy turns to Ishikawa, who knows about the secret. Without missing a beat, Ishikawa tells the boys that Miyamura is on his period. This is apparently strange enough to make Shuu and the others stop asking. Later, an embarrassed Miyamura meets Hori in the hotel hallway, and she lets him use her shower.
A few other things happen, but the rest of the trip goes well. The second half of the episode was about “Pool Day,” a day where all the boys have mandatory PE class in the school swimming pool. I assume this is the following summer, since Miyamura’s hair has been cut. Again, Miyamura wants to keep his tattoos hidden. Similarly, Student Council President Sengoku doesn’t want to be seen in swimwear, as he is self-conscious about his slender form and lack of muscle.
Both Miyamura and Sengoku talk to Yasuda-sensei, begging to skip Pool Day. The period joke is recycled. Sengoku also comes up with the idea that he was an in an explosion. After a lot of persuading, Yasuda assigns pool-cleaning to the two boys, a duty that they can perform in jerseys if they so choose. Pool Day goes fine, although Miyamura is uncomfortably warm, and Remi steals Sengoku’s sandals for some reason. The episode ends there.
I definitely have some thoughts about this episode. Although it did make me smile at a few different points, I felt pretty disappointed overall. Firstly, I thought this was going to be a sequel, so I’m still not over the fact that these are just extra adventures. Secondly, there were a few issues that bothered me in this episode. The main one was of course Yasuda. Sorry for the hot take, but I don’t think sexual predators are funny joke material. I can’t laugh about pedophiles, either. Maybe I’m just weird, but for me, this episode lost major points by framing Yasuda’s disgusting perversion as humorous.
The other issue wasn’t as bad, but it still occurred to me that there are, in fact, men who have periods. A trans boy might need to skip a pool day because of it. So, it’s problematic to treat this idea as an absurd and purely funny thing. Personally, I can easily look past it since I’m aware that Japan is nowhere close to the point of openly accepting trans kids in schools. Not even all states in the USA have that down yet. I should keep my expectations realistic. Also, I still think the joke was funny – not because it’s absurd for men to have periods, but because Miyamura is definitely cisgender.
One other thing. It might just be me, but I didn’t think the visuals were great in this first episode. I hope the next episode is better visually and in terms of the jokes.
Episode 2: Cooking Class
It’s difficult to recap these episodes effectively because there are so many different short scenes. Rather than try to recap everything, I’ll mention a few of the highlights from episode 2. It’s Fall, and Sports Day is approaching. Sengoku isn’t looking forward to it because he is the least athletic of the boys. Sakura is also unhappy about Sports Day because she doesn’t want to do cheerleading. Although Miyamura isn’t excited at first, Hori tells him to enter the 100 meter dash. This makes Miyamura find some motivation.
This episode also had the disastrous cooking class scenes with Sakura, Sengoku, and Remi. I enjoyed those scenes and character interactions quite a lot. It was hilarious when Remi was holding the knife all wrong. The last thing I’ll mention is that a girl approached Miyamura to return a book or something, which made Hori feel jealous. Later on, Miyamura got his turn feeling jealous when he heard that a male classmate let Hori borrow his blazer to stay warm. Hori and Miyamura didn’t fight about it, but instead both felt gratified that the other was jealous for them.
As for my thoughts on this episode, I was again not very impressed with the visuals or the themes in the story. The humor was better in this episode, and I did have fun watching it, but there were definitely a few issues. The biggest one was the common trope of anime trying to construe jealous partners as good thing. Newsflash, anime: Jealousy is toxic! It may be a natural thing (depending on the person) but it is not a good thing to be encouraged. It’s also not a measure of whether your partner values you or not. Rant over.
Episode 3: Sports Day
This entire episode was about the sports festival – the last one for the seniors. There were many events and a lot of funny and cute moments. One highlight for me was when Miyamura cheered for Hori during her running event. Also, we briefly saw Sawada again. I like her, even though she’s rather obnoxious and hyper. It’s always good to have a bisexual girl around, even though I don’t support the Hori x Sawada ship.
Another great moment was when the cheerleaders came out to perform. I was impressed that it wasn’t oriented toward fan-service at all. It was just cool and cute, and the reactions of the other students were funny. Hori’s group was the east team and they had a more masculine, cool look to their uniforms and routine. In contrast, Remi’s team – the west team – was extremely cutesy and girlish. Both were nice. There were many other fun events too.
As for the more emotional side of things, several characters made positive progress in their personal lives. Sakura, for example, overcame her anxiety and did extremely well in the cheerleading event. But the main one who made progress was Miyamura. For the first time in his life, he enjoyed the sports festival. He has found a way to be himself and find others who respect him. Despite having always been gloomy and quiet in the past, Miyamura can now cheer for his friends. He smiles as he reflects on the fun day.
Thanks for reading~
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