Anime 54856 Horimiya Piece Reviews Filter Check 3

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.

I shall be really honest, even though I am not a big fan rom-com animes, I loved horimiya season 1 a lot. first season was good and wholesome. So I was eager and anxious for the second season but the second season was a big letdown. I was very disappointed with the second season.
Like I said earlier, season 1 was wholesome but second season was kinda cringe. The cringeness in the first 5-6 episodes forced me to stop watching the anime. The cringeness you feel when you watch reels or tiktoks of cringe young couples, i started getting those feelings from the second season. ... I would recommend watching the first season but definitely not the second season.

Yikes.

If you're someone who cherished the characters from season 1, DO NOT WATCH this season. It takes away far more than it adds.

I knew the stories wouldn't be as impactful since the main story was already told in the first season, but I figured this would be a special treat. I was expecting that these excerpts would give us more time with the characters we love, especially some of the lesser explored supporting characters, in a way that would give us more appreciation for them. I couldn't be more wrong.

I can sum up the failure with one word: overreacting. Instead of exploring new ... or deeper feelings from the cast, they just took everyone and had them overreact to every little thing. There is so much blushing, squeeing, and screaming for absolutely no reason, making for a complete cringe-fest. So unwatchable. We did not need this.

It was really pretty to look at though.

I just lost a bit of my life just to watch it, this is simply supplement to the first season. First season was great but this "piece", ymmm i think of shi... is terrible.
If you want plot you can't find this, i think it is ova but they wanted to create another season and this ending ......... can't imagine more stupid end for this anime, seriously. I had feelings that main characters are different persons than those in first season, i mean that they changed so much... I have mixed feelings about this becouse it was very good anime, they ruined this totally.
I ... was very hard and i watched second season becouse i believed that Horimiya: Piece will be good, but i waisted my time.
One of the biggest uncaring in my life...

I really feel like my taste in romance animes differ from most. Because here I am with a super low score for an anime that should seriously be right up my alley.

So…Horimiya: The Missing Pieces. A sequel to the ever so popular Horimiya that consists of side stories that weren't animated in the original series and probably the most anticipated romcom for the Summer 2023 season.

I don't mean to be a buzzkill but…whyyyyy????

I'm sorry but if you're a die hard fan of Horimiya then plz don't read this review because all it's going to consist of is my reasons as to why the show ... really isn't that special.

Let the criticism begin.

For a romcom, Horimiya, both this season and the previous, really lacked in both the romance and comedy departments. More so this season than the last. In the Missing Pieces, any romantic aspects are so PAINFULLY short and small and totally drowned out by every other event that happens. They're usually brought on or ended by a jealous, pissed off Hori, or a somewhat needy/unsure Miyamura, making the moment all the more forgettable. They're there, then it's over all in the blink of an eye.

And the comedy? Mediocre at best on a good day, but in my eyes, it's not my kind of laughing gas. The comedy was bland from episode one, only earning a chuckle from me 2 or 3 times over the course of what's been 10 episodes for me. Dry, stale, pointless, and repetitive attempts at being funny. I'd bring up an example but I literally can't recall any due to my lack of attention to the show when I attempt to choke down an episode. Gut ache, good laughter is not something Horimiya produces.

Lastly I just wanna talk about the characters. Everyone is given attention at some point, whether for a couple minutes at a time or even given their own episode. And that's something I appreciate…if only the dialogue and script wasn't so freaking boring. There's nothing about any character or their relationships that create any reason to ship or squeal or fangirl/fanboy in awe at how adorable they are. I don't find enjoyment in their daily lives or encounters. At several points, it feels like a pure slice of life anime with nothing else to offer. I find average enjoyment when it's simply Miyamura and Hori on the screen. Not really anyone else. I know I sound like a drag but when anime characters are truly uninteresting, I'll say it. Including character relations.

You may ask me "Why watch it if you don't like it?" To which I'll gladly answer. I gave the first season a "5" which is "Mediocre" and I usually find it in me to watch a sequel if it ever comes out in the hope it'll be better. It also helps that I'm watching it as it comes out so I don't have to binge it, only giving me 1 ep to watch at a time. I plan on finishing it…and probably never watching anything else in regards to Horimiya once I do.

The only thing worth mentioning is that the art and animation style is just as pretty as the first season and I love the opening. Sound and visuals delivered. Everything else, not so much.

Final words. It's simply not my kind of romcom.

Score: 4/10

Wow, a few years too late but we got the continuation of Horimiya. Well, calling it a continuation may be a bit of a stretch. We have more of the character and the same title name, but I have no clue why this is called Horimya. Well, let me make a bit of a list to make it easier for everyone.
-Romance. It is dead. I think nobody forgot that the culmination of romance was in the main story and the episodes after that were just some kind of fillers that missed their train and came after the show had ended. And now we have an ... ENTIRE SEASON of leftovers. “Well, maybe they decided to wrap up other arcs for side characters?” - a good question, sadly the answer is a big fat no. The entire season has barely enough romance for one episode but spreads it on the entire season. Thats why I hesitate to call it Horimiya, as there is no real romance between the main couple. Barely anything happens, barely anything moves, when you get scraps of said romance - you just feel cheated and wasting time instead of watching something else.
-Humour. It is horrible. At best it could barely make me smile, but most of the time jokes are either completely flat and unfunny or simply inappropriately bad, the kind that makes you think “oh God why, who wrote this and who laughs at it?”
-Slice of life. Somehow 13 episodes of barely nothing are less eventful than even my own life: all of the events were straight from a “generic stuff list”, none of them had weight, they were just decorations for another stale joke. I have no clue how someone can make a generic school slice of life THIS boring, but the creators of this anime showed their expertise.
-Character progression. Kidding, there is none so let's move on.
-Well, this one is obvious from the previous points - but the PACING is horrible. Too little content, almost no important events, next to none development - and to add insult to injury - most of the scenes feel disconnected from each other, others feel stitched together. The story is simply uneven and patched. Even the pacing of some dialogues is off, with strange pauses, it almost felt like the voice actors see the script for the first time.

The biggest problem of this anime is the fact that it isn’t even a story, but “pieces” that were cut from the main story to cram it into one season. As a result, “pieces” is nothing more than filler episodes for the anime that ended ages ago and that only hardcore fans care about. If it was made as OVAs for the main story, if it was merged with the main story - we would have 2 perfectly fine seasons of Horimiya. Instead we had one rushed season and this discarded pile of trash that has no value and gives no enjoyment to viewers.

"Horimiya: Piece" unfortunately, falls short of the standard set by its parent series, "Horimiya." While the original "Horimiya" captured the hearts of viewers with its endearing characters and meaningful relationships, "Piece" struggles to maintain the same level of engagement.

The story in "Piece" can be described as mediocre at best. It lacks the depth and emotional resonance that made its predecessor so beloved. The episodes often feel filled with boring and dragging plotlines that fail to captivate the audience. Even though there are occasional funny scenes, they are not enough to salvage what should be meaningful episodes.

One of the disappointments of "Piece" is the noticeable lack ... of character development. In "Horimiya," character growth and exploration were central to the narrative, but in "Pieces," this aspect is less pronounced. The characters seem to stagnate, and viewers are left wanting more depth and progression in their arcs.

Overall, "Horimiya: Piece" is an average series at best, especially when compared to the brilliance of its parent series. It fails to capture the essence and charm that made "Horimiya" a standout anime. Viewers looking for a similar experience may find themselves underwhelmed by this follow-up.

Horimiya is very weird because when you look at it from afar it looks like a shoujo, when you read the synopsis it is literally the same as a generic shoujo, but when you see where it was published it is in a shonen magazine, and I know Horimiya isn't the only example that can be said that it looks for a different demographic than what it actually is, but really, Horimiya is like a very watered down version of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou.

The problem with Horimiya is obviously how the premise is good, but it doesn't know how to work it out due to ... the very simplistic and dumb "secrets" the protagonists have, and in fact, I think the most uninteresting part of Horimiya is the main couple, and I can confirm that after having watched Hormiya: Piece. You see, these secrets definitely aren’t worth covering up, or at the very least Hori's secret isn't a secret at all? Her being a nice sister that takes care of chores is definitely not a secret, even less something worth covering up, while Miyamura's is more understandable as he doesn't want to be seen as a criminal but still, some tattoos aren't the end of the world given that plays no role in the series. This clearly tried to take KareKano's premise and do it again, but as the author didn't know how he was supposed to do it, he just plastered something very inconsequential.

Horimiya, despite being a romcom with a clear main couple, is also very clearly an ensemble cast, so last season focusing mainly in the main couple and cutting most of the scenes of other characters clearly hurt the series, so they clearly tried to fix it with this season, and while I can say it finally accomplished what it set out to do, it doesn't take the fact that these characters aren't people whom I can care about. I'm more surprised it took until Horimiya: Piece to see more of their development, I remember seeing a meme that said that Horimiya was "The development of the side characters comes separately: The Anime" and that is the truth, and while I like the idea of making some new episodes to adapt stuff that were left out from the first season, I wouldn't expect a whole season worth of content, at that point you could have simply made 2 seasons adapting the series as you should and not what came out from this series.

The series looks the same as the previous season, so you don't have to worry about the supposed quality of the show, as it's just your regular barely watchable series that comes from Cloverworks. For what Horimiya is worth, this season is unironically better than the main series and can be funny at times, before I didn't actually like the Horimiya characters, but I got a little liking to Sengoku here and I can't believe how little he appeared the previous season, stupid jokes like his arm exploding just so he didn't have to clean the pool actually made me chuckle, unlike the previous season which was full of unfunny jokes.

Thank you for reading.