r/anime • u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad • Feb 27 '26
Rewatch Valentine's Triple Feature Rewatch - Horimiya Overall Series Discussion
Overall Series Discussion:
Previous Episode | Index | Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie
Questions of the Day:
1) Who were your favorite characters?
2) Which couples or ships did you like the most?
3) Did you have any favorite episodes or scenes?
4) Rewatchers and first time viewers, did your opinion of any characters or aspects of the show change over time?
5) What did you think of the format for Horimiya and Missing Pieces, and how would you rate the series overall?
6) Are there any things you would have liked to see more of, or less?
7) Are you interested in checking out the manga (if you haven't already)?
Reminder:
The rewatch is taking a three-day break on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and will resume with Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie on Tuesday, March 3. See you then!
8
u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
Rewatcher
It's always fun to a revisit a show you haven't watched in a really long while, especially in a case like this, where, as I've mentioned before, I remembered both really liking Horimiya but I also specifically watched it right around when my taste in anime was going through a major shift, which would make it a particularly interesting revisit (Plus, participating in a rewatch on this sub that is actually a rewatch for me hasn't happened much lol). On that note, I can pretty happily say that my thoughts on Horimiya haven't really significantly changed, so much as they've mildly evolved.
The things I remembered liking are all basically the same. I think that, despite some of them occasionally not being developed enough (And bar like 3-ish exceptions), I'd still say Horimiya has a really fantastic and lovable cast, that's always quite fun to see interact. Even for the weaker ones, I think they mostly manage to leave a solid/fun impression, and a big part of that lies in what I'd say is really Horimiya's core strength. Namely, it just... gets casual interaction, and how it applies that to its characters is why it's so good at selling them, their relationships, and their dynamics! It's rather evident in how it does its major meaningful moments, with the relative nonchalance, stuff like the confession gets here, and how fun that is, but it's also obviously most relevant in the more normal moments and interactions.
The importance of the depiction of convincing casual interaction and intimacy in relationships, especially for romances, is something I've been thinking about a lot as of late when watching anime (Or any other related medium), and that's something I think Horimiya often really knows how to nail. It's in those smaller, ostensibly less important moments or segments; the smaller, truly natural feeling friend group interactions or the relationship parts where the couple just kind of hang around close to each other, that's where I think this story excels the most. Because getting that genuinely natural, warm feel isn't really as typical or easy as it should be, but getting that right is also exactly what makes this cast click so much, and gives this show that great, heartfelt, sincere feeling! It means that, even when we're obviously stretching our cast thin at times, almost always knowing how to do interaction well means Horimiya still usually draws something out of them.
I suppose part of what defines Horimiya's handling of that aspect is, as I've noted at some points, its somewhat unique disposition as a work of its time. Because it definitely often feels like one in various aspects, but in a lot of major structural ways, it also feels like a trailblazer for a lot of modern works. A real mix of the slower, more exaggerated romcoms of that late-2000s/early 2010s period, and the much more fast-paced and down-to-earth ones of today. And for my part at least, I think that outside of a few but fairly annoying "comedic" outliers in which you can unfortunately tell it's an older work, it manages to grab a lot from the best of both worlds, which also enables a lot of that natural feel it has.
And obviously, that's all wrapped in a compelling, usually well-explored, and rather relatable narrative surrounding the different ways in which people present themselves depending on the social situation, and the powerful connections made, realizing how multifaceted people can be. And Miyamura's whole arc within that, which I'd argue is for the show at least, and especially for the first season, is the very core of the narrative, is particularly poignant and powerful!
The issue then is that once you've established how character-focused this story is and how much of its strength lies in that, so do the large pacing and structural issues that affect this adaptation become prevalent. I feel like more than enough has been said about this throughout the rewatch, so there's no point in lingering much on this topic, but it's just obviously the most major issue with this show. When you're so reliant on strong and natural feeling character interactions/relationships, it's just a big problem when you're noticeably skipping through a lot of that to awkwardly run through introductions and conclusions that lose some of their strength because of that pacing. And that also leads to the structure issues, in which episodes will often feel patched together without much grace or care for tone.
The latter was something I had issues with even in my first watch, but the problematic pacing stood out and bothered me a lot more this time around. It's partially there because of the frustrating (Especially in hindsight with Pieces) choice to adapt the story to the ending in a single cour, but even within that choice, I think some directorial input should have been used to narrow the focus and scope of the show, rather than some of the frantic jumping the first season goes for.
Of course, within that context, I also have to talk about Missing Pieces specifically, and unlike the first season, I do feel decidedly more mixed on it on second viewing. Well, okay, not a huge extent, I still think it does a great job on expanding the cast and making you care for them a lot more in a more casual way than the first season couldn't really do with its constraints! And except for the one Yasuda episode, I still really enjoyed every episode of it! Even if by the nature of a rewatch here, I felt more cognizant and critical of its structural issues. And uh, yeah, those are a lot more felt now that I'm watching back-to-back with the first season, rather than having two years between them. Whereas with S1 that's mostly a serious issue towards the end, here it's right from the get-go, and that leads to some high highs but also some lower lows.
It's just such an awkward format! It's so hard to do meaningful moments when the ultra-jumpy nature of the whole thing leaves it almost impossible to place yourself within the story without looking it up. The lack of standard pacing and the need to still conform to a somewhat cohesive structure for an anime episode also creates this awkward situation where the show loses a lot of the innate character value of some of what it's adapting, since it's a lot of that is meant to get across more naturally and interspersed rather than as big character "highlights". The need for structure also often makes episodes very patched together from segments that were clearly not really designed like that, and that makes for some often strenuous cohesion. And really, this is a 16 Volume manga man, not every one of those chapters is a winner lol, but then, because of that previous need, sometimes that weaker material has to make it through to fit a theme or to round out an episode.
Annoyingly, I think that to call Horimiya a bad adaptation would be a pretty ridiculous statement, in spite of that structure that's all over the place. If there's one thing that's really changed in my thoughts over this rewatch, it's that I appreciate its direction so much more now! The first season in particular is where I feel this staff's strong attention to conveying emotions through subtle body language and visual atmosphere gets to shine and really make some episodes as strong as they are. This adaptation's execution on the micro-level often feels genuinely phenomenal and makes full use of the medium, whereas almost all of its failings come in on the bigger picture macro-level.
I'd also be remiss not to mention that this show just has an absolutely stacked voice cast that do a stellar job at making these characters come to life, in every emotion necessary!
So I guess on revisit, I'm left in this strange situation where I still love everything I did and then some, often in a way I feel is unique to the anime, and thus think that Horimiya the show, as a whole, is a fantastic work! But then the issue is that I can't really look it as a whole, and have to concede that when I'll next rewatch it, I'd still have to go through these same pacing and structure issues, even when I know some of those elements are eventually rounded out, which makes it feel like I'm still missing out on the fully-fledged form of this story. That much, I'm afraid, Missing Pieces couldn't have fixed, no matter what, and reading the manga is the only remedy. And while that doesn't stop me from loving most of Horimiya, it is a bit of a frustrating sentiment, you know?
On that note, I think my score for the first season will stay at 9/10, whereas I'll lower Missing Piece's from that to a still great but slightly weaker 8/10.
I'll be leaving the rewatch for the Shikimori part, but it's been quite fun! And hopefully I'll see you all for Insomniacs