Horimiya: The Missing Pieces

 Horimiya: The Missing Pieces (ホリミヤ -piece-) is a 13 episode continuation of the original Horimiya slice of life romantic comedy series.  It is based on the manga Hori-san to Miyamura-kun by Adachi Hiroki.  The series originally aired over the Summer of 2023.

 

    Missing Pieces isn't a continuation of the original series, it is really a companion piece, being a collection of plots from the manga that were not included in the original run of the series.  Each episode is a collection of stories that are related to each other, but may not occur with in the same time frame in the natural progress of the manga.  The stories put more focus on the side characters, expanding their roles in the overall story.  Characters not shown in the original anime also make appearances, rounding out the cast.  The story shows the students on a trip to Kyoto, struggles with swimming during gym and humorous non-sequitur anecdotes like how to sleep four people under the same kotatsu or what to do with a teacher who loves the girls too much.

    I was initially concerned that this would be as disappointing as the side story season of Ranking of Kings turned out to be.  The first episode quickly quelled those fears and I fell in love with this side story compilation as much as the original.  It is sad to not get a continuation of Hori and Miramura's relationship after high school, but this was just as good.  Its was enjoyable to see more about the side characters, many of which add much depth to the main characters.  The way sometimes disparate segments were grouped together under a common theme made it more enjoyable as well.  It's hard to find anything at fault with this series.  If a future anime does something similar this format should be the golden standard.

    Horimiya is a great story, with lovable characters, its just too bad this is probably the real good bye to them in the form of anime.  Crunchyroll went through and came up with a comprehensive order to watch the episodes from both series' so that it follows the flow of the manga...its really really in-depth and specific.  I will have to follow their specified order after I read the manga to see how well it covers the original material.

 

    This, like the original series, is available on Crunchyroll and is well worth the time!