Though Hori has recovered from the deadliest disease in anime, she decides to call in sick for the day as she’s still trying to wrap her head around Miyamura confessing his feelings to her. After school, Souta tells his big sister about seeing Miyamura with another girl, unaware that she’s Shindo’s girlfriend. Naturally, this makes Hori paranoid, culminating in the next day with an awkward (and violent) misunderstanding with Miyamura. With Hori acting like this, it’s clear that she really needs to make a relationship with him official while she still has the chance. Fortunately, that’s where the rest of the episode comes in.
After Hori and Miyamura clear everything up, Hori’s father Kyousuke (Daisuke Ono) returns home from…something. I want to say work but I can’t say for sure. Hori doesn’t appear to have an estranged relationship with her father though it is nevertheless an oddball, the strangest detail being that she refers to her old man by first name. She’s also willing to physically smack sense into her father though knowing Hori, that feels par for the course. Kyousuke meanwhile is a funny one. He pretends to be the overprotective father trope, only to then reveal that he’s just messing with Miyamura for laughs. In reality, he takes a real liking to Miyamura and he’s about as chill as any dad can get.
Oddly enough, it is Kyousuke that finally gets Horimiya sailing. He drops the big question and Hori finally calls Miyamura her boyfriend, thus making their romance official. I suppose claiming that they’re a couple makes things easier but really, it’s been a long time coming for these two to start dating. They just needed one big push. Even though the pacing has been fast, I’m happy to see the “will they or won’t they?” done in five episodes. Now, we can spend the remaining eight episodes (and possibly a whole other season) exploring the challenges that comes after the ball starts rolling.
Perhaps the funniest bit is when Yuriko arrives. At first, the show has you thinking things about to get super awkward between her and Kyousuke, only for Yuriko to reveal that she’s doing her own brand of trolling. That only makes me wonder what their backstory is. Their work schedules seem so asynchronous with each other and yet it doesn’t seem to hamper their marriage all that much. If anything, they’re able to treat it in jest.
With him and Hori officially dating, Miyamura drops the news to Ishikawa. That’s a good thing in the long run. It’s better to be transparent than for Ishikawa to find out by happenstance. I do feel bad for Ishikawa as he hasn’t had a chance to let go of his feelings towards Hori. It’ll probably be a while before he completely gets over it but props to him for staying mature and affirming to Miyamura that they’re still friends.
There’s a last minute change in perspective to Sakura. I find it strange since this episode is so predominantly focused on our two main protagonists though the timing is interesting given Ishikawa’s situation. With Ishikawa’s bachelorhood out in the open, Sakura can comfortably confess to him. What’s holding her back is her lack of confidence in her looks. That notion might sound silly given that she’s a cute anime girl but it’s still a realistic one with how self-conscious teenagers can get. Props to Remi for giving Sakura some words of encouragement, even after Sakura lashes out at her. How interesting that Remi quickly figures out what’s going on. For someone who considers herself dumb, she sure is a perceptive one.
Watch Horimiya on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu
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