Horimiya‘s penultimate episode is a smorgasbord of scenes involving just about everyone during the Christmas season, with a little bit of New Year’s content after the ED. It’s a festive time of the year so I get showing what everyone is up to, even if some check-ups aren’t as important as others. That said, there are a couple of strange inclusions. One is a scene featuring Shindo and his girlfriend, Chika Ichijou (Sayaka Senbongi). Chika was used for a gag seven episodes ago and we haven’t seen her since that I honestly didn’t realize that I’m supposed to be invested in Shindo’s love life. Shindo meeting up with his girlfriend around Christmas does make sense and it’s not like their little scene is awful by any means. I just think it’d resonate more if the show actually explored their relationship.
Perhaps an even weirder moment is the last minute introduction of Yuna (Aoi Koga), a little girl who I guess Sota has befriended offscreen considering that he invited her over to his house for Christmas. Seriously, who is this girl? I feel like there was a whole arc involving Sota and her and the anime skipped over it entirely. At least with Iura, he’s been around since almost the beginning. The staff just threw this character into the frame without a care in the world.
I don’t know what the exact status is between Ishikawa and Yoshikawa. Pretending to be a couple appears to have fizzled out but I don’t recall either character saying that it’s over. Regardless, Yoshikawa has been hanging out at Ishikawa’s house like Miyamura does at Hori’s. Iura and Sengoku have just assume that these two are a legitimate couple. Ishikawa even admits to his pals that he’s in love with Yoshikawa. I suppose it’s just a matter of comfortability but at this point, the two might as well make it official.
As for our main couple, Miyamura can’t stay at Hori’s place for Christmas as he’s busy helping his family with their bakery. The two of them pretty much don’t go on a date until New Year’s. Hilariously enough, Sota and Kyosuke are the most heartbroken over the news. Hori accepts it for what it is. During Christmas however, the Hori family does manage to get Miyamura to stay for an hour and Hori gets to walk with her boyfriend for a bit on the way out.
So at long last, Hori talks to Miyamura about their plans after high school graduation. That was a looming concern of hers established way back in Episode 2, even before she started dating Miyamura. I originally thought it was too soon to bring that up but it’s been ten episode since then so I must admit that was presumptuous of me. Now that Hori is in a relationship with Miyamura and the school actually is ending in a few months, what to do after graduation is a pressing concern. All the two really need to do is agree to continue dating after graduation but Miyamura decides to take it a step further by proposing that the two get married. Dang Miyamura! And on Christmas Day too!
While definitely a momentous occasion, part of me feels this scene could’ve hit even harder. Thing is, Hori and Miyamura’s relationship hasn’t seen any major development after they consummate their relationship in Episode 7. There’s the usual hang outs and Hori convincing Miyamura to make her a M but that’s about it. The romance kind of lost some steam during the second half, especially when the show started to focus on other characters. I suppose after having sex and with their relationship being so stable, it’s hard to come up with a new scenario. Still, I wish the two had at least one more episode all to themselves so that the big proposal could hit to maximum effect.
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