If Missing Pieces really is structed by thematic connections, it sure is making a couple of stretches in that department. Like, this episode primarily features scenes with the Hori family’s kotatsu…that’s it! Granted, I don’t know the chronological order of these scenes in the manga. If that’s the case, then fair enough.
The first segment has Hori, Miyamura, Kyosuke, and Sota snoozing at the kotatsu. Upon waking, the first three characters find their legs in a tangled mess. The best part to this segment is Sota sleeping through his relatives yelling at each other as they try to untangle themselves. Who would’ve thought he’d be a heavy sleeper. I also enjoy this scene because it has Kyosuke. The guy is simply hilarious. Personally, I don’t think the original series had enough scenes with him so I’m hoping Missing Pieces rectifies this.
Surprisingly, Sengoku is very prevalent in this episode. Kyosuke runs into Sengoku while heading home from the convenience store and casually invites him over to his place to enjoy the kotatsu and hang out with Hori and Miyamura. There’s a funny moment where Hori gives the boys permission to the use her family’s bath and Miyamura almost mentions his tattoos, making Sengoku suspicious. I’m curious if Sengoku ever found out about the tattoos as the original series suggests that only Hori and Ishikawa know. Maybe Missing Pieces will show some “lost” scenes of Sengoku investigating Miyamura’s secret.
After that, we see Miyamura and Ishikawa hanging at Sengoku’s place and browsing through some of the latter’s old photos, some of which have Hori. Come to think about it, the original series never brought up Hori and Sengoku being childhood friends ever again, after it’s established in Season 1 Episode 2. I kind of figured it was only relevant for that episode but evidently, the manga had more to offer in this regard. Considering that Hori used to pester Sengoku, it’s a little surprising to learn that they were nevertheless very close with each other when they were little. Apparently, their closeness still rubs off as Hori still has zero boundaries with Sengoku as she doesn’t bat an eye over changing her clothes with him in the room.
The next day, Miyamura and Hori bump into Sengoku’s father, Takeru (Daisuke Namikawa), a character did not appear in the original Horimiya. By coincidence, Kyosuke invites both Takeru and his son over to his place. Apparently, Kyosuke and Takeru have been friends(?) since high school. That does explain why Hori and Sengoku used to hang out all the time but it also makes me more curious about Kyosuke’s past. At this point, I’m convinced Kyosuke lived through a high school romcom anime of his own and no one involved in the franchise has gotten around to it.
Oddly enough, Takeru is unaware that his son has a girlfriend. Sengoku maintains good grades so his father assumes he’s not bothering romance and he hasn’t found a good opportunity to introduce Remi to him. This hilariously causes Hori to revert back to being a “bully” as she’s extremely tempted to rat Sengoku’s secret out to Takeru. Ultimately, the cat stays in the bag but I do wonder if this will get revisited. It’d be rude but also funny if Hori brings this up to Remi and Remi decides to have fun with it as well. I can see her waltzing into her boyfriend’s house and see if Takeru will figure out that they’re dating.
Watch Horimiya: The Missing Pieces on Crunchyroll and Funimation
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