I was going to say that Horimiya has finally returned the spotlight to Horimiya but then I remembered that the show technically did that last episode. Oh well, at least this one doesn’t present Hori as the worst girlfriend ever. Missing Pieces still gives attention to one of the auxiliary characters but in this case, it’s Sawada so I’ll take it.
Anyway, this is a Valentine’s Day themed episode. I’m kind of surprised the original series skipped this since Valentine’s is a no-brainer for romcoms. This admittedly doesn’t advance the plot so I can see why it got cut but then again, that’s some material that somehow found its way in the original series so that point is rather moot as far as I care.
Originally, Hori wasn’t planning on getting Miyamura chocolate for Valentine’s. She’s afraid that anything she’d make will pale in comparison and she doesn’t want to buy chocolate out of respect to the bakery Miyamura’s family runs. I get where Hori is coming from but it is a risk to not give Miyamura anything. After her insanity last episode, she may want to rebuild some good will too. At Remi’s urging, Hori decides to give baking chocolate a whirl. The results aren’t the best but they’re good enough for Miyamura to enjoy without needing to pretend for Hori’s sake. They’re probably better than whatever Yoshikawa made in the original series.
Parallel to this, Miyamura debates on how to present his present to Hori. In the end, he can’t decide how to wrap it so he instead invites Hori to his place so that he can give it directly to her. It’s not that prevalent though the show manages to get a couple jokes out of it. What’s especially funny is that presentation completely goes over Hori’s head so when she learns about her boyfriend’s debacle, she panics over how plainly she packaged her gift.
As for Sawada, she of course gives some chocolate to Hori. I love that she straight up asks Miyamura for some advice. This rivalry is so odd but I kind of dig it for that reason. Surprisingly, most of Sawada’s screentime has her helping a classmate who admires Iura. She musters the willpower to ask Iura on his preferences regarding chocolate and accompanies her friend with buying some. I remember thinking Horimiya might ship Sawada with Iura so I find it funny that it’s giving Iura some false hope that Sawada is getting him something for Valentine’s.
Ultimately, Sawada’s classmate is too shy to give Iura the chocolate. That feels a bit wasted to me. Part of Iura’s shtick is how much he hates being single so giving him a love interest would be nice. Then again, it is hilarious that the poor boy remains alone. The only way this could be funnier is if the classmate ultimately hooks up with Sawada instead. Speaking of which, I do like that the classmate gives the chocolate to Sawada as a gesture of friendship and that Sawada prepared some for her as well. That’s a nice follow-up to Sawada’s effort to befriend her class in Episode 7.
Watch Horimiya: The Missing Pieces on Crunchyroll and Funimation
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