English Dub Review: Horimiya: The Missing Pieces “The Journey Begins”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Everyone’s excited about the class trip to Kyoto—except for Miyamura, who isn’t sure how he’ll navigate close time with others (including bath time!) while keeping his secret. Thankfully, Hori’s there to help! Then there’s drama(?) at the pool.

Our Take:

Regarding my experience with this episode, The Missing Pieces is a follow-up to the original series. Best described as season two of Horimiya, The Missing Pieces continues the high school misadventures of Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura, striving to keep their after-school identities a secret from their classmates. The first episode, “The Journey Begins”, sees them attending the class trip to Kyoto, where Miyamura faces a difficult situation involving him bathing with the other boys. Unfortunately, the problem was quickly resolved thanks to Ishikawa’s lie about Miyamura having his period.  

The episode’s second half has Miyamura and Sengoku facing a dilemma in which they need to find an excuse to skip swimming class. As a result, they wind up taking jobs as pool cleaners. In other words, the show’s return is about Miyamura avoiding taking off his clothes and getting soaked in public for fear of exposing his tattoos.

I initially thought that I wouldn’t be able to follow along with The Missing Pieces since I had yet to watch Horimiya before season two. I was concerned I would spend the entire episode feeling confused with its character development and concept. Thankfully, those problems quickly disappeared when I saw how enjoyable and humorous the episode was. It’s one of the shows that don’t require viewers to watch the previous seasons to understand the current one, as it offered plenty of information to get me easily invested in the characters and concept.

The best example is Miyamura, whose after-school identity is a punk-like boy with piercings and tattoos compared to his nerdy appearance in school. Except for Ishikawa and Hori, everyone doesn’t know Miyamura has tattoos on his body. So it’s justified that Miyamura attempts to avoid public baths, swimming, and anything else involving removing his clothes for fear of being judged. Of course, those attempts were enough to make me giggle like a schoolgirl.  

Despite my lack of experience with Horimiya, I admittedly enjoyed the first episode of The Missing Pieces for its characters and sitcom-like humor. It was bogged down by questionable one-second shots between the characters’ interactions, mainly in its first half. Regardless, it’s a solid start to the return of the secret-hiding high school duo that’ll likely get more entertaining as the season progresses.