Season 1 moved at breakneck speed. By episode 13, the characters graduated from Katagiri Senior High School, wrapping the central arcs of Miyamura cutting his hair, shedding his emotional baggage, and proposing to Hori. In doing so, CloverWorks cut roughly 60 chapters of side plots, secondary character dynamics, and lighthearted campus vignettes.
Fans felt those cuts deeply. Beloved beats, including the school sports festival, the humorous confusion surrounding Kyosuke's presence, and key exchanges between Yuki Yoshikawa and Toru Ishikawa, were omitted to protect the emotional momentum of the central duo.
In response, production committee partners Aniplex and Square Enix approved Horimiya: The Missing Pieces in July 2023. Billed in Japan as Horimiya: piece, this 13-episode release was not a narrative sequel. It functioned as an architectural infill project, weaving unadapted manga chapters directly into the established chronology of the first run. The finale of The Missing Pieces simply looped back to the same graduation ceremony, confirming that the story had nowhere left to travel forward in time.
