Horimiya is going to be one of the shows that I personally, will have a weird rating for. I'll explain why, but first, the show itself.

Something to appreciate:

I think something that I appreciate about Horimiya is the fact that it gives a sense of realism. I absolutely love the characters (even though I wish we got proper progression for a lot of the side characters) and the interactions they have and the friendships they have honestly make me smile. The high school life in Horimiya reminds me of the old High School days of mine and it's honestly special to me.
Obviously, our main duo, Hori and Miyamura, I thought the way their relationship progressed was very natural and easily a highlight of the show for me. Seeing each other for the way they first met and how there was basically a different side to themselves, something that they don't normally show at school, and seeing them interact in the early episodes, it felt natural to me and I appreciate that. Gotta say the same for Hori's family, especially the way they treat Miyamura.

Where it falls flat:

The side characters too, in my opinion, are great as well but this is where the show falls flat, especially in the second half. I think the side characters portrayal in the first half were great and seeing all them interact and be funny throughout the show was great to see too. I loved seeing the dynamic between everyone and the friendships were fun to watch. I wish, however, that we were given more screen time on almost all of them. In the second half, I didn't know how to feel regarding as more of the screen time was given to more of the side characters than our main duo. I honestly wished this was paced much better because it honestly did feel like they were throwing in certain chapters into an episode and hoped we would just "get it" or understand. It's not that I didn't feel for any of the side characters like Remi or Kono, it's just that I wish we were shown better progression for the side characters in order for me to fully understand their struggles and what they were going through. The pacing of the second half, with the more focus on the side characters and Hori and Miyamura feeling almost like side characters is where the show falls flat, I just wished we were shown more of the dynamic between every character in order for the viewers to fully appreciate what they were watching. If anything, it felt like the show had a lack of direction in the second half, if I had to add. There really should have been more screen time for more characters (meaning I wish we got more than 13 episodes). I hope that made sense.

Overall:

Horimiya was a wonderful watch. With a great OST and visuals, I always looked forward to watching the show every Saturday for some fluff. I loved Hori and Miyamura's relationship and obviously the romance progression was great to watch, but I also especially loved Miyamura's character progression. The Miyamura in Episode 1 is a completely different one in Episode 13 and it shows. I absolutely loved his progression there. The show falls flat in the second half with pacing issues and a lack of direction but it ends on a great and positive note with some closure. It's definitely a recommend but I'm going to read the manga for the full experience. I do also think those who want a better coherent story is most likely not going to enjoy Horimiya as much as I did because I feel like there's a lot of content missing, especially with certain characters. I still honestly do recommend it. I'm going to miss this show and how realistic and natural it was. It's going to get a weird rating mostly because I feel like there was untapped potential and a sense of lack of direction in the second half. The first half definitely was the best part of the show. It does get a high rating because I just love how realistic it feels, especially in the High School environment. It's something I personally appreciate a lot.

To preface, I only recently got into anime this past Summer and The Promised Neverland was one of the shows I wanted to go ahead and watch since the synopsis was so interesting. I watched the entirety of Season 1 at the beginning of this year and absolutely loved it. So, obviously, I was going into Season 2 with high expectations.

At first...

The first three episodes of Season 2 weren't bad at all if we're being completely honest here, until I heard some manga readers complain about the pacing and how Episode 1 apparently adapted 8 chapters into 1 episode. I wasn't completely alarmed especially when I also read that the manga had its ups and downs after the arc in Season 1 and how Season 2 was going to get "original scenarios" so I still had hope and I was still at least optimistic. And well, you know how it goes from here.

But...

By halfway through, it's a complete trainwreck. Once again, I'm an anime only watcher, but as unfortunate as everything is, you can tell things were skipped AND rushed. I personally am not sure who decided to write it this way but the middle episodes of Season 2 were just abysmal. Writing was all over the place, pacing was just bad and things didn't make sense, at all. Some scenes were even recycled and there were also a few scenes that was repetitive. Obviously the manga readers were not happy at the noticeable differences and cuts to certain arcs (including a fan-favorite) and characters but even as an anime-only, it was also disappointing. It's just easy to tell that by halfway through, there were cramming so much plot in each episode and you had to hope things would make sense. This is a no-brainer, the kids, they all escaped at the end of Season 1 so you would THINK that the stakes would be higher since they literally are going up against the world of demons here, but no, it just doesn't feel that way.

I don't think you can blame this all on CloverWorks, they still did a decent job animating the show but the writers...man I don't know what happened. The OP, ED and OST is still great as well. There are a LOT of inconsistencies that make the show have many questions and it's almost like we have to come up with our own conclusion and I'm not a fan of that. Then you got the characters. I love our main trio but they all seem like their development just took steps back.

To put things in another perspective if Season 2 was handled better...

Something else I want to say and I think a lot of people can agree as well, is that Season 2 of The Promised Neverland feels like an imaginary Season 3. So many details, so many plot points were crammed into this, which is why things feel so fast, especially in the backhalf of Season 2. IF, and a very big IF, if TPN Season 2 had more episodes than 11, then I could possibly somewhat justify some of the decisions the characters make. If Season 2 were 13 episodes or 16 episodes, things would make more and more sense and there would be a lot more screen time for plot points that NEED the screen time. 11 episodes just cannot cut it at all. There's just no time. If anything, I find disheartening that it only got 11 episodes.

To conclude.

Overall, Season 2 is a disappointment, but it's more than a disappointment. It's a failure of a sequel. It's riddled with pacing and writing issues and you could tell from the beginning of the season that the pacing was off. Literally every episode is riddled with issues and that makes me sad. Our characters aren't as badass anymore and many scenes fall flat. The stakes should be higher but it just didn't feel that way. I'm telling you right now, I think this season would have been rated higher EASILY if it had more than 11 episodes and explained things more thoroughly rather than the pace it went. I don't think I've seen a show like this before speedrun so many plot points into 11 episodes.

So, if you are reading this and have watched Season 1, Season 2 is just bad. You can still watch this season if you want but that's your decision but just watch Season 1 then read the manga. If you are a manga reader and have only watched Season 1, don't attempt to watch this unless you wanna get mad. I'm sure for many people, they want to forget Season 2 even happened. I honestly feel bad because there is untapped potential for the anime now.

Anyways, you already know what I'm doing at some point in the near future...

Reading the Manga.