Skip to Loafer

In order to pursue her dream of bringing positive changes to Japan, Mitsumi Iwakura leaves her countryside town to attend a prestigious high school in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. As she has already mapped a clear life plan, she has absolute confidence that there will be zero mishaps from then onwards.

Despite her ambitious promise, the country girl ends up running late on the first day when she gets lost on her way to school. Fortunately, she meets a fellow first-year student, Sousuke Shima, who is in the same situation and offers to go with her. They eventually make it to school, but the misfortunes do not end there, as Mitsumi leaves an unfavorable first impression in front of her classmates.

Nevertheless, the class soon takes notice of her friendship with Sousuke despite their opposing personalities. Only time will tell whether Mitsumi will be able to forge fruitful relationships with her classmates, and she will certainly not be alone.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Iwakura, Mitsumi Main

Kurosawa, Tomoyo Japanese

Shima, Sousuke Main

Egoshi, Akinori Japanese

Murashige, Yuzuki Supporting

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Egashira, Mika Supporting

Terasaki, Yuka Japanese

Nao-chan Supporting

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Kanechika, Narumi Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Kurume, Makoto Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Tooyama, Fumino Supporting

Morohoshi, Sumire Japanese

Takamine, Tokiko Supporting

Tsuda, Minami Japanese

Yamada, Kento Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Kurosu, Nobuhiko Producer

Tsuji, Mitsuhito Producer

Reviews

Jun 20, 2023

ZNoteTaku

Recommended

Let’s start with a rather cynical stance (I won’t stay there for long, I promise) – it is perhaps rather silly to expect that the main group of characters in *Skip to Loafer* would end up becoming such good friends. They come from such different worlds, both in terms of their social and geographical qualities. Each one has their own preoccupations and problems that stand in their own way, running the gamut through vanity, listlessness, a lack of recognition, and having cold doses of reality splashed in their faces. With so many obstacles in place, one could say that this confluence of forces would keep ... the characters apart, left to their own devices to be far lonelier in the end.

Yet, through life’s odd ironic twists, it is one such force that gets everything moving. Iwakura Mitsumi is late to her first day of high school, lost in Tokyo and not knowing her left from her right. A girl who is driven to succeed has driven herself into a corner. But coming “to the rescue” is Shima Sousuke, who likewise is late to the first day of school, but doesn’t seem to pay much mind to being late. Within this strange encounter from two people with opposite perspectives, they hoof it to the school, Mitsumi tripping. But in one moment of sheer determination, she takes off her shoes and socks, continuing to run as the pavement pounds her feet. Shima looks on for a moment, seemingly taking in the sight of something both physically goofy and, for him, emotionally foreign. He cannot help but run along as well in her wake, and with a more spirited purpose than before. In just trying to get to school on time, both characters are thrown into new beginnings, complete with sakura blossoms.

“New beginnings” runs throughout *Skip to Loafer’s* threads, and more specifically, new beginnings that are simply unexpected. It may have been pure coincidence that brought Mitsumi and Shima into each other’s lives from opposite ends of the attitude spectrum, but at their core, they could not be more abstractly similar. These two, along with the rest of the anime’s cast, are tied together in them entering high school, yet each has a comfort zone within themselves that they don’t want to, or cannot, quite budge from. It’s a form of boundary that helps shield oneself from disappointments, whether external or internal. They feel it better to try and march to the beat of their own drum. With everyone housing their own insecurities or ways of seeing and experiencing each other, it’s virtually impossible to tell what anyone is thinking.

But as is often the case with entering new social spheres, that comfort zone must be left behind and you step into a new world of possibilities for people, things, and thoughts. It doesn’t have to involve a complete reinvention of who you are, either. There are numerous, tiny ways that the characters in *Skip to Loafer* express that they understand one another, even if they inevitably will leave some things housed within. The result is a fascinating breed of understanding and familiarity through understanding unfamiliarity, the acknowledgement that being able to read the room with just a touch more awareness makes the metaphorical gaps between people disappear. Tiny moments like these accrue throughout, blossoming the friendships into something that, while perhaps starting tenuously, end up feeling as comfy as an old pair of shoes. In that sense, it is a true ensemble show, and though Mitsumi and Shima’s self-actualization may be at the forefront, the others are hardly out of the spotlight for long.

To be sure, the characters are not above their own melodrama. They aren’t always the most saintly, and while it may be a little strange that they are often not letting their emotions run wild like teenagers are sometimes known to do, *Skip to Loafer’s* comedic sense is more subdued than in-your-face. Its occasional bursts of more-explosive humor are kept to a minimum, opting instead for coziness and smiles induced through warmth and the softness of its colors and lines. Its comedy is comfort rather than catharsis. Writer-director Deai Kotomi adopts a quieter ambiance in their approach, letting it pour through the screen by being bright without blare, sometimes hanging on pillow shots to let a tone sink in.

Such was the warmth of its web that any combination of characters, in any setting, at any time, could be put into a room together, and the dialogue that would play feels as natural as a summer’s breeze. By the time the show reaches its final episode, the sense of camaraderie is firmly established, sweet, and lovely. Not all the characters may have undergone life-altering changes, but they didn’t need to. Simply taking their first small steps into new beginnings was all that was needed, and wherever they go from now on, they’ll have someone in their corner with them, helping them along. Their world is a little warmer than it was before.

And that’s what it’s all about.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 25, 2023

Firechick12012

Mixed Feelings

So...Skip and Loafer. I heard about it through Amazon recommending the manga to me quite a bit, and I skipped out on the anime version when it came out because I was busy watching other things. Then some of my online friends were praising it up the wazoo. One day, I was bored and decided to sit down and watch it. I will say, while I do like the anime, and it even does a lot of things I wish more romance anime would do...I feel like it could have done more. The premise goes as follows: 15-year-old Mitsumi Iwakura is moving to Tokyo from ... her rural home in Ishikawa Prefecture so she can go to the elite high school Tsubame West Academy. She dreams of becoming a politician so she can make her hometown more prosperous, but for all her studying and ambitions, she is woefully unprepared for city life. Luckily, after a rough start, she manages to make some friends, with one of them being popular student Sousuke Shima, and manages to make the most of her school days with confidence.

I've mentioned multiple times before that I'm not really a fan of the romance genre, mainly because a lot of the stories feel like they've been copy-pasted from each other, and I especially hate stories that rely way too much on contrived misunderstandings to move the plot forward rather than just having the characters talk to each other like human beings. Thankfully, Skip and Loafer doesn't do that, and whatever problems that do come up between Mitsumi and Sousuke is because they're from entirely different backgrounds. Plus, Mitsumi, for all her confidence and occasional ditziness, is a lot smarter and more emotionally perceptive than most shoujo heroines, and has a lot more depth than most of her caliber. The characters in general are the best thing about Skip and Loafer, because even though they may start off as one-dimensional archetypes at first, their personalities can't simply be summed up in just one sentence. Even the characters who might seem like your typical alpha bitches in a teen romance are given much more nuanced motivations and and a lot more self-awareness than most can even boast.

And yet...I feel like Skip and Loafer's plot leaves a lot to be desired. It's not trying to break any new ground, as it's mainly just "country girl moves to big city, makes friends, has romantic tension with a cute boy, some other drama, etc." and while I don't mind series that are light on plot, Skip and Loafer's premise doesn't seem like it can really carry the series. Even as some drama involving Sousuke and his backstory comes up near the end, which I think is the better part of the series, it's still very subdued and feels like it just...drifts off without really making an impact. You're probably wondering "Hey, wait! You like other shows that are slow-paced and are light on plot such as Insomniacs After School, Summer Ghost, and Do It Yourself! What do they have that you think Skip and Loader doesn't?!" But here's the thing: All three of the anime I mentioned, while they're also about characters in high school, have a bit more meat to their plot than just high school antics. Insomniacs had its characters take part in astrophotography as a way to deal with their insomnia. Summer Ghost was all about unraveling the mystery behind a girl's untimely death, and Do It Yourself was all about exploring the benefits of building things by hand, whether it be a treehouse or small things like a wooden shelf. All three of them have a backbone to their narrative that makes them stand out from other shows of their ilk, with their execution reflecting that. Skip and Loafer, while it does do a lot of things right, doesn't have that backbone, and its overall premise is so thin and by-the-numbers that it borders on being predictable.

Even the animation seems to reflect that. For as much as PA Works gets praised for their animation, there isn't a whole lot of it here. It's faithful to the manga's art style, which is definitely a point in its favor, and it does save more kinetic movement for scenes where it matters, but a lot of the time the animation itself consists of still images and shoujo sparkles. I did find the soundtrack to be pretty unmemorable. I mean, I liked it, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about it. But please, don't think all this to mean that I hate Skip and Loafer, because I don't. I like it, but I feel like it needed some extra pizazz, that's all. I think a part of it is because the manga only covers up to a certain volume, and I'm sure the later parts of the manga build on what was covered in the anime. Maybe I might have liked this better if this had come out when I was younger. I'm not sure. But Skip and Loafer, while fairly light on plot, is perfect for people who want a sweet, saccharine romance series that avoids a lot of the genre's more annoying cliches and pitfalls.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 2, 2023

Tokku

Not Recommended

Serviceable and forgettable is not good enough for an award winning manga. What a poor adaptation of a masterpiece of a manga.
Important context removed, sloppy pacing just to fit episode and time guidelines, impactful scenes watered down by subpar voice acting or framing, and panning shots and still frames galore. This does not show the uniqueness of skip and loafer as a standout among school romance- something that many of the "mixed feeling reviews" are saying, that it feels same-y.

The positives of the manga are placing these characters in what is ultimately a good relationship devoid of any of stupid or straight up ... problematic issues so much shoujo or josei or even seinen have. A cast of characters who feel like people rather than individuals to be paired up and shipped off. Both female and male characters that exist as people and not plot points to be thrown around when convenient to create romantic tension. No 24 year old teacher treated as a genuine romantic interest. The conflict coming from character's own feelings and personal growth and how they interact together rather than being dramatic because of outside circumstance. Slowly growing closer as different people and coming together REGARDLESS of the main characters.

I feel the anime did not portray this because much of it was not emphasized or sometimes not even shown altogether. The scene specifically where one of the characters says "it's hard to believe it's only been six months" completely loses it's impact because of this. That scene is meant to portray the girls as close friends and people even besides Mitsumi, but when you watch as a standalone anime they feel so forgettable.

I am so disappointed. This was an award winning series, so why did it not have the love and budget it so very clearly deserved? It's outright offensive that this was treated like any flavor of the month isekai. I wish it was given the kyoani treatment where monotonous everyday tasks are made special, just like the scenes in this series need to function and portray the romance and appeal of Mitsumi's group of friends and romantic interest, and the intimate moments they have together. If I wanted to look at good art, I would read the manga- but this adaptation doesn't even have good directing. Random unrelated still shots ruin meaningful moments. Characters talk over panning shots- - not even showing the character who is talking! There are no subtle expressions or bodily movements in many important sentimental scenes when the characters actually ARE shown. A completely unmemorable OST besides the OP and ED. It is truly unfortunate to see such good source material be treated this way.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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'Skip to Loafer' Second Season in Production

The official website of the Skip to Loafer (Skip and Loafer) anime series announced a second season on Friday. Misaki Takamatsu, the original creator, drew an illust...read more

Dec 19, 7:45 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (16 comments)

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In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Spring 2023 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

Mar 29, 2023 5:59 AM by Snow | Discuss (60 comments)

	Season 2 officially announced Dbagas8 - Dec 19	11 replies	by Tetsuya8 »» 12 hours ago
	Will there be season 2 CONQUERT - Jun 20, 2023	22 replies	by Seeinq »» Yesterday, 12:56 PM
	Skip to Loafer Season 2 possibilty? thermoquasi - Feb 29	28 replies	by wuhanfighter »» Dec 19, 9:57 PM
	Will there be a season 2? RaphaelSensei - May 23, 2023	14 replies	by SecretTechnique »» Dec 19, 7:41 PM
	Season 2 is in development. CheliosX - Dec 18	20 replies	by salujas »» Dec 19, 11:37 AM