Now admittedly, I have a low bar to clear in terms of anime enjoyment, but I think even the most stringent of critics will agree with my assessment of this show. On the surface, skip to loafer may seem like a generic shy unpopular girl moves to new city for school and meets popular guy etc etc type story, but it’s so much more than that.
Mitsumi and Shima’s relationship doesn’t have the traditional anime leaps in logic, instead it feels like a genuine friendship that slowly develops into something more. Just how things work in the real world. The story takes a show don’t tell approach to convey the characters’ emotions and it makes the experience so much more enjoyable.
But perhaps my favourite part of the show is the side characters. I mean wow, this is truly one of the best casts I’ve seen in recent memory. All of the side characters are well written and nuanced and just act like normal high school kids. For all the good and bad that that entails. The episodes that focused on Mika and Yuzuki were among my favourites.
The characters are flawed and that’s probably what I like most about them. Too often in anime characters are perfect archetypes. That’s not how the world works. People are jealous, insecure, envious, downright nasty at times, and this show just gets that in a way we don’t see too often.
None of the over dramatic anime manner of speech, excessive fan-service, etc. This is just a pure story about kids finding out who they are and how they fit in this great big world of ours. It’s a simple, but powerful story that I think everyone can relate to and needs to check out.
The art and direction in the show are really good as well. The facial expressions and cute chibi faces remind me so much of sawako from Kimi ni todoke. In fact, I’d say if you’re a fan of that, this is a must watch. It really feels like a spiritual successor and has a lot of the same emotion from that series.
Skip to Loafer is for sure one of the best anime not just of spring 2023, but of the year and is an absolute must watch for any slice of life or romance fan.
Skip to loafer gets 10, out of 10.
