Reviews

I really hope this gets a season 2. This is one of the better slice of life school high school anime that I have seen. In a genre that has a very large catalogue at this point you kind of need a gimmick or just defining uniqueness to stand out. Skip and Loafer's gimmick is well written characters that feel like people instead of tropes. Which is more rare than it should be. In a lot of ways Skip and Loafer is not too flashy. Mitsumi is also such an extremely fun protagonist. The most important piece in a series like this is the characters, and Skip and Loafer has fantastic characters to carry a fairly realistic and simple story about a mostly realistic high school life. The character writing is the huge strength in this show, and it needs to be for another series about a realistic high school setting with a slow love story happening to be worth the watch. Although calling this a rom-com almost seems to be selling it short.

A similar line that I have seen a lot of people say about this show is how human the characters are written. As well as just being likable people. I agree completely, but find it a bit difficult to describe what this means. Mitsumi is so optimistic, but she is not blinded by her positivity. Actually she tends to fail quite a few times from over thinking things. Which does make her pretty relatable. Moving to a big city like Tokyo after being raised in a much more rural setting is causing her to learn a lot of new things, but the show still makes sure to show that she cares about where she is from by keeping in contact with Fumi back home. Mitsumi's goal of going into government to help her hometown as well as the depopulated town situation in the very real world Japan is admirable. I love that she has a positive life goal like that. Also it really explains why she wanted to go to a Tokyo High School to eventually get into government. Many of the characters have their reasons why they went to this school specifically.

The supporting cast also has a lot of moments where they are just very considerate as well as caring about each other showing how their friendship has grown since the first episode where they were strangers trying to feel each other out. They have a lot of moments where they just talk to each other about how they are feeling instead of internally being upset. The show does a great job of bringing people together who are not very similar and turning them into a pretty tight nit friend group. Yuzu actually points out that most people would not think the four girls would be friends on account of how different they are. With Mitsumi's goofiness and positivity it all worked out early on though. Everyone was almost playing a character they thought they should be, and then overtime they grew and are becoming more of themselves. Self discovery is a reoccurring theme in the story. I actually prefer the dynamic of the other characters without the romance plot between Mitsumi and Shima. It feels inevitable that the story has to lead to that even if a lot of the time the show is more about friendship than romance. Personal growth as well as moving forward are the most present themes in the story. This is a coming of age story for many of the characters here. Not just the main two characters. Mika comes off nasty at first, but by the end of the season she was my second favorite character. Showing and explaining why people act the way they way they do when they all first meet over time. Mika's further role in the story is very intriguing as well. The story does a great job of using just sweet and cute moments between friends as well as some lighter drama moments to keep the viewer into the story and what is going on with everyone.

The music from the opening and ending are very good, and do a great job fitting the mood of the show with positive energy. The OST is pretty good as well, but it does not stand out too much in a way that you would almost expect from this kind of a show. The visuals are pretty good with some pretty nice backgrounds. Nothing too crazy happening in terms of animation though outside of Mitsumi's occasional day dream sequences.

If I had to list a weakness if would actually be Shima the male love interest. He does have a backstory that is not finished being told after the first season with a few questions left unanswered, or simply not fully explored enough coming off a bit strange at times. Not bad per se I just think his storyline is the weakest thing the show has going on with a lot of focus on him towards the end of the season. The 4 main girls interacting as well as the student council president situation was just more interesting and fun for me. Shima's portrayal as the generic "perfect" guy without trying is kind of boring. He is more complicated than that, and the story does absolutely have room for him to grow though as well as explain a few more things about his childhood. Also the other 2 guys Kento and Mukai could use more development at some point, but that also could happen later on. I appreciate that the series does not really have fanservice or other creatively cheap things like that.

9/10 I really hope this gets a season 2 because I want to spend more time with these characters , and see them just live their lives more. As someone who does not really read manga I am considering picking this up because it has 53 chapters now with the anime adapting the first 23 of them. If you decide to give the show a try I would highly recommend using the 3 episode rule. Partly because it takes some time for everyone to come together, but also because episode 3 is very good in a way that highlights what the show is going to be about. If you like slice of life, or romance anime this is absolutely worth checking out. My very early anime of the year for 2023.