Konnichiwa minna-san~ Yesterday, I finished an anime that has been on my to-watch list for quite a long time. I almost finished it before, but then I got busy with my medications, so somehow I left and forgot about it. Like the first time I watched it, I really felt so much familiarity with the plot and characters. The feelings and emotions that I felt before all came back to me.
It's like I'm taken back to my high school days when I was naive and hopeful and where everything seemed to be nerve-wracking and exciting. It's a tough journey—I failed and got embarrassed a lot of times, but like the FMC, I dusted myself up and moved forward. So now be with me as I share with you a brief peek at the life of a girl who's spun her wheels and messed up, but found a wonderful place, wonderful things, and wonderful people that she loves in Skip and Loafer.
About the Anime
Skip and Loafer is a seinen anime that premiered in the spring of 2023. It aired from April 4, 2023, to June 20, 2023. It's a drama anime that was animated by P.A. Works. Since the characters were mostly high schoolers, its theme obviously revolves around school, and also it's a slice-of-life with a tinge of romance. This 12-episode anime was based on the manga that was written and illustrated by Misaki Takamatsu.
To achieve her noble goal for her hometown, Mitsumi Iwakura leaves the peaceful Ishikawa Prefecture to attend her studies in the fast-paced city of Tokyo. With her great dreams and love for learning, she's definitely confident that moving into Tokyo wouldn't be that hard—or so she thought. Despite having confidence and plans, in the face of the bustling city, she got lost. Caught in the morning rush and crowd sickness—she leans dejectedly on the station's wall with her high hopes slowly disappearing. However, it seems that fate still favors her at that time because Shima Sosouke, a first-year student who attends the same school as her offers to go with her.
She thought that her misfortunes ended at the train station, but unfortunately, it didn't. Her misfortunes further led her to have a bad first impression in front of her new teachers and classmates, but that didn't stop her from picking her pace and trying to make her day better. With a new environment and people, she's bound to experience the hardships of fitting in. Tokyo is sure a fast and busy city, and Mitsumi certainly needs to keep up with it to reach her great goals. She may stumbled down and messed up, but she surely would get back up and skip her way towards the people who care for her.
I thought I still had a long way to go to finish this anime, but upon rewatching it, I realized that where I stopped watching it is just so close to its season's end. Maybe I got really impatient waiting on the new eps or the pacing did somehow bore me at some point (I watched it after I finished watching OPM, so I'm not surprised that the pacing somehow didn't bode well for me) and so I dropped it. Nevertheless, after rewatching it, I can really say I've enjoyed it. Since its pacing is quite slow, 'of course, there are tranquil and almost boring parts, but setting that aside it felt nice watching it.
The MC was definitely not your typical shy and mostly helpless one. Mitsumi is really a quirky and likable character—I thought she'd be the one who'd have challenging personal battles, but I was wrong! She's a character that totally doesn't need improvement because she's fine the way she is. She's awkward and even oblivious most of the time, but she's really a good judge of character. So much for praising the ever-green flag FMC, her opposite is her potential love interest—Shima.
Visually, he is pleasing but that aside, I think he's the type of boy I don't want to fall in love with. Ok, ok don't judge me yet, but I do find him nice, gentlemanly and kinda a friend material, but there's an air of negativity I felt upon seeing his character for the first time. And it turns out I'm right because he's definitely someone that needs character improvement and if you wanted to know if he did get the improvement he need, then try watching it! As for other characters, I can say that this one is indeed a slice-of-life because the characters are pretty much like my classmates way back then, and watching them do high school stuff does bring back both the good and embarrassing memories—ahhhhh I'm really getting old~
I thought that this anime would be shoujo or pure romance anime, but it turns out that it's a seinen anime?! Its art style really screams romance—from the light colors to cute character designs. The sceneries that were featured there were sure lovely—especially the ones that were from Mitsumi's hometown. The color palette that they mostly used matches well with the lightheartedness of the story. Just like its pacing, there were times that I found the movement of the characters sluggish to the point I thought my phone was lagging. Nevertheless, I like how they portrayed each character's expression. Their art style wasn't that detailed, but it showed their emotions well.
Its soundtrack was nice and as heartwarming as the anime. The background music and sounds at the beginning really evoke a nice amount of nostalgia in me. Also, I remembered that its opening song has that dance part become well known. They're really cute and wholesome to watch—especially the part where they're dancing to the beat of its opening. The ending song was pretty laid-back and somehow forgettable for me, but anyway it's somehow fit for ending each episode.
Overall, my rating for this anime is 8.5/10. This anime is a breath of fresh air for me because of how laid-back and wholesome it is. It didn't have heavy and serious conflicts, so most of the time I was in a good mood while watching it (except those times I was somehow annoyed with Egashira or irked with Ririka). I was kinda expecting more romance, so there's indeed a tinge of disappointment in me when I didn't get it much of it, but anyway I know season two will really sate that yearning of mine (thanks to spoilers I voluntarily discovered, I now know that there will be a significant improvement in the bleep-bleep-bleep!—secret...I know you know and I know I'm oversharing so just ignore me). So if you're up for something lighthearted and entertaining slice-of-life anime, then this review is definitely you're sign to watch Skip and Loafer.
Before I end this review, I'll share with you its opening song, so—
Have you seen this anime before? Or is this your first time encountering it? If you have thoughts about it feel free to share it in the comments. That's all for now, minna-san! I hope you enjoyed reading my review.
Arigatou and tanoshinde ne~
The pictures that didn't have source were screenshots from the anime while the last picture was edited in Canva.
