SKIP TO LOAFER

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ComedySkip to Loafer
MUSIC RomanceMellow
ANIME ComedySkip to Loafer 2nd Season

REVIEWS

• 

  Mcsuper

  92/100
  A Grounded Look At High Schoolers And Their Interactions

  This will always make me have such a big, dumb smile on my face.

  This is the epitome of modern slice of life. It’s a very high standard of grounded, realistic high school drama, that can have you really connected to the characters without any of the developments being particularly forced. One might look at the opening and think this is a romcom, but it’s much more than that. On the surface, it’s just some teenage school drama, and very simple, but I can assure you, this is something quite worth your time if you’re into the slice of life genre.

  The story is centred around Mitsumi Iwakura, a lively girl from the countryside that looks to bring change to Japan, transferring into a prestigious high school in Tokyo. She’s got her life all mapped out, the first day of school is looking great, but then, she’s late for school, runs into misfortunes, and barfs on a teacher all on that “perfectly planned day”. While this was certainly an unfavourable first impression, Mitsumi met a fellow student in Sousuke Shima, who is a vastly different person compared to her, as he’s a rather laid back individual. Their friendship blossoms, along with many others in the class around her.

  The main charm to this show has to be the incredibly fruitful cast, most of which have very meaningful development as they get to know and make friends with each other. There aren’t any real tropes at play either, they’re just teens that each have their flaws, problems, insecurities, and live with them. The highlight of the show has to the main protagonist in Mitsumi, as her energy as both infectious to the people around her, but also to us, the viewers, as her energy just makes me have a big, dumb smile on my face every time I see her antics. Her character design is just perfect with how derpy she looks, combined with her voice actor, Tomoyo Kurosawa (VA for Kumiko from Sound! Euphonium, and Phos from Land of the Lustrous), doing such a great job voicing her, especially with her expressive inner monologues. All of the other cast members are amazing in their own ways, with a variety of personalities that clash in one big friend group. It’s always interesting to see the most unlikely group of people making friends with each other. While it may seem like a very simple, slice of life anime, there’s probably something or someone that you can relate to, rather it’s a social situation, relationships, or a character’s personality.

  The animation might not be the most flashy, but the style certainly works well in creating a comfy, friendly atmosphere. It’s a great showing of “finding beauty in the mundane”, both from the characters point of view, or us watching the characters and their daily lives. The director, Kotomi Deai, was the director for Natsume’s Book Of Friends, and you can see the resemblance in the art style, as it feels very “homey” and comfy, if you catch my drift, even there’s some drama going on. The music certainly compliments that comfy vibe very well.

  Overall, this is such a grounded, yet extremely compelling slice of life with very realistic high school age kids, with their teenage emotions raging in their heads. Everyone has faults, just like we all do as human beings, and the characters learn and grow through their interactions with one another. There aren’t any annoying misunderstandings, tropes, or any fan-service to distract us from how realistic it all feels. It’s almost like I was truly back in high school again. It’s so very warming, kind, and it always leaves a smile on my face. Definitely one of the best anime this season.

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• 

  ZNote

  90/100
  Warm and natural as a small summer's breeze.

  (Video includes audio. Be sure to unmute)

  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.

  (Mitsumi running with Shima to make it to the opening ceremony on time, both clips animated in-part by Seguchi Izumi. A character being thrown out of their element and into a new situation is a running thread throughout the show)

  “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, you cannot necessarily know what everyone 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 barriers 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.

  

  (Murashige and Kurume’s friendship is one of the anime’s most unlikely, yet a wholly natural development out of Skip to Loafer’s penchant for fostering warmth in the tiny touches of understanding between people)

  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. 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.

  

  (This shot from episode nine, holding while Mitsumi eats some watermelon off-screen with her softly crunching, shows Deai’s comfortability in just letting a tranquil emotion and moment in time exist uninterrupted)

  Such was the warmth of its web that any combination of characters in any setting at any time, could be put 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.

  (Mitsumi realizing that a new beginning lies in wait for her. Many more will follow)

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• 

  LordSozin

  80/100
  A Series That Does More Than What It Seems.

  At some point in everyone's early school life, they experienced the feeling of agony, dread, and uncertainty as well as excitement and anticipation when they first entered this peculiar realm known as high school. A realm within the larger school system that’s often branded with much importance in the eyes of many as it’s the stage in one’s early life that marks many transitions: The transition phase from a teenager to an adult and becoming a part of society, the transition phase of preparation for further education in Universities, and in some cases, it’s a transition phase of life-changing events that define who one can be later in life. This emphasis is felt throughout various people’s lives and it’s certainly presented heavily in media such as anime.

  Skip to Loafer, to its basic premise is about a bright rural Japanese girl who got into a top high school institution in Tokyo. With such an institution, she wants to use it as a platform for her dreams: Fantasizing about working in the law and governmental sphere as a career with great ambitions, she has already mentally planned out her bigger goals in life of changing her rural side of Japan forever. Brimming with absolute confidence, she steps into the greater Tokyo headstrong but only to get lost on her first day of school.

  When inspecting such ambiguous plot synopsis of Skip to Loafer, the ever so easygoing promotional cover for the anime, and even the standard character designs, one can mistakenly simplify Skip to Loafer down to a generic, run-of-the-mill, slice-of-life high-school drama. While there are dramas in the anime, it’s very minuscule as much of the focus is on the characters and social dynamics. And the drama that takes place is never too overbearing that it becomes silly, exaggerated, and unreasonable. Instead, the dramas in the show are there to foster competent writing of its characters and storytelling.

  What Skip to Loafer does best is the exploration of its cast at a basic human understanding in the most organic and purest ways. Each of the characters in the show has their own motivations, insecurities, flaws, strengths, and tenacity for themselves and each other. What’s so fascinating to watch is that the anime often put them all together and have authentic interactions that highlight the individual traits that ultimately define them. And this way, they learn not only about themselves but also about each other—just like a small but close group of friends in any typical high school environment. When putting such a focus on this particular group of characters, the anime gets the opportunity to go in-depth on each particular individual too. And because the anime is really just about them, when a character is fully explored, the things that we learn about them have a direct connection to the rest of the cast.

  Take Mika Egashira for example, the purpose of her character at the very beginning of the anime was, at first, to be the drama queen of the show. A very confident, manipulative, and very self-aware of social dynamics for a high schooler. Unlike the plain old drama queens of her type, however, she doesn’t just fall into that single category and is strictly confined to it. What the series presents at first is very much a glimpse of her character. An insight into the motivations of her acts and thinking. Rarely does an anime such as this ever give depth to what it’s trying to convey through a character. Skip to Loafer does. What the viewers first see of Mika is not the same at the end of the anime. Through its runtime, the anime understands that to beat outside of its usual set-up, there needs to be more than just a simple flashback for Mika, it needs to first construct and assemble these characters with authentic human emotions and thoughts of high schoolers. The trials and turbulences, and the emotional growth that come with this particular age group. Mika, despite her unlikable attitude at the onset of the anime, she did still have a caring and vulnerable side of her—which is revealed by the time that they all spent together at Karaoke. The point is, the anime took the time to show it to the viewers just enough for us to grasp her thoughts and personality. And when the anime finally did expand on her, we are more inclined to empathize with its presentations.

  One particular highlight of the anime that nails it home is the trials of the high school experience in terms of misunderstandings and communication. In those particular situations where one wants to resolve conflicts, teenagers often struggle to find words to express their thoughts, emotions, and conflicting feelings about themselves and others. In fact, it is a common struggle among all people. The anime not only present these situations from the perspective of infuriation for anyone who’s ever gone through it but also pushes the only known concept to confront these misunderstandings is head-on. To talk. To speak one’s mind. One’s better off being understood than being left in a state of limbo where all the anxiety and guilt-driven feelings reside and the breaking of connections, bonds, and friendships occurs. This is particularly important as the anime expresses it is part of experiencing high school life where forming long potential long-term bonds and friendships materialize and transpire.

  Skip to Loafer offers more insights into the minds of broader high schoolers. The past, present, and future experiences that the characters form in the anime are often presented with much detail and reflections of an authentic experience. The subject that the series tackles are never to preach to anyone. But merely a presentation with an alluring and charming group cast with plenty of depth to themselves.

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