Alternative title(s): Skip to Loafer
Manga Adaptation by P.A. Works
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Mitsumi is finally moving out of the rural sticks and into Tokyo to attend high school, but the hustle and bustle of city life is more than she bargained for. Will she even be able to make friends, let alone accomplish her dreams?

Iro’s verdict: Cute

Despite edging a little close to being outright glurge, I had a pretty good time with the first episode of Skip and Loafer. “High school slice-of-life” is pretty well-trodden ground by now, but that also means you broadly know what you’re in for with this kind of show and it probably won’t get too bad. It’s got solid comedic timing buoyed by great character animation and a charming aesthetic. I’m not exactly chomping at the bit for more, but I wouldn’t be against it either.

Artemis’ verdict: Surprisingly Refreshing

I was pleasantly surprised by this one – not because I was expecting it to be bad, but just because I had few expectations to begin with and therefore defaulted in my head to “eh, it’ll probably be alright.” To be clear, Skip and Loafer is far better than just “alright,” in large part thanks to its excellent sense of timing. The story might not be the most original (after all, realistic slice-of-life anime set in modern-day Japan and centering around high school characters can only go so far), but what Skip and Loafer does, it does very well. The characters are both fallible and likable and the comedy is genuinely funny, and like I said, timed excellently. Combined with the breezily charming art style and on-point voice acting, this made for a surprisingly refreshing-feeling watch. It may falter later on depending on how well the romantic aspects are handled, but just based on this first episode, it’s been my favorite spring ’23 premiere thus far.