Back to Ishikawa we go, though Skip to Loafer doesn’t spend as much time there as yesterday’s seinen romance, Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia.  It’s seen mostly in flashbacks here, though make no mistake – the countryside plays an important role in Skip and Loafer.  Mitsumi has been molded by her upbringing in a very fundamental way, as this episode perhaps more than any previous took pains to demonstrate.  You can take the girl out of the inaka, but you can’t take the inaka out of the girl.

I find the more Kanechika-sempai the better, because for me he’s the funniest member of the cast (which is convenient, as so is Kimura Ryouhei).  He’s still bound and determined to recruit Sousuke for the dorama-bu, and latches cleverly onto “pushover” Mitsumi as a means to make it happen.  To that end he shows her a clip of Shima’s child-acting days, and she’s certainly impressed.  But, as socially sheltered as she is, she realizes that if he hasn’t talked about that part of his life it must be because he doesn’t want it talked about.

Mitsumi’s daydreamer tendencies are a major focus this week, and her consternation over being asked to recruit Sousuke on Kanechika’s behalf has her off her game.  She punts an English quiz and gets hit in the nose (unlike Yamada, by a volleyball – but she ends up at the same place, the nurse’s office).  Her eventual strategy is to come clean with him, which is definitely the right move.  Sousuke is cagey about the whole thing, only saying that when he acted it was because it made his mother happy.  I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this, but it continues to be a background issue for now.

Into the spotlight steps Takamine Tokiko (Tsuda Minami), the student councilor we briefly met in the premiere.  Mitsumi is (needlessly) stressing over her tendency to space out hurting her grades, and her homeroom teacher sends her to the uber-disciplined Takamine-san for advice.  Which Takamine is only too happy to provide, taking her kouhai under her wing for the day.  This includes a bus ride out into the countryside to talk to a local about urban farming, and Takamine stresses (hmm) how important it is not to waste a single moment which could be used for studying or tasking.

It’s a bit soft-pedaled – because that’s Skip to Loafer’s style – but there are some fairly deep issued being teased at here.  Never mind that Takamine is actually stressed out and miserable, with stomach pains as a reward for her constant worrying about efficiency.  The fact is, what’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.  We’re all wired differently, and we have to figure out a way of living which works for us.  High school is, if anything, possibly the most important venue to do just that.  Even if Takamine’s way was good (it’s not) it certainly wouldn’t be good for Mitsumi.

Now, this is certainly resolved in a cute and satisfying way.  The housecat encounter at the bus stop, then Takamine’s dream – which segues into her conflating Mitsumi with a rather insouciant cat creature she sees in her dreams.  For me, this is actually a bit of a limiter for Skip to Loafer, because so far at least pretty much everything gets resolved in a cute and satisfying way.  The problems these kids deal with are quite realistic and relatable, but they reconcile themselves more easily than you’d expect, and the kids are a little too wise for their years.

Now, is that a criticism, per se?  To be honest I’m not totally sure myself.  I think that’s just the nature of the series, and the fact is that it’s a very pleasant one to spend time with.  Maybe, for me, S&L is a hair less interesting than the likes of BokuYaba and Insomniacs (and maybe even The Clueless Transfer Student is Assertive) because of it.  But it’s also the easiest to kick back and enjoy without working too hard emotionally, and there’s something to be said for that.  We’re talking about a really outstanding group of series here  – choosing among them, I suppose, just comes down to personal taste.