Might we be starting to see an actual plot twist in Skip to Loafer? After a pretty fluffy first half, the B-part definitely kicked up the intensity level – albeit in a different way that it looked like at first. The student council stuff has never been among the more compelling parts of this series for me, and that angle pretty much dominated the A-part. Mitsumi has become the council secretary – which is a nice step forward in her self-proclaimed leadership life path. But things aren’t exactly going according to plan for Takamine-sempai, her idol.
Does it suck for Takamine to lose out on the presidency when a total piker named Kazakami Hiroto (Enoki Junya) enters at the last minute for vain and selfish reasons? Obviously. But high school isn’t known for its fairness, and frankly I’m not that interested in her arc so it’s hard to get too worked up over it. This does prompt another visit from Kanechika-san, though, and that’s always good for some entertaining moments. After a classic “too soon” faux pas, he takes it upon himself to cheer Takamine up – which he (somewhat oddly) does by showing her the first movie he ever shot, when he was in 5th grade.
Summer break is coming soon, which means it’s confession season as kids make a move on their crush as the prospect of being separated for a month poses dire risks. For Sousuke this is rather a trying time, given his popularity level. He’s gotten very good at saying no – out of necessity, I suppose. It’s easy to see why Sousuke bonds so strongly with Mitsumi, because every day he’s bombarded with shallowness and superficiality because of how he looks. She’s a little grounded oasis in the desert that is his social life.
The best moment of the episode came when Mitsumi invited Sousuke to go with her to Ueno Zoo to see the pandas (and stock up on tchotchkes for the gang back home). Her brain said one thing, her mouth another, and this was very cleverly portrayed. One might call this a Freudian slip if one were so inclined, but whatever you call it, it sure sounds like a date. Unfortunately Egashira-san overhears this, and while it seemed as if she’d given up Sousuke as a lost cause, her reaction betrays that she hasn’t really come to terms with it yet. This was our first moment of real drama here – hopefully this doesn’t rend the fabric of the patchwork of girlfriends Mitsumi has woven together around her.
The big twist though is the arrival of Saijou Ririka (Kotobuki Minako) – who ANN says we met in the first episode, though I don’t remember it (Sousuke’s restaurant friend meetup, maybe?). Ririka is an old friend of Shima-kun’s obviously, but he certainly doesn’t seem glad to see her. Egashira-san immediately recognizes her as a model, and the disdain fairly drips off Ririka as she surveys Shima’s new stomping grounds (and the girl he wants to stomp with). I wouldn’t expect this to get too nasty – this is still Skip and Loafer after all – but on paper it could be the first real dramatic turn of the series so far.
Rob Barrett
May 17, 2023 at 11:24 pmFu fu fu, I say. Fu fu fu.
SeijiSensei
May 18, 2023 at 12:56 amWe better see some pandas. Galaxy Next Door promised pandas in its zoo episode, but we never saw one!
Nicc
May 18, 2023 at 6:39 amThe exams are over and the students can breathe a sigh of relief. Oh yeah, and summer break will be starting soon. Since she already has her entire life planned out, of course Mitsumi does the same for summer vacation as she’ll be headed back for home soon. She’ll have a lot of stories of big city life to share.
Mitsumi also made her first stop in her quest for world domination by securing a position on the student council as secretary. But, with a new boss as Takamine was ousted. Yep, school elections always has been a popularity contest. She’s feeling down and Kanechika tries to cheer her up. Well, at least the second time was more successful as he shared an amateur film from his youth. It does the trick and Takamine successfully moves on with a different outlook.
We also see that it’s Confession Season (At least for some people) and Sousuke has had to swat down one confession after another, including one the train station. While everybody is watching Sousuke torpedo the hopes of another girl, Mitsumi and the others are making some plans for summer. To Egashira’s surprise, she finds out she’s part of that friendship circle, though she doesn’t feel like she belongs.
Yep, it was the final part of the episode that was the most interesting. Mitsumi seems to have inadvertently asked Sousuke to a zoo date and he accepts. Egashira overhears that conversation, but there’s more as Saijou Ririka shows up at school and she seems to be an old friend of Sousuke. Egashira recognizes her as a model. Is she somebody that Sousuke knows from back in his acting days? She seems to be on the bossy side and I’m sure that we’ll be seeing more about her soon.
Mercesoul
May 18, 2023 at 6:53 pmThis is kinda out of left field, but do you mind if I ask you what your politics are? Based on what I can gather on your views from your posts you seem to lean left, but do you have any specific ideology you tend to align yourself with? You don’t have to go in-depth, though I’d welcome it.
Guardian Enzo
May 18, 2023 at 7:32 pmThat’s not an area I really like to go into here. My twitter feed is probably a better read as far as that’s concerned.
Mercesoul
May 18, 2023 at 7:42 pmfair enough!
Guardian Enzo
May 19, 2023 at 8:39 amNP. You wouldn’t have to dig too deep over there to get a pretty good grasp of my general worldview.