Sparkling-Fresh 

Episode 1 of Skip And Loafer centers on Mitsumi, a 15-year-old who is starting school in Tokyo after spending her formative years in a small town in which her entire class consisted of just eight people. She has been best friends with the same person since kindergarten, and we learn that she intends to use her education to succeed.

Mitsumi has her life planned out to the point where she would like her ashes scattered, starting with graduating as valedictorian and moving on to a profession at the Ministry of Internal Affairs to address the critical issues of rural depopulation.

Mitsumi thinks she can navigate the subway system by herself, but she gets stranded on her way to the opening ceremony at school because she was confused about the directions. Thereafter, Shima, her future classmate, who was running late due to his lack of motivation, agrees to help Mitsumi in making it to school.

Moreover, he’s motivated to sprint the remaining distance to school after seeing Mitsumi drop her footwear in order to make it in time for her speech because she is the top student in the class.

Fortunately, Mitsumi and Shima arrive at school before Mitsumi’s name is called to deliver her speech. When Mitsumi finally reaches the stage to deliver her speech, she forgets to take it out of her bag. Shima in particular is stunned to see that she has memorized every word of her lengthy speech and delivered it without missing a beat.

Mitsumi attempts to go to the washroom after finishing her speech, but her teacher blocks her path. She then throws up on her teacher, which naturally makes her feel embarrassed.

Mitsumi’s first day of school does not go as planned, which upsets her. She heads to class and tries to talk to a girl who brushes her aside because Mitsumi threw up earlier. Shima, on the other hand, saves the day by inquiring if she’s alright and asks for her social ID. He then asks her to be his friend. The girl who had previously ignored her then follows suit.

Mitsumi goes on to say that her first day of school went according to plan while on a call with her best friend Fumi Chan. She proceeds by claiming that she made two friends, going on to discuss the incident at the subway but quickly covering up.

Mitsumi’s aunt Nao Chan brings her some delicious food from a posh deli when she gets home from work to celebrate her first day of school. Meanwhile, Fumi informs Mitsumi’s family about Mitsumi’s first day.

Shima and his friends are eating at a restaurant. However, he rushes home in order to get to school on time the next day. Interestingly, he blushes as he thinks about Mitsumi while he’s on the subway.

Mitsumi tries to sleep early so that her day goes as planned. She’s concerned about her upcoming self-introduction and begins preparing for it.

The Episode Review

This slice-of-life show, which is premised on the manga written and created by Misaki Takamatsu, encapsulates an understanding of the experiences of being a high schooler without openly dramatizing them. Furthermore, Shima’s point of view, as it must be included in the manga too, generates a degree of harmony between the two, although they barely get to know each other.

Even though we only get to know a handful of characters in this episode—primarily Mitsumi, Shima, and Mitsumi’s aunt—this debut is the perfect representation of how good anime can be in establishing character relationships in a short amount of time.