[SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SKIP AND LOAFER! AND ALSO A LONG ASS REVIEW]

As a person who was never much of a fan of the Slice of Life genre, mostly because they're quite dull and boring, I came to actually really REALLY like this one. Ever since the first episode, it gave me a sense of warmth and what comes after is even better! It was actually relatable and so sweet to see these characters come together as friends. Whats even better is that no one is 1 dimensional, they all have motives, goals, ambitions, and have a slight dark side to them. These characteristics make them feel more real which I really appreciate, and it is what most anime are missing (ofc not all). I really enjoyed this one, so without further ado, let's get on with the review shall we?

Coming at you with the pros first!

Pros:

Animation-
There isn't much said about this particular series' animation, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing! There are not any animation downsides to this show :D Everything is serviceable and has decent animation! Ofc it is not Fate or Demon Slayer level of animation, but it is good enough to make you keep watching :) There are not much errors I have seen in the animation, or any for that matter. Blue Lock had goofier animation, but it is carried by hype and its characters which is why it is highly ranked. So what do I say after this analysis, IT IS GUD :3

Story-
SO, the main story is quite simple and chill.
Mitsumi Iwakura was born and raised in the mountains and countryside of Japan! She then gets enrolled into a great prep school located in Tokyo, this is for her to get better opportunities than schools where she lives. Mitsumi wants to be a politician for Japan to solve their problem of low population and dying ghost towns in the outskirts. She tries to accomplish this goal to go to a proper school where she might get her dream of becoming one. On her way there, she discovers new people and potential friends along the way. She then spends the rest of her high school days learning the ways of city life, new friends, and learn her way through life.
So this is the main story of Skip and Loafer! Seems easy enough right?! Well yes, this show is more character based than story based. Of course the story is present throughout, but this is more of a personal journey through self discovery and what the youth of today can express. We the audience are looking at each individuals struggles in life, their worst traits, their best traits, goals, and ambitions. This makes it more personal and as a viewer, it is pleasant to see characters grow and be self aware as the show goes on. Story is very base level, but what it accomplishes the most is the character writing.

Characters-
By far the best aspect of the show is the characters. Since we have a big cast, this might be a long one but stick around for some character analysis. The characters is what carry a lot of the show, along with its good character writing, as I said in the story section. So lets pluck them out and analyze them.
-Mitsumi is the main character of the show. As I said, she was born and raised in the countryside of Japan and soon wants to become a politician to fix issues that modern day Japan is struggling with. This is her drive when it comes to her main goals. Throughout the show, she is taking classes and volunteers on things that can be helpful for her future. That's good, but her journey through high school life in the city is what really matters and sets the point of the show. Mitsumi is very hard working, lovable, bubbly, quirky, and charming as a character. She attracts people with her friendliness and kindness! She also has a bit of weirdness to her, but that's what attracts most characters to her. She is super lovable as a person and very extroverted, which is what brings in her group of friends she encounters. There are also other traits to her that doesn't make her just positive. She is also naïve, sensitive, a bit childish, and an overthinker. She also doesn't know much about the social norms in the city like Tokyo, so her accent and slang can confuse some people. All these are not really negative traits, but they are quirks that makes her character work. Of course there are some downsides, such as her misunderstanding people socially and overthinking too much, as well as taking in as much work as she can which can push her to her limit. But these are what characters need. Mitsumi sometimes struggles a bit when it comes to her idea of people and what city life is like and she has general cringy moments that would definitely make you cringe as well XD But that is all fine because of the relatability of it all. Don't you fuckers start talking, I know we were all cringe as hell in middle school and high school (spoken by a 17 year old bitch here). But, what truly makes her character is her interactions with Shima-kun. Shima-kun is a whooolleee bibliography of a person and I'd argue that he is the second main character! Let's get on with his character.
-Sousuke Shima is the second half of the anime. No, literally, he has a whole arc about himself and has even more depth to him than the MAIN CHARACTER. I would argue he is the second protagonist. This poor boy is surrounded by trauma and I felt his pain! He may honestly be one of the best side characters due to how much attention he gets in the anime, let me tell y'all his character.
Shima used to be a child actor and he always wanted to make his mom happy. His mother didn't always seem to have a happy life, as her marriage started falling apart at the time Shima was a little kid. As Shima went on to act alongside his childhood friends, mostly Ririka. Then a incident happened when Shima took Ririka to an inappropriate party while they were underage. People found out and this turned into a huge scandal/controversy. It got so bad, that Shima had to retire from acting and has severed his friendship with Ririka, while also facing guilt and regret. He then just wanted to restart his life as a high schooler in Tokyo.
His character seems more deep right? Which is funny, because we didn't have any indication of his backstory or character until halfway through the show. Shima at first is shown to be hopelessly kind, friendly, handsome, and dense when that is not true at all. His entire "nice" persona he has on is just that, a façade. He really didn't want people to know about himself due to his guilt and insecurities as a person, so he just pretends to be someone he is not. Shima is actually really smart and depressed. He does feel satisfaction around Mitsumi and others, but he never felt whole as a person and is a rather sad and empty man. It is quite hard to see because he is such a sweetheart and such a lovable character. Shima struggles in his past trauma with his career, friends, and mother. He seems to never let go of the past due to it haunting him wherever he walks, and who am I talking about? Ririka. Ririka never lets go of the incident since it traumatized her in a way and her career never felt the same. She keeps Shima on a leash wherever he goes and keeps taunting him about the 'good' old days. His mother always felt guilt and their relationship fell apart after awhile, since they barely even contact each other anymore. All of this leads to Shima blaming himself with him convincing that the root is his career and himself. He thinks that everything was his mistake and if he didn't follow his dream, none of this would've of happened which explains his sad and dull point of view of the world. What Shima was missing inside is being honest with himself and mending his past relationships to give closure to finally have peace in his life. All of these contribute to Shima and that makes him such a deep character. A person who fakes himself and pretends for the sake of others because of trauma and guilt will never make me not shed a tear. He is a perfectly written character and the Festival Arc makes our boy shine on the most.
-Now while we got the mains out of the way, we have the side characters here. Mika Egashira was one of the first side characters introduced other than Mitsumi's country friend Fumino. She was quite ominous at first and anyone who saw her would give the sus stare. Mika was actually a rival at first. Her first interaction being passive aggressive towards Mitsumi until she found out that her and Shima actively talk to each other. You see, she has a crush towards Shima, but could never express her feelings because of fear of rejection and trust me, we will get to that soon. She was kind of unlikable until the show went on to make her decent, I say decent because she is still kinda rude XD but in a friend-ish way.
Mika used to be an overweight girl who would be criticized and made fun of. She gained a high sense of insecurity, so she started working out and eating less food. She tries fashion and style to make herself look more appealing. To this day, she is still quite insecure about herself.
Mika is super insecure about herself and gets envious of Mitsumi due to the friendship that her and Shima have. She actively plots against her to get closer to Shima, up until Shima notices right away and scolds her for it. This made Mika become more self aware of herself and tries to control it. She could be described as rude, moody, insecure, and condescending but she does have her positive traits. She can be friendly once she opens herself up to others and can genuinely have fun! She also still gets jealous of Mitsumi, but now she actively hangs out with her and have sleepovers as well AND ITS WITH NO MALICE. She is by no means a nice person, but I feel like her development will definitely grow out (plz season 2).
-Now we have the minor characters that show up every once in awhile, so I will list them here.
Yuzuki Murashige is a popular girl that hates the social norms as women, like talking about romance all the time. She really just wants to be treated like everyone else and have normal day to day conversations that are less gossip talk and more fun talk. She despises attention from people who only like her looks, she is stylish without trying, and loves art as well. She is a nice character and is more mature of the bunch.
-Makoto Kurume is a shy nerdy girl who seemingly despises social interaction at first, but Mitsumi definitely brought out the character in her. Makoto actually likes hanging around other people and she loves to eat as well. She just goes along with everyones plans and fun shenanigans. She also slightly disliked Yuzuki due to her popular status. Of course this turns around for the better and both of them become friends.
-Tokiko Takamine is a girl part of the student council and met Mitsumi when Mitsumi signed up for it. Mitsumi looks up to her as a mentor and Tokiko takes great pride in that. Tokiko is serious, but kind towards her colleagues (maybe except Hiroto). Tokiko is the definition of workaholic and doesn't like that fun can take away any important time for her. Of course, Mitsumi, the bright star, shows that a little break time and fun will never hurt anyone. Tokiko took this and now fondly takes notes of. She is a pretty nice character and her freakouts are funny (and a lil relatable).
-Narumi Kanechika is a passionate theater kid that bugs Shima all the time. Narumi is a very hyper and passionate person which quickly matches the energy of Mitsumi. Shima didn't like him at first due to Narumi pushing him for theater when Shima took no interest and actively avoids it due to his past. Narumi still strived to talk to Shima and create an original play that everyone would enjoy. He is a very happy guy even when Shima and others are put off with his wacky energy. I like his silly goose.
-Nao is a minor character, but I would like to take a moment with her. To the people who quit the show because Nao is trans should stick their finger in their ass, suck it, and drink toilet water because FUCK YOU AND I HOPE YOU GET COCKROACHES CRAWLING UNDER YOUR CLOTHES. Nao isn't even a major character, but even then she is so sweet as an aunt and is so overprotective of Mitsumi. It is sweet she really cares for her and acts like a motherly figure. Also don't tell me that she doesn't slay her outfits cuz RAAAAHHH. I have seen controversy around her, but at this point its not even "propoganda" or "shoving politics in our faces" you fools, we know what you really are and what you really think. Gosh this is like Heavenly Delusion, where people went apeshit over lesbian girls and the implications of Kiruko, just say that you hate LGBT bruh, everyone at this point knows due to your stupid ass comments. (this ofc is towards dumbasses that said this under the Crunchyroll or other site comments)

Phew that was a long write (took 1 hour), now lets get on with the rest!

Voice Acting-
The voice acting is what I think most anime should do. Make your characters sound normal and natural. If you guys don't know, I despise the anime girl cute voice so much and the dramatic guys that yells too much. Skip and Loafer offers normal sounding characters and make them sound natural, for the most part haha XD Mitsumi can get overboard with her voice sometimes, but thats not a bad thing! I would like to shout out to Akinori Egoshi with his performance as Shima because he made Shima sound so damn adorable and so soothing as well. He just sounds like a sweetheart and I LOVE IT!! Ofc this makes Shimas existential episodes harder to watch, that poor boi. Ofc EVERYONE did an amazing job and I commend them all for a great performance :3

Soundtrack-
The soundtrack is nothing TOO special, it is serviceable and quite cute to listen to. NO BUT WHEN I SAY ABOUT SHIMA SINGING!! Okay so in the Festival Arc, our boy had to sing for a play and when I tell you that the amount of whiplash and laughing I got from him singing is TOO MUCH! IM DEAD BRUH XDXD It isn't embarrassing or anything, in fact that was one of the cuter and heartwarming moments of the show, but it caught me so off guard that I went feral bruh XDXD Soundtrack is great! Shima singing will be in my head from now on.

Art Style-
The art in Skip and Loafer is so unique and different! It has this watercolor, storybook type of art and it is so aesthetically soothing to watch. It makes all the characters look cute! The simplistic art style definitely lifts it up and I didn't expect to make me feel things as well. When things are calm and characters are just having fun in that art style, it brings me tears of joy, as dramatic as that sounds. The art gives me warmth and comfort and I will give it a point for that.

Alrighty this took awhile, but that is not all folks! WE HAVE THE CONS!

Cons:

Surprisingly I don't have much cons, but that doesn't mean they are present, so here we go.

Story-
Although the character writing is amazing and the story does take its time. I feel like certain episodes are either too slow or too fast. Some scenes takes 5 minutes in a montage of scenery and what characters are doing in their house, like doing chores or hobbies. It can be a bit weird where it takes forever to get from one scene to the next in some episodes. Most episodes are well paced, but they could've went a little quicker at some parts.
Towards the end of the series, it felt a little rushed. When Shima realized his worth, it was a well written sequence, but parts of it felt rushed, mostly the character interaction with Ririka at the end and how Ririka tells the audience how she really feels. Speaking of Ririka, her ass comes next.

Characters-
Ririka...FUCK RIRIKA! I couldn't give less of a damn of this bitch even when she outright said that she feels guilty and jealous of Shima. Y'know what she deserves?!? For her ass to sit down and wait for, yours truly, to give her the biggest hornswoggling, flabbergasting, perplexing slap of all time. She forced Shima to be with her like if he's a dog, got out of her way to destroy his social life in high school, humiliates him, insults and fights with his mom, and verbally abuses Shima. HOW DOES SHIMA DEAL WITH THIS BITCH?!?!? I know he feels guilt, but that shit was years ago. This crusty improper fraction just does not let it go!! And even after her explanation of the way she is, I'm sorry, BUT I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!

I hope you choke on a motherfucking cheese stick, you nasty, greasy, bitch. You look you drink drink white Gatorade and smell like nickels, fuck you. --- Batman

Ririka really ruined a minute portion of the show due to her existing. If there are many haters, then I am the #1 hater, if there are a few haters, then I volunteer for #1 hater, if there is one hater, that hater is fucking ME, if there are no haters, then that means I am dead because I will ALWAYS be her #1 hater.

Anyways, that review was something HAH HAH HEEEHEEHAHAHA :D (guys it is currently 4 am, save me please)

This show is really fucking good and I recommend everyone to try it out! It is definitely one of the goodies, unfortunately it is not a 9 because I am saving that one for another seasonal SoL anime that I actually enjoyed a lot more! Not to say I didn't with this one, in fact this is one of my highest rated SoL anime because it didn't entirely kill me out of boredom.

Thank you for reading this far! And I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, my next review will probably be Yuri is My Job which.... Jesus Christ, what a nightmare :D

8.5/10! A good show that I recommend anyone to watch

Side Note- Oh my lord bruh, the amount of shit I would sacrifice to have a person like Shima become my boyfriend. Don't worry baba grill, I will take care of you and make you happy ;)