#social awkwardness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mitsumi’s got a plan. High school. College. Post-graduate academia. Proficient work in governmental affairs. Active retirement as an influential civic leader. Mitsumi’s got a plan.
Now, if only Mitsumi didn’t get lost on her first day of high school.
Such are the inevitabilities when a raucously overconfident but eternally kind teenager faces off against the largest challenge of her young adult life. Mitsumi is a kid from the sticks attending a school located in the world’s largest metropolitan area. Tokyo’s a bright, big, busy, noisy place; it’s a daunting springboard. As for Mitsumi? She’s got a plan.
SKIP AND LOAFER is a wonderfully fulfilling manga. The humor is warm-hearted and the characters are all purposefully but flexibly crafted. It’s a coming-of-age manga whose guiding principle is that awkwardness and uncertainty are the mandatory guardrails of maturity. Everyone thinks they’ve got a handle on things until they don’t.
Mitsumi is late for her first day of school but she’s incredibly book smart, and it’s impossible for her peers to get a read on her because she’s constantly resetting everyone’s expectations of what they are going to get from a dreamer like her.
Yuzuki is tall and standoffish, but the girl’s stoic and cynical nature instantly crumbles when Mitsumi belts out the anthem of a children’s TV show during karaoke. The bespectacled Makoto slouches, mumbles to herself, and hates being alone, but when she realizes the clumsy yet ebullient Mitsumi is just as content to stumble through life as to glide (even if she’s stumbling under the impression she’s gliding), the dour glasses-girl realizes it’s okay to stretch and enjoy life’s oddities.
On the surface, a great deal of the protagonist’s exploits are simple and familiar. The manga repeatedly pivots around Mitsumi’s fish-out-of-water scenarios that include karaoke, dressing fashionably, operating a fancy new cellphone, visiting a nifty new café, and joining a school club. None of these endeavors or scenarios are original. However, Mitsumi’s social awkwardness always wins the day.
For example, after stressing about her class intro, the girl accidentally earns the rep of a gangster (Mitsumi: “I deserve a place at the top!”). And when the girl tries tracking down the student council in search of someplace to volunteer, she can’t help but creep up on unsuspecting classmates, glower over their shoulder, and dryly pester them about their ambitions (Mitsumi: “Do you have some time today?”). Everything that should be casual and typical of the first week of high school becomes, in the words of the bookworm Makoto, “bizarre,” and it’s all thanks to Mitsumi.
SKIP AND LOAFER also includes numerous kernels of curiosity, floating just beneath the surface. One of Mitsumi’s classmates is clearly attempting to manipulate the country girl and take advantage of her humility. Elsewhere, the leading male protagonist, described in-text as a “stupid himbo,” apparently shies away from a past he’s not too proud of. And Mitsumi’s aunt, Nao-chan, who helps house the peculiar protagonist, is queer-coded. SKIP AND LOAFER is a genuinely funny and obtuse manga whose imperfect characters are well aware they have plenty of room to grow and plenty of time to do so.
Comics Reviews||ahb writes on Good Reads
