#I guess mitsumi is skip...

[menxisan]

Me watching Skip and loafer: ... But who is Skip and who is loafer...

[avenoirn]

admiration 🌸

[ajwalkerartblog]

i'm very obsessed with skip and loafer atm

[babudarabu]

[mshbite]

Love Language: Being Playful

if Shima saw Mitsumi with hair like this, this is how I imagine they'd interact

[birbliophile]

So I read all the chapters of Skip And Loafer I could find and oh my god I love it for so many reasons but I just wanna gush a little about how awesome I think Nao’s character is. Like I totally thought she was gonna be the token adult family member just hanging out and being the Adult Presence in a slice of life focused on the teenagers but she’s…actually a whole character? She has FLASHBACKS, she has DEPTH, and it’s all so very poignant and relevant to the coming-of-age themes in the story! And then of course:

Me at the start of Skip And Loafer: whoa trans character, neat! Guess she’ll be in the background supporting role that’s cool

Skip And Loafer: whole ass flashback of pre-transition Nao to show how the simple love and acceptance of her toddler niece made such a lasting impact on her when she was isolated and depressed 

Me: whoa what the—

Skip And Loafer: here’s a whole chapter about how when you’re a trans woman it’s normal and fine to mourn the young girl in your heart who was never able to be happy because you thought the things normal girls did would be forever out of reach for you and so it feels like you can’t ever redo your childhood and get that joy you deserved, but that pain doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful to see another young girl you love like your own child thriving the way you never could because she means the world to you and you never want her to ever feel a drop of heartbreak

Me: WHOA OKAY 

Like…oh my god. You’d think that the birthday chapter would focus on Mitsumi and her friends, maybe some shenanigans as the group tries to give Mitsumi the bestest birthday, but there’s relatively little focus on the kids for this chapter—they have a good time and Mitsumi’s happy, but the chapter is ultimately about Nao and her guilt over feeling jealous of Mitsumi’s Normal Teen Girl Life despite being happy as an adult, as well as how much she and Mitsumi cherish each other.

Nao feels so human and real and I love that for her, and I especially enjoy how every part of her character is affected by her being a trans woman. She’s fashionable which makes sense for her job as a professional stylist, but her being trans also adds a dimension of how self expression through clothes and makeup would be deeply important to her. She’s outwardly bubbly and cheerful, but the flashbacks to her pre-transition self and her quieter moments of contemplation make it very clear just how powerful it is that she’s able to be happy now, after so many years of suffering. She offers advice to the girls of the cast like any older woman would (older being relative, she’s only in her mid thirties!) but because she’s trans it carries the weight of “no one was there in my life to tell this to me, I want to make sure you have it better.”

Nao’s portrayal in the manga feels both realistic and…gentle, at the same time. She still experiences transphobia and her transition wasn’t easy for her (it seems like her father wasn’t as supportive as her brother and mother are shown to be, but so far we don’t know the details), but she’s overall happy in the present and her story ultimately to me speaks of trans joy, and I think that’s neat. It’s not like things are perfect for her, but she’s made it through the toughest times.

Also the scene with the pancakes made me want to cry haha

[haru-rain]

I wanted to reread the last few chapters of Skip to loafer and I noticed that the titles of chapters 50 and 57 were similar! And on rereading I noticed a lot of things :

Ujiie changed his hairstyle in chapter 50 and his glasses in chapter 57 (fun fact : Mitsumi has the same hairstyle in both chapters)

The drama club tournament is mentioned in these two chapters, so I guess we can expect to see that in the next arc

in chapter 50 Mitsumi was talking in the past tense about her feelings for Sousuke but in chapter 57 she ends up saying "it's okay if I still like him".

in chapter 50 we learn that Ujiie has feelings for Yasaka and that Mitsumi is more like a mother to him ; in chapter 57 we see Ujiie hiding behind Mitsumi when they see Yasaka so I guess we can expect some evolution between these two and maybe even Mitsumi will play a part in it as Ujiie's mother lol

"I also hope to make someone feel that way one day" Well, there's a certain someone who gets enthusiastic just at the thought of being able to stand out in front of you and who smiles just at the thought of you when you encourage him…

[dragon-of-timeless-blue]

NEW SKIP TO LOFER CHAP IS OUT AND JUST A SMILING MESS AAAAAH

these past weeks have been the worst, so reading this chapter has given me some life back! Wah

Spoiler under the cut

FIRST OF ALL AAAAAAH, so much of Iwakura Family, its so nice to see them, i love their love for Mitsumi and watching them plan their entire trip to Tokyo reminded me of vacations with my family when I was little (⁠｡⁠・⁠/⁠/⁠ε⁠/⁠/⁠・⁠｡⁠)

Mitsumi's mom looks so much like her, it just makes me so happy

SHES SO EXCITED, SHE LOVES THEM SO MUCH, The joy of being able to see family after a while is really beautiful. And like idk, sometimes I feel that in shojo manga (and anime in general?) there is really no focus on the protagonists' family or their relationships are bad, so it just feels so nice and refreshing getting to see living with her loved ones (and how she constantly thinks of them!)

THIS JUST AAAAAAH I MAY CRYYYYY

Whenever she says her "Everyone back in Okajima..." it's so sweet and to be able to give it that twist in this episode is just emotional in a way.

THEY SURE ARE SIBLING 🥺🥺 🥺 🥺

MIMIYUKO RISE AND SHINE, MY GIRLSSSSSSS 🥹

Can i just say that one of my fav parts ir the chapter was Grandma??? her design Is just so cute and tender and shes literally SO GRANDMA (reminds me of mine (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡)

-Telling acquaintances about her granddaughters' achievements with a smile (Mine used to tell the lady in charge about me when we went to get tortillas)

-BUYING A POT OF GOOD QUALITY IN A VACATION!!! LIKEEE, yeah, guess that's just a Grandma Thing™ ♡⁠(⁠Ӧ⁠ｖ⁠Ӧ⁠｡⁠)

I DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT A KAPPABASHI IS BUT ITS HAS A KAPPA!! IT HAS TO BE AWESOME RIGHT???

oh.

something something, people looking at Mitsumi from behind like a luminous being, the dazzling being to follow... 🌟

SHE IS!!! SHE IS COOL SO SO INDESCRIBABLY COOL AND AMAZING I LOVE HER 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

SISTERS HOLDING HANDS MY HEART

THE CULTURAL FESTIVAL IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER, I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER WAAAAAH ～⁠(⁠つ⁠ˆ⁠Д⁠ˆ⁠)⁠つ⁠｡⁠☆

[ranexpositioning]

Confession: I don't like Skip and Loafer. To be fair I can admit it's because of my own issues.

It's because I don't think it's wholesome. I guess it becomes wholesome as Shima learns about feelings and such, but I'm extremely resentful of that boy.

He didn't really think of Mitsumi as a friend, even though she considered him one. He was just nice—in his mind he was just humouring her, and I hate that so so much.

It wasn't even in like an unaware way, he knew fully what he was presenting. It was duplicitous. I know that's a part of his character and that he grows from it, and I think it's neat. It's a great story.

It just brings so many things too close to home for me that I'm unable to engage with it without feeling genuinely angry.

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2025 #19

hello i slept poorly and have a bit of headache! but putting this out now rather than later so i can get the thing done. the project of slowly destroying my goodreads tbr continues apace

Finished:

The Charioteer by Mary Renault, narrated by Joe Jameson read this bc Cat Sebastian got really into it a few years back and put a reference to it in one of here books. interesting! put it on your list if you like reading older books with gay people in them

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, narrated by Rosamund Pike was in a stage production of this when i was a teenager as fanny dashwood. she is so mean i love her. hate john dashwood. enjoy the rest of the cast alright

All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence by Emily L. Thuma, narrated by Erica Kane interesting history of carceral and anticarceral feminisms. it's partially trans inclusive in its feminism (talks about the incarceration of CeCe McDonald and #FreeCeCe) though could always talk more about transness and the carceral state

Death in the Spires by K.J. Charles, narrated by Tom Lawrence KJC i've put off reading for way too long. enjoyed the ride through the mystery of a man trying to solve the murder of one of his friends from college which had caused him to drop out. its not a mystery thats exactly very hard or twisty to figure out, i guessed a good deal of it fairly early but it did hit me in the heart and had an interesting resolution

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 3-4 by Misaki Takamatsu, translated by Nicole Frasik shrieks in delight love this, also love that Mika is just like. friends with Mitsumi's aunt now? hilarious. obviously it's just funny that they encounter each other both spying on Mitsumi and Shima's not-date, and that they both are instagram-addicts, but i'm still starting a "is Mika a deeply closeted trans boy" counter to try and account for her inexplicable admiration and connection with The First Trans Adult she ever meets (first counts: her potential eating disorder and deeply fraught relationship to looking the right amount of pretty and feminine)

Hallowed Murder by Ellen Hart first book in a long running mystery series with a lesbian protagonist! liked the ride of this book but i found the conclusion a bit of a let down (not that the resolution didn't make sense, just that it kinda went the least interesting route for me and i was bored enough by the choice that i started nitpicking the timeline of the climax). may check out the rest of the series

Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott you know i love this because i continue to be obsessed with the Astreiant series! the world feels so large and intricate and yet all of the elements of it that are introduced in each book always click so nicely together as each book's conspiracy unfolds. read these.

Started/Ongoing:

Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents edited by Thomas K. Hubbard i have decided to mostly read the poetry (what i am most interested in) and skim the rest. i am not in school, i can read the parts that i find most valuable to me instead of being prepared to discuss all of it

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki really interesting things happening with pronouns in this book (in the dominant culture, everyone is a woman regardless of sex and someone is only referred to by he/him pronouns if they are being sexually objectified). would love to see some trans analysis on it after i finish reading since one of the protagonists is a "male" woman. only halfway through it right now

[chuluoyi]

Me, smiling happily to read opinion about Satoru canon from 🌸, so I want to share about him too — 😊🍼

I think Satoru is not ready for relationship, 29 is just number sadly. I think he needs to go to therapist and honest with himself first. It will be hard to close with him while he just can't describe what he wants from others to his friends. I guess he never share his feelings or worries, and that's cold behaviour to someone who wants to be friend with him. Because he put impossible standard to reach, and that mindset has to be challenged if he wants genuine relationship. Gosh, I want to say many things to him in person though *´∨`*

There's no one in jjk. But I get a girl from another manga to help him. Mitsumi from skip and loafer (not because shima has mommy issue, besides satoru had all of issues on him). She will treasure him as person first, even though they are lover or not, kid or grandpa, girl or boy. As fans, I definitely support for his happy life with others, everything for him ❤

ooh i totally agree :’) he has deep traumas and all, he should go to therapist *sobs*

i personally haven’t watched/read skip and loafer yet so i can’t comment much, but yes i totally think someone as damaged as gojo has to have someone who can show him that he is enough as he is as a person🥹

[animehouse-moe]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

You're all good! This is the first time I've been asked this. I'm usually terrible with favorites so I always feel like I don't pick the "best" in hindsight, but I'll try to be as accurate as possible. These will also be in no particular order since they all occupy such different areas.

(edit: I just realized in my incredible morning brain state that this said male or female, but I only read the female part haha. So this is just the female lineup, I guess).

Iwakura Lain - Serial Experiments Lain

Lain's a character that has, and will always remain enigmatic. Subjectivity and personal experience remain intertwined with works like Serial Experiments Lain, so what each individual takes away from it will change. Personally, what makes me love Lain is her desperation to communicate, to connect with the people around her. To make friends, to do fun things with them, to understand the people that comprise her life. But that desire spirals, she gets absorbed (like so many do) and becomes something else entirely. Fracturing and separating herself, spreading those instances across the internet in a desperate way to connect. For existing prior to essentially all forms of social media, it depicts the struggle and addiction that trouble countless people in freakishly accurate fashion.

Iwakura Mitsumi - Skip and Loafer

Had to put them next to each other on this list haha. Iwakura Mitsumi though. I don't hate the approach of a lot of Shojosei in terms of high school slice of life/romance, but I find much more to love with the more grounded ones than the more fantastical, just a personal preference. Anyways, Mitsumi. She's just the perfect representation of high school life. A dash of confidence, a good bit of deep seated anxiety, lots of stress over school and friends, but a positive and hopeful outlook in spite of her stumbling and struggles that's wonderfully accented by blossoming feelings of love. She just occupies a space that is very rare these days, so of course I love her.

Ryougi Shiki - The Garden of Sinners

Okay, hot take since (spoiler) Saber's not going to be on the list. I just haven "completed" Saber's story if that makes sense. I've read a lot, experienced a lot, but I haven't gotten 100% of it like I have with Shiki. That said, Shiki's story. I mean, as a character they're so damn hard to really capture. After all, there's more than one of them, and their story is told through the experiences of others. Shiki as a character, and The Garden of Sinners as a series, just holds a special place in my heart as Nasu's first real creative work that remains untethered by the requirements of a visual novel. If Nasu's work on the VNs is the base level, then The Garden of Sinners stands a cut above from start to finish.

Hatsuseno Alpha - Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

A robot that is startlingly human, but surprisingly childlike. Alpha was is just the perfect vehicle to experience YKK through. Vast understanding and interest, but meaningful naivete and curiosity. She explores a world peacefully accepting its death, and is able to pull such beautiful moments from it. She doesn't struggle or bemoan the end, but rather takes it in stride and focuses on the beauty of humanity, how it's adapted, what's been lost and what's been created in its stead. It brings it all together under this character that is so deeply passionate about exploring life even under these circumstances, that you can't help but feel an indescribable warmth in her story.

Biwa - Heike Monogatari

Okay, maybe I'm cheating a little bit with Biwa here, but it's just a character that I think is incredibly beautiful. Witnessing the murder of her father, she's taken in by a clan doomed to death, where a man possesses a similar ability to Biwa. Together, she struggles to create the family she never had, all the while forced to come to terms with their deaths. She fights tooth and nail to keep them alive, but her attempts are futile. In the end, she is given her adoptive father's ability and completes what one might call the "cycle". Seeing life and death, the eternal struggle that will never change, she experiences her life, her family, her future and past to its fullest, and commits her life to telling the story of the Heike that she was so fond of. It's a beautiful story centered around Biwa's experiences, and her fear of death and not having a family, truly wonderful stuff. Also Aoi Yuuki kills it as Biwa.

Kusanagi Motoko - Ghost In The Shell

This was baby's first big kid series for me. I'd always watched anime here and there, but mostly things like Bleach/Naruto/DBZ. Ghost in The Shell was the first really big series I'd dip my toes into via those 4 minute YouTube videos at 480p. Kusanagi's nature as the bridge between technology and humanity is endlessly explored and just such a great idea, that through the countless (good) iterations, there's a wealth of her to experience. Undoubtedly an iconic series, and one that's certainly remembered very fondly by me.

Kirigoe Mima - Perfect Blue

Mima's an incredible character driven to the psychological breaking point. Under the scrutiny and pressure of being an idol, the facade begins to crack and what seeps out from the gaps is nothing short of incredible. Satoshi Kon remains a wizard in what he did with his works, and for me, Mima's character in Perfect Blue is the pinnacle of that. An implicit story of the stress and strain placed on idols (and the entertainment industry at large) by those that string them up and sell the souls of these girls, Perfect Blue and Mima remain in a realm of their own in a lot of ways.

Nozomi - Sonny Boy

Well as they say, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding in this case is Nozomi's name. Translating from Japanese it means "wish" or "desire" in English, and is the personification of Nozomi's role in Sonny Boy. As close to a catalyst as one can be, she spurs on the wishes of the characters around her, providing the foundation for our main character Nagara to grow and develop. In the end, the desires of each individual can be connected to Nozomi, even in her death. She's arguably more central to the plot of Sonny Boy than Nagara, so of course I see her as a deeply special character.

Kamikoshi Sorawo - Otherside Picnic

A somewhat different pick to help round out the list. Sorawo Kamikoshi, and Otherside Picnic at large, are certainly things that I don't think most people would fall in love with. But I did. The vitriol that her character expresses, the toxicity and self hatred and destruction. Her character is a very damaging and "bad" one, but that's what I love about it. There's no grand scheme behind Sorawo's personality, or any ideal that her character chases. She follows the whims and curiosities of her life as she willingly casts herself into the abyss of the Otherside alongside Toriko, and along the way, she learns to slowly grow and improve as a person while maintaining her core personality.

Osaki Nana - Nana

The duality of Nana as a character is just so well done to me. A character with two sides isn't anything special, but I think the way that Yazawa approaches her as a character, and introduces those cracks in her façade and the struggle that they represent is just really, really good. It has me really desperate for Yazawa to return from hiatus and continue on with Nana.

And that's the list. I know I've left off characters like Tohru or other massively popular (and well written) leads and characters from shojosei series, but a lot of what I desire out of a character can't quite be found in a lot of what ends up popular and translated (and what I tend to remember) I feel. If you take a look at the list, for example, you'll find that the majority of my favorites are from older series, as well as ones that feature more "tragic" or "twisted" characters. Personally, I find a flower most beautiful after you've understood how it's wilted and withered before it fights to bloom once more. Endless blooms that grant an eternal summer are undeniably beautiful, but that beauty tends to lack context and in turn can become simplicity. So that's my list, as imperfect and everchanging as it is. If I'm asked once more in a year, it will probably look startlingly different, but that's how these things will go with me.

[muninnhuginn]

Ohh, I really like your analysis of the last skip&loafer chapter. It's not shown in the scanlation, but in the japanese version there is also a little comment at the end which reads something a long the lines of "there is nothing wrong with these feelings" and i love how it reflects the idea that there is nothing wrong with enjoying your interests, no matter how silly they may seem, but also that there is nothing wrong with feeling angry about not being treated well. Kazakami wasn't ungrateful for being upset over his possessions being thrown away, it's an understandable reaction... I am really looking forward the school festival arc and how it will expand on kazakami, takamine and kanechika trio! I wonder if we will get some shima, yasaka and kazakami parallels too

Thank you! And aww, that's so sweet with the end note. I guess it's something that's threaded throughout the series in general in terms of people enforcing roles and not needing to fit them, but there's just something nice about it being said "outright", you know?

But yeah, I think the whole thing with his hobbies being dismissed is wildly relatable. The fact that he'd still been trying his hardest to study for third year and abandoning everything else just makes it worse. Because he'd kept this one hobby for himself and he couldn't even have that. And his parents clearly didn't comprehend that his hobby *was* important to him. The bit where his mum referred to the figures as "dolls" just rubbed it in, because if you spend any time whatsoever with anyone into that side of things, you would not be mucking up on basic terminology? It's not any kind of obscure trivia like the handedness. It's super basic, but his mum couldn't be bothered to even learn that.

Same @ the final year trio. If there's going to be any kind of breakthrough with them, it pretty much has to be during the culture festival, I think. Just because timing-wise, that's the big opportunity that's left before they leave. And getting the Kazakami chapter has made me more sure of that, because now we have some solid pieces of info on all three of them. (Though ngl, I'd love a Kanechika focus chapter during/before that. We've received plenty of pieces on him breadcrumbed throughout the series (too forceful, genuinely passionate about stage not just acting, but he puts himself out there in a way none of the other characters are really able to and he has had to work to reach a semblance of "cringe is free" - it's not effortless), but I don't think we've had a chapter that full-on focuses on him in the same way as we have the other two?)

I hadn't been thinking of Yasaka but yee definitely. She has parallels with both Mitsumi (as a contrast. that line about "never having to worry about being loved" (paraphrasing) still rings in my head) and Mika and Shima (as a compare) and I'm sort of guessing her thread may appear more with the Ujie subplot. But Yasaka basically takes Shima and inverts his approach in a lot of ways (appeasing other people, not trusting in being liked for oneself, but she's more active than passive in her manipulation of social situations), so given Shima and Kazakami are now shown to be remarkably similar, it follows that Yasaka would also be an interesting comparison point.

Sorry, most of this is just rambling, but tl;dr yes to all the above. The series truly is parallels all the way down and the way that societal roles colours everything, but the series itself says you don't have to conform to that is so reassuring. I know personally, Nao-chan's worries about having missed the boat on experiencing life really hit

[luffythinker]

i happen to think tome kurata from Mob looks like Sero trans Sero ftm

WAIITTT i can see it for sure for sure makes so much sense, i could see it as mitsumi from skip and loafer too, but i guess kurata makes a lot more sense

[justshipsandstuff]

Hello.....if you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? Why you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hi there!

You asked a hard question lol. It really depends on what I’m currently obsessing over really.

When my brain is being occupied by one manga/book/ anime/ tv series, I tend to like the romantic/ non romantic ship in that media the most. But overtime, I do think I’ve developed fairly consistent types. I’ll just go with manga ships here since my recent fictional favs are all manga/anime

The ‘opposite attracts/complementary’ ( or a bit of fun rivalry) trope has me in a chokehold since I was a teenager ngl. I do want deep connections, mutual respect and maturity between the characters though. Most of my ships nowadays are older characters and fit into the aforementioned traits. Not to say relationships between young characters don’t have substance, I guess the preference simply comes with age. There are definitely some young ships I hold dear thanks to great writing or nostalgia

And then there are some ships that are just so fun! ( aka the art, the memes, and/or fanfics are FIRE!) I can’t help myself 😆

My favorites recently have been Levi/Hange (AOT), Jinshi/Maomao ( apothecary diaries), Kabru/ Mithrun (Dungeon Meshi), Shima/Mitsumi + Yuzuki/Makoto (skip and loafer), Vash/ Wolfwood (Trigun),

+ Fun ships!Choso/Yuki (JJk), Senshi/Chilchuck/Chil’s wife + Cithis/Pattadol (Dungeon Meshi), and Land/ubel (Frieren)

There’re more but I don’t want this to be too long. I hope I answered your questions though 😅 thank you for the ask!

[boobiestarplanet]

skip and loafer chapter 56 thoughts

when mitsumi looks back on this moment, she sees it as her valuing her friendship with sousuke over any potential romantic relationship. even though she does have feelings for him, she'd rather break up than jeopardize their friendship. it was and still is bittersweet, but i think she sees that as a generally positive or at least necessary event in terms of her and sousuke's relationship.

but he doesn't see it the same way. it's the very same moment sousuke thought about back in chapter 53; it's what his mind immediately went to upon wondering if mitsumi even likes him at all. god i just wish they would communicate more!!!!

but that's very hard for them, since now that they've dated, even though he does still like her as a person, i think sousuke can't help but place mitsumi in the "lover" category on his little mental relationship hierarchy. if he was already so averse to talking about his feelings back when they were just friends, it's even worse now. obviously that's something he's been improving on throughout this whole summer vacation arc, though; he's learning that being vulnerable, being a little lame, or even throwing up aren't things that would make people dislike you :)

and then the ririka stuff.

what did she wish to accomplish by sending him this? it can't be that she's just complaining to him about what's happening in the moment, since that picture looks like it was taken in the daytime and it's past midnight in this scene (also, why would she be at a beauty parlor that late anyway?). i guess she was just trying to yet again remind sousuke of her trauma and make him feel guilty, but the fact that she sent this seemingly several hours after the fact makes me think she must have been thinking of texting him that for a while. (i say this because i don't know why she would take this guy's picture in the first place if not to send to sousuke.) so either she was waiting until late at night to send it for Maximum Guilt-Tripping Power — which i doubt; she's not some scheming supervillain — or she wasn't sure if she wanted to text him at all and decided to on a whim before going to bed. i don't know, i'm probably extrapolating a lot, but i think that seems pretty in-character and also shows just a smidge of growth.

lastly, we're back to sousuke and mitsumi's relationship for a sec

i know i probably shouldn't read too deep into this since he's just talking to his mom here, but the way sousuke refers to mitsumi as "a classmate" and not "a friend" has me thinking about what he said back in chapter 42:

he, just like mitsumi, was worried about ruining this friendship that means so much to him. so it really hurts to see him call her just "a classmate" after all that :(