Graphic Novel Review: Skip and Loafer Volume 1 by Misaki Takamatsu

Posted on June 15, 2023 at 6:29 am by Gene Ambaum

Skip Loafer Volume 1 by Misaki Takamatsu. Translation by Nicole Frasik. Seven Seas, 2021. 9781648275883. Publisher’s Rating: Teen (13+)

Whenever I visit Austin, TX, I visit Book People to read their shelf talkers and to buy a great book I’ve never heard of before. This was my pick this year. (And believe me it takes a lot to get me to pick up a teen romance manga. Stop by and see the shelf talker if you aren’t moved by my pitch for the book — it’s on a table on the first floor across from the science fiction and fantasy, if I’m remembering correctly.)

Iwakaru Mitsuki is fifteen, and she just moved to Tokyo from a tiny town in Ishikawa to attend high school. She’s going to live with her aunt, who seems worried, but Mitsuki brushes aside her concerns; she thinks her first day will be perfect. Of course that’s not what happens. But a very good-looking young man named Sousuke, late for the opening ceremony himself, spots her in the train station, lost and afraid of the crowds and “hiding” against the wall. When she lashes out at him, he doesn’t seem to mind. And then she vomits after giving a speech at the ceremony. As school goes on we see how awkward and out of her depth Mitsuki is in some ways (it’s very endearing) while Sousuke remains to be a decent guy who wants to be her friend (and maybe more) (this made me like him, too).

My wife would disagree with this, but Skip and Loafer reminded me of Yotsuba&! in a way. I think reading a book about a student trying to adapt to life in Tokyo while my daughter starts her study abroad time there activated my dad genes the same way reading Yotsuba&! does.