Skip and Loafer – 12 (Fin) – A Glorious Part of Our Youths

When Ririka starts to unload on Sousuke’s mom, Mitsumi feels like a mouse who finds herself to close to some kind of wild cat. Clearly Ririka is harboring some hardcore resentment towards Sousuke’s mom as barb in about her making her son act for her again.

When they meet up with Sousuke, Ririka makes sure all the NPCs around her know that Sousuke used to be a professional child actor, making him uncomfortable and causing his mom to make a polite but quick getaway. When Ririka turns on Sousuke himself, Mitsumi instinctively gets between them…and tries to make herself as big as possible!

This makes Sousuke smile and laugh in a way Ririka has told him he doesn’t deserve to, because Mitsumi is unwittingly emulating the practice of the lesser anteater, as he read in the biology club’s publication with Keiri. Ririka heads off to get a seat at Sousuke’s play.

As he awaits his final scene, Sousuke is lost in thought, pondering if it’s okay to act if it’s for himself, not just to make his mom happy but for his own happiness. He also realizes he didn’t speak to Kanechika-senpai after his play on purpose, because he was envious.

Sousuke forgets his last few lines, but it doesn’t matter, as his nonverbal acting is enough to evoke a positive crowd response. After the play Sousuke comes right down to it and asks Ririka if she’ll let him have a high school life, even if he can’t make up for what happened.

Ririka hears “Forgive me, I want to be happy”, which is the gist. She fires her hat at him, ignoring the fact she’s a celebrity out in public, and tells him to do what he pleases. When he thanks her, she flips him off. On the taxi ride home, Ririka is sobbing, but at least understands that what happened wasn’t all Sousuke’s fault back then.

Ririka is upset that because of what happened, regardless of blame, he’s always looked like he’d rather be anywhere then with her, and that it’s “easier” to be with girls who “know nothing.” I for one was glad for this scene that finally showed Ririka drop her armor.

Another one crying bitter tears is Takamine as the festival ends. She’d dreamt of being student council president, but Kazakami beat her in a free, fair election. Kazakami apologizes for crushing Takamine’s dream, but won’t apologize for wanting to do something with his high school life after his soccer injury.

Kazakami tells Takamine (who didn’t ask) about how strict his family is and how high their expectations are for him. No doubt they were disappointed when he hurt his knee, but he’s still expected to get into Tokyo U like everyone else in the family. In a sweet gesture of consolation, he gives Takamine the beautiful bouquet he was given earlier.

As the festival comes to a close, Mitsumi meets with her friends for a hot minute for a cold drink and the promise of a study sleepover soon. It’s so heartwarming to see how close and comfortable these four ladies have become in such a short time.

The rest of the class is headed to a restaurant to fill their bellies after all their hard work, but Mitsumi has to stay behind for a staff meeting. Sousuke breaks off from the group to come back to Mitsumi and ask if he can help with anything; he’s happy to do so.

Mitsumi says no, it’s fine, it’s just a meeting, and he should go off and have fun. As she skips down the hall, Sousuke calls out her name one more time, and for a moment, I thought he was going to confess! I imagine Mitsumi might’ve felt something like that too. It doesn’t happen, which is fine.

The episode, and indeed the season, ends with everyone in a good place. Hopefully there’s a second season, because I could always use more Mitsumi, Sousuke, Mika, Yuzuki, and Makoto in my life.

Skip and Loafer – 11 – A Little Kindness

The famous Tsubame West High School Festival is off and running, and we get a little taste of everything before settling on Mitsumi’s POV as she watches Takamine continue to struggle with having a much more laid back bro as the president. That said, Kazakami puts a nervous prospective student at ease by making chatting with her about studying.

Sousuke does his thing on the stage, and his uneasiness looks like more than just acting. When Mitsumi is on break, she’s unable to speak to him, and indeed the two never interact this week, which is a bit of a drag. Mika seems ready to hang out, but then two of her middle school friends appear and she ditches Mitsumi, leaving her feeling a little lonely in Tokyo.

Fortunately, Mika is not Mitsumi’s only friend! She visits Yuzuki in the art club exhibition, where Yuzuki is exhausted and disheartened by having to fend off boys who want her name and number. But Mitsumi gives her a much appreciated assessment of her painting of her Yorkie.

When Makoto comes through with her friends, those friends interact with Yuzuki the exact same way Makoto did when they first hung out. Makoto realizes this, and knows it gets Yuzuki down, so she does her best to cheer her up by telling her friends all about her.

When Yuzuki’s on break, the three have some churros on the roof and are soon joined by “Sister” Mika. They all acknowledge that it’s been “just” six months since they all became friends, but Yuzuki thinks it doesn’t seem like it’s been that short a time. Such is their rapport and ease with one another as friends.

The first day ends without incident, but people from Sousuke’s life make the second and final day a little more hectic. First, his mom shows up, for reasons we’re not quite sure of. Within five minutes of arriving, lil’ Keiri wanders off and gets lost. Hey, it happens. I used to wander off so much my mom put a leash on me!

Kei doesn’t panic when he notices his mama isn’t around. He knows she’s headed to Sousuke’s class, so he goes there too, only he’s the first to arrive, and is welcomed by Sousuke’s kind and friendly classmates. They quickly realizes Kei is lost and keep him occupied while his mom and brother are tracked down.

Sousuke has been ensnared once again by Kanechika, only this time to watch his drama club performance. Sousuke’s face is a noh mask of ambiguity throughout, though the way the shots are composed afterwards when he’s watching Kanechika interact with patrons seems…almost wistful. Kanechika is hoping to get Sousuke’s opinion of his performance and script, but Mukai informs him of Kei’s whereabouts and he takes off with him.

Sousuke didn’t even know his mom was coming, and tells Mukai that he’s not great around kids and doesn’t think Kei wants anything to do with him. Mukai assures him, even with his limited knowledge of Sousuke’s family, that his baby bro 1000% cares about him.

Mukai is proven correct when Sousuke arrives in the room, Kei spots him, and immediately bursts into tears and runs to bawl in his legs. Yamada opines that Kei was being a brave trooper all this time, but seeing his little bro broke the flood gates.

He also says Kei takes after Sousuke in that they’re both too considerate to others. Sousuke realizes Kei may have been acting the way he did out of consideration, not disinterest. He picks an elated Kei in his arms and they head out to the hallway to wait for mom.

Corralling their mom falls to Mitsumi, though by the time she finds her Sousuke has already called her to assure her Kei is found and safe. As Mitsumi escorts her to the classroom, Mom notes how nice everyone is and how fine a school it is. But then she happens to cross paths with Saijou Ririka, and the look on Sousuke’s face suggests it probably isn’t going to be an affable affair. Heck, it might not even be cordial!