Yuru Camp△

[6.0/10]
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Ever spend the afternoon listening to those lo-fi hip-hop playlists on Youtube? The ones that play a long playlist of relaxing instrumentals over gifs of animated characters either studying, reading, or floating in outer space? If so, then you have probably experienced, through audio, the kind of feeling that Yuru Camp embodies and presents to you. The chirping birds and licking of river water as it wraps around the rocky shoreline. A group of students out at campsites, under no threat, in no danger, with no drama, cooking food for one another and conversing about what they value. The term here is “laid-back”, and the ... show translates that for its title.

The series here follows Shima Rin as she camps out in various locations around Mount Fuji, from lakes to open fields. Along the way, she meets Nadeshiko, a spunky, goofy pink-haired girl that has a similar, yet louder passion for camping. Later, we realize they go to the same school and lo-and-behold there is even a camping club, because of course there is, with a few other equally cute girls with a seemingly diehard passion for sleeping in linen huts outside. That’s our story. No less and no more.

From here we venture into their day-to-day lives. Without the burden of classes, social interaction, or growth for anyone but maybe Rin towards the end of the series. It really feels like a flatline in the best possible way, I suppose. As in, the line here is “comfort” and the series encapsulates that comfort as well as it can within the parameters it draws. These parameters being the set locations during the winter in the small vicinity around where these characters live in Japan. It isn’t for everyone but fortunately, it offers a lot to the crowd that really seems attached to the iyashikei presentation with a healthy dollop of feel-good humor.
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[Camping Under the Stars and Presentation]

Funny faces, chibi inspired designs, and crackling campfires, Yuru Camp isn’t going to blow you away visually. Much like the rest of the series, it often has an air of decentness that you can’t help but acquiesce to after a few episodes roll by without your notice. That’s kind of the charm of it. The character design is serviceable, without many standouts. Each girl has the expected wide pallet of hair-color and generally looks alright. Where the series, and the people making it, clearly put the most thought into was the honestly great variety of outfits worn. Now each one is a variation of winter-clothing, but they were never ridiculous or unbelievable and, throughout the runtime, each episode seemingly had a unique selection of designs to attach to these characters. Good stuff all around, here.

The music is also not anemic, thankfully. The opening is catchy, the closer is quite frankly the best track in the series, and there enough background tunes to keep you engaged and on occasion bob your head to. Similar to those lo-fi hip-hop beats, that kind of melodic, unobtrusive, and relaxing feeling is injected into the soundtrack.

There is also nothing licentious here. Everything doesn’t feel like it is there to sell sex. While this is something I hate to bring up in every anime I seem to review, it is a problem that just plagues this medium. While this series is easily pandering to a certain crowd, it’s not doing so through sexual means and is never obnoxious about it and I will gladly take a series that doesn’t drill sexual fanservice into your eyes every chance it gets. The entire thing feels wholesome, and a focus on sexualization would undermine that. The creatives seem to understand this and avoid it. Even the scenes in the hot springs are very neutral and don’t have anything sleazy under the hood. Thumbs up for that.

Overall, the presentation is solid. I might even call it above average. It is where I expect a show like this to be. The directing is generally unremarkable, but the music and the decent production more than make up for that. The voice acting didn’t blow my socks off but thankfully it avoids being shrill and loud.
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[Narrative, Characters, or Lack Thereof]

Deadpan high schoolers, eccentric glasses, and alcoholic teachers with seemingly no care for students, there really isn’t much to latch onto in this show. Of course, that’s my opinion and I’m sure for some just the serene experience of the whole thing can be enough. The atmosphere here is exceptional, but the characters that inhabit the atmosphere are about as normal as they come. Each one possesses a very minuscule amount of quirks or habits that didn’t do much to intrigue me. While you could argue that’s the point and the series wasn’t trying to intrigue me, I can’t help but feel like they could’ve done more with these characters.

Of course, a show without a shred of conflict is just that, though, a show without a shred of conflict. Conflict grows characters and the deepest conflict here is often running out of food to eat. Again, that’s the point, but there really should’ve been more to the characters that we got to learn about as they bonded together. These girls, the four specific ones that took up most of the show, don’t change or give us, the viewer, anything to chew on other than pretty scenery and delicious looking food. Which is a plus, the food looks great and watching cute girls eat food is something I will unabashedly indulge in (especially when it isn’t obnoxiously over the top). Even Rin, our protagonist, who goes through the biggest “arc” of the series doesn’t get much to think about or ponder.

The lack of conflict is a flaw in entertainment value, but a flaw that I think will easily be looked past by the people specifically looking for a series that doesn’t have conflict and is an iyashekei. That’s kind of the sharp-end of criticism, though, the flaws I see are often not what someone else sees. The nonchalant atmosphere is nice to sit back and enjoy, however, I doubt I’ll be thinking back to this series as something memorable or worth revisiting.

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[Conclusion]

Do you want an overtly wholesome parade of cute anime girls camping? The comedy here isn’t in abundance, but it’s there. It’s okay for anime comedy, too, occasionally making me breath air out of my nose. Yuru Camp relies on expectations more than anything. What do you want and ultimately, what engages you as a viewer? A lot of the flaws here, beyond some of the awkward CG vehicles and weaker animated segments are exceedingly subjective. It’s hard to argue that this series isn’t feel-good and it’s almost impossible for me to say I didn’t like a good portion of it. Even the slower moments were relaxing as all hell, and while the ideas presented here may feel myopic to some viewers, none of it felt tepid. Even the truly “laid-back” moments, which manifested in five-minute segments of almost no dialogue, relaxing music, and maybe some monologuing, are relatively easy on the eyes and will, on more than one occasion, make you feel what this show is trying to make you feel. Comfortable.

Oh, and camping. This series makes you camp. Regardless of interesting characterization, what Yuru Camp does most well at is the meticulous creation of the scenarios at hand, here. A lot of the series is based on easy-reveals and drama-less conflict-resolution that feels good. For example, your hands are cold because it is cold out. You take your hand warmers and place them in your hands and exhale happily. That is a drama-less resolution, especially when one of your good friends walks up behind you and passes the hand-warmers to you and you smile and greet them.

This continues simply with the fact that the original creators of the manga this series is based on smartly made it set during the winter. A cold time that can often feel lonely alone. So of course, Rin, our lone-warrior of cute camping girls, ends up coming around and finding friends to camp with. Of course, there will be multiple scenes of snuggling up with yourself in a sleeping bag and cosplaying caterpillars. Because that’s cute, and you can probably imagine just how warm that feeling is and in turn you are suddenly in a place of comfort and relaxation. I commend the series for these smart creative choices that made for a better watch.

Then it’s the minuscule details to continue this streak of excessively unrealistic but ultimately satisfying interactions. Such as texting your friend at night and getting a response immediately. It almost never happens in the real world but damn it if it doesn’t feel good when it does happen. Sharing a vista with a close one. Cooking food for someone and ultimately getting that favor returned by them later. Sharing a laugh. Admiring a sunset. Looking over the lake and not caring about tomorrow because hopefully today will last forever.

These are all great qualities and don’t let my above-average score fool you. If you are seeking something like this, this may be the best show of the season for you. It is very time-oriented. If I was going through an excessively difficult time in real life and I threw this show on, at night, by myself, I would have most likely enjoyed it even more. Note that. Value what you value and don’t let this wholesome series slip by you.

Honestly can't understand the high ratings here; I was quite dissapointed with this anime.

It is supposed to be about camping ( or so I thought ), but instead I watched a show about consumerism/materialism, the girls stuffing their cake-holes every possible chance they can get and having hollow/empty consversations about uninteresting stuff ( like, at least 80% of the time )

Where's the sense of adventure/outdoors? Everything's forbidden, for everything there are strict rules and yet at the same time sometimes even just straight out false information about camping/outdoors. It's all too neat and the 'outdoors'/nature is too civilized and something you'd find more in a ... city park than somewhere in the country.

Now, it isn't all bad; the music is nice and calming, there some nice pictures/'footage' of nature and ( mainly ) Mount Fuji and the main character is probably ( although nothing special ) still the most likeable of the bunch and has some funny scenes now and then.

So, for those who want to watch a meaningless 'slice-of-life' about urban/city girls buying stuff, eating and taking photographs, this anime is for you.
For those who want an anime about outdoor adventure, nature, meaningfull dialogue or interesting characters - look somewhere else.

Like all slice of life and educational anime, Yuru Camp△ will give you that wholesome feeling and consideration to take part in that certain experience (in this case, camping). Packed with unrealistic main characters, the scenarios will only leave the viewers wondering, why is there no such thing like them in real life?

What highlights this anime the most are how they explain camping in the most simple and digestible way (even in details like equipment checklist, setting up tents, also dealing with unexpected camping situations), how they successfully promote Japan's most scenic camping spots, and the art of sceneries themselves.

It's cute, calming, and gives meaning ... to appreciate idleness, nature vista, and the complexity of camping. And just that.

Yuru Camp, otherwise known as Laid Back Camp has ended today. Laid Back Camp is about cute girls going camping. Specifically Winter camping. That is all for the most part. With this show, all you get is cute girls and some camping tips. This is the type of anime that is trying to teach you things through the medium of cute girls, which I am completely down with. Although, while the girls do their job so much better then I normally see in moe shows, I don't much care about the camping aspect of the show. To be honest, I can't find the concept any ... more boring. I'm sure it might be exciting/informative for someone who is interested/experienced in camping. Its just not for me. Again, I'm watching this for cute girls. I must make a comment about background art, which in this show is stunning. It enhances the likeness camping aspect for the show tenfold, especially with its depiction of Mount Fugi. The animation is nothing to speak of, not that it needs to be. Music is very good for the atmosphere its depicting. Very chill, almost laid back. The OP and ED simulate that well. This show, to me, is a 5 out of 10. I didn't enjoy this show very much, but I'm sure others would. I can recommend this to anyone and everyone. This has been your spoiler free but not really review of Yuru Camp.

A pretty decent show. I think almost every character is like a one to one mapping of the characters in K-on. The idea is more or less the same and the formula is pretty transparent. So it makes a lot of the show a little bit boring at times. But on the other hand, I liked the idea of being in between a fulfilling social life and a quiet introvert. Which I think few other shows touch upon and was something very unique. So that was good. Other than that, a pretty regular show. Couldn't really tell you who my favorite/least favorite character was since ... it was all very moderate.

It's a bit overrated. Not *bad*, but overrated nonetheless. The story and theme of camping outdoors (in various places around Japan) is interesting. However, the idea also has very little meat on it's bones (therefore story: 3) which leads the series to focus on kind of uninteresting things like outdoors equipment and recipes and things like that.

This is gonna be controversial, but the MC is incredibly boring also. She just seems to like reading and taking selfies in cool camping places. That's again a limiting factor for the series. Maybe if she was more interesting, the series would be more interesting.

The cool sceneries, camaraderie and ... some decent banter make me give it a low 7 or a high 6. Decided on a 6 since everyone else and grandma seemed to give it a somewhat outrageous 8+ possibly for the cuteness etc which don't really register that much with me.

What I liked about this series was that it had soothing music and some beautifully animated landscapes. There were also some mildly amusing scenes, but that's where the praise stops for me.

It just gets boring after a while because there's barely any plot and none of the girls in the show had a personality that I found particularly interesting. Out of the two "main characters" (if you can call them that) one is a lone wolf who prefers camping on their own and the other one is a cheerful person who prefers camping in a group. There are also two other girls, but they ... were pretty bland in my opinion since none of them had any defining personality traits.

All in all it's a calm, aesthetically pleasing show that features rather uninteresting girls and an almost non-existent story.

Often compared to Super Cub, the two shows could not be more different. Yuru Camp is a tremendous commercial success. The product placements, ads for specific businesses, usually outdoor recreation companies and Yamanashi tourism, are ubiquitous. Yuru Camp is one long series of commercials. The show is featured at trade shows for outdoor equipment companies in Japan, and to promote tourism in the prefecture.

In between commercials, we have pure fluff, with poor attempts at humor and lots of CGDCT. There is no dramatic tension or conflict. Just smiles and giggles from cartoon girls. There is a suggestion of a plot. There is the ... poor excuse for humor in the introduction of an alcoholic teacher who is presented as a harmless clown. Alcohol abuse is held up a a normal behavior.

Fans of pure CGDCT slice of life comedy might really enjoy it. You can ignore the commercials and the flawed excuses for plot and have a CGDCT experience. But if there is any Iyashikei, it is only the most crass and commercialized sort of Iyashikei, like a Christmas based entirely on shopping and spending.

I will not be watching seasons 2 and 3. And if I make it to Yamanashi prefecture, I think I can find a better guide for my trip.