Yuru Camp△ Season 3

Laid-Back Camp - Anime's most self-indulgent and comfortable CGDCT Iyashikei adventure show, is back...but is it any better than ever?

Since the anime dropped all the way back in Winter 2018, Yuru Camp△ a.k.a Laid-Back Camp has resonated more than just the hearts of the adventurous Japanese, for whom the outskirts of the cities provide lots of backpacking for camping, it really defined the Iyashikei genre that the series is known for, Thanks to mangaka Afro's rough, but very detailed drawings of the Japanese outback with the smaller prefectures and towns within, it's pleasing to see, know, and learn about landmarks that we might've not known ... about yet.

However, this time, the obvious big question is one that has everyone's eyebrows swooning: with a new staff and studio, how can the franchise be taken in a new direction that still oozes the same charm as per prior seasons?

Season 3 adapting Volumes 9 to (the beginning portion of) 14 of the manga, the mangaka himself has been anticipating a lot since the finale of Season 2 back in Winter 2021, with the adaptation of his favourite chapter of the entire manga: "Hatanagi Attack! Death Road from Hell", which is adapted into Episode 4. Otherwise, it's the same Yuru Camp we all know and love, like with the previous seasons, with Rin, Nadeshiko, and the Outdoor Adventures Club, plus long-time friends and the like venturing into unconquered territories and making new memories as they go whilst in their growing young adult years that's all the more same and comfier.

It's clear that the big outlier is the change in studios, going from C-Station to 8bit, plus the directorial change from Yoshiaki Kyogoku to Shin Tosaka, and this bit actually surprises me that it's not Yama no Susume a.k.a Encouragement of Climb's franchise director Yusuke Yamamoto, chosen for the job (since he was already busy with directing Synduality: Noir at the moment), being the director whose talents match Yuru Camp's standards. Still, with a very big miss of a director alongside his equally rivalled big miss of series composer Masafumi Sugiura (whom had a very long hiatus going from Uma Musume: Pretty Derby all the way back in Spring 2018 to this), Yuru Camp should've mulled expectations to do way worse than what C-Station and director Yoshiaki Kyogoku's staff team had mustered with the previous 2 seasons.

But you know what? Despite the 3-episode rule of valid criticisms from all walks of life that the overall composition was worse than what we've been used to from C-Station's rather goofy animation that surprisingly elevates the source material, 8bit's final product itself turned out to be rather decent, and progressively stayed true to the spirit of the manga itself, being more faithful when it comes to stylized character designs. It's just that you'll need more time than the above proclaimed rule to really get used to the new production standards with animation that slowly refines its form into the franchise, even if it's stiffer and more limited than C-Station's whimsical freedom of animation that allows for creativity.

The OST is thankfully the sole constant, thanks to music composer Akiyuki Tateyama, who stood around for Season 3 to give more or less the same vibes of the franchise that have ever been experienced. What's not, however, are the OP/ED songs. With Yuru Camp being given the Date A Live treatment, where its main OP artist is now relegated to the ED, it's just sad to see such a fate happen here. Don't get me wrong, Kiminone's OP is good and still respects the song towards the vibes of the series, but there is no competition towards Asaka's song composition being one of the franchise's icons, and her ED song "So Precious" is great, being a mash-up of her previous OP songs for the series.

Look, I understand if you think that Season 3 is the weakest, at least in terms of art and animation, that will be a deal breaker to many, but at least the heart and soul of the series are still there, and that is the fundamental that should not cause a series to fall off badly. You'll still have a great time with Yuru Camp, and all I have to say to the worried average anime watcher is this: just one more episode.

New studio? No problem. Same old Yuru Camp we know and love. Look, by now you all know the magic that is spending 23 comfy minutes travelling through the Japanese countryside with our girls. It’s a feeling that no other anime can really replicate and inspired many of us to recreate these experiences ourselves. Season 3 of Yuru camp maintains that same special feeling and even with a new studio behind it, feels like a natural continuation of the franchise with more great trips, laughs and wholesome moments that’ll leave you craving more.

I had so much fun with this season of Yuru camp. I’d say ... the big difference this season narratively is the focus on the girls solo camping. Granted, it’s been a while since I watched the first couple seasons, but I don’t recall the girls being on their own as much as this season. While the girls planning and going on trips as a group is what made the series good for some, I enjoyed seeing them doing their own thing and just getting lost in nature. Sometimes it’s nice to just get away from the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives and relax in the great outdoors, and Yuru camp really reinforces that idea. With Nadeshiko and the other girls getting ready to graduate soon, you also get a sense throughout the season that we’re nearing the end of this journey, at least in this form, which feels bittersweet.

From Sakura viewing to bridge crossings, there was a lot of cool new sights and places in Japan I learnt about this season. Yuru camp is cool because it doubles as a CGDCT anime as well as free promo for the Visit Japan tourism board and it really worked on me. I plan to visit several of the spots shown in this season soon. The backgrounds always look so gorgeous and make you feel like you’re right there in the story with the girls.

There was some talk about the production of this season not being as good as previous ones, I disagree. I really didn’t notice any quality differences and tbh, I didn’t even notice the different character designs until a friend of mine pointed them out. They are noticeable if you’re paying close attention, but I’m so absorbed in the comfy camping that it’s a non issue for me. The backgrounds do blend a lot more 3DCGI and seem very photorealistic at times, which I liked, but some don’t. For me, that type of stuff just enhances the immersion.

At the end of the day, any season of Yuru camp is a must watch and this is no exception. Grab a blanket and some snacks and tuck in for a great time. Hopefully we get even more of these girls sooner rather than later🙏🏾

Yuru camp season 3 gets a very easy 10 out of 10

Yuru Camp S3 is the sequel I have been the most thoroughly disappointed by this season. Like, sure there are shows like Hibike Euphonium that while still good don't live up the the first season but it definitely does to the second season or Tsukimichi that goes slower than the first season despite having more episodes, but Yuru Camp is suffering from the same thing as Date A Live which is both a combination of the source material getting weaker and changing to a shit studio. I mean, 8bit is doing another 2 anime this season besides Yuru Camp, and while those are shit so ... you don't expect anything from them, Yuru Camp is actually a very good series. I was extremely happy when I saw the announcement of a third season, it felt so weird to be so excited over an announcement, but then another announcement came and it was that the studio was changing to 8bit and that the director was also changing, that immediately was a punch towards my excitement, I mean, surely, there’s no way a studio can fuck up this series even if they aren’t working with the best material, right? Well, I’ll tell you that I was wrong and the first couple of trailers just confirmed my fear.

When I think about Yuru Camp, what I remember are all those moments that melted my heart, the ending of the first season is something that watered my eyes the first time I saw it and I still smile every time I watch it or remember it, things like Nadeshiko using her money to buy a gift for her sister comes to mind too, but when I try to think about something similar this season I cannot imagine something because those moments basically don't exist here, it's not like it didn't have fun moments like Chiaki's schizo camp, but that isn't the kind of things I'm referring to when I say something memorable, I clearly mean something that you can actually see and feel, something more real if you will, and while previous seasons had their fair share of moments, this season didn't quite reach that area.

The problem here clearly isn't even the change in character designs, because I could complain that Rin looks too different or that Aoi's tits basically disappeared, but that wouldn't cover the actual problem because other characters like Chiaki and Nadeshiko look almost the same despite the very clearly amateurish character design. I have always liked the backgrounds in Yuru Camp, because they take what the manga conveys and actually brings them to life, when you look at season 1 or even season 2 and then look at season 3 you will very clearly see the difference, in season 3 the backgrounds often almost look like pictures with a little filter and the terrible compositing makes the characters stand out so much that the background ends up looking even worse. I'm not saying that Yuru Camp didn't have photographic reference before, if my mind isn't failing, there was an episode where they used a Google Street View copyright notice, but there was a clear difference in what C-Station did and what 8bit is doing, because the backgrounds break the immersion so much this season that it hurts, just look at things like Nadeshiko walking into the store in episode 3 or Nadeshiko and her sister standing near the Sakura tree in episode 10, and then I ask you to watch anything from season 1 and you will see the big difference.

Aside from that, even the source material was weaker after the chapters that the season 2 adapted, because it was in some weird transition period where it was looking more and more to be a tourism commercial, and I'm not saying Yuru Camp wasn't that before, but you can see the difference between how it was done at the start and how it is done now, because the balancing between the preparation, the camping and the tourism has completely shifted to focus more on the tourism. I remember perfectly in the first couple of episodes asking myself "where is the camping?" because they were doing a tourism across hanging bridges or dams and I know this series wasn't as blatant before because they mostly stayed into place to camp. The simplicity of just going outside and camping while explaining some camping tips is basically gone, and I remember there was a review complaining exactly about this the previous season, and while I would disagree that the change completely happened last season, it definitely turned into a snowball and went with full force throughout the entire beginning of this season.

Honestly speaking, I don't think this season is bad, but it is such a clear downgrade, if you were judging the manga and feel a part is weaker, you can just compliment it with what came before, but unlike the manga, I'm not taking what happened in season 1 and season 2 and making it part of this season at the same time here, I'm judging the third season, and the third season covers something much weaker than before. It is still good, I had many laughs, but I didn't get some of the most important things in this series to me, and those are memorable moments that you can really feel.

Thank you for reading.