SixofQueens said:That being said, as long as they don't play up the CGDCT angle too much (insomuch as not falling back on tired tropes of that genre which the original seasons didn't really do that much, e.g. nobody is actively jealous of Aoi's breast size or gropes her from behind asking how her they got so big, etc.), don't try to amp up action or stakes (S2 came kinda close to doing that a few times, especially with music design), don't COMPLETELY change the atmosphere of the music, don't turn it into a blatant vehicle for tourism advertisement (the original series of course did this to an extent but it felt like more of a natural consequence of the girls researching where they were going so it fit and wasn't distracting), and don't shift the focus too far away from the girls and their journeys/interactions to becoming more focused on being a camping education show (like how Dagashi Kashi is just a thin narrative designed mostly as a vehicle to deliver history and fun/interesting facts about candy and snacks), then I think there's every chance that this next season will be just fine.
That is a lot of "don't"s, though...
I mean, but none of that will happen. It's not like the third season is changing the source material and the anime original content has been so far in tone with the rest of the series. The show is trying to be quiet all the time so it's not going to amp up stakes in a very significant way, it won't really be much more of a vehicle for tourism advertisement than it already is, and it would actually be very absurd if the girls suddenly obsess about Aoi's breast size after having it shoved in their faces for two seasons without any big reaction (the only time it's even mentioned in the show is when Nadeshiko finds out that Akari is impersonating her sister).
After watching the first episode though, I do like the new character designs and how they look in motion. With Rin and Chiaki I'm a bit torn, they don't fully work for me compared to their previous designs, but it's not like they look any bad, the characters are still fully recognizable and they seem to allow for more fluid character animation (which is one of 8-Bit's strengths). The thing I'm missing a little from C-Station so far is the set design, which was detailed but not plain photorealistic and added a bit of filtering and lighting that generated a recognizable atmosphere to the whole show, one that I sadly found a bit irregular in this first episode.