So this review is going to focus on breaking down what makes S2 a failure of a sequel:
1. It’s not even the same show.
S1 was a series about cute girls doing camping. There is no camping in S2. Season 2, in its best moments, is a series about cute girls visiting famous tourist traps, and in its worst moment - a series about cute girls eating cake and saying how oishii it is. Yeah, I definitely haven’t seen that in 200 other CGDCT shows before, and it definitely isn’t the bottom of the CGDCT material barrel that mangaka resort to when they run out of ideas. If the title of the series is “Laid-Back Camp” then I expect to see some actual camping in it. If I wanted to see a show about food, I’d watch Food Wars.
2. There is no humor anymore.
‘Member Rin getting body-slammed by a shiba? A pinecone saying, “konnichiwa?” The outdoors club failing to pitch a tent in the schoolyard with deadpan narration? Chiaki burning her hand? Secret society B.L.A.N.K.E.T.? I ‘member. One of the strongest aspects of the first season was its masterfully-timed gut-busting comedy - and it’s not there anymore. There is 1 (one) good joke in the entirety of S2 (the pinecone genocide). Instead, we’re subjected to jokes(?) like Chiaki being an absolute cunt to a foreign tourist, with the rest of the cast staring at her with an awkward blank expression that doesn’t even make it clear whether Chiaki’s behavior is supposed to look wrong, or if we’re unironically expected to go along with her heckling.
4. The pacing is fubared.
Let’s revisit the title of the show again. It’s “Laid-Back Camp.” And that’s how S1 was - it was laid-back. There were two main characters, Rin and Nadeshiko, plus a bunch of extras. The show didn’t have a problem with not showing those extras for entire episodes at a time. The show didn’t have a problem with spending 10 minutes on Rin alone making herself a cup of coffee. It was peak comfy. A truly healing/iyashikei anime.
Season 2 upgrades Aoi, Chiaki, and Ena to the main characters, and now there are always, always at least five (often more) characters on the screen, all the freaking time. The result is a frantic flickering mess where none of them get any decent character moments, there is no time to focus on anything, and it’s just not comfy at all. If the title of the series is “Laid-Back Camp” then I expect it to actually have a laid-back mood. If I wanted to see a show about going fast, I’d watch Initial D.
5/10, a second-rate CGDCT that I wouldn’t have bothered finishing if it didn’t share the name with a much better predecessor.
