English Dub Season Review: Laid-Back Camp Season One

Based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Afro. Laid back Camp (aka “Yuru Camp” in Japan) takes place within the Yamanashi Prefecture of japan where Japan, the series chronicles the adventures mostly of Rin Shima, a high school-aged girl, who enjoys camping on her own. One day, she meets Nadeshiko Kagamihara, who encourages her to join their school’s camping club. Together, Rin, Nadeshiko, and their classmates Chiaki Ōgaki and Aoi Inuyama travel around Japan, camping and enjoying their daily lives.

On the technical side, season one was directed by Yoshiaki Kyōgoku and produced by C-Station. Jin Tanaka supervised the series’ scripts and Mutsumi Sasaki designed the characters. The opening theme is “Shiny Days” by Asaka, while the ending theme is “Fuyubiyori” by Eri Sasaki.

Our blue-haired protagonist Rin is someone who enjoys camping and going on solo adventures, mostly at her leisure. However, because there are more amazing characters who have a school club dedicated to this particular pastime, she soon starts to meet them as well and slowly opens up to them and becomes more social. At first, of course, It comes as no surprise when Rin turns down an invitation to join her school’s camping club as it’d go against the purpose of her camping solo trips. And really, that’s completely okay. Her friends understand and while they may not truly grasp her feelings, they respect her desire to camp on her own without pressing further.

The rest of the characters are passable from the 5 protagonists to the other side characters, they all play a minor role here and there despite the show being predominantly female. Each character has unique traits and personalities. While Nadeshiko is a cheerful and energetic type, The aforementioned Rin is a quiet type. Despite her quietness, she is also shown to show her cute side on several occasions. It is interesting to see characters with a personality opposite to each other become friends, as the character interactions add a touch of realism, humanity, and wholesomeness during the proceedings. And doesn’t annoy me with any sort of unneeded tension, character drama, or external elements getting in the way, and certainly not a sense of danger or heavy uncertainty. It is strict in what it covers and straightforward in what it wants to evoke. And the narrator occasionally works as a camping tutorial for beginners as the earnestness in the camping tips was quite knowledgeable.

Like most “slice of life” shows, this can also be a double-edged sword as it gives the characters within the show very little to offer in the way of an actual narrative or arc outside of Rin. We do see random clues regarding Rin’s past about how her grandfather got her into these solo camping adventures at a young age, but almost no background is told about the other characters where it counts the most as the story briefly covers their personal lives outside of camping, including their time with family, part-time jobs, etc. And having more episodes devoted to specific characters would’ve benefited this in some way.

Outside of this being a predominantly female cast, the character designs do a great job of selling of cutesy part of the show and do a good job clueing us on their personalities, as one-dimensional as they may be, yet it’s strangely not boring. Each episode provides a good amount of background art and colors that remain vibrant & lively while enhancing the beauty of the scenery with easy-listening music that compliments the relaxing atmosphere in such a way that it works. And interestingly, many of the camping sites are actual locations that later became tourist attractions thanks to the success of this anime during its Japanese run.

Overall a passable show, but not for everyone. Slice of Life can be a subjective subgenre for certain audiences to dip their toes into depending on whatever story it wants to tell. In the past, we’ve had other slice-of-life anime/manga franchises built around various topics such as sports, painting, how to make friends, or even owning a scooter. Yet many of these shows rarely reach the same level of success this show upon its release which has spawned not only a yet to be dubbed 2nd season, but also a theatrical anime film, and even a live-action series within Japan. And with a recently announced 3rd Season, We’ll most likely expect more English Dub episodes/seasons of this lighthearted romp if Crunchyroll has money to burn.