Synopsis
This is a work for those who have a love for camping. The focus for this story is Rin, a young girl who usually sets out to camp by herself. One day while out camping, she encounters Nadeshiko, a young girl who had just moved to Yamanashi and had biked her way to Motosu to see Mt. Fuji. Thus, begins a story of girls exploring the outdoors with a single camp meeting.
General Impression
It’s simple, it’s got amazing background art and a fun soundtrack to go with it. More than being a series that highlights the pros and cons of camping, it’s a nice little series that’s got personality to it. That personality being something warm and cheery, especially with the way that the characters are portrayed. While the characters were not all that developed and at certain points less than dynamic, it works with the flow of the series. Going back to the highlights in camping though, that’s another high plus for the series.
From the animation of the characters setting up to the little notes on what to do and not to do, the series presented some fun facts in camping. What really brings out the camping factor and the art with music though is the campgrounds. They were well detailed and along with general background just popped off the screen. The only real issue to be found with the series is on the characters and how their relationship could have been done better outside phone chats and more face to face interactions.
Ending Thoughts
When reaching the end of the series, this writer began to see more of what to enjoy with the series. And that is the silliness that it manages to slip in. Honestly, the entire series is just a great mix of light-heartedness, cheer and friendship surrounding the theme of camping. What made the ending so great is that at the very end, right after the credits, the series went full circle with Nadeshiko ending up camping at where she and Rin first met. Sure, the characters could have had more scenarios together and more personal interaction but what the series gave resulted in a rather sweet ending.
Conclusion
What else can be said? This is one of the best slice-of-life series that this writer encountered, and not just for the winter 2018 season. It has amazing art, great music and basically the anime has a solid warm personality to it. Sure, the characters don’t really have much on them and there could have been more exploration on their relations but that could have been the point to place more focus on the camping theme. The series clearly showed it was going to be a light-hearted series about camping and it delivered in the best of ways.
Rating: 9.5/10