Never has an anime been so perfect in its title as Laid Back Camp. This is a chill, relaxing, and also educational anime.
Laid Back Camp follows two High School Girls – Shimarin & Nadeshiko. Shimarin is an introvert who prefers to go camping in the fall and winter when it’s less crowded. While on on a trip to a nearby campsite by bicycle, she meets Nadeshiko, who just moved to the area. Nadeshiko had walked to the same campground that Shimarin was planning to camp at because she wants to get a great view of Mt. Fuji. However, Nadeshiko forgot her phone, and also forgot her home address.
The two hit it off, and they are both turned on to something new. Nadeshiko to camping, and Shimarin to camping with other people. Nadeshiko pursues her affinity for camping by joining the Outdoors Club at her new high school (which Shimarin also attends). Shimarin pursues this by inviting Nadeshiko on some of her camping trips. This culminates with the group going on a big group camping trip on Christmas.
Card Carrying Member of Secret Society BLANKET
The “Laid-Back” part of the Laid Back Camp title fits perfectly. Every part of this show is chill. The music, pacing, background, and even jokes have a relaxing feel to it. Even the hot springs and bath sequences eschew any sort of risque slapstick in favor of the characters relaxing. It’s like sitting down to watch the show is as comfortable and relaxing as curling up in a big warm blanket with a pet.
From an educational standpoint, I learned from Laid Back Camp about how camping works in Japan. For example, campgrounds don’t necessarily have an off season. They don’t have designated campsites within the campground. Some even let you collect loose firewood on site. They don’t have designated fire pits, and because of this some require you use a campfire stand.
Finally, I feel the show has some of that Tourism Anime thing going on. It feels like every campground, cafe, and hot springs is a real place that you could go to and visit on a trip to Japan.
All of this in combination made for a show I liked to watch and was perfect for Sundays before I had to return to work.
Laid Back Camp is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
Great review! This is one of my favorite series from the last couple of years. So fun to watch. With all of the crazy series out there, it is nice to see fun and relaxing series like this. You mentioned about the campsites feeling real..so believe that are all actually are. Those are all places you can go. They even sent the artists to the sites for accuracy as to how the sites looked.