__This Review Consists of 5 Parts: (1) All About Camping (2) Representation of Introverts (3) Part of the Journey (4) Season 3 (5) Conclusion.__ ***

Camping is one of the most underrated yet satisfying outdoor activities. It can be done from your background, your neighborhood mountain, or by traveling miles away. There are a lot of activities that can be done by camping, although on paper it sounds awfully mundane and can be tiring in certain aspects, especially in a setting of an environment you're not familiar with, such as cooking over a sunny noon, building a tent on a windy afternoon, or having a campfire when there's lightbulbs available. To the people who are unfamiliar, camping may be seen as a redundancy as to how every activity has already been made better with newer and better tech and equipment, but these people are missing the point that camping makes you appreciate the simplicities of mundane activities while enjoying what nature has to offer.

To be fair, there are kinds of inventions that make camping far easier and definitely deviate from the simplicity and pre-industrial way of doing things, such as astonishingly expensive small and portable cooking utensils just so you can cook pre-packaged noodles. But through all the happy mishaps you have while preparing where you want to sleep for the night and have a little rest by reading a book or casually scrolling through your phone, you will eventually be greeted with an unexpected view of nature that's in front of you. The wind blows in your face and the sun hits your entire body as the shadows of the complexions of nature shine through your eyes with awe.

However, not everyone has the privilege to have these moments; most adults work at a 9-to-5 job with no space to have time for themselves, and teenagers who focus too much are chasing the highs without looking where they're stepping, which is an unhealthy habit people have to break out of, but due to the circumstances of their workloads or desires, it's just not possible. Which is why people go to social media sites such as TikTok or YouTube, where they seek escapism for the desired activities they want to do but can't. These escapisms are mostly expressed in different ways based on the interests of people, but the most common thing that pops up is the romanticism of the beauty of nature.

There are 15-second clips of nature on TikTok that people usually put on loop just to relax. While it may sound weird, this obsession with what nature offers is one of the most addicting awe experiences a person sees in their lives. And this is where the Anime Yuru Camp comes in and uses this romanticism of nature and offers it to people who crave this type of content. Amazing visuals of nature that's hand-drawn alone are already good enough for these people, but the anime goes a step further by providing subtle storytelling and character dynamics that inevitably hook these audiences over more than they already did and most times influence them to change their lifestyle and go out on their own.

Of all the things with people's cravings for nature, there is one anime that offers the exact thing people crave in nature while also offering warm characters and stories that make it engaging to watch, and that is Yuru Camp. A wonderful series where you walk through 12 episodes of just plain appreciation and full admiration for what nature has to offer, putting them on a beautiful light and fully experiencing the comforting feeling it emits through camping.

The series, however, wouldn't work as it wanted to without huge assistance from the animators and illustrators of the show. Similar to how we enjoy nature outdoors because of its soothing scenery, the animators and illustrators did their best to fully translate these visuals onto the anime, retaining the same kind of beauty, if not better, fully grasping viewers even closer and soothing the viewers well. ***

Introverts are the type of people who mostly spend time by themselves rather than with other people, and that mostly stretches to leisure activities as well. These characters with an introverted personality are mostly overlooked in the media, favoring the opposite criteria, like extroverts, who are opposites of introverts. In some cases, introversion is misrepresented or even used as a character development for a certain character to transition from being alone to being with a group of people. Introversion is often misunderstood as being a "loner," but in Laid-Back Camp, this trope has been used to its full advantage. Shima Rin (Nao Touyama) is a character that emits the introverted archetype, and the series holds her traits high and represents her as a vessel for introverts to be seen and appreciated by showing activities most introverts do and enjoy, especially in the context of camping.

This show isn't mainly targeting introverts, as this anime is for all kinds of audiences and does have a representation for extroverts through Nadeshiko (Yumiri Hanamori), who exhibits the extrovert archetype. The series, however, does this unique thing that hadn't been executed as well in any form of medium, and that is the cohesiveness of both introverted and extroverted people. Shima and Nadeshiko are total opposites as characters, yet sharing a common liking, such as camping, really shows the differences in how these characters enjoy the activities of camping, ultimately connecting them together more than they otherwise wouldn't.

Aside from the Extroversion-Introversion Dynamic, the show takes it a step further by creating subtle character developments through each person's way of enjoying camping as a reflection of their archetype. Shima likes to camp on her own but has slowly opened herself up to camp with other people, appreciating group camping, and Nadeshiko, who usually has company when she camps, learns to appreciate Shima's solo camping adventure, which she one day learns on her own as well. The wonderful animation and soothing theme, topped down with its heartwarming and subtle characters, ultimately make this show one of the great modern animes to have come out. ***

What makes the series highly rated is the great use of the journey to the destination part of the story. We always admire what lies at the end of the road and mostly sleep over the journey through it. Laid Back Camp uses this fallacy and utilizes the journey as the adventure itself while using the destination as a reward after following different spots prior.

The start of the adventure begins with gathering the materials. We see our characters overthink what to pack and the dilemma of whether they ever packed too much or not too much. Next is when they embark on their adventure, during which our characters enjoy the scenery before arriving at their multiple stops. Some moments were just plain commuting, but there's still something to appreciate about overlooking the views and paying attention to the little things that are otherwise often unappreciated. As we arrive at our stopovers, our characters enjoy what the location has to offer, whether it's hot springs, delicious food, amazing scenery, or the unique ambiance the place brings. The characters in the journey sometimes challenge themselves in many ways to make it more fun. After a couple of entertaining stops and the exhaustion our characters feel from the journey, we have finally arrived at our destination.

This also applies to a different scenario when they plan activities and to-do’s at their destination, which creates a relaxing watch for viewers. As characters enjoy the views of the destined scenery, they also prepare materials such as wood, tents, food, and other camping-specific tools and utensils. These mini adventures around the main adventure really elevate our enjoyment of the series, making us connect with these characters even deeper and elevating the already relaxing show even warmer and calmer. ***

Season 3 is in this unique situation. After two seasons and a movie, the series achieved what it already wanted to achieve, which is to be a slice-of-life series that aims to be a relaxing adventure with its likable characters complimented by its amazing scenery. However, the movie started and ended the series with our characters being fully fledged adults. This sets out season 3 as a prequel to the movie, which can be a bit awkward coming back to it with them as teenagers once again. Not to mention the switch of studios (from C-Station to 8bit) that made some drastic changes, particularly with the character’s designs. If you're a manga reader for this series, you'd feel at home with the new designs since it's the closest adaptation to the manga. But if you're an anime exclusive, it can take quite a bit of adjustment.

Despite these drastic changes in the series, the moment you watch it, you'll realize that these worries about the awkward situation of the season immediately fade away. This is because the heart of the series has stayed intact despite huge changes. The dynamics of the characters, their charm, the wonderful scenery, and the emanating calmness of the series remained firm. If you're a viewer who greatly enjoyed the first two seasons of Laid-back Camp, this new season perfectly fits in with the vibes that you crave in the series, like the main points I mentioned in the preview parts of this review. nothing more and nothing less. ***

Laid Back Camp is one of those special anime. It doesn't try itself to stand out from the rest, but takes itself in a risky direction of trusting its audiences that all they have to do is to turn off their brains and enjoy what's on screen. A dangerous move especially in the slice of life genre where the entertainment comes from the mundanity. But with the series’s full commitment by offering great characters with natural chemistry mixed with addicting sceneries on top of the calming adventure, this series is one of the great slice of life anime and a timeless classic.