A surprising sequel that blows Season 1 out of the water. Reignited my desire to go outside and form a new desire to start climbing mountains.
Read my rating scale first, before you decide to jump to the bottom of the review and read the score.
Explaining my Rating Scale
A common mistake with looking at ratings is assuming all of our rating scales are the same, while realistically that is never the case.
People rate average anime differently, some rate it as 5, 6 or a 7 depending on their own personal criteria which is subjective in nature. This explains why we all have different tastes.
My Personal Rating Scale (Anime):
4 and below = Considered dropped but I finished it for some reason.
5 = Meh, no rewatch ever.
6 = Meh, would only rewatch if forced.
7 = Acceptable and good entertainment, enjoyable.
8 = Great entertainment, not one of the best though.
9 = Loved the story!! Not life-changing but incredible!
10 = Chills, intense emotional catharsis, perfect, and possibly life-changing.
Setting expectations:
- This is a subjective review and mainly for enjoyment. A very critical opinion will not be found here, my apologies.
- Spoilers will be as minimal as possible with images being all out of context.
- I’ll try my best to explain what worked for me and what didn’t to help you understand my point of view. This will help you come to your own conclusion about what this anime might be like for you.
The preface is because a lot of people online expect reviews to fit a certain mold. For me, I just like to talk about anime I enjoy and want to share my thoughts about it in review-form.
Alright, let’s get to the review already.
Verdict
Yama no Susume Season 2 has 24 episodes with 14 minutes each.
It was animated by 8-bit Studio (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Infinite Stratos, The Fruit of Grisaia) and directed by Yuusuke Yamamoto (B Gata H Kei, Welcome to the NHK). This was airing in Summer 2014.
The anime’s source material is from a Manga with the same name. This is a slice of life anime featuring the outdoors and CGDCT. The one unique thing about the show is how it features Mountain climbing girls.
[Summary of: Story / Plot / Characters]
A slice of life story that features mountain climbing and travelling. Plot has a mixture of short and long arcs with simple characters that hit that realism aspect.
[Summary of: Visuals / Animation]
Incredible environment shots, visuals have aged well. Animation is great.
[Summary of: Audio / Soundtrack / Voice Acting]
Realistic show audio with a stellar soundtrack. Memorable voice acting from Aoi’s VA, great and adequate deliveries from the other VAs.
[Summary of: Overall]
An incredibly chill and relaxing show that fulfilled my desires and destroyed my low expectations.
I recommend this second season, I believe the first few episodes deserves a chance if you liked season 1. It is possible for your opinion to change after consuming season 2, it is the same subjects and execution but done well. I do not believe you will love it as much as I did but I think you would notice an improvement in quality.
Background
This is considered my first-time watch through. I have enjoyed the first season but never found it to be particularly anything special. Just a light popcorn show that was entertaining.
During this COVID-19 Pandemic, I have been stuck inside since March 2020. This has impacted me a lot psychologically because I am stuck inside all day, more than I would like. And while I have experienced this lifestyle before and enjoyed it, this has gotten way too excessive. I miss the outdoors and the normalcy of it too before the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, I solo-traveled for a few days before, that feeling of freedom and adventure. This is something that, again, I miss.
And, so when this show fulfills the needs for outdoors with amazing visuals and the adventure feel of climbing a mountain. You are god damn for sure gonna believe this affected my watching experience very positively. Also, I have a bias for slice of life stories. I like the genre and its stories.
I used Japanese dub and English subtitles. Bless the YuushaNi group.
The Review
Now the review. I’ll be talking about the anime in the following categories:
1) Story / Plot / Characters
I really loved the story. It featured mountain climbing and the daily lives surrounding the characters. It is a slice of life at the end of the day, but to see these characters encounter new situations, travel to new places, and grow as people was genuinely heartwarming personally.
From what I recalled, it is a mixture of short and long arcs. Pacing felt quite perfect, personally.
The characters are quite simple in nature but hit that realism aspect and are enjoyable to watch. There is not a lot of depth but that is fine for me.
2) Visuals / Animation
3) Audio / Soundtrack / Voice Acting
4) Overall
This show has fulfilled my need for a chill and relaxing show. It also fulfilled my desire for the outside and adventure. My expectations were blown away from season 1 and combining this with my background explains why the rating is so high. I am very glad I have watched this show.
Hopefully, you learned something useful from the review. Thanks for reading. :)
