Laid-Back Camp Season 2

Episode 4

This week, Laid-Back Camp reminds us that, in addition to treating us with lush pictorial evocations of nature's transfixing majesty, it can also be pretty darn funny and heartwarming. The show's comedic chops certainly weren't missing from the first three episodes, but they're pulled to the front here while the girls take a break from camping activities and return to their normal school lives. Unsurprisingly, most of their time spent indoors is spent reminiscing on their previous outdoor excursions, and their time away from the campgrounds is spent preparing for their next outing. They may only collectively share a handful of brain cells, but they're all laser-focused on tents and tent accessories.

The direction, storyboarding, and editing all switch gears to match the more comedic angle of the Outdoor Activities Club's antics, and I got some pretty good guffaws out of it. Texturally speaking, there's a lot more emphasis on close-ups of faces, putting the characters' heads in the corners so they can react, and other manga-like paneling decisions made to embrace the jokey atmosphere. And some of the jokes themselves, while dumb on the outside, exhibit very smart creative decisions. For instance, Laid-Back Camp kicks off one of its patented camping tutorials narrated by Solid Snake, but as soon as Chiaki realizes she forgot the poles, the end card pops up unceremoniously and caked in awkward silence. That's a great, understated structural gag! Similarly, I love that nobody really addresses Nadeshiko once she goes into pole mode. They all just languish silently in the weirdness until Nadeshiko, with almost tragic deliberation, lowers the tarp onto her friends. Comedy is tough to get right—especially comedy that uses silence so liberally—so it's reassuring to see that Laid-Back Camp still has experts of the craft on its staff.

Laid-Back Camp also uses silence and open space thoughtfully in other important parts of its fourth episode. Arguably, it's most paramount once Nadeshiko runs from the bubbly and overexcited word-spew in her head to the sight of the empty train station. It's an almost disquieting moment; sudden silence like that is familiar language in horror cinema, and I've personally had moments where complete silence instilled both fear and revulsion in me. However, Laid-Back Camp pushes past that reflexive rejection and into the meditative sphere, where it wants both Nadeshiko and the audience to reflect on Rin's words from last week. It's a beautiful moment that caught me completely off-guard, yet it's also totally in-line with what I've come to expect from the show. It's the sign of a smart adaptation that really cares about its material.

Another thing I've always liked about Laid-Back Camp is that it's always grounded itself in camping tools, their functions, and their costs. Nothing springs up out of nowhere, and even the firewood in their absurdly cramped club room receives a backstory in this episode. This lets the show explore one-off bits, like the heart-crushing cuteness of tents made specifically for dogs. It's always a good time watching Rin short-circuit and try in vain to hide it. But this also tethers Laid-Back Camp to reality, which both complements its outdoorsy inspirational emphasis and provides plenty of motivation to keep its characters chugging along. The focus this week lies on Nadeshiko's long and arduous pursuit of a Cole—sorry, Goalman gas lantern, and her search for a part-time job to fund even more camping contraptions. Here, again, the show's cozy comedic chops add a lot of texture. Using karuta as a metaphor for her job search is particularly inspired (and reminds me I gotta watch the third season of Chihayafuru already). That shoujo-eyed face she makes with her newly-purchase lantern also has to be one of the more horrifying things I've ever seen, and I hope Laid-Back Camp takes whatever power it harnessed there and buries it deep in the earth.

The last point I want to make for now is one I couldn't fit in last week: the music is still so good and so important to the series' whole vibe. The quiet acoustic texture of the soundtrack just fits the relaxed mood incredibly well, and I love the contrast between the opening and ending songs. Season one went full Jackson 5 with its OP, but this time singer Asaka returns rooted more firmly in city pop funk, which I'm shamelessly biased towards. I'm very glad that Eri Sasaki also returned to perform the ED, and I think this song might be even lovelier and more delicate than the first season's. It probably also helps that season two has made an effort to integrate the ED into the show itself, beyond just the closing credits. This week, again flexing its comfort with silence and stillness, Laid-Back Camp uses nothing but light and its lovely ending song to follow Nadeshiko's lamplit escapades after dark, following the motion of her lantern's illumination and her secret delivery of her sister's new hand warmer. As someone who also has perpetually cold hands throughout the winter, I know the magnitude of this gesture's magnanimity.

I have a feeling I'm going to be calling Laid-Back Camp “therapeutic” a lot, but it really is one of the most thoroughly relaxing experiences I have each week. And I'm really looking forward to how this season will continue to develop Nadeshiko's curiosity about solo camping. Importantly, the series doesn't set up solo and group camping in conflict with each other—Nadeshiko herself thinks on how much fun she's had camping with her friends. Laid-Back Camp instead seems to want to vaunt the two of them as uniquely worthwhile experiences, and to prove that anyone can come to appreciate these two sides of communing with the beauty of Mother Nature. I hope we get to see that, and I hope we get to see more very small dogs in camping gear.

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Laid-Back Camp is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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