Laid-Back Camp Season 2

Laid-Back Camp Season 2

Laid-Back Camp Season 2 anime series cover art
Laid-Back Camp Season 2

Season Overview

Laid-Back Camp Season 2 (Yuru Camp Season 2 / ゆるキャン△ SEASON2) is, to a large extent, the same kind of content as was found in the first season of the series. And I’ll also say that while it’s not all that similar to Room Camp, it is reminiscent of it in some ways.

If you enjoyed the original season of Laid-Back Camp, you’re going to enjoy this season as well. Unless your taste in anime has significantly changed to the point that you’re no longer interested in CGDCT slice of life series, you’re probably going to feel like it’s on par with season 1.

Now, I wasn’t really a fan of Room Camp. And if you feel the same, you may be a bit worried by my comparison to it. But don’t worry, because the only thing that’s reminiscent of Room Camp is that this season has a slightly larger focus on travel.

The original season of the series was primarily about camping. Yes, there was travel involved and the campsites featured in the series are all real places that you can go camping at — though you probably won’t always have a perfectly clear view of Mt. Fuji.

Room Camp was very different in that it didn’t involve camping at all and was more about the experience of traveling to new and different places. This season, while it still has camping content, features a lot more travel-centered content.

At least, that’s how I felt when watching it. I don’t remember if this season had any of those cute camping tip animations, but I don’t think it did. Camping happens, but it doesn’t really feel like it’s teaching you about camping anymore. I guess that means we’re ready to go out and do it ourselves now.

What’s New?

When trying to think of what was unique about this season, I could only think of two things. The first of those two things isn’t a what, it’s a who. A new character, Ayano Toki, was introduced. Unfortunately, that’s not as exciting as it might sound.

Ayano is Nadeshiko’s old friend from before she moved to wherever exactly it is she lives now. But, she’s not introduced as a new character who’s going to be a part of the main group. If I remember correctly, she’s just visiting for a short time.

That’s all fine. I think it could have been a bit odd to force a new main character into the group now that the dynamic has already been established. The issue is that I think Ayano only appears in one or two episodes, and she has very little screen time.

Ayano Toki eating a rice cracker from the anime series Laid-Back Camp Season 2
Ayano Toki eating a rice cracker

Ayano not sticking around is fine. But it would have been nice if she had a bit more of a role. As she is currently, she’s basically as much of a character as Rin’s grandpa. He appears a few times briefly, but he’s not even a secondary character like Nadeshiko’s sister, Sakura.

The other thing that’s new is that the girls go on a big trip. In the first season, they did all (or maybe just most of them) go on a camping trip together. But the big trip in this season didn’t really focus on camping at all, which is kind of odd for a series about camping.

Instead, as I mentioned earlier, it was all about going to new places and sightseeing. They climb a mountain (hill), go to the ocean, see capybaras, etc. They basically did everything on this trip except camp. Well, technically they did camp too.

Do I Need a Season 3?

I know there are a lot of people who probably want a third season of Laid-Back Camp. And while I’d welcome a third season, I don’t actually need one. At this point, I don’t think another season will give me anything unique enough that it will be worth it.

Unless the girls start camping in more extreme and unique places, which I don’t think they will, it’s just going to be more of the same thing. But, I do realize that some people may look at that and point out that there are other series with more seasons of “the same thing” that are still good.

One example I can think of is Non Non Biyori. That’s a slice of life series with three seasons, and the third season is the best. But the difference I see between that and something like Laid-Back Camp is that Non Non Biyori isn’t really about anything.

The laid-back campers from the anime series Laid-Back Camp Season 2
The laid-back campers

In Non Non Biyori, the girls can continue to do all different sorts of things that keep the show interesting. Laid-Back Camp is much more restricted in what it can do because it’s specifically about camping and traveling to outdoor places.

They can go to a bunch of different campgrounds. But if those campgrounds aren’t very unique or there’s not a new lesson about camping to be taught because of them, they’re not going to be as interesting. I think that’s why this season focused more on outdoor attractions near campgrounds.

I guess a third season could focus on different kinds of camping. However, that might require that new characters are introduced, which gets a bit more complicated. So far, all of the girls generally participate in the same kind of camping. They’re not each having unique camping experiences in relation to one another.

Conclusion

Overall, I gave Laid-Back Camp Season 2 the same score that I gave Season 1, which is a 7/10. It’s a solid, good season of anime. I just don’t think that it’s anything overly special. And I wouldn’t say that it does anything better or worse than the first season — aside from the OP/ED.

The OP song of Season 2 is Seize the Day, which I don’t like as much as Shiny Days from Season 1. However, I think the visuals of the second OP are much better and overall the second OP is better as well. Also, from the OP, you can see that this season is definitely more about travel.

I’m going to say that the opposite is true for the EDs. I love both songs, but I’m picking Haru no Tonari from the second ED over Fuyu Biyori from the first. With that said, I actually like the visuals of the first ED more than the second, and I think that one’s better overall.

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My review of Laid-Back Camp: The Movie is available now.

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