I'll be honest, I'm a gigantic sucker for slice-of-life anime. My anime list is literally chock-full of slice-of-life, with only a few selective shounens here and there. Most of the slice-of-life stuff are, as expected, mundane, basic and niche. But, one slice-of-life anime that truly struck different from everything else, is Yuru Camp.

Premise

So, what is Yuru Camp? It's an anime about a group of girls who form a camping club at their school, and it's just about that. Camping, as it is, not just as a side activity or as something to build the characters upon. The anime just focuses around camping as an experience, no tension, no drama, that's it. It's a very straightforward anime with what it wants to cover and evolve.

In my opinion, this is what makes Yuru Camp really good. It doesn't have something that people would just outright, "hate", because from its premise, Yuru Camp just feels like a very comfortable show that anyone can get into. People can dislike it, but it wasn't a type of "controversial" anime that has something that would really spark hatred, so those people who did were probably not vocal about it. But then, trying to sell Yuru Camp to others is also just as hard, because it seems like there is no appeal for a show that's just harmless, fun and chill compared to something else with (comparatively) more memorable emotional moments.

Honestly, you cannot just recommend Yuru Camp to a skeptical person as it is. You have to show them how it actually feels to sit down and watch an episode of it. The quiet environment that it gives out is just soothing, just like having those ASMR audios in the background, but it's definitely more visual. Pure calmness of mind, no more, no less.

Visuals

Of course, to say that the premise carried everything in the series is definitely a mistake. Each episode is carefully crafted and executed properly, and there isn't anything that would make you feel, "oh wow, this is sooooo out of place."

The visuals are an instant praise, honestly. The backgrounds are super detailed, and they're just amazing wallpaper material. I cannot stop taking screenshots of those landscape camera pans as the girls travel around and explore the area. With its clever usage of lighting, contrast between confined rooms and vast landscape, placing characters at the right spots for the sense of space and depth of field, it makes us viewers feel like we're actually belonging there. Without having any flashy cinematographic tricks, but just simple zoom-outs and panoramic shots of the character surrounded by the environment, Yuru Camp exponentially increased the visual appeal of the scenarios.

The character design is rather okay for a slice-of-life anime as well. They are not too overstylized, a bit on the simpler side, but consistently fitting with the realistic, soothing feeling of the backgrounds. Their clothes are not over-the-top either, yet the show gives them a surprisingly variety of outfits for each of the girls. Rin's hairstyle and her fashion choices as a whole makes her a very visually dynamic character, and the hairstyles even turned into running jokes throughout the anime.

The show's animation is very clean and fluid, definitely above average compared to what you would see from a slice-of-life anime. Despite that, there isn't too much focus on movement, and it can look quite static at times. Some parts of the show are surprisingly detailed in animation, but then it's sadly balanced out by abusing static and panning shots. Rather inconsistent, but always serviceable enough, and not a pain to look at.

Audio

Music in Yuru Camp is excellent. We can just stop there and let you watch the entire thing yourself to see how it is. But, to delve deeper into things, the background music is perfect, truly spot on for each scene. It doesn't just let one song run mindlessly in the background while things happen on-screen, instead accurately timing pauses for the comedy scenes, and saving the best parts of each track for the best part of each scene. To put it simply, it does a very basic thing of, knowing when to stop and start, how to transit between calming music and comedic scenes, and which track to play when. It's a very basic thing, but it had a lot of effort put in.

Outside of music, the audio effects in the show is also very well done. The way they crafted all the ambient sound effects for the environments really makes the show much more immersive. The wind breezing, leaves rustling, etc. It just feels very relaxing for the listener, even without the visuals. The girls also have very distinct personalities that I think are shown very well through their voice actors. Nadeshiko's voice truly shines her character through - a cute cinnamon roll that's just so, so pure. The quiet, but very empathetic trait of Rin's is also shown well in her voice acting. Of course, with that, for the rest of the main cast, the energy in Chiaki's voice and the soothingness felt inside Aoi's voice is also very much perfectly nailed.

Writing

I did point out how Yuru Camp is very much straight to the point previously. And while it's a definitely an interesting thing to see, this is also the show's weakness. The girls, and the scenarios depicted, all focus around the idea of camping. Everything they talk about is also camping, everything they do in the show is also just camping. Some people will dislike this, since it can feel very much boring at times throughout the show, since it seemingly doesn't focus on anything else.

But, that isn't to say the writing is uncreative or shallow. Within the show's consistent theme of camping, it also talks about friendship and trying out new things. You have Nadeshiko, a girl who just moved into town, experiencing camping itself for the first time; and you have Rin, a loner introvert, experiencing camping (but with friends) for the first time. Rather simple themes, but how it was executed is a high point of the show. Even though you have two characters who seemingly contrast in personalities, there is never a situation where one side is depicted as "wrong" or "problematic". Rin is introverted and loves camping alone, but she warms up to the experience of camping with others in the show. And of course, as stated, her introvertedness isn't shown as "problematic". It stays essential to her character, and other girls respect her boundaries. This same idea applies to Nadeshiko - an extremely extroverted girl who would seem to invade Rin's boundaries. She understands that forcing Rin to change isn't right, and lets Rin develop her own character in her own pace. The girls' mutual understanding and respect towards eachother truly makes the show very interesting to see.

Everything in the show also doesn't feel forced. In fact, it feels very spontaneous and natural, as though anyone could imagine themselves in those situations. The girls' conversations feel very natural, and how they interact with eachother also has the same feeling to it. The "jokes" in the show aren't structured to be clear "jokes". The show doesn't try to tell you "hey, this is funny, this is why they are laughing" and it just feels genuine, both for the girls in the show and the viewers themselves. On top of this, the comedy throughout the show feels very much spontaneous, not forced to be comedic, and overall doesn't overstay its welcome at all.

Notice how Yuru Camp has a consistent theme on camping, going outside and enjoying the environment. But it doesn't force the girls (or in fact, any character in the show) to always be disconnected from technology. On the other hand, Yuru Camp lets the girls use technology to show their friendship and how they connect to eachother. They use their phones to communicate and to plan things. Rin and Saitou mostly talk to eachother through phone text messages, yet still deeply understand eachother. Nadeshiko and Rin, despite being hundreds of kilometers away from eachother physically during Rin's solo camping trip, still connect deeply to eachother, to the point Nadeshiko becomes Rin's remote tour guide by talking to her by text.

Afterwords

This has been a rather long post, and this is my first time writing something like this. I feel like, for Yuru Camp enjoyers, the way I enjoyed this show might be very much relatable and familiar to others of the same mind as well. I truly enjoyed both seasons of the show, and the manga as well. Please support the author whenever and whereever you can. Maybe once I rewatch both seasons of the anime after the movie has released (yes, a movie is coming!), I will come back to this again and write another one of these.