And so ends the first major adventure in Season 3. It’s been a really fun mini-arc. I want to say this is one of my favorite trips in the show but there’s been a lot of good ones so it’s hard to say.
This episode is considerably less eventful than the past two. To be fair, the girls toured around a lot beforehand. Literally, the only thing left to do in this camping trip is actually going camping. We start with Nadeshiko biding her time. The first thing on the to-do list is setting up a couple of things, including some stuff Rin handed to her ahead of time. Definitely the funniest bit here is Nadeshiko trying out Rin’s billhook. She looks so darn silly with that thing. I can’t believe Rin entrusted that to Nadeshiko but then again, we saw the latter use a saw in the season premiere so I guess she can handle sharp objects just fine. We also see Nadeshiko experiment with her cooking. She first makes some amazake cookies for herself and she later comes up with a dam-themed curry rice dish inspired by a similar dish she tried earlier in the trip. I would love to see Nadeshiko go on a legit solo trip again. She’s proven herself to carry scenes on her own really well.
Around eight minutes into the episode, Rin and Ayano finally arrive at the campsite. I thought Ayano would be fine after having lunch but all the driving she’s done apparently still wears her out as she collapses onto the ground for the second time. I guess my prediction came true after all. It’d be really funny if this happens again the next time Ayano tags along. You then have Rin and Nadeshiko checking out Ayano’s camping gear and setting it all up for her. I laughed really hard when Ayano acts like she still did it while she’s lying on the ground. This girl never ceases to be funny (though really, who does in this show?). A missed opportunity here is not having Ayano look at her friends’ stuff in envy. I suppose she’s not too informed in this department but dang it, it’s fun when these girls inadvertently realize where they each stand in terms of budget.
A good chunk of run time is then dedicated to the girls cooking and enjoying dinner. Among the dishes is of course the dam-themed one Nadeshiko came up with in an earlier scene. The rundown of everything as well as the comical or stylistic reactions to the food is all pretty standard stuff but I’ve yet to grow tired of it. One tidbit that did stand out to me is some of the tricks Nadeshiko apparently learned offscreen, such as pouring some of grease from one of the ingredients out into a jar (which can then be used for a makeshift candle). I don’t know if it’s character development but it’s interesting to see Nadeshiko come up with these ideas and it goes to show how much she’s into camping. Plus, it’s funny to think that she might be better in this department than Chiaki (whose track record speaks for itself).
The last couple of scenes has Nadeshiko and Ayano hanging out together. I’d love to see these childhood friends on their own adventure but the few scenes they share here suffice, especially the sunrise scene (it wouldn’t be Laid-Back Camp without one). Come to think of it, these two rarely have a scene to themselves. At this point, Ayano has shared more screentime with Rin than with Nadeshiko. I wonder if keeping Nadeshiko and Ayano apart correlates to something said in the season premiere, about how isolation or loneliness is part of the camping experience. We see in a flashback that Nadeshiko was upset that she could no longer hang out with Ayano but in the present, she doesn’t mind that Ayano is off somewhere else, with her other best friend no less, until the end of the trip. Perhaps camping has made Nadeshiko be more used to being apart from Ayano and more appreciative of the few times the two of them can hang out. I can see someone finding it odd that Nadeshiko doesn’t mind that Ayano chose to hang out with Rin for most of the trip but Nadeshiko hardly strikes to me as a jealous person. It makes a lot more sense that she’s happy to see her two girlfriends befriending each other.
I probably sound like a broken record at this point but it is going to be hard not having Ayano around after this trip. This girl has been so funny and likable that I wouldn’t mind in the slightest if she becomes a permanent addition to the main cast. Then again, it’s maybe for the best that Laid-Back Camp keeps a couple of characters on reserve. That way, the story is less likely to get stale. It’ll probably be a while before Ayano shows up again but I’m very much looking forward to the next time it happens.
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Xenodude's Scribbles 
Nadeshiko is a bit of an airhead and a force of chaos… But she’s never been depicted as being incompetent. So I wasn’t bothered by the billhook scene.
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I don’t know if I was bothered per se; maybe just surprised and amused. I find it funny whenever Nadeshiko has something that potentially dangerous. I probably take it more for granted but it’s true that Nadeshiko isn’t incompetent (as I mentioned in the post, her using the saw in the season premiere proved that much).
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