Before Season 3 presumably ends with a full group adventure, Laid-Back Camp brings us back to basic with a sort of interlude episode where Rin goes solo camping again. This kind of episode actually hasn’t happened very often this season. Last time we saw Rin camp alone was the season premiere. That admittedly can’t be helped since this season has been pre-occupied with multi-parter trips but even so, it has been a long while since Rin has done a solo trip. I’m really glad that to see her do it again before the season ends. Her solo adventures are always fun or cathartic to watch.
In this particular trip, Rin checks out a fairly unknown camping spot filled with cherry blossoms. It’s so unknown that there’s only one other camping group there besides Rin and there’s no one managing the place. As much as I’ve enjoyed the winter theme up until this point, I am glad to see the seasons change in-universe. That allows the show to diversify its vistas and keep its art direction fresh.
Naturally, you have Rin do her usual bout of sightseeing. I chuckled when she finds a bridge. Maybe it’s because it happened so often during the trip with Ayano that I’m amused to see Rin find one so soon after that. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised that Rin doesn’t acknowledge that but it is admittedly a loose connection. Plus, this is for the best. I already miss Ayano; Laid-Back Camp reminding me of her wouldn’t help.
Towards the end of sightseeing, Rin is annoyed to see some trash left by a previous visitor. While picking up the trash, Rin formally meets the other camping group, a man named Asahi Otani (Haruki Ishiya0 and a woman named Kaori Ogawa (Saku Mizuno). Those two offer to handle the trash since they’re traveling by car and will have to dispose of their own trash anyway. Kind of crazy to see Laid-Back Camp give a PSA about littering at the tail end of its third season but to be fair, it ought to go without saying that you shouldn’t leave garbage at a campsite. I do like Otani’s motto: ‘leave no trace when you go. Pretend you’re being hunted down by a hitman’. It’s a bit extreme but it certainly hammers in the importance to keeping the campsites clean. I’m curious as to who imparted that motto to Otani. Honestly, I was expecting the show reveal that Rin’s grandpa is the one who said it. Of course, it’s entirely possible that the identity of this camper doesn’t matter at all.
An amusing moment with Otani and Ogawa is them assuming Rin is a college student. Laid-Back Camp doesn’t really have people guessing Rin’s age but the one other time it did happened, she was assumed to be a middle schooler. I get why this didn’t happen often. As Otani and Ogawa note, you can’t mistake Rin as preteen when her main mode of travel is a moped. Still, had this been more of a recurring gag, I think Rin would take great pride that someone thought she was older than she actually is. Laid-Back Camp does get one joke out of this misconception. Rin asks for sugar to go along with her cup of coffee. Otani sees that a sign that Rin really is a young girl, only to then immediately sees Ogawa dump sugar into her cup.
I sometimes ask myself if I’ve seen the last of a minor character. Laid-Back Camp has set precedent of the most minor characters showing up again down the line. I’d ask this about Otani and Ogawa but funnily enough, they make their reappearance at the end of the episode. After leaving the campsite, Rin heads over to a hot spring and she runs into Ogawa again. The latter recommends a route for Rin to use during her trip. I doubt her and Otani will show up again after that but given the track record, who knows (besides manga readers, I mean).
Parallel to Rin’s solo trip, we see Nadeshiko carpool with Sakura (Marina Inoue) to see some cherry blossoms in the area. This scene does a particularly good job showcasing Sakura’s travel experience, where she comes up with an alternate route when the destination she has in mind has a full parking lot. It’s also just nice to see Sakura have screentime again. She seems to be a tricky character to incorporate into the story since she’s not technically a camper and she doesn’t always have to drive Nadeshiko around. I’d love to see her join a trip one day but I suppose it’d be a odd fit since Sakura’s passion is driving and you don’t really do a whole lot of that once you’re camping. I guess I’ll make do with scenes such as this.
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