No, don’t go, Laid-Back Camp. Don’t leave me!
Ahem. The Season 3 finale kicks off with one last look at Chiaki’s solo trip. Chiaki decides to hit the hay early so that she can wake up in time to see the sunrise (a Laid-Back Camp stable) but she finds herself restless due to the lonely and eerie atmosphere of the campsite. You know, normally when someone wants to wake up early, they usually do it without a hitch. Leave it to Chiaki for managing to mess this up. The mood dials up to 11 when Chiaki needs to use the bathroom and she gets paranoid that there might be a bear outside of her tent (it ends up being a bunch of cats). You know, this show has teased a bear showing up enough times that I’m wondering if it might actually have one appear one day. I’m assuming that this solo trip is a one-off thing. Laid-Back Camp already has this department covered with Rin and Nadeshiko. Still, I really appreciate the mix-up here and it amazes me how well these characters can carry an adventure on their own.
How nice of Rin to check up on Chiaki (and unintentionally creep her out with the local live feed). Look at our veteran solo camper looking out for the rookies. Interesting that Rin assumes Chiaki might be bored. It was surprising to see Chiaki camp alone. I would’ve been find if she didn’t dig solo camping. It’s perfectly fine if it’s just not her thing. Plus, she strikes to me more as a group camper. Still, it’s sweet that Chiaki not only enjoyed the trip but it also made her understand Rin more.
At long last, we finally get our whole group trip. As promised, the girls check out some more cherry blossoms together. They are also joined by Toba-sensei and Akari. Can’t say I’m surprised that Akari is just there for the food. If it means she gets her screen time back, I’ll take it.
It’s tradition to save the whole group trip for the end but this season definitely sat on theirs, holding off on it until the very last episode. I suppose by virtue of absence, this makes the get-together a bit more meaningful. But dang, this show kept me waiting. Because it’s so late, this trip doesn’t have a lot of time to work with. Compared to the multi-part adventures Season 1 and 2 ended with, this feels extremely short. To be fair, this trip is also very modest by comparison. It’s not a fancy road trip; it’s just the girls checking out the cherry blossoms (and they’ve each done plenty of that already) so a much shorter run time is pretty reasonable.
Despite the lack of time, this segment manages to give us some good material. Toba-sensei is in charge of cooking duties this time around. Chiaki was afraid that her teacher might go into a drunken stupor with the food but as it turns out, she should’ve thought way more outside of the box. Toba-sensei opts to cook jingisukan but she also provides frog meat as an appetizer and no, I did not make this up. The frog ends up being tasty but because it’s a frog, the girls understandably have a hard time enjoying it. This scene made me realizing something. Laid-Back Camp has done so many cooking scenes at this point that it may have to do something out of the blue. Perhaps Toba-sensei getting into extremely exotics meats is this show’s way of keeping the culinary aspect fresh. I’m not opposed to this being a recurring joke. I mean, you can’t have Toba-sensei browse crocodile and rattlesnake meat and not have her cook these for her students to “enjoy”.
There’s also this funny bit where Aoi calls her grandmother about the jingisukan. I originally thought that Aoi was going to complain about it not being like the one she and Akari have at home and she wants her grandmother to drive all the way to the campsite to show everyone how the dish is done. That’s not what happens but I’m okay with this since what we get is way funnier. Akari is puzzled that the pork Toba-sensei is exactly like the jingisukan she has at home, which apparently doesn’t have pork. To her and Akari’s horror however, their grandmother reveals that their dish has always been pork this whole time. What really gets me laughing is the grandmother saying telling her granddaughters that they weren’t supposed to find out. I would call it a white lie but knowing the Inuyama family, I’m more convinced that this is a troll that has spent years in the making.
Seeing as the main characters have already checked out some cherry blossoms in the past couple of episodes, part of me was wondering how different this last round would be (apart from the fact that the gang is altogether, I mean). I really have to hand it to Laid-Back Camp as it actually saved some of the sightseeing for last. As night falls, the girls light up their lanterns and they notice how pretty one of the cherry blossom trees look once it’s illuminated. I concur, it is really darn pretty. While chilling under the tree, the girls compare their photos of the cherry blossoms. Nadeshiko’s pictures are particularly cool; she’s been taking pictures of the same tree since Episode 1. That way, she can present a time lapse of tree blossoming to her friends. This really reminds me of Rin and Nadeshiko sharing pictures of the night sky way back in Season 1 Episode 5, which is one of my favorite moments in the entire show). Even though the girls were off doing their own thing, they ultimately remain connected by sharing their experiences together. Combined with the pretty scenery, this is a wonderful scene to have for the finale.
I chuckled when Chiaki declared that the Outclub will finally get a full roster during their second year of high school. I imagine this might actually change “soon” and you’ll see why soon but this somehow still feels like a dream to me. What’s especially funny is Rin and Ena admiring the Outclub’s resolve. Come on you two, your friends would’ve been a real club if you both joined for real. The unintentional audacity here amazes me.
At sunrise, Rin chats with Nadeshiko. Earlier in the show, Rin recalled that she promised to invite Nadeshiko on a camping trip and she realized that she never did that. This scene would be a good enough time to do that but Rin decides against it once Nadeshiko talks on end about future camping trips. It’d be nice if Rin muster the courage but I like that she lets it go. Nadeshiko would never think any of less of Rin for not inviting her and it’s possible that she forgot about it anyway. So long as they get to hang out together, Nadeshiko is happy and that’s all that Rin really needs to care about.
As you may know, the Laid-Back Camp manga is still ongoing so naturally, Season 3 ends on an open note. As mentioned earlier, Nadeshiko has some ideas for future trips and chances are, she and the rest of the gang gets around to them later in the manga. We also see Ema and Mei make a return and begin their first year at Motosu High School. I had a feeling these two would be important. It looks like the Outclub will gain new more members after all. What a pity then that the show cuts off before that happens.
With that, Season 3 comes to a close. I’ve made it no secret that I love Laid-Back Camp and that sentiment stands with this season. The show is more or less sticking to the same shtick since the beginning but it’s managed to keep things from feeling super stale this far in. Really, the only arc I wasn’t too fond is the fourth wall breaking one in the middle of the season and even then, I can appreciate it for being different. Personally, I think the highlight is the multi-parter with Ayano, who finally got her due and has proven to be a worthy addition to the cast. The studio change worried me a bit at first but I think the new staff at eightbit deliver some nice visuals throughout the season, even with some corner cutting here and there. I miss C-Station but I’m not opposed to eightbit staying at the helm.
I can see Laid-Back Camp getting renewed for a fourth season. The franchise seems popular enough to warrant it. That said, the anime has gotten very far in adapting the manga and it has generally taken three years to get to another season anyway. If we are getting a fourth season, it’s not happening anytime soon. That’s a bitter pill for me to swallow, to be honest. It always pains me to part ways with this show. There are fortunately three OVAs releasing with the Season 3 Blu-rays in Japan so we’re at least getting some more content in the coming months.
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