"Yuru Camp" drama: Episode four recap

 

 Air Dates: January 9th to March 26, 2020 on TV-Tokyo, Thursday nights at 12:25 am

Subs were mostly done by EcoTV but another team did at least the first show, you'll notice the font difference and the title roughly translates over to laid back camp.

Main Cast: We'll seldom see anyone besides these five, had only watched the first two episodes before writing the character info so may edit things as time goes on. The setting is Nanbu in Yamanashi prefecture which is a little over thirty miles away from Mt. Fuji. Like so amy dramas it's based upon a manga and anime.

 Haruka Fukuhara as Rin Shima.... Main star of the show and she's an avid camper. However she has only done it alone as she'd rather not have others spoil her fun. So instead of joining the Outdoor Club at high school Rin is in the library club but that may not last for much longer.

 Yuno Ohara as Nadeshiko Kagamihara.... New girl at high school but had met Rin a few days before her first day. Nadeshiko had no clue about camping until meeting her but quickly became such a fanatic and joined the Outdoor Club on her first day at school.

 Momoko Tanabe as Chiaki Ogaki ... President of the Outdoor Club who had just two members until Nadeshiko joined. They weren't much of a camping club until then and it's located in a very tiny room until they can get to five members.

 Yumena Yanai as Aoi Inuyama.... The other member of the Outdoor Club. To date they've never taken a camping trip but do have various equipment, they spend most of their days burning leaves and keeping the school grounds tidy.

 Sara Shida as Ena Saito.... Rin's best friend who in these first few shows doesn't show much interest in camping though does love nature and animals. She is one kawaii young woman!!!!

 Once again my new drama selection is a semi oldie but once again the subs weren't completed until well after the series finished. Someone had started the project and subbed the first show, worst ones I've ever seen. But eventually it was picked up and am so glad as Haruka is one of my top faves and try to watch all of her dramas. For a while will be sticking to doing recaps for shorter dramas. My keyboard has been screwed up for a while and it takes so long to write up a full length recap because of that. Am going to get a new laptop somewhat soon, March?, but until then will be sticking with these kinds of shows. Which isn't a bad thing as to me late night dramas are so much better than prime time shows, when was the last time I recapped a full prime time drama?

 Want to add in all of this 'action' is real as the cast did travel to Yamanashi to shoot the drama as you can tell by the screenshots and they did actually camp overnight many times.

 Been taking 45 or so screenshots for the first three shows, this time around it was only 34 as not as much happened. But in a way more did but most of the happenings just began and will conclude in the fifth episode. No 'cliffhanger' from the third show but we did leave off with Rin mulling on a trip to Nagano. She did decide that the trip was worth it as it's late November and she may not have a chance until Spring. However will put her outing on hold to describe what took place with the trio from the Outing Club. That's them in the bottom screenshot, left to right is the newbie Nadeshiko, in the middle is the president Chiaki and on the right is Aoi. Don't know how this outing will turn out but it's been hilarious so far, seems more like a normal weekend than one for their first camping trip.

 Instead of biking the three traveled via bus to Fuefuki, it's also in Yamanashi prefecture but only about ten miles from their home(!) but they did have to walk the last two. But least the trio are making an effort to be a real camping club but in this episode they didn't do anything they wouldn't have done at home. That two mile walk left them completely bushed so it was time to devour some... ice cream! At first the duo of Aoi and Chiaki were leery about Nadeshiko joining their Outdoor Club but what a perfect fit she was as they're just as loony as she is! Watching this trio is a bit hilarious and after starting their trip off with ice cream what should be next, heading to the camp site would make sense. But not to them as first it'll be a detour to the local Onsen(hot springs) and seemingly camping was just an excuse to do these activities. However we don't see them visit the Onsen quite yet, that's all they did in this episode as what else happened on their trip will be in the next recap.

 Seems Rin is warming towards Nadeshiko much more as the pair were sending each other pics of their outing. Nagano was Rin's destination but being sixty miles away it was a bit too far to make by bike in one day plus it was getting cold. So as you can see above a motor scooter was how she arrived there, her hometown of Yamanashi is a bit north of Mt. Fuji while Nagano is even way more north though you also have a nice view of the famous mount there. Both Yamanashi and Nagano are much more closer to Tokyo then I thought, they mainly lie east of the city and there's many mountains in both areas. Rin is a bit like her mates as after a long journey what is needed more than anything else is food!

 On camping trips Rin always has to watch how much she spends, it's not a cheap pastime but luckily she had just got paid from her part time job, still don't know where she works. So for once Rin decided to live it up a bit before she hit the campground and found a lonely diner on her way there. Lonely as she was the only customer for lunch and her eyes bulged out when she saw how much the food cost. But you only live once was what Rin thought and ordered a meal of Borscht, thought it was more common in Germany but it also is in Japan or at least in rural areas.

 Trying to stretch this out a bit, you can always tell by the amount of screenshots how much action took place and the amount doesn't really mean if an episode was good or not. After averaging 45 in the first three shows took 34 for this one and also episode five which I just viewed. Rin is still sending messages to the trio who were a tad jealous of her Borscht meal which sent Rin into seventh heaven. Following the meal Rin took a mini walk around the Nagano area and ended up tying her phone onto a pole to send a live feed back to the trio who wondered why didn't they think of something like that?

 That really end this recap but so much more happened in the next show and though I took less screenshots they've been the best two shows to date. But it being shorter gives me a chance to explain something which was left out of the previous recap. Rin's best friend Ena had asked her why does she only go camping in the Autumn, say from September to late November. Rin responded by saying there's no bugs during that time which is true and could be so annoying. But Rin's main reason was that so few people went camping in the Autumn so she could usually be by herself which she enjoys more then anything else. Have had that impression since the first show and not sure why Rin doesn't care for the company of others. Perhaps a sub theme to this drama is how Rin finally opens up and goes camping with others which I presume will take place.

 I'm really enjoying this series and can see why so many others did too. It's so laid back with really zero action and it's nice to view shows like this every now and again. Though I'm liking this show haven't been zipping through it so may only have two recaps a week or perhaps every five days. Up next for my viewing pleasure will be "Uchi no Musume was Kareshi ga Dekinai" which began on the 13th. Just heard today that the show will be subbed and it looks like such an interesting and fun drama. Once the first few episodes are subbed will start on the recaps. Haruka is in another current drama but she's also going to make a few guest spots in the show just mentioned but that wasn't the reason for choosing it.