"Yuru Camp" drama: Episode three 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.

 Once again this recap picks up where the previous one ended but don't think it's going to be one long continuous story. Just viewed the fourth episode and this ending didn't segue into that show. Where we left off was a Saturday and for Rin that means a solo camping trip. Most of her outings are near the famed Mt. Fuji and there's campgrounds surrounding the entire mountain/volcano. I'm not entirely sure why Rin enjoys camping so much, to me it seems like she goes mainly to be alone. This time though she did hike a bit in the woods and did take in some of the local scenery. But for the most part Rin's most enjoyable moments are when she can kick back on her lounge chair, read a book, view the famous mountain and drink lots of hot cocoa as it is the second weekend in November. 

 Rin also loves to create a fire and chop wood for it though she didn't need to on this trip. However she doesn't seem to be much into cooking or perhaps she can't afford better food as camping is a bit expensive. So once again Rin's dinner entree would be instant noodles as it was in the first two shows and she did seem a bit down about that. But to the rescue and also to Rin's dismay was her new 'weirdo' friend Nadeshiko! For the second time Rin's best friend Ena had told her where Rin was spending the weekend, Rin then silently vowed to keep all future trips a secret. But then again Rin was kind of glad to have someone to talk to but there was something even much more important.... in Nadeshiko's hands were two bags of food!

 Do have to say the best part of the series has been Haruka in a cap, doesn't she look utterly adorable?! In those bags was a hot pot and Rin silently thought to herself 'Who brings a hot pot on a camping trip?'. The tyro Nadeshiko would and actually it's a good thing for the food she brought were dumplings, not just a few but fifty! The pair did have a fun time chatting and cooking them up, least Nadeshiko isn't a tyro with a hot pot as the dumplings came out perfect. Then again anything would be pure ecstasy for Rin who only eats instant noodles. Rin had her share but was in total amazement watching Nadeshiko eat, she must have had forty of them(!) and Rin wondered why did she put it all as she still wanted more!

 On Nadeshiko's first outing she had rode her bike but it was just too much for her so this time around her sister gave her a lift, this is set in Yamanashi prefecture. But Nadeshiko was only planning on spending the afternoon and early evening with Rin, after their feast is when she planned on having her sister pick her up. That was until Rin made a huge mistake or at least she thought it was at the time. She was telling Nadeshiko about how wonderful the view was in the morning, where they were was facing east. So when the sun rose in the morning it came over Mt. Fuji and no picture can duplicate how grand it looks. With that Nadeshiko had no choice but to spend the evening to see the sun rise, what can she do with no tent though?

 We've met Nadeshiko's sister Sakura briefly twice now, she seems like a decent woman in her young twenties. She agreed to spend the night with Nadshiko in her SUV and wake her in the morning, a very early one as the sun rises shortly before 6:00 am. Good thing old sis' was there as Nadeshiko would have slept right through until noon(!), she was roused just in time and viewed the sunrise as you can see above. However it was a solo Nadeshiko awake at 6:00 am as still slumbering was Rin but don't think she had plans to view Mt. Fuji that early. Also above is what Nadeshiko did right after the sun rose high enough, she crept into Rin's tent and fell fast asleep, Rin was aware but kept her lips sealed. Who knows what happened after that for the next thing we knew it was Monday morning and both girls were back at school.

 Nadeshiko couldn't stop gushing to her pair of new friends, Aoi and Chiaki, about viewing the sun rise. They were both curious about why she joined their Outdoor Club, if she's so gung-ho about camping why didn't she join the Mountain Climbing Club? Nadeshiko didn't know there was one plus she's still so green about camping, to be honest she has zero clue about any of it. That may soon be changing in the next episode but as far as Rin is concerned she can learn everything on her own. Rin was not pleased that best friend Ena spilled the beans once again about where she was spending the weekend, Rin vowed to keep her mouth shut about future trips but that lasted all of twenty seconds. She did admit to Ena that a dream of hers was to travel solo to Nagano but it may not be possible. On her way home that day Rin did think about it much more, it's getting close to December so she better decide fast. Not sure where in Nagano but estimate she may need to travel over sixty miles which wouldn't be possible by bike, how that turns out you can read in the next recap;

 Another two-parter is coming up but will stick with just a pair of recaps again. Been an enjoyable series through four episodes, just a drama you can kick back on and not have to worry about five confusing storylines. Haruka just had a drama start a few days ago but that'll be one I'll be passing on, have watched her last five or so. She doesn't have the lead role in this new series though it's a biggish part but there's two others starting this week which I'd rather view.