"Yuru Camp" drama: Episode nine 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 many 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 shows doesn't show much interest in camping though does love nature and animals. She is one kawaii young woman!!!!

Links to a few previous shows: 

 Episode seven recap .... Episode eight recap

Think this will be the last of the recaps though am planning on watching the final four episodes tomorrow. That's why I wrote up on January 24th but had a change of mind with this show. Thought as there's only four episodes to go so why not finish off the recaps? An episode is short at 23 minutes so that means the recaps are brief too so will have a pair for today and the final two within the week. Doing recaps does help my viewing as I'm more likely to finish a series if I recap the entire drama. Don't know why it didn't happen but thought I had links to the previous shows but didn't, it's not essential reading them but it may help slightly.

 Most stories have lasted for two episodes but this adventure will take up three shows as when this episode came to it's conclusion Rin was still on a solo camping trip. It wasn't supposed to be a solo trip as for the first time ever she asked someone to accompany her who was her new 'weirdo friend' Nadeshiko. But at the last minute she came down with a cold and couldn't spend the weekend with Rin who still ventured out on her own. For the second time she's on her way to Nagano which is a bit northeast of her hometown of Yamanashi. One thing I've learned a lot of in this show is Japanese geography and this drama takes place west of Tokyo. The distance from Yamanashi to Nagano is over a hundred miles but only seventy if you take a shorter route though there's no major highways.

 That's the route Rin took and if you read the previous recap things didn't always work out best for her. The time is early December and while there's been no snow many of the campgrounds and trails have been closed. Rin learned that the hard way when her shorter route though the mountains was closed for the season. Luckily she encountered another camper who suggested an alternate way which Rin took, her final destination will be at a campground still open near Lake Suwa. For Rin this new route was an easy ride on her scooter though she didn't know any landmarks along the way nor where there may be any stores or restaurants. So she relied on her mate Nadeshiko who is stuck at home and could look for those things on her internet.

 At five main characters it's a very small cast and we still only saw three of them in this show. Though Nadeshiko had a cold that prevented her from joining Rin to her surprise making an appearance was her Outing Club chum Chiaki. You can see her in a few above screenshots and knowing how much Nadeshiko loves to eat thought she'd make a dish the pair could enjoy by themselves. That dish is named Houtou which is a special local dish of Yamanashi. It's mainly a soup with noodles, carrots, pumpkin, miso and a few other ingredients, Nadeshiko's family is new to the area so she's never had it. So Chiaki was in her glory preparing the special dish but to her dismay one by one the other three members of Nadeshiko's family returned home and 'invited' themselves' to a dinner of houtou.

 Though dismayed at first there were enough ingredients for Chiaki to feed the family and it was the first time we've seen Nadeshiko's parents though we've seen her sister a few times. The whole household was in seventh heaven over this new local dish and like Nadeshiko their passion is to eat gobs of food. So Chiaki's first time visiting her friend was a success, perhaps too much of one as they may invite her back to make more dishes! So that finishes that encounter so what's become of Rin? That's her above taking the advice of Nadeshiko and stopping at the Kouzenji temple where of all things they had a dog as their idol, one who Rin thought had such a scraggy face. But as I did mention it's kind of interesting to see these different sites of Japan as almost all dramas are set in Tokyo.

 But that scraggy face didn't turn off Rin from buying a mini toy of it though she was shocked it cost the high total of 500 Yen. Noticed it's not cheap to camp and travel in Japan, guess when you're deep in a remote area you have no choice but to overpay for things. But one activity for Rin that was actually inexpensive was stopping at a hot springs suggested by Nadeshiko. The total price for soaking in the hot spring, enjoying a nice view of Mt. Fuji and having a lunch of katsudoan was only 1100 Yen. Rin is always worried about prices as she only has a limited budget for these trips and we still haven't found out where she works part time.

 Rin would also have to worry if her scooter broke down fifty miles from home but so far no problems up until now. But there could be a couple of other problems for Rin with one of them being major. After devouring that delicious lunch Rin proceeded to fall fast asleep and it's not the first time after eating a meal. When she arose it was getting close to 5:00 pm and she had to be at the campsite within ninety minutes. Rin dashed like a race driver and should make it to the site with a few minutes to spare. But to her shock and fury there was a sign on the road saying it was closed! What's up now for Rin is a mystery as this episode ended on that note.

 Glad I decided to come back to this drama, it's certainly not a must watch but it's been so enjoyable. Haven't viewed the next show yet to keep the suspense up on what Rin will do next, to see how it turns out the next recap will have that story and that beginning of another.