Winter is in full swing and that hasn’t quelled the girls’ desire to camp one whit! Nadeshiko is eager to try her first solo camp, leading Rin to be a little anxious given how Chiaki, Inuko, and Ena’s last trip on their own went, and the whole group agrees that they want another group camp soon! So it’s time to work hard, save money, and make plans about where they should go next!
In some ways Laid Back Camp is a bittersweet reminder of how I had been planning to do more hiking in 2020: I had been looking at local trails and dates when state and national parks would have no entry fees when alas, COVID threw all those plans into disarray. The girls of the OEC might not meet many people whenever they go winter camping but here in the US there have been a great many newspaper articles telling people to “embrace the cold” and “continue to enjoy the great outdoors in the winter” and as a result the trails near me are more crowded than ever! But, even if I can’t get out in nature right now, at least I can stay home and stay cozy while reading Laid-Back Camp.
In some other ways, Laid Back Camp is also a little bittersweet since seeing Nadeshiko and Rin go on their own, solo camping trips made me realize that this is what my ideal high school life would have been like. Their adventures, either within walking distance of mass transit or in areas where riding a small scooter isn’t a life-threatening choice, are a far cry from the hikes taken with my family in high school: 2+ hour car drives each way (before cell phones, in a noisy car where music was difficult to listen to, and even I will eventually get carsick from reading), eating a soggy packed sandwich, and then no break from my family even when hiking! The solo camping trips we see in this series capture so well why I enjoy going for hikes by myself these days, there’s something lovely about the silence and freedom to take a trip at your own pace and every volume of Laid-Back Camp convinces me even more firmly that if I ever visit Japan that I should schedule some time to hike and relax in nature.
Of course, the main draw to Laid-Back Camp is the entire cast and what better way to show off the entire cast than with a group camping trip! With their plans to go camping near the beach on Izu I was again reminded of my own high school years and the one time I ever went truly camping when I tagged along on a club trip. While the girls run into a few issues along the way I’m comfortable in saying that fact is stranger than fiction and that their trip will surely end more smoothly than ours did (I don’t think the OEC is in danger of having a Nor’easter blow through camp the first day and snapping the poles/flooding all of the tents, nor do I think any of the girls will be busted for smuggling alcohol onto the trip) but that trip was one of the rare, genuinely fun events in my high school life and it was nice to be reminded of it.
The cast makes it easy to reminisce about high school; my friends and I were weird, weirder than I usually find in fiction which has made series like O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Horimiya, and Laid-Back Camp so fun to read. Even after 8 volumes I still find myself laughing at many of the gags and the series still finds new things to add in, like seeing scenes between Rin and her family which was a nice touch. Laid-Back Camp is the perfect series to read or watch in the winter, whether you do it on a couch or in front of a fire pit.