It's Comfy Time!
- Episodes : 12
- Genre : Slice of Life, Comedy, Food
- Airing Date : January 2020 – March 2020
- Producers : C-Station
Contains Spoilers
Heya Camp△ (Room Camp) Introduction and Story
A short companion anime to Yuru Camp△, Heya Camp△ is a similarly delightful slice of life series, this time following the Outdoor Activities Club as they explore various places in Yamanashi Prefecture. Specifically, Nadeshiko Kagamihara is trying to complete the Yamanashi Kids' Stamp Rally to learn more about her new prefecture (and win a year's supply of after she hears about it from Aoi Inuyama and Chiaki Oogaki, who also tag along for the fun times. Thus begins the trio's enjoyable adventures across Yamanashi, taking in the sights and many tasty meals along the way.
Why You Should Watch Heya Camp△ (Room Camp)
1.Explore Yamanashi Prefecture
As we mentioned in the intro, Heya Camp△ showcases many cool places and regional foods that can be found in Yamanashi prefecture that, while perhaps feeling a bit like a slightly obscured advertisement to boost local tourism, feels like a fun and relaxed adventure with friends and is even a little educational without being overly contrived. Some of the highlighted areas like Narusawa Ice Cave, Tenjo-Yama Park Mt. Kachi Kachi Ropeway, and Lake Kawaguchi seem like legitimately interesting places to see which, along with the delicious foods showcased, like the many varieties of houtou soups and Mt. Fuji-shaped curry, make Heya Camp△ a great way to explore a part of Japan not often seen in anime!
2.Cute Character Moments
Obviously a slice of life series lives and dies by its characters and, thankfully, Heya Camp△ delivers. While we wouldn't call Nadeshiko and company the most developed or nuanced characters, they definitely have their charming points in their cute designs and mannerisms that are a big part of what makes the show enjoyable. Some of our favorite moments were the flashbacks of Aoi and Chiaki meeting as kids, the trio taking some liberties with the Kachi-kachi Yama story, and the “surprise attack” in Rin's highlight episode (episode 4).
3.Delightfully Bite-Sized
Although some might yearn for the full-length portions of its predecessor series, we think that Heya Camp△ did a great job of making effective use of its run time to achieve a similar feeling of comfy relaxation with a spirit of adventure that is supremely easy to watch thanks to its short episode length, even for people with short attention spans that might not normally be interested in laidback slice of life. Especially for folks watching a lot of series at once, Heya Camp△ can be a great break in between full-length episodes that won't make you feel too guilty watching late at night before bed either!
1. A Smidgen of Shimarin
Although we're glad that she did get some screen time, including a whole episode following her, we can't deny that sometimes we were missing Rin "Shimarin" Shima a bit in Heya Camp△ since she was such a huge part of Yuru Camp△ and a fan-favorite character that had a ton of chemistry with Nadeshiko. That being said, it was nice to get to know Aoi and Chiaki a bit more and there's only so much you can fit into 12, 3½-minute episodes so we can't complain too much, especially since many minor characters like Shimarin's cool motorcyclist grandpa did get included.
2. Short is Short
This point is mostly a disclaimer but it is something that you should know before jumping into Heya Camp△. No, this series is not really Yuru Camp△ 2 (although that's coming soon!) and that's largely because of its episode length which limits the scope and setup of each episode. Like we said above, we actually think the C-Station crew did a great job overall with making the characters and story work within this format but if you simply don't like short series and want more development, Heya Camp△ is probably not the show for you.
3. So about that camp...
One last point of contention concerns that “camp” part in Heya Camp△, which is to say that this series basically doesn't have any actual camping in it and that is a bit weird if you think about it. Sure, there's a bit of the trio “camping” at school in the last episode but all of the little camping tech discussions, setting up tents, seeing different campgrounds and whatnot from Yuru Camp△ have been cut out from this mini-series in favor of showing more touristy spots like onsen, restaurants, visitor centers, etc. Does this really ruin the general flow of the show? Probably not but if you were watching because of the actual camping showcased in the main series you might be disappointed.
Final Thoughts
Altogether, we would say Heya Camp△ is fun series that is easy to enjoy and does an admirable job at condensing most of what made Yuru Camp△ such an enjoyable slice of life series into a deliciously bite-sized format. While it's not particularly groundbreaking, and arguably is a bit of a misnomer because it isn't really about camping, we think Heya Camp△ is a good stopgap for those excitedly waiting for Yuru Camp△ 2 and anyone looking for a low commitment, relaxing anime experience. What did you think of Heya Camp△? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Honey's for more of all things awesome, anime and otherwise! Until next time, eat houtou and be happy! See ya~
Author: Oskar O.K. Strom
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