[Spoilers] Yuru Camp Season 3 - Episode 1 discussion thread

The animation is different, but I think it's fine. The background art is still amazing, and the comfiness is as high as ever. I also enjoyed the OP and ED. I'm just very happy that a slice-of-life anime got so much content, as usually they don't survive after the second season.

The art style is noticeably different

the main thing i'm noticing WRT S3's art style in comparison to S1-2 is how the characters' features catch the light. i'll just restate what i wrote in my own activity cause i'm lazy to rephrase (though i'm not an expert and would welcome additional insight/correction):

[8-bit seems to] sheen the highlights of characters within the frame much more aggressively (cheeks, eyes, where their hair catches the light). This is most evident when looking at some shots from previous seasons in comparable or even harsher lighting conditions, where the shading is much more subdued in the same regions.

it stands out a lot more compared to the less contrasty compositing we've gotten used to in previous seasons, but echoing the comment above, i don't think it's bad aside from the usual hump of getting used to change when nothing was wrong. looking at it a bit closer now as well, the facial features themselves also seem a bit more rounded and less angular, but i'm too lazy to do a deep dive into it and compare differences.

IMO both of the above makes the characters feel a smidge more visually moe, which i wouldn't say is out of place for a series like Yuru Camp. the comparatively subdued presentation of style of S1 and S2 definitely does have its place, though — it's what we fell in love with for two seasons and a movie. i can understand where the concerns come from at least; it's unfamiliar territory, after all.

most of all however, 8-bit nailed the atmosphere, which is what really makes this show tick.

Yeah, I think opinion on character design is mostly going to come down to personal preference. But at least we know that 8-bit can do a good job with the scenery, from their work on Yama No Susume.

I missed this show so much and I was really worried by the studio change but 8 bit nailed everything.
The atmosphere, music and even CD look really good in motion.
I'm just happy to see more Yuru camp and hopefully they can keep this level of quality for the rest of the season.
Props to the team for doing justice to the source.

Man that music is just so beautiful. I can't wait to see this every single week

I wouldn't call it ugly, but somehow it's weird and somewhat uncomfortable to look at, likely because I'm just not used to it yet. Otherwise, the episode was nice, and the OST is godtier as always.

The other big difference for me, aside from the visual style, seems to be in the voice acting. Even with the same voice actresses, it feels different. Not better or worse, just different.

8 bit did a good job tbh, prefers them instead of c-station. 8bit has the experience with yama no susume so I'm not worried

I'm also not fan of the art style, but other aspect remains good and i mostly enjoy this episode.

I didn't really mind the art style change, but the overall quality of the animation was worrying. Bits of close-up 3D, the characters looking a little out of place on top of some of the real photography based backgrounds, less motion in general, and the ED having clips from the episode. These things don't matter too much, the animation was never the point of the show, and the backgrounds are still great, but it felt awfully "production wasn't given enough time and cut time where they could" to me. I didn't see problems like this in previous 8bit works. Hope they aren't spreading themselves too thin with this, Slime Isekai, and Irregular at Magic High.

Looks like Yamasusu, actually it looks better now that 8bit learned how to use photo backgrounds without an ugly mosaic filter. Character models are more akin to the manga, which is fine but I'll miss the softer look.

Peak is back

A big downgrade with the studio change, no doubt.

I'm most likely just not used to it, but this style of character design feels a bit emotionless when compared to the previous season. It probably doesn't help that I saw season 2 just recently, too.

I liked it though, especially when the scene was out in the open, which really showcases the strengths of 8-bit and the new illuminate rendering.

Holy shit they made Aki less ugly. Thank god she grew her bangs out.

Ahh so nice to have this back. A noticeable change for sure but I don’t think it’s bad in this case. Enjoyed the comfyness

Ah, it's finally back. I was already planning to rewatch the rest of the series, but I think that I can safely put that on hold for now. There were some concerns about the new character designs and especially the studio change, but going off this first episode, I'm just about sold. Arguably the most recognizable part of Yuru Camp's visuals, the background art, is still (almost always) on par with the prequels, and as a result, the whole atmosphere is still very similar — slightly more moe, perhaps, but that should hardly be an issue.

Going into the first half of the episode, we get to see Rin's first contact with camping through her grandpa, with whom she makes a small fire and appreciates the beauty of her surroundings in a flashback. As someone who has practically spent all of their major vacations in a tent, I really appreciate the small moments during those fleeting moments, as the chair yields even under young Rin's modest weight and her tent in the present time is slowly but surely suffering from the passage of time. Although, to be honest, the logo fainting away has historically been one of our smallest problems. If you ever realized that your tent has more than one leak in the middle of a thunderstorm (and this has happened to me on more than one occasion), you know :p

Part 2 as well managed to be quite relatable with the camping equipment flex (I thought for a brief moment that this was not a real thing, but then I remembered). Nadeshiko's act of stopping to take a picture of the illuminated cherry blossom buds, perceived as incomplete and therefore insignificant by her friends, nicely complements a previous remark of Rin's grandpa:

Loneliness is a part of camping. You feel like you're missing something. That's what gets you excited for your next trip. You can always go again.

Even though the restraints of camping might make you miss something, whether that's the warmth of one's home or the convenience of modern life, there is something to be gained from embracing the imperfection of such a life. Nadeshiko's pause to appreciate this allegedly unattractive growth stage of the cherry tree is, in a way, similar to what you're doing while camping. I've recently read a bit on the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi, and despite being a bit offtopic, the awareness and appreciation of all parts of the cherry tree's lifecycle could be understood as such; as part of this world view that allows different forms of beauty to be discovered in each object.

Perhaps it's not that deep. Either way, I think that after two TV seasons, one movie, and many smaller anime projects, it's nice to take back a step and appreciate that we got such an unlikely anime in the first place. I'm super excited about this season, and I hope that it maybe even inspires some people :)

Unironically one of the shows I was looking forwards to most this season, alongside Hibike S3.

New character designs will probably take me a bit to get used to, but the vibes are very much still there and that's what I'm here for. It still looks great overall imo.

The best iyashikei anime ever is back. Or should I say peak is back? heheheh
Jokes aside, I'm so freaking happy that this got a 3rd season, this anime is medicine for the soul.

While the OP is on YouTube, I see no ending video yet. The ED also show recap of the episodes too, so I assume that it is not finished?

feels a bit alien but I can get used to it, at least they got the background art nailed, which is the one thing i was hoping 8-Bit would do right, thankfully they did.

Studio change aside, great episode as per usual (i mean what else can you expect from yuru camp other than comfy peak fiction)

Despite the art getting a significant downgrade, I feel like this episode was much better than what I've watched of the previous seasons. Maybe I'll give the rest of the show a chance...

Honestly, it turned out much better than I expected, pretty much my only complaint is about the backgrounds, which sometimes look terrible and are like a bad quality photo that doesn't quite fit.

Also, I would have loved for the opening and ending to be a song by Asaka and Eri Sasaki just like in the other seasons, but I really liked the songs anyway.

promising start so far. i think they did a pretty nice job with the op visuals in particular

i can't say i like or dislike the general style change, it's not bad but i also really did like what c-station had :shrug:

I loved it. The color palette is amazing and there's a lot of love put into this first episode.
The ed is a downgrade, but t's good too.The concept behind that is Nadeshiko recalling the day.

There is absolutely nothing here worth complaining about.

Well, I knew from the beggining that this studio was going to take over, but I didn't expect to ruin this series with low-effort just because it was going to sell thanks to its fanbase. The previous studio was on red numbers for too long and it ended collapsing from within. Now it's a series I'll have to follow only on manga. I could say it's a poor imitation, but they just went and made it tasteless. The second PV convinced me to give it a try, but adding the fact that most of the chapter is not even from the original manga nor the kind of thing Afro (the original author) would draw/write, this third session seems to be aimed to the general public and is fine either if it's Yuru Camp, another Yama Musume or your random isekai.

WE ARE SO BACK!!! God the new art style looks a lot more similar to the manga and still manages to keep the comfy vibes. Calling this a downgrade? You're high. Those landscape shots?! The 3D models look just as good, and THAT SHOT OF FUJI?! That's crazy you guys think anything here is a downgrade. Better? That can be argued. On par for the show? Without question.

I'll miss Eri Sasaki though

started to watch for 5 seconds and instantly closed it... this looks so extremely terrible like people who have no idea how to make anime backgrounds just use some google images and photoshop them... loved season 1 and season 2 was already a bit weird but still great and now the first scene is already a big turn off with this real life / anime image mix -.- but I guess it was already a sign of quality drop after people found a google street view watermark in season 2 where they at least put some effort in drawing over it but this is straight up lazy as hell

I was confused by the artstyle change... I think it looked better before, but maybe I'll get used to it. The bigger problem for me is that the episode was kinda boring? I don't know how to explain it, but I didn't have this issue with the previous seasons D: