Quite likely devised as a stop-gag to hold fans of the series over until the second season, Heya Camp/Room Camp is basically more Yuru Camp…. without the camping, and conceived as a short anime series, as in 12 episodes, but 3 minutes episodes.
The animation is curated by C-Station with most of the same staff, it looks and feels exactly like the first season, but given how short it is, you could easily consider it Yuru Camp Season 1.5.
As far as “plot” goes, it’s basically three of the girls going around the Yamanashi prefecture in order to complete the Yamanashi stamp rally, an excuse to visit various attractions sites, parks, restaurants, temples and places of interest around the prefecture, enjoy local delicacies, share local facts and jokes in the off-season where they don’t go camping and see very little of Shimarin.
As in, they go camping, at the end. In the school yard. XD
I really don’t have much to add about this one, i’ve already praised in detail the series in the review, but if anything, the fact this spin-off/mini series is basically devoid of camping makes more clear how the characters are likeable and interesting on their own, just charming without being excessive or obsessive, and it’s still a comfy, feel-good experience of genuine friendship, appreciating nature (or in this case, the local tourism) and the “downtime” moments of life.
And again, it’s quite cute as well, but for the reasons above, it doesn’t feel manipulative or like the script is raising the “cute” as an attempt to hide flaws. Not the case.
The only real complaint i can raise against it is the lenght, but again, it’s a bit unfair in this case, as i pointed out in the beginning, this was most likely borne of compromise to put out some more Yuru Camp to the starving fans who have been waiting for that darn second season.
And i can attest that, i was seriously glad to have more Yuru Camp in some form, and you might be glad there’s this one as well, also on Crunchyroll because – like the series itself – it’s co-financed by .. well, Crunchyroll, now owned by Funimation, i don’t think this will affect the series, though.
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