30 April 2024: Yuru Camp△ seems to be more about the destination now than the journey
Keep your fingers away from the lens, Nadeshiko.
I know there were some changes on the production side before the start of Yuru Camp△ SEASON 3 (Laid-Back Camp Season 3), but I don't know if they're responsible for the different vibes I'm getting compared to the previous seasons. Part of this is the revised character designs. While I don't find them objectionable, if I compare them against the first-season character designs, I unquestionably prefer the previous ones more. It's particularly apparent during back-to-back viewings of episodes or clips from the earlier seasons.
Rin looks more obviously different to me than Ayano does.
However, the real departure in Yuru Camp△ SEASON 3 compared to where the anime began is in the excruciatingly detailed, photorealistic backgrounds that appear in seemingly every scene now. I presume this is accomplished by taking actual photographs or video footage of locations and filtering them to fit in with the rest of the anime. I don't know this is what's actually happening, but I get the strong sense that the motivation driving this practice has to do with encouraging anime tourism, or at least attracting fans who recognize anime tourism is an activity they could theoretically enjoy.
You could stand RIGHT HERE!
Fans of the Yuru Camp△ anime most definitely geolocated where scenes occurred and made pilgrimages following the first two seasons. Perhaps the pursuit of emotional and spiritual satisfaction motivated these trips, or maybe it was to feed social-type media beasts. In any case, providing these fans comported themselves as good tourists instead of being nuisances to the locals, I can see why encouraging further visits of this sort might occur. That's what season three feels like now to me. As much as I enjoy the series, I can't shake the overwhelming feeling that I watching a vacation promo for each destination.
