Laid-Back Camp – Season 3 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Touring and Checking Out the Cherry Blossoms

Episode 9 of Laid-Back Camp Season 3 starts with Rin driving around her area. She notes that it’s Spring and recalls her grandfather’s remarks about the season. Nonetheless, Rin is excited about her next solo camping trip. Rin arrives at a campsite and sets up camp. She notices some campers nearby who are car camping and hopes she can do that one day. 

Sometime after, Rin checks her phone and goes for a stroll. Meanwhile, the car campers monitor Rin from afar and try to guess if she’s a middle-school, high-school, or college student. Then, the female car camper eats the male car camper’s (Kotani’s) dish. Meanwhile, Rin stumbles upon an elaborate bridge that leads to a hot spring location. Rin refuses to use the bridge and continues strolling. 

She notices some trash lying on the ground and it bothers her. Rin grabs a garbage bag and starts picking up the trash, much to the car campers’ shock. The car campers approach Rin and offer to dispose of that trash themselves. Rin and the car campers head to the car campers’ vehicle and chat. Kotani reveals they’ve only been camping for a year while his female companion tells Rin an avid camper showed her and Kotani how to camp properly. 

Rin tells the car campers she’s a high schooler and Kotani offers Rin sugar. Kotani noticed Rin didn’t like the coffee’s bitter taste. Next, Kotani gives the female car camper (Ogawa) sugar too because she doesn’t like the taste either, much to his surprise. Rin bids Ogawa and Kotani farewell. She returns to her camp set-up, cooks, and eats. Elsewhere, Sakura (Nadeshiko’s older sister) returns home and asks Nadeshiko if she wants to drive around and see cherry blossoms.

Nadeshiko accepts, prepares several sandwiches, and departs with Sakura. Nadeshiko and Sakura visit Ustubunu Park and marvel at the cherry blossom trees. After taking a few selfies, Nadeshiko and Sakura attempt to visit Mt. Minobu to look at the Shidarezakura Trees. However, a guard stops them and says the parking there is full. 

Sakura drives in a different direction and tells Nadeshiko she knows another path that has the trees. Nadeshiko sends Rin some photos and visits more areas that contain cherry blossom trees. Then, Rin realizes it’s almost time for her to depart. This entices Rin to visit the campsite’s hot spring before she goes. Rin arrives at the hotspring.

There, Rin reflects on her upcoming cherry blossom trip with Chiaki and the others. Also, Rin ponders a few things concerning Nadeshiko. Next, Ogawa arrives and chats with Rin about Rin’s upcoming cherry blossom trip. Then, Rin bids farewell to Ogawa and Kotani again. She receives a text from Nadeshiko and the episode closes with Rin departing from the hot spring locale. 

The Episode Review

This certainly was the “calm before the comfort” episode of Laid-Back Camp Season 3. It focuses on Rin and Nadeshiko embarking on separate cherry blossom sightseeing affairs before they do so together with Chiaki and the others. Much like some episodes from prior seasons, both girls’ outings had touches of serenity that’ll put fans’ minds at ease. 

Additionally, some scenarios will make them chuckle. From the swift Dragon Ball Z fusion dance reference to the quick John Wick cameo, fans will love Laid-Back Camp’s peaceful way of tackling those pop-culture references. Also, this episode tackles loitering to a decent degree. Although it doesn’t delve into the idea deeply, fans will appreciate seeing Rin take the initiative to pick up the garbage someone left behind. 

Hopefully, we’ll get a chapter like this that tackles a horrendous subject as this one to a better degree though. That aside, this episode’s background characters, Ogawa and Kotani, were interesting. The chapter doesn’t delve too much into their characters, but there’s always a possibility these two will show up near the finale. It’d be great if the girls Nadeshiko met during her tour camping train travels were there too. 

That way, both groups can receive great depth. Naoki Urasawa’s Monster is a great anime that shows that background characters can have meaningful depth and impact on its main characters. Therefore, it’d be stellar if Laid-Back Camp pulled off a similar achievement. Nevertheless, this was another comfy, funny, and somewhat genuine showcase from Laid-Back Camp Season 3.