Yama-no-Susume-Cover

Yama no Susume Episode 1 Review

Yama no Susume Episode 1 Review Cover

Title: Yama no Susume, ヤマノススメ
Producers: 8bit
Genres: Slice of Life
Duration: 3 min. per episode

Aoi prefers indoor hobbies and is afraid of heights, but her childhood friend Hinata loves to show off her passion for mountain climbing. As young children they once watched the sunrise from the top of a mountain, and now they’ve decided to take up mountain climbing in hopes of seeing that sunrise again. They have cooking battles with mountaineering gear, climb small hills in their neighborhood, and meet new mountaineering friends as they learn the ropes of the hobby. When will they finally see that sunrise again?

 
 

Fansubs watched: Crunchyroll

Another short series with an emphasis on cute running at 3 minutes long, sounds familiar doesn’t it? Yama no Susume or Encouragement of Climb follows a shy Aoi. The episode begins with some breathtaking, or supposedly something beautiful, view of the sunrise from a mountain. Seems fitting for the title, but we meet the main character that seems to be the ‘girly stereotype.’ We also meet another character, who I assume will be another main, called Hinata. She is the opposite of Aoi- all happy and hyper. Apparently, since in the initial introduction we couldn’t see who the other character was it became a mystery. And it was solve in a matter of a minute.

Yama no Susume Episode 1 Review Screen 1

Aoi made a promise with Hinata to climb mountains, among other promises which creates a entertaining situation. Hinata seems pretty outspoken and shoots down Aoi when she doesn’t want to climb mountains, and that many problems arise when they spend time together- all for the purpose of entertainment. We also see that Aoi is afraid of heights after a small accident and hence why she doesn’t want to climb. Since then, she enveloped herself with indoor activities and things more ‘homey.’ Yet Hinata still takes her on the adventure of a lifetime! Maybe.

Yama no Susume Episode 1 Review Screen 2

This 3 minute series is taken up by its ending which resembles some kind of woven quilt, I think to represent that nomads do this? The animation seems average with a washed up palate on the characters and background creating a watercolour effect. At least the background looks good.

Yama no Susume Episode 1 Review Screen 3

Yama no Susume doesn’t have much going for it yet but it’s premise may have some potential.