ゆるキャン△ S1

Relaxing beginner-friendly slice of life

This is a very relaxing and soothing iyashikei (癒し系). As such, don't expect crazy plot twists or in-depth character development. As a self-rated ~N4 student, I found the anime rather accessible. It's a lot of day-to-day vocabulary, spoken in a casual style without crazy slang.

Camping-specific terminology, when used, is always explained and lavishly illustrated beforehand so you shouldn't worry about that. However, I've found the voice-over narrator who gives background information on camping gear, food recipes, and locations to be rather hard to understand but he doesn't appear too often and you can, for the most part, ignore him if you want.

Something important to note is that some of the main characters do have some speaking “quirks”. One character speaks in light 関西弁 (Kansai dialect), while another character that I've dubbed “Miss Z” somehow manages to squeeze in a ぜ or a ぞ in almost every line she says.

If the perspective of Kansai-ben worries you, simply memorize this short list and you'll be good to go:

1. や＝だ・です
2. な＝ね
3. せやな＝そうですね (she says that all the time)
4. ほんま=本当 (ほんとう)
5. ええ＝良(い)い
6. めっちゃ＝とても

Generally speaking, you'll be naturally reviewing the same vocabulary multiple times throughout the series.

Overall, I enjoyed the animation. The background music gets repetitive after a while but the landscapes were pretty, the food looked delicious and the story was easy to follow.