Yama no Susume: Third Season Ep. 3

My long awaited third season of Yama no Susume (Encouragement of Climb in English) is finally here. I am now on episode 3 and while I had little to note on the first two episodes, this one resonated with me from the first seconds.

Aoi’s mother tells her about the Hanno Alps, which stretch from Mt. Tenran (that the girls have already visited) near Hanno to Chichibu City. Aoi’s itinerary consisted of taking the train from Hanno to Higashi-Agano Station, climbing Mt. Tenkaku and continuing to Mt. Ohtaka. Aoi invited Hinata, but she was busy, so Aoi decided to go by herself.

“I made some for Hinata-chan, too.”
I’m going by myself, though… But Mom would worry if I told her that.

She is absolutely right. My mother also forbid me from going hiking alone when I was around Aoi’s age. For example, if you get hurt, there is nobody to help you or to go get help.

Yama no Susume: Omoide Present

The third season of ヤマノススメ [Yama no Susume, literally Mountain Girls, translated as Encouragement of a Climb] is airing this summer. I watched the first episode and only then realized I have not watched the preceding special! Not that there was any development in the OVA. My biggest hurdle is not remembering the second season well enough, since I had finished it 3.5 years ago. I’m serious—the second season aired in 2014.

Back to last year’s OVA, one interesting snippet of information is that the two short stories are not adapted from the manga. They are anime-originals. The script was written by the man, who wrote the script to the anime adaptation of Girls’ Last Tour, Fudeyasu Kazuyuki. And that was a job well done.

ここなの8/31 | Kokona’s 31/8

The first, roughly 11-minute story focuses on Kokona. Kokona and her mother planned to spend the last day of August together, possibly hiking. Unfortunately Mom was called into work and Kokona will be spending the day alone.

Doai Underground Trainstation

I enjoy anime which teach me something. For example, fairly recently there have been several cooking anime. I loved learning about traditional Japanese cuisine in Sushi and Beyond or foods from all around the world in Shokugeki no Souma. Nevertheless as a future civil engineer I appreciate architectural trivia the most.

For me the most memorable detail from the “cute girls climbing mountains” anime, Yama no Susume, wasn’t any of the natural wonders they visited, but the Doai underground station where the girls get off the train when climbing Mount Tanigawa. Unlike most viewers I already knew of the station having seen it in a yet another anime I’ll also be drawing information from today. Tetsuko no Tabi is about a train enthusiast and a hard-to-impress mangaka traveling around Japan visiting interesting railway stations and making a manga about it. One day I might write about some of the other amazing stations they visit, but today I want to tell you about the Doai station.

Yama no Susume 2 episode 21