Solo Camping for Two – Episode 1

Content Warning: Partial nudity, sexual harassment, fan service, false rape accusation as blackmail

What’s it about? Thirty-four-year-old solo camper Gen prefers his own company when he’s at one with nature. But when he encounters Kusano Shizuku, a twenty-year-old newbie at roughing it, he takes to her and solo camping becomes a bit of a companion hobby…even if Gen is determined to still go at it alone.

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I’ve got a lot to say so like an axe chopping through firewood, we’re cutting to the core and getting to the root of things with Solo Camping For Two, my final entry (for now) in the Summer 2025 premieres.

Episode 1 begins with all the right elements: a train ride to through the city to the rustic countryside, the soft sounds of life in rural Japan, a bus into the mountains, and one man at peace with the natural world. A babbling brook enters the picture as Kinokura Gen, a thirty-four year old, pitches a tent and sets up for a day of solo camping. It’s cozy and informative, channeling the same energy as something like Laid-Back Camp, going down easy as Gen walks viewers through starting a campfire to, presumably, keep warm and hopefully make something delicious to bide his time as he whiles away his evening under the stars.

This soundly establishes Gen as something of a loner: he likes to be alone with his thoughts, likes the particular pleasure of being immersed in the sounds of nature and the steps of establishing a place on a camp ground. Truly, this tender beginning has all the trappings of a cozy series that could potentially become so much more.

Then this potentially cozy premiere turns into definitely uncozy territory with the introduction of probably-a-love-interest, Kusano Shizuku.

What ensues is two campers who are completely at odds with one another: the definitely-a-misogynist Gen and the “airheaded” newbie Shizuku, which makes for a…less than stellar pair. Will they come to like one another? It might be too early to call it but I’m gonna say yes, very begrudgingly.

Fuck, y’all, I really was rooting for this one. I needed a particularly cozy anime about two adults growing closer, and then Gen had to go and fuck it up with his face–and I mean that literally, as he comes face to ass with Shizuku as she’s solo camping for the first time, earning him a slap on the cheek and two thumbs down from me.

Instead of cozy vibes, we just get two adults who kind of suck: Gen is brusque and downright rude, and Shizuku feels like a man’s idea of a charmingly ditzy girl, which is not charming when her “ditziness” just seems like a lack of experience with camping. In a show like Laid-Back Camp, this was executed by demonstrating Rin’s capacity to change in the wake of Nadeshiko’s sudden arrival in her life. You never had a bad taste left in your at the end of a chapter or when the screen went black, but here? Here, I kind of wanted to quit after Shizuku and Gen met.

It’s a shame, because there’s so many elements that work here in the camp stew that is Solo Camping. The soundtrack is really good, and I think that Gen and Shizuku have the potential to be more complex characters. Maybe there’s a reason why Gen is more solitary. There’s likely a reason why Shizuku is so determined to go it alone. But all of that potential gets sunk between Gen being the most boring and rude man and the multiple, unnecessary panty shots of Shizuku to push her into Girl Object territory instead of actually positioning her as an adult woman who’s simply more enthusiastic than experienced. (Two too many.)

It’s this, in particular, that bothers me, especially since this element shows most in the way Gen speaks down to Shizuku. He treats her like a child and a complete bother instead of actually helping her understand the mistakes she made in trying to camp unprepared. And that’s after he eats that beer can chicken! And a breakfast tomato risotto made by her, too! He could easily be a mentor turned friend or more, which I can already sense will be a potential element…even though I’m already pretty confident that this couple would be a nightmare. And like I get it, she’s incredibly annoying, but…like I don’t like how it’s positioned with these vague infantilizing and gender essentialist vibes. Let her be annoying because she sucks as a human, you know?

But I’ve also got to point out the elephant in the room. Right at the end, true to the source material, Shizuku threatens Gen with a sexual assault charge (from looking at her underwear) in order to force his hand as her unfortunate mentor. It’s treated as comedic, but I found it incredibly upsetting in this slog of a premiere. It’s coupled with her being incredibly, irritatingly persistent, and if a record could have scratched, trust me, it would have. Bet the sponsors love having a female protagonist in their camping show declare that she’s gonna create some false rape dirt on a the male lead who’s possibly gonna be a love interest because, of course this anime would. Sure does sweeten the shit sandwich a bit, huh?

The resolution of Solo Camping has me feeling like I’m about to get my proverbial campsite washed down the river. It’s just a wet blanket of a premiere, and that’s with the little factoids and the beer can chicken shot. What exist is a badly animated adaptation of a series I wouldn’t wish upon any localizer because it’s just not good, and relies on tired gags instead of actually developing a mature, adult relationship between an experienced camper and someone who’s interested in it and at the start of learning. Then again, that goes back to the source: something tells me this is a pretty direct adaptation, even if the manga’s more recent volumes remain in limbo. There’s at least twenty of those suckers to pull from, and while I doubt Solo Camping will be a two cour anything, there’s at least enough to make a story that does…something more than this premiere did.

Will it get better? I hope so. I like to think there’s a better story that develops both Gen and Shizuku into more complex characters that feel like actually, lived in human beings and not TVTropes bullet points stuffed into digital puppets. But in truth, Shizuku put me so far off this premiere that I’ll just never likely find out. Even in a leaner season, if such a thing can ever exist for a reviewer, I wouldn’t touch this one with a thirty-nine and a half foot tent pole. I’m full on grinchin’ this one, y’all, and that really sucks.

In the end, this promising premiere fell flatter than a pancake, making me feel more irritated than interested to the point that I can soundly say I won’t be keeping up with this at all this season. I hate to say that, but…maybe Solo Camping for Two was never actually for me.