For 34-year-old Gen Kinokura, spending time camping out in the great outdoors by himself is the ultimate pleasure. Being in solitude in nature is his one great joy; from building the campfire to setting up his tent, he relishes the experience of being on his own among the stars. However, his peaceful quiet is interrupted when, after returning from the facilities, he encounters a woman who has intruded on his campsite after getting lost in the woods. This is Shizuku Kusano, a 20-year-old eager to camp out. However, Gen seriously does not want to deal with this random girl. Unfortunately, Shizuku doesn’t know the meaning of the word “no” and suggests that until she can camp by herself, the two of them should solo camp…TOGETHER! And of course, since she doesn’t have her items to camp with, Gen reluctantly offers up his tent, opting to sleep outside in the cold. See, any normal person would probably say “Oh no, I couldn’t. I’m barging in on your space. Lemme sleep outside” or maybe even “Hey, this tent is big enough. If you sleep on one side, I can sleep on the other.” Not Shizuku! She gets Gen’s whole tent to herself, leaving him to fend for himself in the cold outdoors. The next day, on the way home, she once again bugs Gen to let her tag along at least once. And for some reason…he gives in. Cue the foolishness.
It’s been a while since an anime’s premiere episode has actively made me angry. I mean, straight up ANGRY. But Solo Camping for Two has found a way to do it. I found myself growing increasingly frustrated, and I put that squarely on our female lead, Shizuku. EVERY SINGLE THING she’s done in this first episode has infuriated me. Let’s break down what she’s done in this first episode: She went out in the woods to go camping without bringing proper camping gear, barged in on Gen’s campsite after getting herself lost, slapped Gen for having the nerve to come back to his campsite while she had her literal pants down as she fell in the river, blackmailed him into letting her camp after he REPEATEDLY stated that he wanted to be alone, and slept inside his tent, guilt-free, while he slept outside in the cold! I don’t care if she cooked a chicken for him; that’s literally the least you could do to make up for all the foolishness you have done, Shizuku. This dingbat also doesn’t know how to read a room—or rather, a campsite; she admits that she knows that she’s being a bother, but still wants to camp out with Gen, as it would be a waste for her to come out there for nothing. Excuse me? How is any of that his fault or his problem? And then she comes up with the idiotic idea of “Solo camping…for TWO!” (See? because that’s the name of the show…) Last I checked, ‘solo’ means one, not two. So, you still want to intrude on someone’s peaceful time by creating this completely oxymoronic concept and blackmail him by claiming that he was inappropriate with you? Refresh my memory, are we supposed to LIKE this character?
So, where does that leave us for Solo Camping for Two? This is going to be a PRODIGIOUS “No” from me, dawg. This show has enraged my Cajun soul too much. I typically try to think of who might get something out of this one, but honestly, I can’t come up with any ideas, unless you really like camping anime. If, by some chance, you enjoyed this first episode and found Shizuku to be a perfectly likable character, then more power to you; I genuinely hope this anime brings you every satisfaction. For me and my house, however, the first episode was just too infuriating, and I couldn’t recommend it to anyone in good conscience. I don’t even wanna come back to see if any of the other characters seen in the ending credits somehow improve the narrative, because frankly, I don’t want to see any more of Shizuku. I know this show is going for the whole “quirky cute girl warms the heart of the stoic loner” route, but when the aforementioned “quirky cute girl” has the likeability and appeal of a Check Engine Light on a long road trip, then there is little to no hope of improvement. You can do so much better than this one, guys.
Sadly, Solo Camping for Two is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
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