Yama no Susume

Based on the original manga “ヤマノススメ” by Shiro, the anime “Encouragement of Climb” by studio 8bit seems like it will be a lovely and heart-warming slice-of-life series.

Centred around childhood friends Aoi and Hinata who are reunited again in high school, energetic Hinata swiftly dragging Aoi along onto new adventures in mountaineering. But the once daring Aoi has become introverted and afraid of heights, how will she cope with feisty Hinata and mountain climbing?

The short running time of barely five minutes per episode seems like a challenge as the show must build up the necessary atmosphere and enable the audience to bond with the characters. Considering the breakneck pace of the first episode, they may be able to tell the whole tale but will they get the slice-of-life atmosphere right?

Nonetheless, “Yama no Susume” looks like it will be a terrific series, the animation, mood were all excellent, and the voice talents performing the lead character roles may lift it up even higher.

Energetic Hinata is a perfect fit for Asumi Kana, who previously voiced similar lively characters like Miya in “Amagami SS”, Nyaruko in “Haiyore! Nyaruko-san”, Yukikaze in “Dog Days”, Kaoru in “Tamayura ~hitotose~” and Poplar in “Working!!”.

Shy Aoi is voiced by Iguchi Yuka who tackled roles like Mako in “Girls und Panzer”, Maria in “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”, Norie in “Tamayura ~hitotose~”, Tsukihi in “Nisemonogatari” and Subaru in “Mayo Chiki!”.

Bespectacled Kaede will be voiced by Hikasa Youko, she also voiced Mio in “K-ON!”, Nobara in “Inu x Boku SS”, Houki in “IS: Infinite Stratos”, Shino in “Seitokai Yakuindomo” and d’Arquien in “Dog Days”.
Ogura Yui who will voice Kokona doesn’t seem to be credited with many performances yet.

While I do think it is a shame the show only has such a short episode running time, do feel that “Yama no Susume” will be a lovely series so I recommend it to all fans of the slice-of-life genre.