Yama no Susume

As a child, Aoi Yukimura adored mountains and was ionate about climbing. However, a playground accident has since left her afraid of heights, turning her toward indoor hobbies. Unfortunately, now a shy and timid first-year high school student, Aoi has become so absorbed in these pastimes that she can barely socialize with others, leaving her practically friendless. It is only when she runs into the lively Hinata Kuraue, an old friend from her climbing days, that things start to change.

Impulsive and high-spirited, Hinata insists on having Aoi her in all sorts of climbing activities. Though reluctant at first, Aoi quickly finds that her time with Hinata brings back fond memories of their childhood and soon decides to start climbing again. As the return to her past hobby starts to bring her out of her shell, Aoi finds herself gaining close friends, taking on new challenges, and continuing to find her own encouragement to climb.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yukimura, Aoi Main

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

Aoba, Kokona Main

Ogura, Yui Japanese

Kuraue, Hinata Main

Asumi, Kana Japanese

Saitou, Kaede Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Kuraue, Kenichi ing

Ogino, Seirou Japanese

Kasai, Tsutomu Producer

Kosuge, Hidenori Assistant Producer

Yamamoto, Yuusuke Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Oono, Kazuhisa Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 20, 2013

ProfessorGinkgo

Recommended

It’s very rare to find a great show among animated shorts. Many of them produce situational one-shots with the same characters in the same setting. While some of them do have a serial timeline, shorts often lack the details of storytelling. The short series Encouragement of Climb (Yama no Susume) counters these claims by creating situations chronologically with wonderful progression and development for its protagonists.

Encouragement of Climb follows two high school girls and their adventures in hiking to mountain summits across Japan. Aoi, the scared and unsure of the two, learns to overcome her anxieties while being accompanied by Hinata, the tomboyish enthusiastic one who ... appears to have some experience in hiking. With each episode, audiences learn a little tidbit on activities and ethics in camping and hiking as they watch the girls learn to hike together.

The visuals for this anime consist of more simple drawings with “watercolor” effects, faded coloring that’s not nearly as bright or vivid as most anime. I personally like this style because it does not distract the audience from appearances and fan service and forces them to focus mainly on the situation the characters are in. Visuals for animations and films like this one accompany the story rather than make it the main reason people watch it. I certainly love the characters this way for who they are, rather than how they look.

One thing I did enjoy about this series is the reality displayed when one goes on a hike in the mountains. Being somewhat of a hiker myself, I have learned that not all mountain trails are steep, scary, or even arduous, as Aoi originally thinks when it comes to climbing mountains or hills. In fact, their first trail blaze was on a neighboring hill that took them less than a day to reach the summit! The trials Aoi and Hinata face are not only literal in climbing mountains, but figurative in climbing our lives’ scariest moments. All progress in life is a hurdle that many of us face with fear and anxiety, as Aoi had done; but with the help of good friends and a little encouragement from within, we can climb our way to the top.

Encouragement of Climb is a beautiful short series, not only for its story and characters, but it also showed me that I can climb the “mountains” in my life.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 6, 2018

JuneNephthys

Mixed Feelings

Initially, I didn't expect much from the collection of hiking shorts, known as Encouragement of the Climb, or Yama no Susume. And following my expectations, the first season of the series is just average, I can't say that it's anything other than average, but I thought the second season was good.

• Much like other moe shows like K-On, Yuru Yuri, or New Game! The second series are usually far superior, due to the fact the the studio seems to be more comfortable quirks, and the audience is more familiar with the girls’ cute quirksーso character and story exploration can take place. Encouragement of the Climb ... doesn't betray its sister shows in that aspect.

• Along the same vein of Akari having an existential crisis at the end of the second season of Yuru Yuri, the second season of this series goes more into Aoi's fear of heights. The first season does touch on it, but since the shorts in the first season are far shorter (episodes in S1 are three minute segments, while the ante is ramped up to fifteen minute weeklies in S2), before, the show only had time to teach us about hiking.

• Moe shows about a protagonist overcoming a fear or personality flaw is a stereotype, but a stereotype that I often enjoy. I really enjoyed that Girls und Panzer took Miho's character a step further than the rest, by having her deal with PTSD and an overbearing, abusive family.

• I enjoyed the cute little vignettes that made you think that this collection of stories is sweeter than a diabetic pony. I can also say that Encouragement of the Climb got me really interested in hiking, which is spectacular since I rarely leave my house. The arc where the girls climbed Mt. Fuji, or Fuji-san as they call it, was particularly touching and well-written.

• Overall, if you want to watch something adorable, emotionally moving, and something that will encourage you to break your shut-in habits, then you would probably love the hell out this series! If you don't like moe, then don't, but it’s a very fun and encapsulating experience for a series of short episodes: seriously the times range is from 3-13 minutes. I give the first season a 5/10, the second season a 7/10, and the third season a 5/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 4, 2013

djWHEAT

Not Recommended

When seeing the title of this anime, I thought that watching a acrophobic moe girl trying to climb mountains could lead to some funny hijinks. Sadly I was kind of disappointed when more than half of the show was about moe girls doing cute things and "talking" about climbing. This made the story kind of generic and forgettable.

The art of the show is your standard moe style, with all the bright colors, cute girls and big shiny eyes that you expect from such a show. Other than that I can't really say much about it, except that it was okay i guess.

The sound is where ... the show really looses quite a lot of points according to me. Because I think that the soundtrack of a show can really lift it to new heights or drop it down a cliff of being really generic. The later is sadly true for this show as the soundtrack was nothing more than quiet tunes of guitar and piano, which you didn't really notice.

The characters are your standard moe fair with "the scared one", our main character, "the hyper one", "the klutzy one" and "the tall and mature one". The characters also barely develops or changes over the twelve three minute episodes.

The show had some funny moments, but they were sadly outshone by whole episodes of just talking about stuff and nothing happen. I can't really say that I would recommend this show, unless you like the whole "moe girls doing cute things and talking about stuff" kind of thing.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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