Theres an argument to be made that Yama no Susume is the most underrated anime of all time. Maybe not outright number one but its certainly up there. The fact that it started as a series of threeminute shorts and never climbed above twelve minutes per episode coupled with the lack of legal streaming options means so few people have gotten a chance to check out or even know about one of the best goddamn cute girls shows on the market. Not only does it do a great job you on mountain climbing as a hobby in all its intricacies and charms it uses that extensive hobby knowledge to weave a genuinely wonderful story about personal growth and struggle through the specifics of undergoing such a strenuous difficult activity. Watching Aoi Yukimura grow out of her shell as she dives deeper and deeper into mountain climbing is no bullshit some of the most believable natural and human comingofage drama Ive seen in this medium never mind her absolutely adorable backandforth with longtime friend and future wife Hinata Kuraue. Like KOn before it and Yuru Camp after it Yama no Susume is a standard bearer for just how good CGDCT shows can be at communicating the whimsy and magic of ordinary life. And now after so many years we finally have a season 4 And not just any season 4 this time were getting fulllength 24minute episodes And a simulcast on a readily available streaming service With the same director and so many of the same staff members returning At long last Yama no Susume has been plucked from obscurity Finally the whole world will get a chance to experience one of animes most underappreciated masterpieces So why am I left feeling so unsatisfied? Look this review really hurts to write. Im a Yama no Susume stan through and through I will take every opportunity I can to sing this shows praises. I wanted nothing more than to come out of season 4 gushing about how wonderful it was to see this show continue its winning streak. But I have to be honest with me feelings and my feelings are that Yama no Susume: Next Summit was a letdown. Not a bad show by any means but an inferior sequel that fails to capture so much of the spark that made those first 3 seasons so special. Just to make sure I wasnt nostalgiablinded I went back and watched a random episode from season 2 to revisit the old show with fresh eyes and let me tell you the difference was night and day. There was something magical about this show something that has not fully carried through into its most recent installment. And while theres still a pretty good cute girls anime left once you trip that special something away its not until the final episode that it reaches the same heights that past seasons reached on a regular basis. So what changed? What was that special something that no longer exists or at least doesnt exist nearly as much? The obvious Big Problem to point at is the fact that this season wastes its first four episodes recapping the past three seasons so we only really have eight episodes of new material. And yes thats definitely a huge completely unnecessary issue that threatens to derail everything before it even gets going. Especially since studio 8it wastes so much time and resources reanimating all your favorite moments from YamaSusus past that the production is very noticeably stretched thin throughout the remainder of the actual new stuff. It reminds me a lot of RWBY Ice Queendom where it wastes its best animation just recapping past glories to get newcomers up to speed and then struggles to keep up the momentum for the story it supposedly exists to tell in the first place. And much like in Ice Queendom the recapped events are so condensed with so much of their critical connective tissue removed that it fails to do justice to just how damn excellent the storytelling in the first three seasons were. I cant imagine anyone watching these first four episodes and crying over Aois failure to climb Mt. Fuji or Aoi and Hinatas reconciliation on a mountaintop after a fallingout or any of the truly wonderful moments that made me fall in love with this show when I first watched it. So youre left with a readers digest of past events that were done better elsewhere and a new story that lacks the production quality to do justice to its own big moments in the same way. And unfortunately it doesnt help that Im not the biggest fan of the new aesthetic this season is going for. Look superimposing anime girls onto stylized photorealistic backdrops works for some cute girls shows Yuru Camp Bocchi the Rock just this season but YamaSusus visual strength has always been tied to its gorgeous background art and how well it portrays the lush wonder of the wilderness without being so detailed that the more simplistic character designs get lost in it. Theres a clear sense of identity to how this show used to look and that identity is just lost when you replace that meticulously crafted background art with random wilderness photos. Maybe if the production hadnt been so stretched thin they couldve made this aesthetic work better but as is it never comes together in a way that makes up for losing the old look. But hey just having eight fulllength episodes doesnt have to be a dealbreaker. YamaSusus first season was literally less than two full episodes long and season three was the equivalent of six 24minute episodes. This shows done plenty of incredible things with less time on its hands. So theres no reason Next Summit for all its production woes couldnt have still knocked it out of the park. But theres another problem a problem far less forgivable than spending onethird of your runtime on recaps that can be easily skipped if you cant be bothered. And that problem is simple: Unlike seasons past Next Summit isnt a story. See Yama no Susume for all its cute shenanigans is an actual ongoing narrative at the end of the day moreso than most shows of its genre. Sure it meanders here and there but at heart it always remains focused on Aois personal journey through the medium of mountain climbing and how her relationship with herself her friends and the world around her changes as a result of her experiences. It infuses every inch of this show from its episodic divergences to its lengthy impactful arcs. Even back when the episodes were only twelve minutes long youd rarely go for more than a couple episodes back to back without some kind of meaningful moment for Aoi. Its a slowpaced story to be sure and it isnt afraid to go on a few tangents but it never forgets to return the focus to Aoi and the path she walks before long. But in Next Summit? It feels like its made up of nothing but tangents. Even with the fulllength episodes every episode is still split into two parts so youre basically getting two normallength YamaSusu episodes back to back that never amount to anything beyond their own boundaries. The girls go fishing with Aois dad in one half episode they meet Hinatas mom in another Kokona and Honoka have some heavy yuribaiting that ultimately goes nowhere in another and Aoi has some bizarre fakeout yuribaiting with her coworker from the sweets shop in yet another completely unrelated twelveminute chunk and none of it ultimately connects to anything else. Its all just a bunch of moments strung together in an arbitrary order because theres nothing for these moments to build to no ongoing emotional journey the narrative seeks to take us on. Sure plenty of these larks are entertaining in and of themselves but theyre momentary delights in a show that used to excel at longterm investment. What happened to the Yama no Susume that spent like four longterm episodes worth building up to paying off and cooling down from that first harrowing climb up Mt. Fuji? What happened to the show that let characters emotional states develop and linger over multiple episodes even when those episodes didnt necessarily connect with each other plotwise? Its not until the very final stretch that this season decides to have an ongoing story again and it feels like everything before then was just killing time until the show decided to actually be about things again. Actually hot take time: I think Next Summit shouldve been a movie not a TV production. The more I think about it the more I feel like so many of the issues holding this season back wouldve been fixed by jumping on the bandwagon and making it a movie like every show and its mother has been doing recently. For one thing it would give the animators a more flexible schedule to really give it the production polish it deserves rather than try to air it alongside an animationheavy sports shonen like Blue Lock. For another it would force them to cut out so much of the faffing about and keep the story focused on what it shouldve always been focused on: Aois personal journey. Cut out the recap episodes extend the emotional focus of those last couple episodes over 90 minutes maybe pepper in some of the better oneoff halfepisodes and tie them in more closely with the main story and youd have a tight focused package full to bursting of everything that made this show so amazing. Wouldnt that be so much better? Wouldnt that keep the spirit of Yama no Susume alive like it had never left? Shows like Yuru Camp and Takagisan have shown how to make movie sequels to sliceoflife stories really fucking work surely a team as talented as the YamaSusu folks couldve done the same if they thought of it. Maybe if they had I could come out singing its praises as much as I so desperately want to. Because my god the actual finale of Next Summit is so good. Its a payoff to arguably the biggest unresolved plotline in this show a climax to its most emotionally resonant arc that brought the fireworks in a way nothing else in Next Summit even came close to. For one brief shining moment I saw the Yama no Susume I remembered again the Yama no Susume that showcased the best of what CGDCT shows are capable of. And it made me cry not just from how good that ending itself was but how sad it made me that it took until the very end to recapture the spirit that once flowed freely through this show like a boundless river. If the only reason this season was made is to deliver that climax then its more than earned its right to exist. But I just know it couldve been and shouldve been so much more. And if this season was your introduction to Yama no Susume? Then all I can do is beg you to please please please track down and watch the first three seasons. Everything Next Summit does well the rest of this show does ten times better. Every bit of emotion Next Summit makes you feel the rest of this show will make it seem like childs play. Season 4 is only the barest taste of the magic that makes Yama no Susume so special and if youve felt any bit of that magic watching it then you owe it to yourself to experience it in its true form free and bursting and absolutely astounding on a regular basis. I promise you this show will sweep you away like few other sliceoflife anime can. Season 4 was a good time but it just doesnt do justice to one of the finest works of cute girls fiction youre liable to ever find. But hey if it can at least convince more people to check out the rest of Yama no Susume then maybe itll all be worth it in the end.