Yama No Susume: Omoide Present

Wait a minute. You mean the climbing isn’t through yet? Oh right. Somebody failed to conquer Mt Fuji in the second season. It has been almost 4 years ago since the second season aired and I thought that was the end of it. Apparently not. Yama No Susume: Omoide Present is a special OVA released back at the end of 2017 just to inform us that a third season will be gracing the airwaves in 2018. Time to pack those hiking and climbing gears once more. Mr Fuji, here we come again.

Summer: Kokona
It is the summer break for Kokona and her mom feels bad that she has to work and not bring her daughter somewhere. Luckily Kokona is used to this and understands. This is an excerpt of one of her solo walks during summer. On a bright summer morning, Kokona as usual heads off by herself to Honnou. Along the way, she reminisces the old times she spent here as a kid with her mom. She also sees Kaede being dragged and lectured by her friend to go study at the library. She has to if she knows what’s best if she wants to get into college. Good luck. Later she stumbles into a lost girl who got separated from her mom while she was following a stray cat. Brings back memories when she got lost too. Luckily she helps her find and reunite with her mom. Kokona notes she is never lonely because of all the past memories. Literally, it’s like she’s been everywhere. Why the angel or fairy getup when she was a kid? Later when Aoi and Hinata join her, Kokona tells them of a second Mt Tenran. They don’t believe her until they look it up and find how true it is. Yeah, she knows the place like the back of her hand. Back home, Kokona has made dinner as her mom returns. Kokona tells her of all the memories she remembered today. Good news as mom says she has the next weekend off and will be able to bring her somewhere.

Autumn: Hinata
Hinata hangs out at Aoi’s place. When Aoi’s mom calls her, Aoi warns her not to touch anything. Of course cheeky Hinata despite making that fake promise then looks through her stuffs and finds a weird acorn badly glued on a stock with the word ‘te’ on it. Aoi returns and Hinata barely manages to put everything back. Acting so suspicious… Then they go through their old photo album before Hinata shifted away. When Hinata goes home, she spots a dropped acorn. She feels nostalgic but couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She asks dad about it so he shows his own photo collection where Aoi and Hinata used to hang out together at a children’s park. He still keeps a gingko leaf because it was her first present to him. It would be bad if he didn’t treasure it. Deep in the night, Hinata then remembers. The day before her family moved, Aoi made a doll out of acorns while Hinata just glued one on a stick. The girls were emotional when they separated and gave each other that acorn memento. It wasn’t written as ‘te’ but ‘hi’. Such bad handwriting. Hinata fears she has lost it and turns her room upside down to find it. Nothing. She fears Aoi will hate her for losing something important hence it is obvious she is spacing out very often. Dad doesn’t know the problem but figures if she did something wrong, just go apologize! I guess after all that thinking, Hinata decides to do that. She is sorry she lost that acorn. Aoi doesn’t mind and suggests they go find acorns and make new ones. Hinata is surprised by her forgiveness but as they pick acorns, Hinata remembers when she returned and introduced herself, Aoi did not f*cking remember her at all! That’s worst! Oh Aoi, trying to change the subject?

Climb More, Worry Less
If this OVA reeks of all that moe friendship and nothing about the climbing, don’t be surprise it is. This is what I remember the series is mostly about. It is like the little warm up that this series need for viewers before they get into the main dish of climbing and hiking up mountains or hills. There’s nothing much I can say here since this OVA just mainly delves into the special memories of the characters in the series. Memories, the priceless treasures than mankind could have. As long as you have them, your friendship could go a long way. Well, I suppose it is forgivable if you forget once in a while. Okay, maybe not. At least not the most important aspects. That’s why it’s funny to see how life changes as we grow up. We made promises never to forget and will always remember and then as time passes, we forget all about it. Sorry if I sound a little philosophical about this. It was just an excuse to cover up my forgotten memories for this series. No big deal now that I have remembered (some of it). So let bygones be bygones and move on and trek forward!