Encouragement of Climb is a slice of life anime television series based on the manga series of the same name written by Shiro and serialized in Comic Earth Star magazine.[1] Shy acrophobic Aoi Yukimura reunites with her childhood friend and mountaineering enthusiast Hinata Kuraue, on the first day of high school, and is reluctantly dragged on an adventure to explore the wonders of mountain climbing. The girls hope to ultimately see the sunrise from atop the mountain they climbed as children once more. Along the way, Aoi and Hinata make new friends and share many experiences.[2] The series is produced by Eight Bit and directed by Yusuke Yamamoto with character designs by Yuusuke Matsuo.[3]
The twelve episode first season consists of 5-minute-long episodes and aired between January 3 and March 21, 2013, on Tokyo MX and later by SUN-TV, AT-X and KBS along with online streaming by Niconico.[4] Earth Star Entertainment released the complete season in Japan on a single Blu-ray and DVD volume on May 14, 2013.[5] The set also included an unaired 13th OVA episode.[6] The second season consists of 15-minute-long episodes and aired on Tokyo MX between July 9, 2014, and December 24, 2014, followed by later airings on KBS, SDT, BS11 and AT-X along with online streaming on Niconico.[7] Bonus episodes were included with the 2nd and 7th Blu-ray and DVD volumes of the second season, released on October 24, 2014, and March 27, 2015, respectively.[8] An original video animation, titled Omoide Present, was released on October 28, 2017. A third season, also consisting of 15-minute long episodes, aired between July 2 and September 24, 2018. All of these seasons were simulcast with English subtitles by Crunchyroll.[9] [10] [11] A new anime television series titled, consisting of 12 full-length episodes, aired from October 5 to December 21, 2022, and is being simulcast on Sentai Filmworks' HIDIVE service.[12] [13] [14]
For the first season, the ending theme is by Yuka Iguchi and Kana Asumi. For the second season, the opening theme for the first 15 episodes is by Iguchi, Asumi, Yōko Hikasa, and Yui Ogura, while the theme for episode 16 onwards is by Iguchi and Asumi.[15] The ending theme for the first 12 episodes is "Tinkling Smile" by Ogura, the ending theme for episodes 13-15 is by Iguchi and Asumi, the ending theme for episode 16-24 is "Cocoiro Rainbow" by Kyouko Narumi, and the ending theme for episode 25 is .[16] For the OVA, the ending theme is by Iguchi and Asumi. For the third season, the opening theme is by Iguchi, Asumi, Hikasa, and Ogura, while the ending theme is by Iguchi and Asumi. For the fourth season, the opening theme is by Iguchi and Asumi,[14] while the ending theme for the first 11 episodes is by Iguchi and Asumi, the ending theme for episodes 12 is by Iguchi and Asumi.
井口裕香, 阿澄佳奈, 日笠陽子, 小倉唯, 山本裕介: DVD]
. Amazon.co.jp. Japanese . June 19, 2014.