Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou

What makes a good post-apocalyptic story?

The atmosphere. A dense and foreboding feeling that life was at one time much greater than it is today, but now all that's left is a hollow shell of a former civilization that you'll never be a part of. What makes the story of Girls' Last Tour (AKA Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou) great is not just the slice of lifestyle plot. It's the storytelling that makes it extraordinary.

As Chito and Yuri explore the desolate city, they learn more about the setting, giving the audience helpful information to piece together the lore. The world they live in is implied to be Earth in the distant future after a war has wreaked havoc and left the world barren. Chi and Yuu spend each episode exploring, looking for supplies, and finding new aspects of their world that they had never known before. The show implies that they were born after the war because of the director's impressive ability to tell us about the characters in subtle ways. Whether it be how they react to finding something that would seem normal to people like us. For example, They find a fish at one point and can only identify it based on distant memories. From that simple interaction, we have enough information to infer that they have never seen live fish and most likely a body of water.

Little details like this are all over the show. You'll constantly be learning about the world of Girl's Last Tour without a single line of exposition. I was impressed from beginning to end because of the well-executed story. Girl's Last Tour understands that simplicity is beautiful, and it shows us its understanding at any chance.

The overarching plot is relatively simple and could be categorized as a slice of life by some standards. In every episode, the girls go somewhere new. They're constantly driving, after all. They make pit stops at a place each episode to refuel or investigate a new location. We gain insight into what Chi and Yuu know and comprehend about the world through their various pit stops. The show's foundation is the two main characters, Chi and Yu. If you don't like their chibi designs or childish personalities, chances are you won't enjoy Girl's Last Tour. For me, their childish look and goofy banter made the show incredibly pleasant despite taking place in a desolate post-apocalyptic world. Throughout their journey, they meet several enigmatic inhabitants of the city, all of which have interesting information to provide to the girls and the audience.

Frequently CGI is used for the car that they drive, but the world has an undeniably arresting aesthetic. It's a bleak world with a color palette of primarily black, white, brown, and grey, but there is beauty in the lighting and great use of shadows. While the visuals may not inspire as much imagination as a show like Made in Abyss, they still tell a story. One of the best ways the director tells a story through visuals is his obsession with stairs. And I mean that in the best way possible. Every time the characters are shot climbing up in their little car, the scene has a double meaning. The further they rise, the more they learn about their world. In the show's very first scene, the lead characters are introduced to a dark cavern driving along as they always do. By simply shooting the characters in a visually compelling factory, the artists do a fantastic job of establishing that the story is about these childish characters and their journey to becoming adults.

To complement the sprawling world and the mystical atmosphere is a mellow soundtrack. I do love the music, but it's really underused. Many scenes have no music at all, only very effective use of ambient sounds. A myriad of background noises adds to the atmosphere and believability of the show's world. While you're watching it, you feel like you're there. The whirr of the car engine, the clinking of metal, and the well-performed voices of Chi and Yuu make up much of the show's ambient sounds. Thanks to the great voice actresses of the lead characters, their personalities come across really well without the show ever needing to tell us explicitly about who the characters are. The show is effortlessly enjoyable, thanks to the voices. Slight inflections in their voices are enough to figure out what they're thinking without requiring unnecessary dialogue to explain things.

I can't complain too much that the soundtrack was underused because the best songs were saved for the best scenes. During these critical moments, the melancholy soundtrack rises in volume until it becomes the only thing you can hear. It does a great job of hammering home the impact of some crucial scenes.

The show lives and breathes the phrase, "The journey is more important than the destination." Even though it is a slice-of-life show, you're constantly being given details about the setting through Chito and Yuu as they learn more about the world on their journey. Some of the shenanigans they get into are funny. However, don't expect a comedy because it's mostly just a cute and uplifting tone that keeps it enjoyable. There are very few jokes. This is fine because it would probably drain all the tension from the moody atmosphere.

An exciting setting and fantastic visual storytelling immediately make Girl's Last tour worth watching. Whether or not you will be immersed in the Girl's Last Tour world depends on how interested you are in the world and the journey the lead characters undergo. It's so content with simply being happy and heartwarming that I didn't feel like it was missing much. I like my slice-of-life shows with meaningful subtext, and Girl's Last Tour has that. The atmosphere is dense, the visuals are breathtaking, the audio engages you, and the mysterious setting offers something more substantial for you to chew on.

The journey this anime takes you in is just stunning, how it views the idea of life, death, happiness, sadness, and many other feelings that will leave you in wonders.

You want something calming and chilling then you've found it.

Welcome to the philosophical apocalypse.

GLT is so... The opening is SO: It's so dark. They haven't seen the light of day in so long. It's so cold. We're so hungry. It's so lifeless. It's so dull and overcast. Despite the grey palette, it's a show that is pleasant to watch for 11 episodes and then, in episode 12, it suddenly launches into a thing of true beauty🦋

A 2017 Release that is rated 8.2 on MAL, GLT is 1 season consisting of 12 24-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available. The art is near childish in its simplicity. On a reality scale people are 2/10, drawn crudely with little detail, and backgrounds are 3/10 with minimal lines. This augments the main theme: Simplify. They still manage scenes that mesmerize.

GLT opens to a couple of young girls walking around a desolate land littered with weapons left by a long ago war. They talk about why people fought, why didn't they store up food instead, and what was the meaning of all of °this°? We also get a minute demonstration of how human☠nature leads to °this°.

Yuri (Yuu) carries a 🔫. She's the brawn. She's got the boundless optimism of a naive and ignorant child. Not much for reading, she loves her gun and food. Chito (Chi) carries a 📗. She's the brains and a bit more of a pessimist. Not much for violence, she loves 📚. We'll know from her dreams that Yuu does cause her anxiety. Chi is the even road and Yuu is all the highs and lows. Chi spends her time journaling about their travels and explaining everything, grand and simple, to Yuu.

To Yuu? TO YOU! AND ME! "Hollow?" "That means it's empty inside. Like that head of yours." Yuu understands nothing. Chi must explain the basics to her: What a book is, what a house is, who and what God is... The show is their dialogue; the pedant and the blank slate. They will get separated in a dark building. Even though she's joked and even dreamed of eating Chi, Yuu is upset apart from her constant companion. She mourns being cold and alone in the dark. Later, when they are together in a grand corporate lobby, and Yuu realizes she can't eat the (fake) fish in the (fake) pond, which is part of a glass and metal sculpture, she fumes about how useless the fish is. They had been wondering about God, so Yuu decides to curse, or blame God that something so useless exists. Chi works out how being alone in the dark was upsetting, and perhaps people wanted this brightly lit space so that they would feel "more at ease." Yuu refuses to accept that there are things beyond her understanding. She will accept something once Chi explains it, but she doesn't obtain wisdom from these interactions. In every new situation Yuu rejects new things, forgetting that there are many things she doesn't understand. Sounds familiar.

Yuu isn't wrong about everything. Their different personalities provide balance. The girls find a path marked with arrows, and Chi wishes that life came with ↗⬆➡↙↔. Yuu is scandalized, stating that it would be no fun at all! They share an empty room one night. They try to imagine it furnished and that they live there, in a building that doesn't move. "House Awesome!" Yuu loves the idea, but she doesn't understand why the tank they travel in isn't their house. Out of the first 5 episodes they only encounter 1 other human. The first two adults that they meet end up losing years worth of work. One woman says: "Once you fail at something, you feel so carefree." Chi concludes: "Maybe 'life' just really means something that has an end to it, you know?"

'As long as I have Yuu/You, I'm happy.' Haunting and moving, the last episode is the big payoff. The most frightening concept is isolation, we learn. But community is scary, too. We see lots of images, mostly of people living their lives interspersed with war and destruction. An image of a 🕷 on top of a 🦋 shows up in the center of the montage. Is life a spider, or a butterfly? Must life be the 🕷 on top of the 🦋? Do you want to be a 🕷 or a 🦋? We all have a choice. People choose to be the spider because they fear the spiders; they fear being weak. All I can say is that I would rather be a butterfly for a day than a spider for 100 years. I will not choose the spider. GLT expresses the hope that society can "ingest these unstable beings and dismantle them back into a static state," which is by way of determined collective enforcement (punish crimes & uphold justice), but it must also be done with care, connections, & constant hope. "Let there be peace ☮n earth."

QUOTES📢 "What Does 'empathy' mean?" "It means when you are happy, I am happy as well," (says the robot).

House Awesome!

〰🖍 IMHO

📣8.2 📝8.5 🎭7.7 🌞5.7 🎨8⚡4.5 🎵/🔊7.6 😅4 😭3.5 😱4.3 😯4 😖3 🤔7.9 💤4 🔚10

Age 11+ They bathe and we see nondescript nudity. There are curves with no detail. Rated TV-PG-13 Parents Strongly Cautioned.

Re-📺? 👍🏽

From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

Girls und Panzer-8, Akiba Maid War 7.5, Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, Assassination Classroom-9, Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4, Reincarnated as a Sword 8, Belle-8.5, Princess Principal 8.6, Kino's Journey-7.3 Made in Abyss 9, Your Lie In April-9, Land Of The Lustrous 8, Watership Down-8.5, Violet Evergarden-9.5, Psycho Pass-8.6.

Having watched many anime series, it was nice to see one that is set at a slower pace and deals with smaller issues in a thoughtful way, almost like a parable. In "Girls Last Tour" Civilization had advanced to the point that cities had multiple layers. However, war has destroyed almost all life including plant and animal. Two young girls journey through this desolate land on a WW2 German Kettengrad motorcycle tank driving about 10 miles an hour. The girls, Chito-black hair and Yuuri-blonde hair, explore, play, and try to make sense of things while seeking out food and supplies. Chito is thoughtful, keeps a journal and drives the Kettengrad. Yuuri is illiterate, impulsive, but exuberant. Watching these two living humans among the great but lifeless cities is an enjoyable if melancholy experience. But, if life has got you wound up, this show will help you wind down. Watched on Amazon Prime.

What if there really was a world where you and your very best friend were supposedly the only two people left in the world after a post-war society? How would that feel, being with the one and only person you ever wanted to be with until you die, experiencing hardships, connections, good times, and everything in between? Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou gives me an idea of how that would feel and for some reason that idea has kept popping back up in to my head. You and your friend are just lost in what seems like an endless "sandbox world" to yourselves, maybe even seeing people along the way. There's always that tense feeling of not knowing what you will see next or what's waiting for you in the near or distant future. Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou may not be seen as the best anime series ever by most people, but to me, I felt a connection. A connection with the environment, the characters, and the dialogue... everything. I want to explain why this is my favourite series of all time without being biased. This is all my opinion, and I hope that you can understand why this is the best anime I have watched as of the time I have made this review.

The story is set in stone right from the first episode. Chito and Yuuri are supposedly the last two people left in society, maybe even the last living organisms in society. Everyday they rely on what they learned from what they found the day before. They are always finding new things to discover, and the show really pulls you in from what they find each episode. In this post-war apocalyptic environment, you'd expect quite a melancholy of a story if anything, with the whole story being about how the last two people left in the world only have the small things that are ahead of them to look forward to. That's not the case for Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou. In fact, Chito and Yuuri's journey is fairly merry and joyful. Most of the experiences that are bad overshadow the good because of how short the bad moments last. It makes this show much more enjoyable and shows that all the sad moments in life should only last such a small amount of time, and you should only focus on the best parts of it. That's what I love about this show. Maybe you have depression, and you really connected with this show. That's basically the same case for me; I think that this show tells you that even if life is hard at times, nice things still happen, and you should shift your focus on those nice things. Then, your life will be much happier. Chito and Yuuri had left their parents from a society that seems to have no backstory other than that, making it raise a lot of questions and makes this anime more mysterious as it goes on. Who knows what could have happened to that society besides the fact that it was most likely torn down by war? To be honest, anime that propose a question or have mystery elements to them are some of my favourite aspects of anime in general.

White Fox is known for being really experimental with what they make and they always love to reach out to new genres. They have made a lot of amazing anime and I appreciate how hard they work on making things perfect. Steins;Gate was an amazing anime for me and it's honestly unforgettable. They also made some other really great series like Katanagatari, Akame ga Kill, Re:Zero, Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka, Hataraku Maou-sama, and probably more. Of course, Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou adds to the amount of great series they have made. Their way of adapting Tsukumizu's art style was perfect and it feels like Tsukumizu could have even made the anime herself if she could. The landscape and scenery stand out a ton in many episodes and attention to detail in scenes that need to be pointed out as the most important parts are absolutely stellar, hell, maybe I can even call it flawless. I have this attachment to how cute the style of the characters are and it makes me happy everytime I see them. White Fox just did really good at making this anime adaptation and I'm so glad they did.

Chito and Yuuri are characters that feel real in a way that makes it very relatable to many people. They are almost like opposites to each other, and their interactions display many different emotions and they clearly are happy that they are together in this end of the world society. It makes me wonder how it would feel like if me and my best friend were in a society quite like the one in Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou. Chito is the character that worries a lot about what's ahead and does repairs to the Kettenkrad. She seems to be a lot more of a survivalist than Yuuri is, but her personality is really adorable. Yuuri is the carefree and happy go lucky character, and honestly the one that you can have more of a connection with. She may be a bit greedy, but she can be really wise and she reminds Chito that the world isn't always full of tension and despair. There's always something to look forward to and you need to see more things positively. Both Chito and Yuuri make the plot of this story and I couldn't ask for more. Their opposites attract, and it makes watching this anime just amazing, especially when it gets meaningful and emotional.

I really want to point out how beautiful the soundtrack is to this anime. Some tracks are quite sad and depressing, and some are really, really happy. However, the part that really stands out the most for me is how each of the tracks sound. It's a beautiful and unique soundtrack, and I haven't heard such an amazing soundtrack since Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica and Made in Abyss. The passion used to make this original soundtrack is just beyond my own comprehension, because it sounds perfect in my ears. Kenichiro Suehiro took many different elements of music and combined them to make the soundtrack for this anime, and he did it near flawlessly. The soundtrack is used so precisely on the perfect moments and it makes the vibe of each part of the anime feel so good. Whenever Chito and Yuuri are in a dark area, a more calm or eerie song plays. Whenever they discover something amazing or they look out into the distance and see the beauty of the layered city, a song that will make the scene so much more emotional plays. That's what I love about this OST, it's just perfect to me.

This anime is so powerful even after a first time watch. I want to rewatch this so many times, I bet won't ever get tired of seeing how amazing this is. The meaning behind Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou probably goes far beyond what I feel like it already is. This anime is such a rare find today that there's almost nothing like it, even now. This may just be one of the most unique anime ever made and I appreciate White Fox for it. The amount of time and dedication to make this anime amazing is beautiful. I felt happiness, sadness, emotional connections, and all the meaningfulness from this show just go right into my head, never to come back out because it's so worth it to keep these memories in my head after watching this. The complexity of Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou is so deep that maybe even if I watched 10 times I couldn't find out the true meaning. I just stick to what I think it's about and I'm happy that I think of it that way because it makes the viewing experience so much more enjoyable. There hasn't been a single anime like this one that I've watched before and it's the most unregrettable and unforgettable experience I have ever had watching anime. My opinion may be biased compared to most, but I felt too many great emotions when watching this.

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou is my favourite anime.

Story: 10+/10 Characters: 10+/10 Art: 10+/10 Sound: 10+/10 Enjoyment: 10+/10 Overall: 10+/10