LogFAQs > #969790940

3. Girls Last Tour
https://myanimelist.net/anime/35838/Shoujo_Shuumatsu_Ryokou
Fall 2017 (12 episodes)
My Score: 10/10, MAL Score: 8.20/10
Best Character: Chito

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF5MKNwbRhg
(I think this has other scenes edited over parts of the OP, but it was the closest thing I could find)

Premise: Two young girls, Chito and Yuuri, are some of the last humans left after wars and other cataclysms led to a long decline. They ride through the ruins of a multilevel city, scavanging for supplies while wondering about the people who used to live there.

The Good: Girls' Last Tour is a post-apocalyptic slice-of-life. Chito and Yuuri wear military uniforms, ride around on an armored bike, and carry guns. However, this isn't remotely an action anime. It's a lot closer to being relaxing like Laid-Back Camp. Military gear is just one of the most plentiful things left to scavenge in the ruins of civilization. The multilevel megacity is such an interesting setting. Parts of it are familiar, but other areas are entirely alien or too broken to even understand. It's also large enough for the girls to get lost for days in what looks like maintenance corridors. I loved seeing new places because of what I could infer about the world and the things that had happened in it. There was a lot of history and creative touches packed into the places the girls wandered through.

I was always happy to see what the girls would find and what they would do, too. A story like this, set just before the end of humanity with no hope that things will get better, could've easily been too bleak to enjoy. GLT does often have a melancholic tone, both in the signs of wasteful excess and destruction that are plentiful in the city and in the signs of human lives and joys that are now gone forever. Chito and Yuuri still have each other, however, and that's enough for them to keep pushing forward. They rarely let anything get them down for long. Instead they marvel at the wonders and try to imagine how things used to be. They also delight in finding little moments, even something as simple as shooting out a working hot water pipe to create a makeshift bath. Who knew the end of the world could be so cozy? I also loved the conversations they had, which were often philosophical and meaningful without getting too preachy. It was just realistic. These are the kinds of things people would talk about in this situation when there's nothing better to do. Everything in this anime was enthralling.

The Bad: I've said it before and I'll say it again. The biggest flaw in Girls' Last Tour is that it ended after only one season. At least it stopped at a good point, but, still. From what I know it adapted most of the manga. It would've been nice to get a few extra episodes just to reach the end. Other than that, I thought Yuuri could be a bit much at times. She worked as someone for Chito to interact with, but Yuuri could be a bit annoying at times.

Overall: Girls' Last Tour is another anime I classify in my head as "cute girls with deeper themes". It isn't quite my favorite one of those, but it was still just such a wonderful and unique experience. The apocalyptic setting was always interesting and packed with details. The girls were really good too. I have a soft spot for stories where characters are able to find happiness no matter how hopeless their situation is. Even though humanity is doomed, it was surprisingly nice to watch Chito and Yuuri wander around while living in the moment as best as possible.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/4/6/AAcDcBAAD70W.png

CHARACTER: Chito (Girls Last Tour)
https://myanimelist.net/character/154098/Chito
Voiced by: Minase Inori
TOP 100 RANK: 91st

SPOILERS FOR GIRLS LAST TOUR

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulcgmM9U3lk

Thst video shows one of my favorite moments in Girls' Last Tour. It starts to rain, so the two take refuge in the ruined shell of some ancient war machine. Eventually they realize the rhythmic potential of droplets striking metal, and they set up enough to create a beautiful song. It's the kind of moment they found over and over again on their journey. It's a simple joy, and it didn't need a bunch of resources or preparation. It was just a nice rhythm that they experienced together. For me, at least, moments like this were poignant and beautiful. The girls were always barely scraping by, but there were signs everywhere in the city of how well people used to live. That excess, coupled with wars to claim even more, was what doomed humanity. If something as simple as a song made by the rain could be so mesmerizing, it makes me wonder if there was even a point to all that progress towards inevitable destruction.

Chito and Yuuri really are an inseparable team. Still, of the two, Chito was easily my favorite. She cared about more than food, for one thing. Chito kept a journal and treasured books. She was always the voice of reason, and the one who tried to honor the memory of the people who were now gone. I really liked the scene where they explored what turned out to be a graveyard. For one thing, it was another nice thematic moment when they realized the useless objects they were finding, like a button or a scrap of cloth, were actually people's treasured possessions. Again, it doesn't take a whole lot for a small thing to become meaningful. When Chito realized that, she insisted on putting the objects back. After all, if they were taken from that place, the items would lose all meaning.

One of my favorite things in GLT was seeing the city and trying to imagine its history. I loved moments like when they explored a crater and realized it was damaged in some ancient battle. Then people who settled the area afterwards had another big battle around the crater. It really drove home the theme that humanity had brought this on themselves. Still, the great thing about GLT was that it never wallowed in gloom. I loved the video montage they saw from the camera near the end of the series. Alongside newsclips of war and images of unimaginable destruction, there were also simple moments with families or children playing or girls giving a school report. It's nice to remember that it wasnt all bad. Seeing the regular lives those people had also gives Chito and Yuuri the strength to keep going. Even in a world with no hope, it's important to always remember that there's still happy things too.