For most of us, we're often put in situations we had no hand in creating. At work, we get into a groove and just start rolling. Then some idiot in upper management comes along and institutes a "new, innovative process that will synergize workflows and usher in a new era of efficiency"...
Sigh.
But we push through. Just finish the work plan and get the heck outta there.
In Girls' Last Tour, or Shōjo Shūmatsu Ryokō, two kids inherit a much worse situation: a world left in ruins by humanity's failures. This haunting slice-of-life anime follows their search for food, fuel, and a reason to keep moving forward—and 5:00 PM ain't nowhere to be found.
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| Chii and Yuu stare at the desolate world kissed by sunset |
Girls' Last Tour stars Chi-chan and Yuu, two kids who scour the world aboard their Kettenkrad—a motorcycle-tank hybrid developed during World War II—in search of food, fuel, and generally a better way of living.
Unlike our world, where cities bustle with people, the two are greeted by dilapidated structures and automated machines. Society had advanced to the point where electricity and water infrastructure remained operational, at least to some degree. But the people who were supposed to benefit from them are nowhere to be found.
The areas outside the abandoned city buildings fare no better. Flora and fauna are practically nonexistent. The annoying sounds of crickets and chirping birds are replaced by silence and the gentle whispers of the wind.
Humanity built its cities across multiple levels, one stacked on top of another. Chi-chan and Yuu begin their journey in Girls' Last Tour on one of the lower levels, where desolation is the only apt adjective I can think of. We meet them as they travel toward the top, hoping to find some sign that society still exists.
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| Our first view of the world in Girls' Last Tour |
There is no shortage of tragic stories about humanity's defiance in the face of the inevitable warm embrace of Death. Whether it's surviving the horrors of a zombie outbreak or enduring an ongoing war, the entertainment industry has produced countless stories centered on humanity's resilience and will to survive.
Girls' Last Tour doesn't stray too far from this premise. What sets it apart, however, is that rather than focusing solely on the struggle for survival, it places greater emphasis on the daily lives of Chi-chan and Yuu. Hence, the slice-of-life tag.
From the very beginning, Girls' Last Tour carries an underlying sense of doom. Its soundtrack perfectly captures the lingering sadness that permeates the series.
The anime opens with an upbeat hymn sung by a choir, its lyrics indistinguishable. The first conversation between Chi-chan and Yuu is accompanied by a cheerful tune, punctuated by staccato notes from the strings. When the two finally emerge from a long, dark tunnel into the open world, a hopeful melody accompanies the scene.
But by the end of the episode, we're treated to another song with indistinguishable lyrics, this time reminiscent of a lullaby. It's almost as if the music is asking our protagonists to stop struggling and simply go to sleep.
The soundtrack of Girls' Last Tour evokes a wide range of emotions, but strangely enough, it doesn't convey the desperate struggle for survival one might expect from a story set in a dying world. There's sadness, there's uncertainty, and there's a lingering sense that something has already been lost. Yet the music rarely makes the girls' journey feel like a desperate race against death.
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| Our two girls eat fish for the first time... the more carefree Yuu serves as the guinea pig as Chi-chan watches |
Chi-chan and Yuu - Our Cute Little Potatoes
Amid the mess humanity has left behind, two potato-looking—and potato-loving—girls explore the debris of civilization.
First, there's Chi-chan, the more academic of the two. She manages to bring along a few books she cherishes, as well as a journal and writing implements. In a world where it seems unlikely that anyone will benefit from what she learns, she records her adventures and tries to gain as much knowledge as she can. Careful and easily irritated, she's also tasked with navigating the Kettenkrad around debris, stairs, and all sorts of obstacles as she and her companion make their way toward the upper levels of the world.
Yuu, on the other hand, is the carefree, gun-wielding protector of the duo, who would quickly gobble up anything resembling food if it weren't for her more discerning partner. Though she may seem like the "idiot" of the two, she's often the source of some of the show's most interesting philosophical questions. For instance, she wonders why people bother coming up with elaborate interpretations of heaven when nobody really knows what awaits us after death. Wouldn't that make all these ideas about heaven just fake?
Though very different from each other, Yuu and Chi-chan share a level of innocence that would probably get a character killed on The Walking Dead or Lost. Yet it's this very innocence that makes them the perfect exhibits A and B in the trial of humanity's worthiness to survive.
From the beginning of Girls' Last Tour, the ruins strongly suggest that humanity brought about its own downfall. Civilization had reached incredible technological heights, yet something went terribly wrong. Whatever the precise causes, the consequences are all around the girls. And throughout the anime, neither Chi-chan nor Yuu seems particularly interested in holding the previous generations accountable for the world they left behind.
When I had to add inconsequential data to my files at work because of some idiot in a suit, I badmouthed the guy at every watercooler conversation for the next few days. Chi-chan and Yuu, meanwhile, were left with the apocalypse. All they had were questions, yet they just kept on keeping on. No grand speeches about injustice. No lengthy rants about the people who came before them. Just two girls trying to make the best of a world they never asked for.
Rather than wallow in self-pity over the crap life dealt them, they scavenge for food, tools, and materials they can use. They try to learn from the past and record information for a future generation that may never come. Chi-chan's desire to preserve knowledge and Yuu's eagerness to experience the world might not change their circumstances, but they give their lives a sense of purpose beyond mere survival.
And so, in the trial of humanity's worthiness to survive, with fate itself serving as judge, we can comfortably point to Yuu and Chi-chan as exhibits A and B in humanity's favor.
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| Chi-chan and Yuu acknowledges that the world they are in. But they remain glad they are together |
At the same time, Girls' Last Tour is a slice-of-life anime in the sense that, whatever may have caused humanity's downfall, the girls still need to eat, get themselves clean, and find a way to keep moving forward and upward.
Girls' Last Tour could have leaned more heavily into tragedy, like Grave of the Fireflies. It could have been more in-your-face about the dire situation the girls are in, or made its message more explicitly anti-war. Instead, the story focuses on the companionship of our two little potatoes and their journey toward the city's upper levels.
Girls' Last Tour keeps its tragedy in the implications and undertones. While Chi-chan and Yuu spend their time imagining what having a house is like, wondering what music is, or figuring out how to make bread from potato flour, everything else—from the soundtrack and visuals to the final farewells of the side characters they meet—reminds us of the dire situation they're in.
This is the beauty of Girls' Last Tour. It's not that the girls are trying to defy death or fate. It's that the girls are defying the lullaby being sung by the world.
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