This Week in Anime
The Fantastic Final Days of Girls' Last Tour
by Michelle Liu & Steve Jones,
Now that Girls' Last Tour is no longer behind a double-paywall, there's no better time to catch up on all the post-apocalyptic adventure while settling in for the winter. This week in anime, Michelle and Steve share their favorite things about this surprisingly impactful series.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network. Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.
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Steve
Micchy, now that Anime Strike has been anime-stricken from the record, I thought we could take some time to revisit one of last season's best shows, as it becomes available for the general Amazon Prime Video audience.
Micchy, now that Anime Strike has been anime-stricken from the record, I thought we could take some time to revisit one of last season's best shows, as it becomes available for the general Amazon Prime Video audience.
I am, of course, talking about
the dabbing blobs
the dabbing blobs
Micchy
Dab of the century, I say. We covered Girl's Last Tour early last season, but it went some real interesting places after that.
Dab of the century, I say. We covered Girl's Last Tour early last season, but it went some real interesting places after that.
I know right? Somehow the comfy blob girl anime turned into one of the most emotionally affecting shows of the year!
Yeah, by going places I mean WRECKING EVERY CHAMBER OF MY HEART. Between this and Land of the Lustrous, last season was a mighty fine time for musings on life, mortality, and the little things that make us human (or not).
Also, gay
It still maintained a great balance of lighthearted and heavier moments up through the end, but as it went on it ramped up its concern with philosophical musings and wistful reflections on the world and humanity.
And yes, ramped up the gay.
Chito: that one lesbian you knew in college who somehow got gayer after three or four beers
I love their relationship so much. They share every part of their lives, from the food down to the mutual dunkings, and the affection they share in the finale was beautiful.
NOW KISS. Not a bad way to spend your days with the only other person alive out there imo. Meanwhile, the show finally revealed how the world got to be that way, in one of the most gorgeous sequences of the year.
Yeah, the entire finale is an emotional whirlwind.
In the finale, they finally dig through the files on their camera and discover records of people long dead. There are both corny family videos and news clips, everything from photos of bugs to all-out war. And MAN, interspersing clips of all-out war with school field day memories was a cruel move. You've got the smallest, most insignificant of human joys juxtaposed with catastrophe, really calling to attention how small people really are in the grand scheme of things. And yet all that still reaches these two girls in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
It's a wonderful summation of one of the show's central themes. Even in this small crappy digital camera that can only take grainy photographs, there's an entire history, thousands of people's stories of the lives they once had. And they're mostly lost, but there are still parts and fragments that live on, the good and the bad. Those pieces can still affect Chi and Yuu.
[incoherent bawling]
The final episodes confirm the audience's suspicions that it was 100% humanity's fault that the world ended. And yet, it's also Chi and Yuu's humanity that instills life into their dead surroundings, finding joy even in the bleakest of landscapes.
Even if EMP missiles take out all communication systems, you still got yer girlfriend right there. Humanity as a whole can be horrifically destructive, but that doesn't mean everything has to suck.
Chi pretty much sums it up.
Chi and Yuu might be nothing on a cosmic scale, but the fact that they have each other is a miracle in itself.
Also, they have a "cat."
Or a biologically engineered mushroom thing designed to neutralize all weapons, one or the other.
Whatever it is, it's got a good set of values.
Though when your mom is Yuu, that's pretty unsurprising.
While I'm on the subject, they really should've named the show Girls' Last Vore.
Steeeeeeeve
There are MULTIPLE instances of Yuu "joking" about eating Chi, don't tell me I'm out of line.
Real talk though, the "cat" is neat to me as a harbinger of The End that isn't violent. There's the destruction of war that apparently killed most people on earth, and then you have these things putting the world to sleep. It's such a poetic way to end it all.
Yeah, the grown-up "cat"s are nothing if not kind about their dissemination of earth-shattering facts.
I mean, I guess they are basically mochi given human form.
These two have always been good blobs, whether they're having a tin can jam session, getting wasted on suspicious beverages, or contemplating the value of a single fish's life.
They're good even when they're in shock at the raw destructive capabilities that humanity apparently had.
The "Life" episode is probably my favorite besides the finale. From the constant jabs at Yuu's insatiable hunger to the philosophical question of what defines the value of life, it's a neat package of everything that makes Girls' Last Tour special.
Related, the little aquarium caretaker robot is the MVP. Who knows how long that lil' guy spent looking after this one single fish? Is caretaker robot alive? Is the construction robot alive? Who even knows? Why bother to save the fish at all? It might not make logical sense, but sometimes people do hopelessly irrational things, and that gray area is what this show is all about.
He's adorable, and in general I love how unconventional the background/creature designs are.
Everything's large and complicated and mysterious. And falling apart, of course.
I love how much loving detail went into creating this world and everything in it. Between the backgrounds and the music, this show has a remarkable control over tone and atmosphere. Complex but dilapidated, huge yet cramped, the setting itself is so well realized.
Tsukumizu, the manga author, is a super talented artist, but I also love the rough sketchy drawings she puts on her Twitter all the time. (I highly recommend following her. The Girls' Last Tour shitposts alone are worth it.)
That's how you know it's good art—lots of wonderful, terrible content.
Yuu is a master of internet un-humor, by the way.
including god-awful puns
To be fair, she might not show it too often, but Yuu is every bit the contemplative soul to match Chi.
What a beautiful philosophy
Except maybe for that time she laughs over the giant pew-pew robot without fully processing how dangerous it is. She's not very good at seeing the big picture, but maybe that's okay if it means she can find more to be happy about.
That's why they're a good couple.
If marriage as a concept still exists in their world, I'm yelling at them to get married already.
Somehow I doubt there's anybody left to officiate, but if they can't be wives, they can at least be permanent girlfriends.
and in a way, their journey continues this season
COMPLETELY IGNORING THAT, Girls' Last Tour is a really special show, and I'm glad it has the chance to reach a wider audience now. It's sadly unsurprising why we're getting a lot of post-apocalyptic stories these days, but I'm grateful for angles like this one. It's frank about mankind's destructive tendencies, but it's also warm and life-affirming. It's a cozy blanket for dark geopolitical times.
So don't sleep on these blobs!
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