As a big fan of travel anime, I was excited hearing about Touring After the Apocalypse for the first time. To my surprise this anime exceeded my expectation. It was wholesome, exciting, myterious, funny and emotional. (Spoiler warning ahead)

First off, one of the biggest strength is it post-apocalypse setting. The world isn’t a new created world, it is based on real life locations, which makes this show work similar like Laid-Back Camp or ZatsuTabi but in comparison to them, the interaction with the visited places are way different because everything is overgrown by nature, animals and without humans anywhere. This makes it very unique, especially because the implementation of this post-apocalypse world is so beliveable and authentic. For example the protagonists Yoko and Airi visited Akihabara but there are only hints left that this was an electronic area back in the past. Now it is an overgrown area for lots of animals, which escaped from the zoo and settled within the city. In addition there are always connections to how the places were supposed to be in the past and how they changed, which helps the immersion even more.

Speaking of the past, I really like how this show connects the past and present also outside its environment. For example the robobt from episode 2, the Akihabara radio, all those vehicles from the raceway or even the aliens. Each one of them has a legacy, a dream which survied the apocalypse in a way and reawaken within Yoko and Airi. There were a lot of emotional scenes connected to those story which got me of guard all the time. For example th robot from episode 2 who had a good time with Yoko and Airi but misses his family so much, that he chose to "join" his family in the after life.

What all those emotional scene had in common is a good presentation. I admit, it is obvious that the animation quality isn’t that high and in some episodes it felt annoying how often they used static environment pictures sometimes. But in contrast, it delivers in their key scenes ever time with solid animations, good music and beautiful colors. All in all this anime looks fantastic. The background art is astonishing and the colors are so vibrant, they helped the immersion a lot.

However in this colorful world lies a cruelty our heros had to face lots of time. This world is dangerous with their nature catastrophies and their mutant animals. The anime succeeds in combining the beauty and danger this world offers. Like for example when our duo got chased by a horde of rats they survied and were rewarded with a beautiful night scenery of the city. This scene was also a nice character moment for Yoko, who was sick of staying in the safe room and wants to travel around although she could die. Our duo Yoko and Airi in general very likeable. Looking at them one by one they are fine characters but they shine as a duo even more because of their fun dynamic. Yoko is the more exciting/out-going character, who enjoys herself as much as she can. Airi is the voice of reasoning and logic as a cyborg but still takes part with Yokos shenanigans. You can clearly feel how they adore and care each other. I also love how selfless they are sometimes by letting some found food rations behind for possible travellers coming by or how they resepect dead humans they found and letting them rest.

Before I rest my review I want to mention one more thing which carries this anime a lot and that is the hole mystery of this world. We only get some hints within the environment of what caused the apocalypse and only vague answers. Also Yoko as a character is a mystery herself, because he wounds heals pretty fast and with the flashback and her dreams, she existed in the distant past too. Sadly we got no clear answers because 12 episodes were too less and the manga is still going and not fully adapted. However it was so fun speculating after every episode with every new hint of what could happend and who Yoko is. That's why I will definitely read the manga.

In the end for me Touring After the Apocalypse was a fantastic journey, with fun characters, super environment, curious secrets, emotional stories and exciting moments. Maybe not everyone might get excited by this anime as much as I do because I like that genre a lot, so this anime is perfectly made me.