Making something dark or depressing but with cute characters is note exactly an original or new idea. The best example for this is Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica that came some years earlier, an anime about cute girls falling into despair after being deceived by an alien evil cute cat. Still, Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou (SSR, as I'll be referring to in this review) has all the merits for doing what it does.

SSR is centered around two girls, Chito and Yuuri, traveling in their tank-like car in what seems to be frozen ruins of long forgotten giant cities. While Tsukumizu's art is what I like to call marshmallow art (where everyone looks fluffy and dumb, and you want to hug and squeeze until they die) don't let it deceive you: the depressing feeling of loneliness that comes with the scale of giant buildings scattered all around, the only sounds that can be heard being of the wind, eventually some river, and the casual chitchat of the friends makes up a really dark atmosphere, even with the dumb cuties. To help with that, no living being besides the two girls seems to exist anywhere.

While the manga doesn't explain what happened to the world and why does it seem so natural for both of the girls that there's no single soul anywhere (even though they once had a grandfather that raised them), it uses this feeling of mistery and fear of the unknown to create an unsettling but at the same time calming and immersive vibe that makes the experience of reading incredible.In their journey to the giant ellevator at the center of the city/country/whatever, they encounter some beings like humans, a cat-like thing that talks and eat metal and a nihilistic robot.

Using the immersive atmosphere, SSR gives a vibe similar to Blame with the scale of things, making you lose sense of time and size in a perfect way, and addresses philosophical questions like the own concept of life and the meaning of it, what can be considered death, and the purpose of having goals when living, all while keeping a feeling of loneliness and insignificance to a greater universe than we can even comprehend, using metaphors and apparently shallow and simple conversations, that always ends up leading to reflecting and deep thoughts.

Apart from the gloomy and depressing things, it's fun to see the contrast between the book-worm know-it-all innocent and the playful illiterate carefree rifle-wielding marshmallow and you can have some good laughs with their always funny trivial chats. Also, even if the cute looks and delicate design gives a dark contrast... they're still cute girls, in the end.

Concluding, it's a cute and funny post-apocalyptic slice of life with a lot of deep philosophical dialogues that will make you have a lot of fun and also get sad sometimes (especially with the fair and perfectly written ending that I will not dare to spoil) that definitely is worth a try.