Girls' Last Tour

The subtle themes and impacts of the characters and the world in Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou.
Ramblings/Review done By Syne.
I apologize for any small mistakes I make in this.

Life is constantly fleeting, we don't live long enough in our life times to truly do everything we would like to. Life is all about making the most it and living it to the fullest, It's about the people you meet, the places you go, the things you do. And I believe Girls' Last Tour perfectly encapsulates all of these themes together with a depressing post apocalyptic world, and two lighthearted girls trying to make the most of this world they've found themselves living in. It is the perfect contrast.

Girls' Last Tour is an iyashikei slice of life, but not your typical show of the SOL genre. The world surrounding our two protagonists is not a happy one, It is one which has been wrought by War, Terror, and Corruption. Chito and Yuuri are our two Protagonists and they were born into this world. Only having their trusty Kettenkrad left after having lost anything they could have possibly held dear in the past to war they have nothing but each other in this cruel world.

Rather than suffer and succumb and to let themselves be swallowed by such a world they decide to make the most of it. Every day is not easy, most days it is a fight for survival. To find food, fuel, water. Anything they may need just to survive. They only have one goal in mind, and that goal is to simply Survive to live another day. They decide ascending up through the multi-layered society would be best; What awaits them at the top is unknown but they hope that it will allow them to finally find peace and solace.

Throughout their Journey they learn more and more things, usually these themes have a depressing and hopeless undertone, For example: When they first meet Kanazawa and he has a map drawn out of several layers, Something which could change everything. But upon ascending up the elevator to the next layer he loses everything he has ever worked for, he loses his meaning in life. Once they reach the top Kanazawa gives the girls a camera and departs on his own never to be seen again. He taught them that sometimes letting go and accepting what life has thrown at you is the only way to move forward. He also gives them a camera to record what life looked like at the time for possible future generations to see.

Next they Meet Ishii, a girl who is developing a plane so that she can escape out of this place to a far distant city, which she believes is vital to her survival because like Chito and Yuuri she too lives her days out not knowing when it will be her last. They help her build the plane only for it to malfunction and break. Which sends her all the way back down to the first layer, and any hope she had at that point was evaporated. When the girls see what happened to Ishii they know subconsciously that she will not survive down in the first layer. And that is the last we see of her. She taught the girls that No matter how hard you may try, sometimes life will let you down. A depressing theme but it helps further add on to the overall theme of hopelessness.

At this point in the story they reach the 3rd layer, closer and closer to the top. They find what seems to be an old marine biology place, They see a lone fish in a tank, simply living. It has nobody in this world. Upon asking if she can eat the fish a robot appears and says to Yuuri that, that she cannot eat the fish as it is a special fish and that is the last of it's kind. That it is the only fish left, I believe that this lone fish Symbolizes hope. There's a very very very small amount of it, but so long as it lives on, There may be a better future ahead of it. After helping out at the marine biology center and after Yuuri swims with the fish and feeds it she sees just how special this fish is and it is here that she learns "Empathy". she learns the ability to understand and share the feelings of another life.

After they bid farewell to the robot and the fish they ascend up to the 4th layer. They then meet Nuko, a little white creature that seems to be very friendly. However I will not say much about Nuko but it is important to the plot. Later on the Girls' see a huge robot and after climbing into the cockpit Nuko activates it and Yuuri shoots off a laser and some missiles at a distant part of the city. Everything over there goes up in flames. Yuuri and Chito are in awe but they quickly learn just how this power was truly used and how a human should not be able to attain power like this. They exit the cockpit and after going through a field of artificial trees they reach a submarine. Upon reaching the inside of the submarine; The Girls see a place to link their Camera and here everything is revealed. Pictures start displaying one by one all over the screen until a video pops up. Upon watching the video we see the absolute best and worst of humanity at the same time. We see children playing, families celebrating birthdays, people gathering and celebrating happiness, but we also see corrupt politicians and the horrors of war. The perfect Juxtaposition of the series. The best and worst of humanity. When they video is done they girls say they feel just a little less lonely upon seeing just how much life used to exist here.

Upon seeing what the world used to be, the happiness, the sadness, the horrors of war. The girls don't change their view on the world they think of it all the same. So long as they have each other surely the world will be alright for them.

WARNING.

[MANGA CONTENT BEYOND HERE]

The manga is 13 unadapted chapters. But I will only be covering the final stretch of chapters.

When the girls eventually reach the 2nd to last layer they are greeted by a tower and inside they meet another AI this one being named "The god of failed work", She is AI that has been watching over this tower for years but Chito and Yuuri are the first life she has seen since the war. The god tells the girls they can take an elevator to the top of the tower but first they must make her request, and the Gods one request is to die. She has spent decades writing a self destruct code but she could not act on it because it required human hands to activate. they take her request reluctantly and end it for her. The god of failed work is a very complex character for the amount of time she is shown, But she wanted it to end because so long as the city had power she would be forced to go on living. and finally she was put to rest as she wished.

Finally we reach the final three chapters. The most depressing and hopeless stretch of chapters I have ever read. It starts with the girls losing their kettenkrad due to having no fuel left, then they climb a dark dark spiral staircase to the top where Yuuri asks "is this what the afterlife looks like, so dark you can't see a thing" and she admits to being afraid of death. Chito grips her hand, and they realize that they have become one. They only need each other to survive in this world then they see the light of the very top layer start to shine in and they reach the top.

Upon reaching the top they see an empty sky, an empty flat surface at the top. everything they have done was for this, there was nothing at all. I believe this final layer symbolizes hopelessness. A total barren space with only the sky above. The girls have a moment and start having a snowball fight desperately trying to make the best of what time they have left. After this they both come to the conclusion that living has been great, and decide to talk for a little bit before Yuuri says she must be the most unhappy person in the world, but then Chito says she is also the most unhappy in the world but then they realize they are actually the two happiest people in the world. Because They are the only people in the world.

They notice they have 1 meals worth of food left and together they eat and then they bundle up next to one another under a blanket, and they fall asleep together. Never waking up again. The world falls silent. No one is left as we get panels that continue zooming outward to show how still everything is, how quiet it all is.

Chito and Yuuri truly spent every moment of their lives all the way up until the end to the absolute fullest. They did not waste a single second and despite the horrible and cruel world and living conditions; they were happy, if only because they had each other. The people they met, the experiences they had, the lessons they learned, they will never forget any of it, always and forever.

I'm sorry if I dragged this review out. I just wanted to talk about how special of a work of fiction this is to me. I did not do this truly masterful work any of the amount of justice it truly deserves here. I also left out several impactful and meaningful scenes here, if you want to see them then you will have to read it for yourself.

Thank you for reading.