“A comfy post-apocalyptic adventure.” —Can it be more than this?
The post-apocalyptic subgenre has always fascinated me. It provides a sort of immersive experience that only its setting can achieve—that you’re alone in this big, big world and your future from here onwards is unknown. Unlike isekai that path the way of the heroes to venture into a new journey, post acopalypse does the opposite. There are no saving-the-world tasks, no clear goals to tick off the list and no promising adventure laying ahead. There’s just nothing.
What are you gonna do next?
Fight deadly zombies? Survive deadly virus? Escape from deadly weathers?
Nope. We’re just going to talk.
All dialogue, all interaction, and only little action.
Let’s make an anime out of this.
In a world where cities are built layer upon layer, there are two girls going from city to city in their bike-tank vehicle savaging for foods, fuels and if possible, new items that they’ve never heard of—cheese, sugar, potato. They are knowledgeable when it comes to surviving and rationing in the deserted world, but just genuinely do not know nor have seen these basic ingredients to making a decent meal.
Throughout the journey, they talked. They shared. They played. They laughed. They fighted. They danced. They discovered. They sang: the opening and the ending, and the rain song. Just the two of them. Together. Such simple interaction yet so warm, like it’s melting everything around them in their cold world. They are always wandering, wondering, meeting new people, gaining new insights.
And I think that this bond that they shared and the curiosity that they have are the essential cores that every post-apocalytic adventure should have—to contrast the feelings of “forgotten”, and to evoke the sense of “loneliness”.
This is what makes Girl’s Last Tour so beautiful and mesmerizing.
It reminds us that we laugh, because we are happy. We take photos because we don’t want to forget the memories associated with it. We sometimes slow our pace, because we just want to rest. We shed tears because we cannot describe how much our heart’s been hurt. We listen to music to make us feel either happy or sad. We connect, because we don’t want to feel lonely. Amidst the tiny uneasiness that our peaceful days can be crushed anytime, we still seek of ways to enjoy. They are, too.
Not a large bite. But bits and bits off of everything.
These are trivial things, but are the simplest things that we find joy in. Most of the time, we just do it. We love to laugh, as much as we love to share our stories, keep our memories and enjoy the heck out of anything, because we can. It hasn’t ended yet.
Girl’s Last Tour, portrayed this to depict that in all the adventure that we had, the hardest part is not the seperation but moving on from it. It’s like when a story has such a great ending that paradoxically, it does not. As the credit scenes roll, and the theme song plays, you can only fanthom what their next adventure will be. Do they have a happy ending? Do they meet new people? But most importantly, how would you like it to end?
Aren’t you curious?
Anime as a Cup of Tea 