Girls’ Last Tour (2017) - Review
"Maybe life just really means something that has an end to it, yknow?"
I'm back with another contender for my Top 100 Greatest Anime of All Time List -
Girls' Last Tour is a 2017 anime adaption that was animated by White Fox, a studio known for anime productions such as Steins Gate, Re:Zero, and Goblin Slayer. The director, Takaharu Ozaki, hasn't done a lot of directing work outside of a few episodes of different anime, including an episode of Grimgar, but they did go onto be the series director for Goblin Slayer, and worked previously as a cinematographer on projects like Texnolyze and Beck.
Girls' Last Tour is a wholesome anime about two girls just aimlessly traversing a war torn world laced with an incredible sense of dark humor, juxtaposing the two main characters' personalities, with Yuri's unabashed innocence and positivity and Chi's incredible dead pan reactions.
The two girls are among the few humans remaining on earth, and the story finds them exploring the ruins of human civilization as they search for supplies and food. Along the way, their days consists of them talking about all aspects of life, from what food used to taste like and what humans used to do for fun, to big questions the relativity of the passage of time and what it means to be alive.
All of this takes place in that aforementioned ruined civilization - a setting that's desolate and grimy. The landscape has layers of after layer of buildings falling apart, one on top of the other, in monumentally puzzling arrays. In doing this, it's showing us that very passage of time - of civilizations trying, and failing, to build and rebuild one after the other. Throughout all of this, there are different landmarks and cultural artifacts that the two main characters try to piece together with their limited knowledge of what life used to be like. The gorgeously detailed, grim backdrop is mixed wonderfully with some of the most cleverly written and hilariously dark dialogue the medium has ever had.
Girls' Last Tour, in essence, is about finding joy in the smallest of details in life, about not taking things for granted no matter how unimportant they might seem at first. It's about the importance of learning our history and keeping it alive for generations. It's about how communication and community and learning about one another keeps us feeling fulfilled and less lonely. It's a story all about perseverance in the face of finality.
With these beautiful themes and episodic storytelling told through two girls going about their mundane journey that lends itself to the conclusion in one of the most breathtaking sequences l've experienced, paired with two of the most endearing and hilarious characters I've ever had the pleasure of getting to know over the course of 13 episodes, Girls' Last Tour absolutely solidifies itself as a contender for the Top 100 Greatest Anime of All Time.
"Memories fade, so we write them down."
My Current MAL Rating: 8/10
Top 100 Contender: Yes
Current Top 100 Ranking: 27/100
