Girls' Last Tour

What do you do when you’re most likely the last two human beings in a world that’s already ended? You keep moving, of course. Girls' Last Tour is a survival story where there are no final destination. As they drive their old Kettenkrad to scavenge for supplies then talk about whatever comes to mind—from questioning their very existence or on why people wage wars to whose turn is it to do the laundry. The world of Girls' Last Tour is haunting yet serene. Its background art is magnificent and filled with raw details, truly bringing the desolate wasteland that is their home to life. Thereare so many small joys to be found within their world like learning all about its past history, technology, culture, as well as the potential reasons for their world to exist as it does. Tsukumizu's unique art style, squishy designs, and memorable characters really blended well with it's poignant philosophy that hits all the right spots—especially if you're a reflective kind of person. Chi and Yuu's dynamic as a pair is the greatest strength of this manga. Majority of the funny moments come from them having to deal with one another. The two almost feel like sisters; they bicker then make up a moment later, ultimately their love for one another shines through. They have a very wonderful chemistry and their philosophical banters never feel unnatural. The story thrives by treating the two as a combo, with them being an interesting survival duo where one makes up for the other’s weaknesses, they pull each other through bit by bit that it’s heartwarming to see them continually bond together as survivors-in-arms. All they had left in this world are each other's companionship and that human connection is more precious than anything. Their journey through life is a memorable one and they enjoyed it to the fullest extent without being weighed down by regrets. All while having lost every worldly possession and the shred of hope for the future they might've had. The moral lesson they taught us here, is that the best things in life are experiences and connections and not the mere possession of materialistic things. If we could all live the way Chi and Yuu live, then the eventual end of our lives, the humanity, the Earth, and the universe wouldn't matter. The world around them has ended, but Chi and Yuu's lives certainly have not. It's tragic yet beautiful.

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou is the melancholic tale of two girls lost in the barren, desolate world of the Layered City. Supposedly, being the last two human beings in the entire world, their only objective is to reach the top, hoping to find just any sign of life. However, the world revolves around them now, no one to command or guide them, so their journey is a very erratic one full of many experiences. They learn not just about their own lives, but of the ones long gone. An entire philosophical, almost harrowing and introspective look on the struggles of Chito and Yuuri as they preparefor anything with the ambition of meeting someone else or at least something to live for besides themselves. Tsukumizu is a bizarre figure in the manga industry, not making much of an appearance aside from independent artwork and doujinshi. They seem to keep a keen interest on very surreal, and even completely ridiculous concepts that all somehow form in to a weird combination of dark comedy and the deep roots of many philosophers' ideals, which is especially in the case of Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou with it's seemingly hopeful but nihilistic outlook on life when there is truly no one left. Artistically, they're extremely unique and for once, that uniqueness of an artists' style really fits the atmosphere and tone of the entire series. It's genuinely fantastic and I've grown a really soft spot for Tsukumizu's artistic endeavors as a result. Character development is minimal to say the least, but if anything, the story doesn't seem to drag at all despite this. In fact, this is by far the most satisfying thing I've sat through to read, and I've read it too many times to count at this point, so let's just say it was a lot. Chito and Yuuri are fairly stagnant characters; they have typical reactions to each other, with Chito being the brains and Yuuri being the... brawn, I guess. They're almost polar opposites of each other, except for one thing that drives this entire series' plot until the end, and that is curiosity. Beyond the existentialist and dreary themes throughout there is one hopeful and big thing that comes out of this; curiosity. A lot of minds think alike even if they aren't on the same wavelength. Both of our main characters in this series are very curious individuals. For what other reason than curiosity and hope would they even continue their journey here? Such a simple thing like curiosity is so charming and fulfilling to the plot of this manga that it keeps me hooked throughout the entire book multiple times over. I just can't get enough of it. I haven't enjoyed a series like this in a while. When the anime was first announced, I went straight to the manga to get a sneak peek and I didn't regret it. There is not another story like Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou out there. There may be similar things out there, but none will put the nail in the coffin of my definition of "perfect" like this manga does. Every time Chito and Yuuri interact feels so real and beautiful and the way they react to the new things they find throughout the series is seriously one of the most charming developments I've ever read in all my time sifting through hundreds of books, Japanese or English or Spanish or any other parts of the world. It just does what I want, and I wish I could thank Tsukumizu personally for giving me and many other people this experience. It's pretentious to end reviews like this, but I only have one last thing to say about this. Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou is a masterpiece. 10/10

(TLDR Review at the bottom of this review. As always, thanks for reading in advance.) Do you ever just look at some paper filled with words and think, "Wow! Whoever thought of this idea is a genius." Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. In life, the value of things make no sense whatsoever, so much so that a £0.99 (~$1.29) Burger King cheeseburger suddenly has less monetary value as a £2.49 (~$3.29) exact cheeseburger simply because one of the Burger King is located right next to a train station. You may be wondering. Who needed to know that? Well, it is the same concept with what Iwas on about with the thought behind writing things on paper. As humans, we value things differently, part of the reason why opinions exist, like this review, and the various others that you will probably come across. It is because of that we value things differently, we take things for granted or we make precious of everything around us. Some are born into the best life has to offer that requires no effort to achieve such a position, hence may be a reason behind belittling the things around. Others are born with little to nothing, working day in, day out providing for their kin who had trouble standing on their own two legs before the said person was even born, bringing forward the few obvious reasons of why someone in such a position would have a high value of everything around them. There really is no set value for anything, and that is what brings us to Tsukumizu's Girls' Last Tour. And the endless amount of questions that come along with the little things that people take an interest in for what they have done for us. Narrative: In a post-war torn world, travellers Chito and Yuuri travel around in what is left from the ancient people before them, and well, they don't do much but travel. Really that is all. This isn't anything deep or intricate, but that is it, it isn't trying to be the next philosophical thing, it simply understands the world it is set in and embraces the simplicity in what seems to be the last few humans left travelling the world finding and learning about the people of the past. The pacing is done well too, it takes one chapter for Chito and Yuuri stumble upon the different treasures they come across, then into the next chapter, the next treasure is found, and so on, so forth. The only time this really changes is when the two encounters some other life form on their journey, with this, however, it would make sense for such an elongated encounter relative to the events of the story to exist, it only allows for more character development in the different people. Which leads me onto my next point. People. In this story, there are a limited number of people which correlates well with the events prior to the start. Which such a limited amount of people, all scattered far and wide in what is left of a global catastrophe, whilst reading this, you begin to see how little we are when: 1. We are not in united 2. On a global basis It is said that 10 humans can fit 1 sq m. 7.8 billion people would mean 780 sq km required space to fit humanity into one area as close together. That would only be about 0.0001529% of the earth's surface… Even if you took everyone who ever lived, 109 billion people would only take up about 0.002137% of the earth's surface. This kind of percentage (the latter) is the same as you having someone choose a random card of 52 you have in mind, guess it correctly AND predict a 6 sided dice roll correctly, no bias involved. We truly are small. And as small people, even though our existence is insignificant on a universal scale, we take an interest in things, and those interests push us to keep moving on. Whether it be drawing maps that only you may use, or building aeroplanes to venture to the next city. We keep going. Girls' Last Tour does an amazing job of telling such a fact, these little things that we use so much that we don't think about how they work anymore because it just does what we want it to do. The value of things we have created has been forgotten, naturally, from when they were first made. In the multiple displacements, they are from their previous location, Chito and Yuuri show the incredible things humans birth, no matter how big or small. The little things like books, statues and cameras, are just one of the few things that show the countless number of creations that had been amassed pre-war-torn world era. Why do we create such things even though we know that one day it will simply fade away? I will tell you now that, unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that question, in fact, there is no rational answer, and that is a good thing. Chito and Yuuri show that even though there is an end, the journey is worth the trek anyway, even when you feel like you are lost, with nowhere to go. Girls' Last Tour can seem disturbingly optimistic in this sense, but it is that optimism that gives the story its glory. It isn't just Chito and Yuuri, Kanazawa and Ishii are the same, with a dead civilisation, what is the point of flying around or making maps? It just goes to show that no matter which point in time humanity is at as a whole, people still keep moving. People still keep achieving. People still keep going higher. The characters of the story are interesting. We have the knowledgeable but feeble Chito tagged with the glutton-minded that is Yuuri. The two do well together, their dialogue between one another is believable and makes for an interesting aura the two emit whenever they are talking to each other, something like two long time school friends on a voyage. Chito's character is also quite interesting in that she relates to the original question proposed earlier, she values whatever the people of the past have created, and it is done in a way that isn't too dramatic. It can be quite easy to make it dramatic, which wouldn't be a problem given the world at hand, but it offers space for the sense of learning to come across if it wasn't as dramatic, which it had done. Chito is learning along her journey and takes a great interest in doing so, you can make stuff seem greater than others would perceive it, and that runs well with her character and her surroundings. Yuuri is a funny one. As supposed to Chito's quench for knowledge. Yuuri is simply there for Chito. That's more or less her character. However, it works, because she is the reminder for her. Yuuri may not be as smart and have an inconvenient love for food, but she is there to remind Chito of the simple things she missed out on, like the need for protection, or how she isn't lonely. The character does feel believable to their atmosphere which really made for a great narrative in addition to the story altogether. Art: The art is amazing. It looks like the leftover of someone sketching something then giving up halfway through, and whilst that may sound like a negative description, it is fused in with a cute design for the characters, and great placements for landscapes. The idea of a war-torn world works well with the art design thinking about it since the world is dead anyway, a bit of what could be described as 'madness' in the drawing flows well with the world at hand. Not much else to go on about with the art side of things. Is it original? Honestly, I am not sure, I wouldn't be surprised if such a design existed beforehand, but it seems as if Tsukumizu has taken this style and made it their own. Great art nonetheless. Enjoyment: Very enjoyable here. The different encounters with different items not only lead to learning about the past, but the story also allows for the characters to physically do something with those items. "What weird and wonderful memories will come up with this?" you ask yourself. Overall - 8.75 (9) TLDR Review: Story - 9: One grand, but simple, journey about moving towards what they want through the motivation of their aspirations. Characters - 9: Interesting characters helping one another, learning of the past and also remembering the little gifts of life. Art - 9: Sketched kinda art with cute design and great placement for landscape Enjoyment - 8: Weird and wonderful memories to make out of what encounters come Overall - 8.75 (9) Hands down, I recommend Girls' Last Tour to anyone. I can't really say much to it because you can interpret this in different ways, another way would be to make everything close to you precious because it may be lost one day. But I think that it is a simple fast-to-read story to get into if you want good quick manga.

Girls Last Tour is the rare work of art I would consider perfect. That isn't necessarily to say it's the best thing I've ever read-there are a few things I could think of that I found more enjoyable or impactful for instance-however, it sets out to do something and does exactly what it wants. That's all that really needs to be said, but continue reading for a little more information. This series is absolutely worth anyone's time. Speaking of which, there is no wasted time in this manga: no padding, no filler. Everything exists in service of the ideas the author puts forward. It also managesto properly explore its ideas without overstaying its welcome. It's a brisk read that wouldn't benefit from expansion or reduction. Any more and it might've begun to grate, any less and it would've left you wanting more. And that's what I mean by saying it's a perfect work of art. Girls Last Tour knows what it wants to be. It's precisely crafted to say what it wants to say and then end. And that ending is utterly fantastic. There isn't a panel spared for dawdling despite the fact that that's mostly what the characters do, and every moment adds to the series' themes and ideas. In the end, there is nothing the series could do to make itself better. For that, it's a 10 out of 10, it gets full marks for an interesting, bleak, yet somehow uplifting concept and impeccable execution. p.s. There is one single criticism to levy at the series: This story needs sound, but that's a problem of medium and the anime largely remedies it. There is nothing to criticize within the series.