Since its beginning, Girls’ Last Tour has been a story about coming to terms with the end of things. Its very title points to the finality of this journey, preemptively putting to rest any thoughts of surviving beyond the apocalypse. Most stories find their characters rallying against fate with all their might, hoping to change their very destiny. There is no such hope of upending fate here; Girls’ Last Tour knows its characters’ destiny, and is instead focused on the more intractable conflict of how you comport yourself when you know things are ending. When the hubris of assumed immortality is stripped away, what defines us as fundamentally human? When we cannot be comforted by the endurance of our legacy, what else do we have left?
Tag Archives: Girls’ Last Tour
Endurance and Inheritance in Girls’ Last Tour
Snow falls gently on a disused battlecruiser as we return to Girl’s Last Tour. In the years since the anime adaptation’s release, our world seems to have spun significantly closer to the future as posited by this story, with climate change, the revival of economic serfdom, and an ascendant far right all pointing towards mankind’s self-inflicted decline. Given our increasing proximity to apocalypse, I can appreciate all the more the lessons provided by Chi and Yuu: Chi’s industrious, pragmatic preoccupation with immediate tasks, Yuu’s zen appreciation for whatever life offers her. Like the heroines of Girls’ Last Tour, we possess no way of directly challenging the conditions informing our lives; whether it’s through busying ourselves with what we can do or learning to “get along with the hopelessness,” this manga seems to increasingly be providing a blueprint for navigating our modern age.
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 12
Well everyone, the day has come. I’ve been putting off watching this episode for a simple, familiar reason: as long as I don’t actually watch the last Girls’ Last Tour, the show never has to end. The adventures of Yuu and Chi have turned out to be some of the most beautiful, thematically rich, and moving episodes I’ve experienced. Confronted with the last episode, I’m forced to admit how much I don’t want this journey to be over.
Simply following these girls as they traverse the ruins of their great city is an enchanting experience all by itself, mournful and yet also hopeful, with each new episode offering its own visual wonders and artifacts to discover. On top of that, Yuu and Chi’s reflections on this world, unbound by our preconceptions regarding “proper living,” regularly poke at the heart of the human condition, forcing us to reflect on what we believe and pursue, and what will ultimately last. The show’s frank acknowledgment of the ephemeral nature of all things is balanced by its last and greatest strength: the clear and loving bond between Yuu and Chi, a tether protecting them, and also giving all of their adventures meaning and a sense of joy. Lost in a world whose end is inevitable, Yuu and Chi cannot hide behind any promises of future glory or ultimate reward; what joy and solace they find in this place is found each day, in their uncovering of this lost world, and in the love they bring to each other.
It seems a little ironic, then, that I’ve put off this last episode for so long. As Girls’ Last Tour itself states, everything ends, but that should be no cause for despair. Let’s enjoy this last episode, and remember the show fondly, without regrets. What the future holds, we cannot know – but as Yuu says, if you stick around, something good is bound to happen.
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 11
Hey folks, let’s watch some more Girls’ Last Tour. You’ve already funded me through the end of this season and the conclusion of the manga besides, so I think it’s safe to say at least some of you are enjoying this series, and for that I’m glad. Like Yuu and Chi’s own journey, Girls’ Last Tour seems like an experience that’s best shared, and though you’re not all technically here beside me, it still feels nice to ramble about this very pleasant show with the Theoretical You. And though you folks don’t also get to appreciate this, it also feels very Girls’ Last Tour-appropriate to channel something I’d already want to do into theoretically “useful labor,” since this is also my job. Though I’m often too busy to watch anime on my own time, perhaps an even greater hurdle to personal viewing is that nagging voice in my head that demands I Must Be Producing all the time, that if what I’m doing isn’t productive or moving towards a greater end, I’m going the wrong way.
That voice in my head is pretty stress-inducing, but it’s also one of the things that helps me keep pushing forward. But you can’t just have the Chi voice – if you’re perpetually trying to put the world in a clear and coherent order, and act upon that stable order in the most sensible and productive manner possible, you’re going to burn yourself out. The world is chaotic, and though pursuing a greater purpose is admirable, you also need to be able to rest, appreciate the chaos, and enjoy the world that’s already around you. Yuu is extremely good at, as she bluntly put it, “getting along with the hopelessness,” and I think you all help me in a similar way – I know what I’m doing is productive in terms of my job, so I can get my Chi voice to shut up for a bit, and fully appreciate each moment for its own sake. So thank you all for helping me get out of my own head for a bit, and let’s see what’s in store in one more Girls’ Last Tour!
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 10
You all ready for some charming adventures on the brink of oblivion? Well I certainly am, and I’m the one who picks what order these posts get released in, so I hope you’re ready too. It’s been a few weeks on my end since we last watched an episode of Girls’ Last Tour, but my love of this show certainly hasn’t diminished – in fact, I think the show’s ninth episode was far and away one of its best so far.
Chi and Yuu’s robot companion turned out to be a charming and poignant addition to the cast, and his adventure served as a tidy illustration of the vaguely defined and ephemeral nature of life itself. Conversations about language and empathy led naturally towards a genuine action setpiece, and the episode resolved on the painfully frank “the fish and I will live for a little longer now. Though we will all die one day.”
From Yuu and Chi themselves to the architects of their dying city and beyond, nearly all of Girls’ Last Tour’s human characters fret about impermanence. Whether it’s through capturing their existence in a stone monument, leaving personal effects behind, or achieving a feat that cannot be matched or forgotten, they all wish to somehow survive this bleak moment, and at the very least remain in memory. But as Yuu and Chi have regularly demonstrated, monuments which last beyond their creators lose their original meaning, and gain new resonance in the lives of those who witness and inherit them. All things end; and in light of that, it’s important not to hang all your hopes on the future, and appreciate the moments of your life as you live them. Girls’ Last Tour is ultimately very sympathetic to Yuu’s worldview; she certainly needs Chi to survive, but as she trounces around this playful apocalypse, she is truly in her element. “If you keep living, something good will happen” might not seem like much, but it’s something. It’s enough.
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 9
Hey everybody, and welcome back to Girls’ Last Tour. This lovely show’s last episode concluded on one of its most beautiful and transcendent moments yet, as the discovery of a long-abandoned beer stash led to Yuu and Chi drunkenly dancing on the edge of the world. It was a terrific sequence that, like the girls’ earlier discovery of music during a rainstorm, seemed to embody Yuu’s philosophical defense against the harshness and unfairness of this world: “if you keep living, something good might happen.” The rational, day-to-day substance of Yuu and Chi’s lives is fundamentally hopeless; there is no better future waiting for them, and the threat of death is a constant companion. But any life, even lives like these, can occasionally erupt into moments of wonder and joy – and in between those moments, they still have each other.
Last episode was a very generous combination of basically all of this show’s strengths, from its beautiful shots of the city to its reflections on impermanence to that final dance. I’m not expecting another episode to match it so soon, but either way, I’m eager to see what’s in store for our girls. Let’s dive into another episode of Girls’ Last Tour!
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 8
I didn’t really intend for tragedy to always return me to Girls’ Last Tour writeups, but here I am again. This has not been an easy summer for me, and Girls’ Last Tour is pretty much where my headspace is – “getting along with the feeling of hopelessness” and all of that. At its core, Girls’ Last Tour is a story about death specifically, and about things ending more generally. The decaying civilization that Chi and Yuu struggle through is a reminder of the impermanence of all things, the kind of reminder that makes it impossible to live without acknowledging your own impermanence. Yuu and Chi cannot console themselves with “our lives will be remembered,” “our actions will contribute to a greater cause,” or anything else that implies a kind of eternity – the crumbled streets they putter through stand as a guard against any such illusions, emphasizing that all things eventually end.
As we make our own way through lives full of restless action and ambitious plans, perpetually reflecting on impermanence isn’t necessarily a helpful exercise – yeah sure, it may all turn to dust eventually, but we still gotta work and eat and take care of each other. But when you are reminded of impermanence, and lose something that cannot be replaced, it helps to have stories like Girls’ Last Tour, which acknowledge that loss while insisting that life is worth living even though life will end. There is so much beauty in this world, and I am forever thankful for the stories that acknowledge both the beauty and the sorrow, and greet the inevitable tragedies of living with honesty and hope. Living is its own meaning, and love is its own reward. Let’s return to the irrepressibly joyous Girls’ Last Tour.
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 7
I’m in a deeply melancholy mood today, due to some real-world tragedies that aren’t related to Girls’ Last Tour in any way. I normally try to remain an upbeat and energetic traveling companion for these watch-alongs, but it’s a truly awful day for the anime community at large, and I’m guessing you’d all realize pretty quickly if I was faking positivity. Sometimes the world can be so senseless in its cruelty that you begin to question the point of trying at all – if all good things can be so easily undone by random hatefulness, what hope is there to even strive to build good things? It sometimes seems like the most powerful force in human nature is how some people can act with complete, even gleeful disregard for the suffering they inflict on others. And with devils like that roaming around, what hope do any of the rest of us have?
I’m watching Girls’ Last Tour now because Girls’ Last Tour doesn’t try to deny any of that. It’s not a beacon of untarnished positivity – it essentially starts from the assumption that all striving is hopeless and all dreams will fail, and attempts to make sense of living in the face of that. Its world is a crumbling testament to the fact that in spite of our grand ambitions, our selfishness and capacity for violence will ultimately undo all we have accomplished. In Girls’ Last Tour, all we can truly believe in is that one day will follow another, and that some people are genuinely decent. It posits that that’s enough, and I hope it’s right; in today’s world, it feels like we’ll be testing the show’s philosophy soon enough regardless. Keep moving. Keep striving. Be kind. If we don’t have each other we have nothing, so please try to bring some good to the world.
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 6
Everyone feeling ready for some poignant, atmospheric adventures in a beautiful decaying world? I certainly hope so, because it is absolutely time for more Girls’ Last Tour. After two episodes that explored such heavy topics as our search for meaning in life and our fear of being forgotten in death, Girls’ Last Tour’s most recent episode shifted its focus, instead exploring such resonant, universal questions as “what if Chi was huge” and “what if Chi was huge and also a fish.”
That was fine with me, to be honest. Girls’ Last Tour was already very satisfying as a warm, quirky travelogue even before it started dabbling in the Big Questions, and this kind of story demands a balance of philosophical inquiry and intimate, relatable character vignettes. The personal stuff is what lends the thematic stuff the weight of emotional investment, and beyond that, Girls’ Last Tour’s little vignettes are just really charming and satisfying in their own right. Watching Chi and Yuu find joy in this strange world, and in each other, expresses Girls’ Last Tour’s empathy and faith in humanity more clearly than any purpose-of-living monologue ever could. Let’s see what mischief they get up to in episode six!
Girls’ Last Tour – Episode 5
Alright folks, settle in, settle in. This may be the post-apocalypse, but that’s no reason to be impolite. Today we’ll be returning to the altogether excellent Girls’ Last Tour, whose last two episodes have gone well and above the standard set by the show’s introduction. Girls’ Last Tour has been an enchantingly atmospheric and poignantly personal story from the beginning, but the show’s last two episodes both dove into heavy and complex themes with remarkable grace.
In the show’s third episode, the introduction of fellow traveler Kanazawa served as an opportunity to explore the things that drive us to keep living, and the importance of some sense of purpose. In a world like Yuu and Chi’s, you can’t simply drift through life in a comfortable neutral – every day is a struggle to maintain the necessities of life, and thus every day is a fresh question as to why you struggle at all. Kanazawa’s hope lay in the map he was building, but when that map was lost, he was forced to reconsider his perspective – and ultimately, Yuu’s offhand “sometimes good things will happen” provided the answer. Hopes and goals are important for keeping us focused and moving forward, but life has its own rewards even in the absence of a specific purpose, and as long as you keep living, you will eventually find new experiences that were worth living for.
In its fourth episode, Girls’ Last Tour tackled the purpose of living from a different angle, as it questioned what we can hope to leave behind. Yuu and Chi’s acquisition of a camera naturally facilitated a conversation on impermanence, as the girls reflected on how a photograph might hope to outlast their own adventures. That in turn lead into their discovery of one of mankind’s most enduring wards against oblivion – the gods and temples we create, and the tales we tell of living for eternity in those gods’ favor. Yuu and Chi’s idle theorizing on the tenets of that temple served as a natural illustration of the fact that even our most sacred truths and impressive creations will eventually lose their meaning, and no longer serve as a reminder of anything but themselves. But Yuu and Chi don’t need gods to find purpose; sharing lunch in the shadow of an old god, their conversations once again emphasized that simply living and caring for each other is meaning enough, no matter how impermanent.
In short, Girls’ Last Tour has been directly grappling with some of the heaviest and most fundamental questions of human existence, and doing it in such a way that it never abandons the aesthetic wonder and personal warmth of Yuu and Chi’s journey. I don’t expect every episode to be such a piercing thematic treatise, but I’m very impressed by the show’s ability to navigate these topics gracefully, and always tether its points into the active adventures of its heroes. Let’s see what’s in store in Girls’ Last Tour’s fifth episode!