A Review... of Sorts (#1)

I might just buy the manga version that this television series is based.
Apparently, there are six volumes, and the show only covers the first four. 

About an hour ago, I finished an anime series that I watched on Amazon Prime titled Girls' Last Tour. It took me three days to complete. At twenty minutes for each of its twelve episodes, it was not difficult. Although not dubbed, the pacing of the show's dialogue made it easier to read the subtitles. My only complaint was the introduction of a character towards the end. For me it broke the setting, though not the entire experience. By the final episode, while I was not entirely satisfied with that character's story arc, the resolution for the two main characters felt right.

It was their appearance in the beginning of the first episode that caught my attention. Dressed in winter fatigues and metal helmets, Chito and Yuuri were maneuvering a mini military half-track inside a huge, dark, and grim structure crisscrossed with broken pipes and  twisted beams. Yet, their two adorable faces somehow remained lit throughout the darkness. To me, the two girls looked about twelve and fourteen (Yuuri seemed the older of the two). However, according to some sites, they are in their late teens, perhaps even twenty. I do not see that all. And for me, it was that youth which contrasted sharply with the post-apocalyptic world around them. 

And that was the main plot. Two close friends navigating a world destroyed by war. But this is not the Walking Dead, World War Z, or the Road. It is less about surviving, though there is plenty of that going on in this series. The horrors are not rooted in morally questionable actions and ghastly scenes of carnage. Nor are the existential crises these girls face being filtered through adult minds. Instead, we are getting the perspectives of two young people with limited experience and education plodding through complex philosophical questions. What is life? How should one face hopelessness? What is our purpose?

The story moves slowly, just as two teenage girls would while driving a half-track vehicle through decaying industrialized graveyards void of life. Their conversations are some times silly, or simplistic. But always curious. And eventually lead to deeper understandings. They argue and they laugh, while facing serious dangers. Yet, they are capable of embracing and appreciating beauty whenever it confronts them. Most importantly, they do it as close friends. 

Like most of the shows I thoroughly enjoy, especially the animated ones, this is not for everyone, even those who love anime. While the setting is post-apocalyptic, it breaks from the usual grimdark plots and actions of the genre. In a good way. And the ending is only happy if you understand the courage and wisdom behind the girls' final choice.

A final note. Japanese anime has many sub genres. Some of them are amusing. while others can be outright obscene. Think of romance novels, and the broad spectrum of categories they occupy. Some you can discuss with your parents; others you will need to scrub your mind vigorously after experiencing. On various sites, Girls' Last Tour is considered Iyashikei. Wikipedia describes it as a "sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience". Maybe it is a sign of my age, or that fact that I am a parent of two teenage girls, but I have grown an affinity for this kind of anime. For me, at least, I found this story of two close friends, traveling through a post-apocalyptic world, quite healing.

Even if it left a part of me sad.