Girls' Last Tour

Girls' Last Tour
Cover of the first tankōbon volume, featuring Chito (left) and Yuuri (right)
少女終末旅行
(Shōjo Shūmatsu Ryokō)
Genre
Manga
Written byTsukumizu
Published byShinchosha
English publisher
MagazineKurage Bunch
Original runFebruary 21, 2014 – January 12, 2018
Volumes6
Anime television series
Directed byTakaharu Ozaki
Produced by
  • Mitsuhiro Ogata
  • Shō Tanaka
  • Noritomo Isogai
  • Tomoaki Iwasaka
Written byKazuyuki Fudeyasu
Music byKenichiro Suehiro
StudioWhite Fox
Licensed by
Original networkAT-X, Tokyo MX, BS11, Sun TV, KBS, TV Aichi, TVQ
English network
Original run October 6, 2017 – December 22, 2017
Episodes12
Original video animation
少女逬末授業
Girls' Last Class
StudioKadokawa
Released October 6, 2017 – December 22, 2017
Runtime1 minute, 30 seconds (each episode)
Episodes12

Girls' Last Tour (Japanese: 少女終末旅行, Hepburn: Shōjo Shūmatsu Ryokō) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukumizu. It follows the adventures of two girls, Chito and Yuuri, traveling through a world that has fallen into a post-apocalyptic winter.

The manga was serialized monthly on Shinchosha's Kurage Bunch manga website from February 2014 to January 2018 and its chapters were collected in six tankōbon volumes. An English release of the manga is licensed in North America by Yen Press. A 12-episode anime television adaptation, produced by White Fox, aired in Japan from October to December 2017. It mainly covered the manga's first four volumes. The anime won the "Best Slice of Life" category at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2018, and the manga won the 50th Seiun Award in the Best Comic category in 2019.

Plot

The series follows two girls, Chito and Yuuri, as they navigate the ruins of civilization after a major conflict leaves the world in a desolate post-apocalyptic winter. They travel in their Kettenkrad motorcycle and seek food and supplies while surviving day-to-day. They conduct a variety of simple activities such as washing clothes and bathing. Chito regularly writes in a journal, collects books, and drives the Kettenkrad. Yuuri takes on a protection role and wields a rifle.

During their journey, they encounter a man named Kanazawa, who is mapping out one of the levels of a large city. He gives the girls his camera in erturn for the girls giving him food, before he leaves after having helped them reach the next level of the city. They next encounter a woman named Ishii after their Kettenkrad breaks down. The girls help Ishii complete the plane that she was building, and she helps them fix the Kettenkrad in return. Ishii subsequently leaves in a plane, heading to the city across the water.

Ishii leaves them information on a facility that grows potatoes and creates rations before they leave, and the two girls capitalize on this opportunity. They pass by a series of black slabs filled with drawers, which Chito deduces are graves, before ascending to the next level of the city. They destroy a construction robot in an aquarium to save a fish after having a discussion with the caretaker robot.

The two girls find a cat-like creature they name Nuko[a] after exploring a drinking hole; Nuko can communicate with the girls via radio signals. They decide to follow such signals which eventually leads them to a submarine. The camera's images are synchronized to a computer that displays pictures and videos of various past events. Yuuri is eaten by a larger version of Nuko; she is released shortly after and the adult Nuko informs the girls that Nuko is part of a species that consumes and stabilizes unstable energy. Before the creatures ascend into the sky with Nuko, they inform Chito and Yuuri that they are the only two humans left on this level.[b]

Chito and Yuuri continue on despite this. They encounter an art museum as well as a research facility, discovering rockets that people attempted to leave in during the war. Their Kettenkrad finally breaks down and cannot be repaired. Chito is forced to burn her books in order to have warm water. They finally reach the top of the city and discover it to be desolate. There, they go to sleep, resting against the wall of the stairwell; it is implied that the two characters die.

Characters

Chito (チト)
Voiced by: Inori Minase[5] (Japanese); Cat Thomas[6] (English)
One of the two main protagonists, nicknamed "Chi-chan". She has a wide knowledge of machines and drives the Kettenkrad. She is literate and an avid reader. Though generally calm and composed, she can be riled by Yuuri on occasion. She often dwells on the past and worries about the future.[7]: 4 
Yuuri (ユーリ, Yūri)
Voiced by: Yurika Kubo[5] (Japanese); Juliet Simmons[6] (English)
The second main protagonist, nicknamed "Yuu" by Chito. She is more easy-going than Chito, and cannot read, but is proficient with rifles and an accurate shooter who takes on a role of protector. She rides in the back of the Kettenkrad. Yuuri has little fear of the unknown and is quite adventurous, often acting on instinct and emotion.[7]: 6 
Kanazawa (カナザワ)
Voiced by: Akira IshidaEp. 3 credits (Japanese); Mark X. Laskowski[6] (English)
A traveler that Chito and Yuuri meet while trying to find a path to the upper levels of the city. He is a cartographer who wants to map the entire city. He gifts his camera to Yuuri and Chito when he leaves them to continue his mapping project.[7]: 18 
Ishii (イシイ)
Voiced by: Kotono MitsuishiEp. 6 credits (Japanese); Stephanie Wittels[6] (English)
A scientist who lives in an abandoned airbase, building an airplane based on old records. She wants to fly to a city that is on the opposite shore. She helps fix Chito and Yuuri's Kettenkrad and enlists their help to finish the airplane. She gives Yuuri and Chito potatoes and tells them where to find more.[7]: 19 
Nuko (ヌコ)[a]
Voiced by: Kana HanazawaEp. 10 credits (Japanese); Kalin Coates[6] (English)
Named Ket in the English manga translation. A mysterious, cat-like creature that is long and white, which Chito and Yuuri pick up on their journey. It communicates with the girls via radio signals. Nuko can shape-shift to activate mechanisms and likes eating bullets. It is later discovered to be part of a species which consumes weapons and power sources to stabilize them. After being reunited its own kind on the submarine, it leaves with them.[7]: 21 

Minor characters

Eringi (エリンギ) Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese); Shelley Calene-Black[6] (English)

The adult form of Nuko's species. They consume high-energy weapons, machinery, and substances in order to stabilize them. They use radio waves as its language and travels between cities by expanding its umbrella-like top.[7]: 21 

Autonomous Machine (自律機械)

Voiced by: Hiroaki Enoki (Japanese); Kregg Daily[6] (English)
The robot in charge of section management at the aquarium. It is equipped with "empathy capability" to communicate with humans.[7]: 20 

Construction Machine (建設機械)

The robot responsible for maintenance in the area around the aquarium. It was responsible for maintaining infrastructure but began dismantling the aquarium due to a bug.[7]: 20 

Female Students (女子学生)

Voiced by: Rie Takahashi, Natsumi Okamoto, and Natsumi Fujiwara (Japanese)
Three female high school students. They give a research report on a small machine they operated in one of the videos on Kanazawa's camera when it is synced to the submarine's computer.[7]: 22 

Old Man (オジリさん)

Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa (Japanese); John Swasey[6] (English)
An old man who raised Chito and Yuuri. He sent the two girls with the Kettenkrad to ascend to the city's upper levels. He owned many of the books that Chito has.[7]: 22 

Woman in the photo (写真の女性)

An unnamed woman who appears in a photo with Kanazawa. She previously traveled with him, but her whereabouts are unknown.[7]: 22 

Production

Manga

Girls' Last Tour was Tsukumizu's first original work.They were inspired by Blame! which influenced their worldview. Girls' Last Tour's message was influenced by the works of Haruki Murakami and Kaori Ekuni, most notably Haurki's "Norwegian Wood" and "Dance Dance Dance", along with Kaori's "Twinkle Twinkle Hikaru". What would become Girls' Last Tour initially began as a short story; that story would later be Chapter 3 of Volume 1. It was done by Tsukumizu in college. They initially studied art with the goal of becoming an art teacher but began drawing manga "on a whim."[8]

Tsukumizu was interested in war movies when creating Girls' Last Tour. They saw a Kettenkrad in Saving Private Ryan and subsequently decided to incorporate it into the story after deciding it would be good for Chito and Yuuri to travel in.[8][9] The helmets the girls wear are modeled after ones from real life—Chito's after the British Brodie helmet from World War I, and Yuuri's after the German Stahlhelm that originated in the same war.[9] Yuuri also carries a Japanese Type 38 rifle.[7]: 10 

According to a 2015 interview, Tsukumizu's process for creating scenes began with coming up with a story, a punchline, and something to raise awareness of a value. Then, they sketched out the location and created a story that fits the setting and theme.[8] They initially drew scenes with a pencil, then imported it onto a computer to ink and tone using Clip Studio Paint.[10] Tsukumizu said that Chito and Yuuri were "born from expressing the questions" that they had,[9] and that the two characters "speak for [them]" in those questions. Kanazawa and Ishii, according to Tsukumizu in a 2015 interview, live with a goal in mind while Chito and Yuuri travel aimlessly; Tsukumizu said that the characters were born from questions like "[h]ow do we live our lives to find true happiness, and what is the right thing to do?"[10]

Anime

"Our goal is to show the leisurely daily life of two girls, while allowing the audience to rediscover the value of things around them from their pure perspectives." [女子の二人のゆったりとした日常が感じられて、なおかつ彼女たちの純粋な目線で身近にあるものの価格を再発見するようなものを目指しています。]

Takaharu Ozaki, TVアニメ少女終末旅行公式設定資料集 [TV Anime Girls' Last Tour Official Setting Materials Collection], page 82

About two-thirds of the way through production of the manga, a television adaptation was proposed. Its director, Takaharu Ozaki, discussed its ending with Tsukumizu and asked them to come up with an ending to the manga. After reading the manga, Takaharu said that he wanted a spiral-shaped scene; Tsukumizu took this as an opportunity to arrange a large spiral staircase at the end of the manga for Chito and Yuuri to climb.[7]: 87  White Fox, the animation studio behind the anime adaptation, initially had doubts that the manga's style was suitable for thirty-minute long episodes and thought that a length of fifteen minutes would be more appropriate for each episode. The studio's president, Takeru Iwasa, cited an example of a movie with only two characters and almost no dialogue; the studio subsequently decided on thirty-minute long episodes.[7]: 108 

Direction

Takaharu said that the whole work should feel like a spiral; when one thing ends, another begins. He also said, in terms of emotional portrayal, that Chito and Yuuri had to feel that being by one another's side is the most important thing.[7]: 84  The anime added various sound effects to highlight the feeling of silence, and that the sound of water was emphasized as water served as a symbol of life in a mechanical environment with almost no living things.[7]: 83 

The anime's script coordinator, Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, asked Tsukumizu about background details that would subsequently appear in the plot. Among the details added were Chito's memory of her and Yuuri leaving their grandfather.[7]: 94  Kazuyuki also changed details that he believed would reflect the deep relationship between the two girls. The first chapter of the manga had Chito covering herself and then Yuuri with a blanket before going to sleep in the back of the Kettenkrad; this was changed in the anime adaptation to Chito placing the blanket over Yuuri before covering herself.[7]: 95 

Art and animation

Illustrations of the bodies and heads (from various angles) of Chito and Yuuri, the main protagonists of Girls' Last Tour

The character design was done by Mai Toda, who said that Chito and Yuuri should be kept simple. Their eyebrows were shown as a thin line, which served as a challenge when expressing the character's emotions. The anime also added reflections to the character's eyes, which was a detail not present in the manga.[7]: 95  The ruins that make up the background of the anime were given a special aesthetic effect as not to depict it as a messy and dirty place. The art director Masakazu Miyake incorporated color into the background to avoid it appearing as a monotonous grey world.[7]: 100 

The storyboards for the opening theme were done by Takaharu. The storyboards included directions for camera techniques and how the overall composition of scenes should look. Additionally, the ending theme's animation was done by Tsukumizu,[7]: 88 [11] consisting of about 400 pencil drawings.[7]: 132, 137  They had initially envisioned a peaceful scene of Chito and Yuuri lighting a fire, but changed their mind after hearing the music and instead made the two girls play and tease on another.[7]: 88 

The average number of shots in each episode ranges from 250 to 270. There are also about 100 3D scenes per episode, which includes the Kettenkrad and various robots.[7]: 109 

Sound effects

Though the original manga was set in a silent post-apocalyptic world, various sound effects were used to highlight the feeling of silence.[7]: 84  This was because natural phenomena such as wind and water still survive, and the sound director Yuji Furuya believed they could be gradually added beginning in the first episode of the anime. Among the highlighted sounds included those of the ruined city and the Kettenkrad.[7]: 102  Mechanical sound effects, such as the sounds of signals coming from the robots taking care of the fish in the aquarium, were created by Yuji after processing Morse code.[7]: 103  The Kettenkrad's sound effect came a mix of the onomatopoeia "dong dong dong dong" (totototo) that appeared in the manga as well as the sounds of small fishing boats, tractors, and tanks.[7]: 102  The sound of falling raindrops in the fifth episode, "The Sound of Rain", was specially arranged.[7]: 102  The sound that appeared with raindrops in the first episode was made realistic, and then percussion-sounding rain was combined with the anime's opening song to create a sound like both rain and music for the fifth episode.[7]: 102 

Music

"Regarding "Girls' Last Tour," when I saw the teaser visual, I felt that the amount of information conveyed through the visuals was already very dense, so I didn't feel the need to take an overly elaborate approach with the music." [「少女終末旅行」に関しては、ティザービジュアルを見た時点で映像が持つ情報量が濃密だと感じたので、音楽の面で過剰なアプローチをする感覚はなかったです。]

Kenichiro Suehiro, TVアニメ少女終末旅行公式設定資料集 [TV Anime Girls' Last Tour Official Setting Materials Collection], page 105

The composer for the anime's soundtrack, Kenichiro Suehiro, read the manga and initially considered using music in the style of Brian Eno,[7]: 104  which largely consisted of ambient music.[12] However, Takaharu requested that the music be performed partly in a singing style and using unplugged instruments. Three pieces were completed by Suehiro, who then used them as a basis for the remainder of the anime's soundtrack. He used harp to emphasize the atmosphere between Chito and Yuuri, and also incorporated Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin.[7]: 104–105  To assist with vocals, he invited the singer MAYUKO; she subsequently inserted new words into the vocals.[7]: 104  Kenichiro said that he did not want the songs to be too long, but also felt that the work required longer songs. He had made a similar approach when composing music for the anime Re:Zero in 2014.[7]: 105 

The anime's opening theme, titled "Ugoku Ugoku" (動く、動く, Moving, Moving) was composed by Mao Kai. He wanted to start from the perspective of the characters rather than the worldview of the work, so he created the song that is like Chito and Yuuri talking back and forth, not stopping. The ending theme, titled "One More Night", was arranged by emon(Tes.) and was composed by Hige Driver. The first line of the song came to the two when they were discussing its content. Additionally, the Japanese pronunciation of "not yet finished" in the song sounds similar to its title; they echo each other.[7]: 106  The insert song "The Sound of Raindrops" was created by baker. It was based on the sound of water droplets falling onto empty pots and cans; the sounds were then combined into a rhythm.[7]: 107  It also served as the ending theme of the final episode at the suggestion of sound director Jin Aketagawa.[7]: 110 

Voice acting

Chito was voiced by Inori Minase, and Yuuri was voiced by Yurika Kubo. The two sang the opening, ending, and insert themes.[13] During the voice acting process, they were permitted to speak freely and were unrestricted; this was appreciated by Tsukumizu, who believed it expressed some ambiguous parts of the work.[7]: 85  Inori and Yurika performed the opening and ending themes, "Ugoku Ugoku" (動く、動く, Moving, Moving) and "More One Night".[14]

The English dub cast of Girls' Last Tour, alongside that for Land of the Lustrous, was announced on November 16, 2018, at that year's Anime NYC.[15]

Media

Manga

Girls' Last Tour was written and illustrated by Tsukumizu and serialized in Shinchosha's Kurage Bunch online magazine between February 21, 2014, and January 12, 2018, and collected in six tankōbon volumes.[16] Yen Press released the series in North America,[17] a traditional Chinese version was authorized in Taiwan to Chingwin Publishing Group,[18] a simplified Chinese version was authorized to the Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House,[19] a Korean version was authorized to Tsuruyama Culture Publishing House,[20] and a Russian version was authorized in Europe to AST.[21]

A limited edition of volume 1 was released by Shosen Grande and Shosen Book Tower in 2014. It included an explanatory page about the workings of the Kettenkrad done by Takaaki Suzuki, who had previously done research and worked on the scripts for the animes Girls und Panzer and Strike Witches. The limited edition released by Melon Books included a booklet by Tsukumizu titled "Girls' Weekend Trip" (少女週末旅行). Comic Toranoana and Sanyodo distributed illustration cards and Kikuya Bookstore and Bunch Comics' distributed papers as purchase bonuses.[22]

Two manga anthologies illustrated by various artists such as Hatopopoko, atto, and Shinya Komatsu were released in 2017.[23][24]

Volumes

No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 November 8, 2014[25]978-4-10-771781-8May 23, 2017[26]978-0-31-647062-9
2 July 9, 2015[27]978-4-10-771830-3August 22, 2017[28]978-0-31-647064-3
3 February 9, 2016[29]978-4-10-771874-7November 14, 2017[30]978-0-31-647068-1
4 November 9, 2016[31]978-4-10-771929-4February 27, 2018[32]978-0-31-641598-9
5 September 8, 2017[33]978-4-10-772009-2December 11, 2018[34]978-1-97-538093-9
6 March 9, 2018[35][36]978-4-10-772060-3
978-4-10-772019-1 (LE)		February 19, 2019[37]978-1-97-532903-7

Anime

An anime television series adaptation by White Fox was announced by Kadokawa at Anime Expo 2017 alongside the release of a teaser visual,[38] with Takaharu Ozaki as director, Kazuyuki Fudeyasu in charge of series composition, and Mai Toda adapting the character designs for animation.[39] The series aired in Japan between October 6 and December 22, 2017, on AT-X and other stations.[40] Sentai Filmworks licensed the series and simulcast streamed it on Anime Strike.[41] MVM Films licensed the series in the United Kingdom[42] and Muse Communication licensed the series in South and Southeast Asia.[43]

Episodes

Each episode consists of two to three short, interconnecting stories.

No.Title [c]Original release date
1"Starry Sky"
Transliteration: "Hoshizora" (Japanese: 星空)		October 6, 2017 (2017-10-06)
"War"
Transliteration: "Sensō" (Japanese: 戦争)

In a time following a massive war, two girls, Chito and Yuuri, travel aimlessly through a dark abandoned factory in their Kettenkrad. After Yuuri slobbers all over her hand during her sleep, Chito realizes that they can use a wet finger to find a way out by feeling the direction of the breeze and they emerge to see a starry sky.

The next day, the girls explore a battlefield from the apocalyptic war and come across an abandoned plane. They find explosives and rations. Surprisingly, Yuuri pulls her gun on Chito and demands the last piece in a ration pack.
2"Bath"
Transliteration: "Furo" (Japanese: 風呂)		October 13, 2017 (2017-10-13)
"Journal"
Transliteration: "Nikki" (Japanese: 日記)
"Laundry"
Transliteration: "Sentaku" (Japanese: 洗濯)

Taking shelter from a snowstorm, Chito and Yuuri discover a power plant with hot running water and they use it to fill a metal tank to take a makeshift bath.

Chito becomes upset at Yuuri when she throws one of Chito's books onto the fire to keep warm during the night.

The next day, after the storm passes, the girls collect drinking water in a river created by melting snow. They decide to wash their clothes as well and come across a dead fish which they roast for dinner.
3"Encounter"
Transliteration: "Sōgū" (Japanese: 遭遇)		October 20, 2017 (2017-10-20)
"City"
Transliteration: "Toshi" (Japanese: 都市)
"Streetlights"
Transliteration: "Gaitō" (Japanese: 街灯)

While searching for the source of the fish they ate, the girls are impeded by a chasm dividing the city. They encounter another survivor named Kanazawa after he demolishes a building to create a bridge across the gap.

Kanazawa has been mapping the abandoned city and hitches a ride with the girls as they make their way using his maps. They reach the base of a tower and the group take an external freight elevator towards the upper levels of the city. However, the elevator suddenly tilts, causing Kanazawa to drop his maps and he becomes despondent. Yuuri manages to cheer him up, and in gratitude Kanazawa gives the girls his camera.

As Kanazawa sets off alone to start redrawing his maps, night falls and the girls watch the street lights come on.
4"Photograph"
Transliteration: "Shashin" (Japanese: 写真)		October 27, 2017 (2017-10-27)
"Temple"
Transliteration: "Jiin" (Japanese: 寺院)

Yuuri uses Kanazawa's camera to take photographs of curious tall, white stone statues around the city while Chito discovers the camera's self-timer.

Later, the girls are exploring a temple when their lantern suddenly goes out. Yuuri fumbles around in the darkness until they both discover a bright room with a pond and fake metal lily pads.
5"House"
Transliteration: "Jūkyo" (Japanese: 住居)		November 3, 2017 (2017-11-03)
"Nap"
Transliteration: "Hirune" (Japanese: 昼寝)
"The Sound of Rain"
Transliteration: "Amaoto" (Japanese: 雨音)

The girls explore the city and spend the night in an sparsely furnished apartment, picturing what it would be like to live in a house.

Feeling tired after staying up all night, Chito takes a midday nap and has peculiar dreams in which she is threatened by a gigantic Yuuri.

Later, the girls shelter from the rain in some ruins, taking an interest in the sound the dripping rain makes when hitting various objects.
6"Accident"
Transliteration: "Koshō" (Japanese: 故障)		November 10, 2017 (2017-11-10)
"Technology"
Transliteration: "Gijutsu" (Japanese: 技術)
"Takeoff"
Transliteration: "Ririku" (Japanese: 離陸)

While exploring the city, the Kettenkrad breaks down and Chito cannot fix it.

The girls encounter a woman named Ishii who offers to fix their vehicle in exchange for helping her. Together they finish constructing a simple airplane which Ishii is building from old plans in an effort to escape and reach a neighboring city.

Once completed, Ishii sets off in her airplane, only for it to fall apart shortly after take-off. Luckily, she manages to parachute out safely and she slowly drifts down to the lower levels of the city.
7"Labyrinth"
Transliteration: "Meiro" (Japanese: 迷路)		November 17, 2017 (2017-11-17)
"Cooking"
Transliteration: "Chōri" (Japanese: 調理)

The girls enter a labyrinth of large pipes while following Ishii's map to a food manufacturing plant. Chito struggles with her fear of heights as she and Yuuri walk on top of the pipes before discovering there is a actually pathway inside them.

They eventually find a facility filled with machines and cooking ingredients; powdered potato, sugar and salt. The girls deduce that they were used to make rations, and using the ingredients they bake their own food bars using one of the huge ovens.
8"Memory"
Transliteration: "Kioku" (Japanese: 記憶)		November 24, 2017 (2017-11-24)
"Spiral"
Transliteration: "Rasen" (Japanese: 螺旋)
"Moonlight"
Transliteration: "Gekkō" (Japanese: 月光)

Back outdoors, the girls discover a strange place featuring tall black slabs filled with drawers. Yuuri finds a mysterious device and other seemingly meaningless objects inside them. Chito deduces that the drawers are graves containing the belongings of those who have died so they would be remembered.

Afterwards, the girls ascend a spiralling path up another tower in their Kettenkrad. They are forced to take an outside path which dangerously collapses behind them, but they manage to reach the summit.

Exploring the top of the tower, the girls find some bottles of beer and spend the night getting drunk under the moonlight.
9"Technology"
Transliteration: "Gijutsu" (Japanese: 技術)		December 1, 2017 (2017-12-01)
"Aquarium"
Transliteration: "Suisō" (Japanese: 水槽)
"Life"
Transliteration: "Seimei" (Japanese: 生命)

While exploring a facility, the girls are surprised by a large construction robot which is oblivious to their presence.

They then discover an aquarium containing a single fish guarded by a robotic caretaker. It explains that the facility was once used for fish farming. The robot allows the girls to swim in one of the empty aquarium tanks, although Chito almost drowns.

Later, the large construction robot begins dismantling the facility apparently due to a bug in its programming. This leads Chito to engage the caretaker robot in a discussion about what it means to be alive. Fearing for the fish's life, the girls save it by destroying the construction robot using explosives.
10"Train"
Transliteration: "Densha" (Japanese: 電車)		December 8, 2017 (2017-12-08)
"Wavelength"
Transliteration: "Hachō" (Japanese: 波長)
"Capture"
Transliteration: "Hokaku" (Japanese: 捕獲)

The girls drive their Kettenkrad onto a goods train, finding its carriages filled with broken down machines. They disembark at the last station and ride an inclined elevator towards the top of the building.

As they ascend, Yuuri starts hearing music coming from the radio she picked up earlier which they hear more clearly as they reach the surface.

The next day, as the girls explore a large hole for some drinking water, they discover a small long, white life-form. They discover that it can communicate with them using their radio. Naming it "Nuko", the girls decide to take it with them on their journey.
11"Culture"
Transliteration: "Bunka" (Japanese: 文化)		December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15)
"Destruction"
Transliteration: "Hakai" (Japanese: 破壊)
"The Past"
Transliteration: "Kako" (Japanese: 過去)

Yuuri discovers that Nuko likes to eat bullets and begins feeding it while Chito finds a book on war and civilization written in English. They soon arrive at a huge clockwork-type contraption, where music starts playing on the radio again. They decide to head towards the source of the broadcast.

The girls are interrupted by an incredibly large robot which crashes down in front of them. Nuko powers up the robot and Yuuri tries out some of its weapons, causing massive destruction to the city.

The next day, the girls follow the music's signal to a still functioning submarine lying in the snow, inside of which they find an array of nuclear missiles.
12"Connection"
Transliteration: "Setsuzoku" (Japanese: 接続)		December 22, 2017 (2017-12-22)
"Friends"
Transliteration: "Nakama" (Japanese: 仲間)

While exploring the submarine, the girls inadvertently synchronize their camera to the submarine's computer and it displays their photographs, plus those Kanazawa took before giving them the camera. Among the computer files, they find videos of people and past events, including the war which led to the destruction of humanity. Later, a larger Nuko resembling the pillars they encountered earlier, suddenly appears and swallows Yuuri. Chito pursues the creature outside the submarine and finds Yuuri safe as the creature had only wanted to ingest her radio. The creature then explains that their purpose is to consume and stabilise unstable energy, like power sources and weapons. It says that life activity on Earth will eventually come to an end. It explains that their work in the city has finished as more creatures emerge from the missile tubes. It says that Yuuri and Chito are the only humans they have detected up to this level. Slowly, the tops of the creatures expand and open like mushrooms, then they begin to drift upwards together like dandelion seeds taking Nuko with them.

With the submarine now completely shut down, Chito and Yuuri continue their journey towards the top level of the city, with a new sense of camaraderie and their importance to each other.

Girls' Last Class

A twelve-episode series titled Girls' Last Class (少女逬末授業) was designed as a short spinoff OVA.[7]: 142  The work featured Chito and Yuuri as schoolgirls, with characters and objects from Girls' Last Tour appearing as teachers. It ran starting on October 6, 2017, with episodes being released each Friday and the series running parallel to the main anime. It was uploaded on the Kadokawa Youtube channel and broadcast on the AT-X television network;[44] Girls' Last Class was also temporarily released as a bonus for those who had purchased the anime. Each episode was a minute and a half long.[7]: 142 

Subsequent appearances

Two unnamed characters with identical appearance and behavior to Chito and Yuuri appear as guest characters in Tsukumizu's second manga, Shimeji Simulation.[45] The first volume was released in 2020, and the last volume was released in 2024.[46]

Reception

Accolades

Manga

In 2019, Girls' Last Tour won the 50th Seiun Award in the Best Comic category.[47][48] The English release of the first two volumes were included on the American Library Association's list of 2018 Great Graphic Novels for Teens.[49]

Anime

The series won the "Best Slice of Life" category at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2018.[50] IGN listed Girls' Last Tour as one of the best anime of the 2010s, describing it as a "morose anime" which is "made brighter through [Chito and Yuuri's] perspective on a barren world".[51] It was named the best anime of Fall 2017 by Anime News Network.[52]

Reviews

Manga

A writer of The Fandom Post described the premise that the manga was built on as "absolutely fantastic", and described its apt social commentary as refreshing.[53] A writer of The Comics Journal described it as the best long-form narrative comic of the 2010s, citing its specific tone that was "incredibly sensitive while being utterly unsentimental".[54]

Anime

The anime was described as "heartbreakingly bleak and warmly peaceful" by Anime Feminist. They noted that the setting and characters were used to ask questions about life, death, and what it means to be human.[55]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Nuko's name is derived from neko (猫), the Japanese word for "cat," so to preserve the pun, Amazon's subtitles for the anime refer to Nuko as "Cut," while Yen Press' translation of the manga calls the creature "Ket."
  2. ^ The anime concludes at this point, though the manga continues for two more volumes.
  3. ^ All English episode titles are taken from Anime Strike.

References

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