I first learned of this series not as an anime, but as a manga. The manga was said to be boring; a story with cuteness, but no real depth. Since this was said by someone who, at the time, I knew was intelligent enough to recognize the fact CGDCT shows still had the ability to be smart and meaningful, I took this appraisal as gospel and promptly forgot the series existed. Having since gone back to have a look for myself, I now appreciate the manga as a powerful, deeply emotional work which weaves the bleakness of Texhnolyze through the enchanting, brutalist world of Blame! plus the soothing atmosphere of Mushishi, with just as many breathtaking displays of visual artistry.
While the anime doesn’t reach the manga’s conclusion where the point becomes clear, that which the anime does adapt is wonderfully done. The background art is nothing short of masterful, and its brilliant landscapes are only complemented by the expertly balanced, minimalistic color design. The music builds atmosphere perfectly, and it can easily send a waterfall of tears streaming down your face. This is one of those rare anime which ran the risk of looking too good. Should this have been adapted by a studio like Production IG or Kyoto Animation, the result would’ve been lavish enough to betray the intentional drabness of the setting, so what we got was the absolute ideal.
As for those heavy themes I bluntly stated in my introduction, Girls’ Last Tour, just like any series with the expertise to properly explore such topics, handles its message almost entirely via subtext. I could spell it all out for you, since I honestly see myself as even more of a depressed mess than tsukumizu, but I feel that would kind of undermine the point. I’m not against spoon-feeding in general, but I feel like people who have trouble understanding the worldview this series promotes are perhaps lucky. Should you take the show to heart, and the show then makes you feel something, it did its job, but if it doesn’t, it didn’t strictly fail, and you probably really enjoyed yourself.
If you were here for those dabbing memes, however, then I thank you for enduring my lugubrious analysis, and I’m happy to say the adorable protagonists, Chito and Yuuri, will do those gifs all due justice. If you're looking for some hardened men, killer action sequences, mind-breaking cliffhangers, brutal action sakuga, and most importantly NO MOE, then this is certainly not for you, but if you're looking for literally anything else, I promise Girls' Last Tour will have something to offer you. Be it a quaint little slice of life that follows two cute girls who you can’t help but love, or a bleak reflection on your existential dread which you can find embedded in its grim thematic undertones.
Thank you for reading.
