Touring After the Apocalypse Episodes 1 to 3 Review

Touring After the Apocalypse was almost made for me. Girls’ Last Tour is one of my all time favorite anime, and this conceptually similar series scratches the same itch. I have always been drawn to quiet stories about lone survivors wandering a world that has carried on without people.

Where Girls’ Last Tour is abstract and dreamlike, set in a nameless layered future city, Touring After the Apocalypse feels far more grounded. It is clearly set in a future Japan, and each episode is named after the actual towns and cities the characters pass through.

What surprised me most is how alive it looks. Rather than a grey wasteland, the world is bursting with richly saturated color. Crumbling buildings overflow with vivid greenery, and animals of every kind have reclaimed the empty streets and waterways. It is less bleak ruin and more gorgeous, overgrown postcard.

Our two travelers get around on a vintage motorcycle converted to run on a solar battery, so they are free from hunting down fuel. The story follows Yoko, a cheerful, brown haired teenager in what looks like a school uniform, paired with the seemingly younger, gray haired Airi, whose flat, deadpan manner makes for a lovely contrast.

Across these first three episodes it is a calm, reflective, and quietly beautiful watch, exactly the kind of gentle exploration I adore. Touring After the Apocalypse is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

My take: If you loved Girls’ Last Tour or simply enjoy soft, wandering stories, this is an easy one to recommend. I could happily watch Yoko and Airi ride through this overgrown world for hours.