Hello and welcome back to Anime Rants with Mono. Episodes 7 and 8 of Touring After The Apocalypse were enjoyable as usual. However, compared to the previous pair of installments, I thought they were slightly less exciting. Still, these two episodes had many fun and entertaining moments. Let’s review.
Episode 7: Tsukuba
Episode Rating: 7/10
I enjoyed this episode extra due to the focus on science. First, Yoko and Airi visited the motorcycle shrine, which they heard about from Onee-chan on the Touringram. It was cute when the girls wished to keep traveling together when they were at the shrine. Next, Yoko and Airi visited the ruins of the “Gate of Science” monument in the city of Tsukuba. This was once known as the science capital of the country. Hundreds of highly educated scientists did their research there or were part of organizations based there. Tsukuba was also the location of JAXA’s space research center. As usual, the scenery and nature shots were very enjoyable in this area and in this episode as a whole.
In Tsukuba, there was a life-size model of a rocket that was still standing after the end of civilization. Near the rocket model, at the address given to them by Onee-chan, Yoko and Airi found a phone booth. Inside was an old phone. When Yoko spoke her name into it, a machine activated and the phone booth descended like an elevator into a vast underground space. Cool! Once they passed through a few sets of heavy metal doors, the girls stepped into a large square room that was pure white. It was hard to tell up from down. Yoko observed that this was similar to the shelter they used to live in.
An unresponsive mechanical voice welcomed he girls and instructed them to split up into two different rooms. While Airi was getting fixed, Yoko got a health check-up. It was fairly uninteresting. She fell asleep during the process and awoke several hours later. The mechanical voice opened another door for her and told Yoko to proceed. She did, only to find herself in the elevator again and forcibly taken back to the surface. This was rather disappointing, since Yoko (and most viewers) wanted to know more about the research center and see if any people were involved in running it. Regardless, outside the phone booth, Yoko met up with Airi, who brought snacks.
Airi assured Yoko that her glitch was fixed, and the girls went to the planetarium. The roof was completely gone, so they gazed up at the actual sky, which was clear and full of countless stars. After Yoko saw a satellite, she started to wonder if anyone could be looking down at them from space. Airi said it was possible, since humans did venture into space before the collapse of civilization. Unlike in our current world, there was a space station on the moon. Also, something called an orbital elevator was constructed. It could be that most of the population of Earth is now in space.
The episode ends with Yoko and Airi seeing a meteor shower and singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in English. I thought it was a bit cringe at first, but I love the voice-actresses and they both sounded so cute! So, I’m glad they included that after all. Nothing wrong with cute girls singing songs after all. Anyway, that’s all for episode 7.
Episode 8: Kasumigaura, Mobility Resort Motegi
Episode Rating: 6/10
Airi hunted a duck with a slingshot. Meanwhile, while rummaging in a swampy area for lotus to cook with the duck meat, Yoko started playing in the mud. Airi joined in too and the girls had a mud-wrestling match. Airi was victorious. We also got to see “Yoko and Airi’s guide to preparing duck.” By the time the butchering was done, the cuts of duck looked delicious. They put the meat on spits with lotus and left it to cook by the fire while they explored a viewing tower in Kasumigaura. Yoko and Airi got so distracted in there that they forgot about the duck meat for a while. It probably burned. Oof.
I thought the scenes in Kasumigaura were very enjoyable, but as you can see, I did give this episode a slightly lower rating. That’s because I wasn’t as impressed with the parts about the Motegi Circuit. It was more boring for me, mostly because I lack any level of interest in racing cars or motorbikes. I would never go to a circuit – it would be far too loud for me and I’d probably melt down completely. Keep me away from noisy machines, please. But before we get to the race-track, there was a cute scene where Yoko and Airi saw fireflies. Yoko even held one in her hand and got to see it up close.
Yoko pointed out that people of old used to believe fireflies carried the souls of the dead. In other words, they are holy insects in some folklore. This led Airi to ask, “What’s a soul?” Yoko was unable to give a good answer, but she said that every living thing had one. At first, I was surprised by two things in this interaction: first, that Airi asked the question when she has a databank of information about humans and language. She would already know the textbook definition of “soul.” But I think she asked because she wanted Yoko’s take specifically.
The other thing that surprised me at first was that Yoko was so convinced of the existence of souls. I was under the impression she would take a more scientific view, because we’re often so similar. Unlike me, however, I think Yoko has a belief in the supernatural. There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, though I view faith as a poor way to ascertain truth. But it does make sense for Yoko’s character, since she’s a very romantic thinker, as well as very young and exuberant about life.
As you can see, I enjoyed the conversation about souls immensely. The concept of a soul has fascinated me since I could comprehend it even roughly around age six. Even if I don’t believe in literal souls anymore, I find fantasy systems with souls to be very intriguing. In addition, hearing real people’s opinions about souls is always interesting to me. I don’t have to agree to love an idea or a take. Anyway, that’s the end of my tangent. Back to the episode.
After leaving the large lake behind, Yoko and Airi went to the race-track known as the Motegi Mobility Resort. They explored the circuit and played with the flags. Yoko had another strange experience wherein she heard and felt the whirring of a sudden powerful air current. It was like the wind from the rush of a dozen race cars or motorbikes passing by at top speed. Seconds later, Airi shook Yoko out of her daze, and there was no wind. It was likely one of Yoko’s “time slips” where she sees and experiences things from the past at certain locations.
That night, Yoko had another “dream,” which was probably a combination of her memories, dreams, and the influence of her time-slip ability. She experienced going to the crowded circuit in the past with Onee-chan. They watched the bikers and race car drivers going along the track. Then the perspective changed and Yoko herself was driving the circuit on a motorbike. She was going extremely fast. Throughout this episode, the visuals of the cars and the bikes is all 3D and looks horrible. That’s another reason I gave this episode a lower rating. Some of the visuals suck.
The next day, Yoko biked around the circuit in real life. She was disappointed by how slow the Serrow was compared to the bike in her dream. However, I think she still had fun, and it was worth it to see Airi waving the checkered flag and saying, “Goal!” She’s adorable, and also very tiny. I don’t know if androids grow, but I hope Airi gets taller at some point if that’s what she wants. Right now, she is too short to drive the Serrow on her own. Her legs do not reach the ground when she sits in the driver’s position. So, Yoko sat behind her and helped her drive. Together, they went around the circuit again.
The episode ended on that cute and wholesome note. This show can be unsettling, intriguing, goofy, and sweet in equal measure. So, despite occasionally feeling bored, or seeing some low-budget visuals, I will definitely finish this series. I don’t know that I’d recommend it to most people, but it has a unique charm for the right kind of person who has time and patience for slow-paced anime. Anyway, that’s all for today.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 