AWTY 163 - Chocolate War (Girls Last Tour)

Isn't there an old saying or something? I think it goes, I wish there was a hole for me to climb into.

Hello and welcome to are we there yet? In exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, D hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough. Your anime kill. Roy was here.

I know that one.

That's an old me.

That's I mean, technically, that's what it's.

Classified as on wikipedia when I looked it up just to make sure I wasn't being an idiot.

Yeah, see, knowing Brendan, I was like, this is an old reference, but here in kilroy, I was like, how old? Is this a stix reference?

No, older, but also kind of when.

I was in I was in a sociology of Media course last semester, and we talked about memes, and they started as, like, a way to describe something in genetics, I think, and then it just went from there.

Yeah.

And I was like, and now we're in a hellscape. Thanks, geneticists.

This is your fault. You could have prevented the Pneumonuma guy. But no, here we are.

Nothing could have prevented the Pneumonuma guy.

He's too powerful.

Every dimension.

He's the alpha and the omega. Oh, God. He has nothing to do with this episode.

No.

We'Ll see. Yeah. So we are watching a recommendation from someone that is not in front of me at the moment, and I'm going to just keep vamping until I pull it up because I really want to edit this part out.

That's fine. Here we go.

Gets it first. evan from evan.

Yes.

Thanks. It just says evan. I don't know where and Brendan for polling. Don't know where this came from.

Yeah. So this is this seems like a chill show. It seems like a chill, post apocalyptic just what gals exploring the wasteland.

I feel like the chill part was knocked out by the post apocalyptic part.

No.

We'Ll see. On surface level, it seems like just chilling in the apocalypse, but I guess we'll find out. We never know what sort of like horny mole people there are.

What? God.

Wait. Did you also watch centaur World?

Not that far, I guess.

Never mind.

Also, you didn't say the name of the show. I don't know if you meant to.

Oh, sorry. It's a girl's last tour. Sorry. Completely gloss past it.

That's okay.

Once again, we got striked by the apocalypse. Just the 2020 mood.

Yeah, we're thriving here in our own little apocalypse, but is this a show that was on either of your radars?

No, I've never heard of it. And when you said the title, I was like, is this about, like, a girl band going on tour? And then I looked it up and I was like, no.

The same experience. Yeah.

Seems like tour in the military sense, unfortunately.

Yeah. The promotional poster, I was like, what? That's not what I thought. Because it's just brown and gritty.

Yeah, I was expecting another show by Rock. Yeah, this is more show by good.

Show by Rock, but like, rocks.

But like, actual like cracking someone's skull with a rock. Lord of the Fly style show by rubble. The decay of civilization rocks.

I do love a post apocalyptic story, though. Well, this won't be a dystopia, I don't think. Probably. But who knows?

We love Adventure Time here.

We love Adventure Time. I love The Hunger Games. Don't even get me started.

I can't go down that road again.

Yeah. I am huge into post apocalyptic stuff. Fallout was, like, my awakening of, like, oh, I can like my own things in general. I specifically remember at a birthday party, I was having a sleepover when I got Fallout Three as a gift. And then I started playing it, and I was like, I kind of just want everyone to go home.

This is it now. This is the party.

Yeah. That was me immediately being like, oh, I'm in too deep. This is a rabbit hole I'll be going down for decades. But, yeah. So, yeah, this is a show that came out 2017, I believe. So kind of fresh. Twelve episodes out. But, yeah, seems chill. We don't really know much about it, so I guess we'll dive on in. The vibes. The vibes.

The vibes. They were there. They were a touch off at time.

Yeah.

But they were there.

Yeah. Who could have thought you could find immediate I started that sentence. I know what I'm talking about. Halfway through is like, no, you don't. We are crumbling. We are as crumbling as the city they are exploring.

But yeah.

So we start out episode r1 Easy this week. Three characters total to track.

We'll see you say that now.

Two of them only have one syllable in their name.

You say that now.

We got our two main girls. We have qi and you. She is the intellectual, I guess. She's the leader. I don't know. You is like the dumb himbo her bow. But yeah. So it is basic premise, these two girls exploring a post apocalyptic city. Are they the last two people in the world? I just said there's a third character.

Spoiled myself.

As far as they know, that's where they're at. There was some war at some point in the past. Don't worry about it. It's over. Okay.

I had the bingo card for this show. I only checked off one box. I was ready for that info dump, and it really never came.

Yeah, just a really well, we'll just get into it because as we're like, yeah, no info dump. Refreshing. Anyway, here's an info dump. As we so we open on an abandoned factory. We see just all these pipes and just dripping water, and it's just a massive complex. And we hear a rumbling as a motorcycle tank tread thing. I want one so bad.

It's a piece of moped.

Yeah. Like the aesthetic of the show is like pipe, post apocalyptic, World War II, basically. So we have, like, a little motorcycle front that has, like, a little wagon with tank treads. It's so good. I want it so bad. And just two girls just driving through this factory, just climbing upstairs, just trying to make their way through. You keep saying how dark it is, but she is like, yeah, we should really save our lantern fuel. We're low. Besides, our eyes are so adjusted to the dark. We've been in this factory forever. We don't know how blinded we're going to be by any form of light. So we'll just keep rolling. So they keep going through and they're like, yeah, we've been in here in a while. Whose stupid idea was this? They keep blaming each other, like, yeah, you want to go in here? No, you wanted to. And they say they're running low on supplies, so they really got to get out of here soon. Because it's an old abandoned factory, there's not many resources that they can pull from. So they got to get back to the main city.

Before they were talking about that, they chose to go in there. I was a touch worried that this was like, the world now, that they have to be inside because outside is contaminated or something. So I was like, oh, this might be boring.

This is the only location. Oh, boy.

Yeah, so I'm glad that it wasn't.

Yeah.

Every background is just black and pipes and that's it the visual element. You have gray and black. Cool.

Nice.

But as they're rumbling through, you falls asleep. So she is like, all right, that's a good sign that we should stop and set up camp. And as she's like, setting up, she's like, I'm so hungry, but we don't have much food. I'll just sleep it off. So as she's dreaming, we get flashbacks to the war or some sort of just, like, military action. I don't know if it is, like, the end of the world as it's the end of the world as they know it, but.

I had to rene. You'll get your check.

But, yeah, we just see, like, military action, mobilization, trucks moving, and then she wakes up. So she wakes up with tears in her eyes. Obviously, there's some painful memories. There war. But as she wakes up, she sees that you is, like, chewing on her sleeve in her sleep, chewing on chee's sleeve. So she's just like, it's stuffed in her face. She has to wrestle it out, and it's all slimy and gross, but pulling back. She's like, oh, cool. Your saliva is on my hand. Great. But with that moisture on her hand, she's like, oh, I can feel a breeze. Hey, you, wake up, you dumb idiot. You helped us find the way out.

Dumb. drooling.

Toddler so they now have a method of actually charting where they're going. They're just following the breeze to wind, which is typically outside. So as they keep following it, they keep just going around in circles just trying to find the path. And they finally find the exit. They find the light of day is coming through and they burst out. And the light of day was nighttime alien, so pitch black inside that the light of the stars and the moon was enough for them to be like, this is blinding. When the sun comes up, we're going to die. New level of light exposure. So, yeah, they see just a stye full of scars. God, I am.

They got bad eyes. They might have a stye in there.

Yeah. Yes. Very bad air. So, yeah, they go out, see all the stars over a destroyed city and everything is still unbeautiful. And they're like, all right, cool. Let's celebrate with soup. It's our last can. We might as well put it to use. So they have a celebratory meal and just stare up at the stars. And that's end of segment one. They drive, see the night sky and say, Soup time.

Soups on.

I love that. That's my ideal evening.

I'll say. With both of the characters, they have kind of like, simplified faces. You've got, like long, like, oval I don't know what to describe it as. It reminded me a lot of, like a dialogue aesthetic. Yeah. And when they wake up and she pulls her hand up, the amount of detail on her hand covered in saliva was jarring for a second. When it zooms in, I was like, oh, my God. Because their faces are so simple and everything else, like the environment and background stuff, very detailed, very beautiful and stuff. But they themselves, or at least their faces, are pretty simplified. So I was kind of like, oh, that caught me off guard.

It reminded me of Made in abyss.

Yeah, a lot of Made in abyss eyes from this show overall.

So, yeah, we start our next segment. They're out in the ruins that's starting to snow and they are practicing target practice. Or you is practicing target practice because, as they say, in a second, she doesn't carry a gun. So they are just doing target practice, keeping your skills up. And you is like, yeah, so why am I the only one with a gun? What's up with that? And she's like, I don't need one. And usually when we find more of them, they're destroyed because they're hundreds of years old. When was the spore? But she's like, yeah, it's probably a good idea. I should keep an eye out. But yeah, not an immediate concern. We have never met another person as they are out scavenging. They're looking for supplies since they just had their last can of soup for as segmented as the show is. I love that. There is just a throughline of yeah, all of this is happening in sequence. They are segments. They're partially unrelated, but they're now starting segment two of like, well, we ate the last of our food. Naturally, we have to find some more. So that is nice compared to just, yeah, that was a segment and you can forget about it immediately. canonically, it doesn't matter if it happened or not.

The throughline is they're trying to survive.

So, yeah, they just stumble into a lot of military stuff. They find a tank and he was like, can we eat that? How good do you think that tank tastes? And yeah, as they go through, they keep talking about like, oh, yeah, there's so little food around, but so much military tech. What a weird concept that people would put money into military funding and not food.

That's crazy.

Just the idle chitchat of two scamps on the road. And as they go through, still just chatting about stuff, they find a plane, so they have to go in and investigate. He was like, oh, yeah, flying. That sounds great. I wish I was up in the air. And she's like, no, not for me. But we'll go see what's inside. So they continue talking about the silliness of war and the squabbling over resources and why would people fight just that? Sort of early. It's episode one. We need to set dress. War is stupid cool. So as they go through this plane, you just finds a minigun. It's like, oh, this thing rules.

Elliot.

She's like, yeah, put it down. And as they go through stuff, they see a bunch of explosives and she is like, just a bunch of C four. That seems like a good idea if we have any cavins or have to navigate. Breaking through walls and that sort of stuff. So stashes that. And next to it, they find a big crate of rations. This is a jackpot. So they take them all, then they go out and they're like, yeah, this thing probably can still fly, right? Let's try it. So they climb up on the propeller and try to get it to spin. It's not budging. And they're really high up, so cheese a little nervous, but they get it to spin. And of course they fall off of it. Just a fun little moment.

Rops.

So they finally dig into one of the rations. They start, they're like, ooh, this one's chocolate flavor. Cool. And as they're going through it, they're breaking apart the pieces. And she's like, oh, there's five pieces here. A little uneven, but we can split the last one. But you grabs it and then grabs her gun and points it at G. Wild.

Yeah, very unexpected. Unhinged.

Yeah, really unhinged. Really unexpected. Just such a cute, friendly dynamic between the two of them. But then at this point, she is like, so this is why I should have a gun.

Chocolate is the root of all evil. It corrupts people.

Yes, the chocolate wars. That's how this all went down. So, of course she's like, all right, you make a good point. I should find a weapon. Now. Let's go about splitting that thing, right? And you just sticks the whole piece in her mouth and just eats it all. And she is like, you motherfucker. And then just tackles her and starts punching her in the face and is like, you stupid idiot, you made your point. You didn't have to actually eat it. And fighting and hey, it's like they're describing why wars happen of, like, fighting over these resources. It's just fun little tableau. But yeah, they turn it into light bickering and just like, you dumb idiot. You almost shot me, you silly, silly head.

You almost killed me for a piece of chocolate flavored ration. Hilarious.

It wasn't even real chocolate.

So, yeah, they're exhausted after the fight. She's pissed, but you is tickled. Like, yeah, I got away with it. I got extra dinner. And then the credits start rolling, and they're discussing eating snow and being like, yeah, it'd suck if we got to that point of like, that's the only food we have, just, like, eating snow directly. And then they start trying it, and they're like, yeah, this kind of sucks. And then they keep wrestling and all that. And yeah, that's where we end episode one.

Disclosure don't need snow. It'll lower your body temperature and risk hypothermia.

Oh, there you go.

It's also, like, clings to, like, dust, so it's not the cleanest source of water. You got to boil it.

That's true. We teach you survival skills here at our weeb there yet?

Yeah, we have all the snow tips from Sunny.

I haven't seen snow in decades.

So in episode two, they're traveling through the snowy landscape. You has been making snowballs. She just casually asks you where they are. She's like, I don't know. And they need to find somewhere to stay because it's so cold. Then you suggest that they're already dead and, like, in purgatory. And she is like, hey, don't say that. That's not a fun thing to say.

We had that last week with Sunny boy.

Yeah. And she asks her to stop making snowballs because she's been stacking them on cheese head.

Just making a little snowman. That's like a bulletin for the nose. Very cute.

Then you says, the afterlife is supposed to be really warm. So chee is like, well, then we're not dead yet. And then we get the opening. I was shocked there was an opening. I really liked. It very vocaloid, e both the song and the visuals.

With a lot of openings for shows, it kind of gives you a foreshadowing of what will be in the show a lot of time. It will introduce the other characters of the cast and stuff. And you haven't seen them yet. This one gives you nothing. There's absolutely nothing. It's fine. It's very cute and stuff too, but I'm just like I still have no idea what the show is going to be about.

They dabbed.

I took a screenshot of it. That's going to be the Facebook post. Perfect.

Send it to me. So after the opening, their vehicle is getting covered in snow and they've got to find somewhere to rest soon. chi is drifting off and shakes herself awake, and they find a building over in the distance. You asks what it might be. She says she doesn't know and that they should try to find a way in. She finds a sign, but she can't read it. She's like, oh, this is a really old place. I don't know how to get into it. Then you finds a pipe that doesn't have any snow on it because it's hot. So she shoots at it a few times and it breaks open and hot water comes pouring out. So they stand near it and warm themselves. You asks what they should do, and they set up a little bath. They like, cut open an old pipe and let the water fill the pipe. Nice.

Out of all the anime we've watched, I was least expecting a bathhouse episode from this show.

Diy. Yeah, they get in. It's so nice. She asks when the last time they bathed was. You thinks they've only bathed twice since they left grandpa's, so that's some lore either way. However many times they've bathed, they're just very happy to be taken a bath. They say it's paradise, then discuss what paradise really means. It's the afterlife, they suppose, which they decide is bad luck to talk about after being, like, rejuvenated by this bath. And then next segment, they're in a building sitting near a fire, and she is writing in a journal and says that I think she's like, writing it in the journal. They went in and blocked the entrance with snow. She tells you to add more fuel to the fire, and you complains that she has to do the heavy lifting work, but she is like, well, you're like, the strong one in this situation. From what I remember, you can't even read or write. And you was like, you're right.

You're correct. But also.

You asks her what she's been writing, and chi says she's been keeping a journal since they left. Memories fade, so they got to write it down. And you is like, I live in the moment. And chi is like, hey, did we eat anything today? And you was like, I don't remember me in college.

I'll remember this. I don't need to write it down, and God help me if I've survived that day.

Chi talks about how amazing books are. They can learn about things that happened so long ago. And you is like, oh, yeah, you read a lot of grandpa's books before we left, but they had to burn them. But she kept four of them. She pulls one out of her bag and he was like, oh, can I see it? And I was like, this is going to be another unhinged thing here's the heavy Lord drop. Yeah, she takes the book from you. No, you takes the book from chi and she is still talking about books or whatever, and you kind of flips through it and then throws it into the fire. And I was just like she's either extremely stupid or a little like crazy because she pointed a gun at her friend sister. At this point, we don't know. And now did this after chee was talking about how much she loves books and how useful they are.

She is either wildly stupid or wildly devious.

Yeah. So she pulls it out of the fire and smacks you with it. She's yelling at her, saying that she needs to listen more and that books are important. You says that she's sorry and she calls her an idiot and she's going to bed. Leave me alone. Yeah. So yu stays up sitting by the fire. She eyes the books in cheese bag. She's like looking at her journals and she holds one near the fire. And I was like, Please don't do that.

I was so scared.

But it doesn't happen. And in the morning you ask chi if she's still mad. She says no, but you is like, I think you are. They break down the snow barrier and see that the storm has cleared up. So they push the vehicle out. You asks chi again if she is mad. She says, no, it was just one book. At least we have my journals. And then there was like a lingering shot of yu's eyes. And I was like, did she do it? I'm going to be really upset if she did it. But no. She is looking at her journal, noticing you doodled something in it. She's like, what is this? And she's like, It's a drawing of you sleeping. And she's like, I don't look like that. And she's like, yes you do. And then they get on their way and you says that she does want to draw some more, but she says they're low on paper, so she better not.

We don't have that much paper anymore because someone burnt it.

I mean, if they need to make a fire, paper is going to do the job.

Yeah.

They're near this, like, body of water. I don't know what it is. Like an aqueduct almost. And they're talking about how nice it is outside. And she says something is coming soon. And just then a bunch of water bursts out of some pipes into the aqueduct. And she says it's melted snow because it's getting a little warmer outside, so they need to go get some drinking water. They go down to the water on foot and they take off their shoes and wade in. It's very cold but also very blue. And she tells you that they should wash where they watch where they walk because all that snow might have put something sharp in the water. And you tells her to look up because the sky is so blue. And she is like, I just told you not to.

Also, we were talking about how blue the water is. It doesn't matter.

Yeah, it's reflecting the sky.

I fully expected you to just slice her foot open on something like as she is saying that.

Yeah, this whole show, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop of like they're going to get ambushed. Someone's going to just shoot one of them in the face. And luckily no, not yet.

Not yet.

So she does look up and she says it's a nice weather for laundry. So they take off their overcloth and chi ties them together. She says, in case they get washed away. And I was like, that's not right. Because if one of them gets washed away, then the other one will also get washed away because they're tied together.

Just tie it to a fixed point.

What the heck. But yeah, so they sit down, they're doing their laundry. You asks why the sky is blue. It's interesting. Their faces are very childish, but I don't know how old they're supposed to be. Definitely not adults. Yeah, but maybe like teenagers.

It's hard to tell with them being like the only point of reference, but yeah, definitely young.

Yeah, but you just asks a lot of childish questions like why is the sky blue? And she just tells her to wash her clothes and then explains that the sky is blue because it reflects the ocean. You asks what the ocean is and she is explaining when you see something, it starts running. So she comes back. She found a fish. It's like a dead fish. And you explains what it is, saying that she thought humans were the only ones who are still around. And you says that they should eat it, but she isn't sure that it's a great idea. But she's like, maybe we can roast it. And in my head I was thinking like, I don't think you're supposed to eat an animal that's already dead. I think that's bad. Yeah, so that's like another thing where it's like, oh, they're talking about this thing. It's going to happen, like they're going to get sick. But again, luckily it doesn't happen while it's roasting. They talk about fish and what it might be like when they move through the water and then it's time to eat. And you takes the first bite and she says it's good. And she takes a bite too. She says she's never tasted anything like it. And then they're laying down having eaten, and they're waiting for their clothes to dry. You says that the bones must feel refreshed. And she is like, what do you mean?

The hell are you talking about?

We have a lot of philosophical talks. What does that even mean?

I don't know. I just heard some words and then I put them together. So she asks where it might have come from and she says she isn't sure. And you says that maybe if they go up higher to a higher level, they'll find more fish. So this is, like the first indication that however this war happened, whatever happened before it there are different layers of cities now, and there's just, like this giant platform above them where there is, like, a more advanced, advanced city.

Once again, real, made in the vis fibes.

Yeah. And you is like, we should go up higher, we'll find more fish and we should eat them. And then we get a closing. What do you call it? A closing, I guess. So an ending. An ending video. And it's cool and sketchy. It's nice. And then there's just like this super duper short, literally a few seconds long after credit scene of them putting the bones in the water and saying goodbye. And I thought that was super cute.

Got to give the random trash fish a proper burial. Let's see. I wasn't sure what the fish because the fish is also very nondescript. It's like a long egg and it has a tail fin and that's it. It's white and, like, no real identifying features. And I wasn't sure, once again, if that was just, like, the style, like you and G or if that was, like, an indication of, like, yeah, something happened to this world and all the fish are kind of fucked, or like, what? But I was kind of like, interesting. So then we move on to episode three. Start us off with the girls driving around through the city. Now that they're on the surface, they're going through the city hall in the background of the last episode. And she asked, Why do you think people live? And you just boss her in the head with a rifle, like, in her helmet. What the hell? It's like I don't know. I thought you're kind of going crazy. I want to kind of snap you out of it. The hell is wrong with you?

No, that is quite a question to ask to someone who doesn't know what an ocean is.

Yeah, it's quite a big question for someone that's burning books.

Yeah.

And she just says, like, no, I was just wondering. Like, we're always scraping by. We're always trying to find more food, more shelter and more water. We're trying to survive at all costs. We're trying to get as far as we can, but that's it. There's no end goal for us. So why do you think we do that? Why do you think we have that instinct? And as she's saying that, he's asleep in the back already. And while they are scouting, she says the tower they keep seeing is what? There's a tower that they keep seeing as they're going around the city and it's going up to a higher level. And that's kind of when the camera pants up and we see, like, there's a sky and clouds, but there is just this pillar that's going. Further up beyond all of that, and it's in the middle of the city. And once we get, like, a panning shot of the city, we see there's a few of them. It actually looks like support beams almost, of an underground parking structure or something. Like, there's quite a few of them. So it's like, oh, mystery. And as they're driving around, we see them driving along a street, and then right next to them is just this giant ravine that's, like, down the middle of the city. Not like broken, clearly. Like, manmade, like might have been like, a river or something through the city, but because of it, they can't get across. And while they're looking, chi finds a lit cigarette. Someone was here. And you point something. footprints. Someone's nearby. They're fresh. And suddenly Michael Bay movie explosion. I don't know where, because they got to hit the budget.

Nothing to happen in episodes one and two. This was the most thrilling I have ever seen. To be like, holy shit, something's actually happening. goddamn.

Yeah. I mean, I was even excited just when they found the cigarette, I was.

Like, oh, wow, okay.

And then immediately follows up with an explosion that takes them both out. But, yeah, if the base of a building next to them explodes and blowing at the bottom of the building, the rest of it tumbles over. And we see it collapsing in front of them. And as the dust and debris and rubble are settling, we see someone walking out of the smoke. And they got, like, hood over and they got these big goggles on, and they got this crazy box on their chest and stuff. And they're walking out. She calls out, like, hey, who are you? What's happening? Where did you come from? And we see it's a man who takes off his goggles and immediately just starts coughing. And he's going into a coughing. He's like, I haven't spoken in so long. I wasn't prepared to talk. I thought it was just, like, the dust and rubble around the building. I like the idea of, like, he probably hasn't spoken out loud in months, so his voice just, like, deteriorated.

I mean, I even think about that sometimes, like, you know, just being by myself, I'm just like, damn, I haven't spoken in, like, a few hours. I wonder what it would be like if I hadn't spoken for, like, six months or something.

Yeah, even when I first moved to La. Before I had a job and I didn't know anybody, I'd be in my room. I wouldn't talk to my roommate. I can't do that. We went four years without doing that. But I honestly would go, like, oh, a week and a half or something without speaking out loud, because I'm just like I had no one to talk to. But yeah, it does wear on you. It's a weird experience. So the guy starts coughing. He's like, oh, sorry, I wasn't ready to speak. Hey, I got this detonator here that I pulled the building with so I can make a bridge across for you guys. Like. Oh. Why? Because he does specifically say, like, I did it for you, and I was kind of, like, on it suspicious. But he introduces himself as I have wrote it down. I'm looking at it. I can read it's. kanazawa. I just let him my brain froze up. There's only three characters, but God help me.

God help me.

He injures himself as Kanizal. He's like, I make maps around the city. All right, me. Weird hobby, but actually pretty useful. And you had her gun up on him the whole time, like, trained on. And she finally lowers it, but not all the way. We see them, like, talking and going around stuff. And anytime he gets close, she still reaches for it, and he apologizes. He's like, oh, sorry, I almost caught you in the blast there. I didn't mean to. I was just trying to make a bridge across the chasm, and now we can just scale the building and go over top of it. I thought maybe they would just go through it. Maybe that would have been easier than going all the way on top of this. It looks like it's, like, 550 stories or 50ft wide building. Yeah, now we can just scale on top of it. And she says, like, sure, yeah, that'll be great. He's like, Can I ask you a favor, though? And she's like, well, you did give us this bridge, so we wouldn't be able to get further without you, so yeah, okay. What's the favorite? He's like, Just give me a ride to the tower and drop me off at that entrance. That's all I need. He said, sure, and he hops on, and we see for a while. They have, like, a difficult time getting the motorbike, like, through this rubble on top of this building that was knocked on its side. So it's a lot of them, like, a lot of chi, like, maneuvering and getting a certain spot. And kanazawa and you maneuvering the debris to kind of make stairs like a ramp for the bike to get over top of.

Death stranding is such a fun game.

Is it, though? Actually, yes. I loved it. Okay. And they finally get the bike on top of the building, and they all hop into the bike and start driving. They're like, oh, can you introduce yourselves? We introduced. Joe kind of wrote down their phone. I deleted it. Why did I delete it?

Yuri and cheeto.

Cheeto.

Like I said, get cheeto.

Because my brain is mush. I've been through a lot. It's just slightly warm in my apartment, and my body is retaliated by just shutting down entirely. Yes. yori and cheeto are their full names, so they introduce themselves, and we cut to them at, like, a fueling station, and they're like, oh, we haven't seen one of these in a while. That's good. We were almost out of fuel for the bike, and it was very handy we were able to find it so quickly because of your maps, kind of. I was like, yeah, that's why you make maps. They're good. And while they're traveling, you points out that's also why they're filling up. They're filling up, like, different containers to then put into the bike instead of trying to wedge the bike up against a slot that's like, 30ft up that she's on top of. And while they're talking, taking a break, you points out to me, yeah, there's a lot of residential buildings all around this tower area, like, less further out we were at, and Kanaza was sort of speculating. He's like, yeah, well, our ancestors didn't make the city. Best we can guess is that our ancestors found the city that were made by ancient humans, and they just took it over or started inhabiting it or squatting it and then just sort of building upon it. But they weren't the founders of the city. Oh, what? Once he threw this out, I was like, what the hell? Are we talking ancient? I mean, I guess that explains the towers and stuff.

This timeline was already fuzzy, and now you just made it much worse.

And he says, like, oh, yeah, I've mapped out most of this area. I've been traveling around here for a while on my own, so I got most of it mapped out up till the tower. And that's why I want to kind of go up the tower to map out further above. And he's like, oh, here, you want to look at my map view? That's her sitting on the back of the bike. And as he's going to hand you the map, she warns him. It's like, careful, she burns people's stuff. He quickly pulls it back, like, oh, in that case, I'll keep it to myself.

I could even imagine her just, like, getting a hold of it and then just letting it go because of how.

Whatever she is, she looks at it for a bit and then falls asleep while holding it and just drops it.

Yeah.

Why would you like this? But, yeah, he was kind of, like, looking shy. I wouldn't burn his maps. You would if you got to that point, though, if you were cold, you definitely burn it's. Like, maybe she's not denying it. And he says, like, oh, yeah, no, I'm going to hold on to these, ending up like he touched them, because this is my life's work. If anything happened to them, I would die. And as soon as he says that, he's like, cool, let's burn them. I wanted to see if he would actually die. And I couldn't tell if she meant literally, like, if she literally thinks he would just drop dead if anything happens to them, or if she was just trying to test his resolve about the maps. Because at this point, I don't know her level of intelligence.

She's a little nuts.

A little bit in a fun, charming way, though. Yeah, in a quirky. I have no one else here. I got to put up with it way. And we see them get to the base of the tower and kind of as I was talking about how it plans to map out the higher levels and that there's rumors that there's some sort of elevator inside of the tower, but no one's figured out either how to get in the tower or how to use the elevator once they're inside. So instead our ancestors just built like scaffolding outside of the tower and there's a lift we can use on the outside and we see they eventually walk around and find it. And while they're going up in the scaffolding elevator, he speculates, like, maybe there's like a better life higher up. Maybe that's where the fish came from. And if that's where the fish came from, maybe there's like cleaner water where the fish could live and there's other animals and other people up there. And maybe it's just shit down here. And while she's doing this, the camera is kind of going crazy, panning around, looking around the city over you. This is like the first time it felt like I was getting fur to go from the camera and not what they wanted, though.

It's pretty high up.

I got that. You could get that just from the height. But the camera was like jerking around and wait, I was like, what the hell is happening? And at this point, we see in the elevator, in the lift, we got a little hint of it with the airplane. She is very much afraid of heights and kind of as I was speculating, like, oh, yeah, I suppose the rumor has it is there are better resources up above and higher levels and stuff. That's how they are able to achieve so much, even just down here. And while he's talking, you is trying to reassure. She is like, no, I'd say, look how high we're up. Like, we already made it this far. Elevator is fine. Don't have to worry about it. And she's like, yeah, I'm just scared in case the lift starts tilting or falls off or ropes break or something. It's like, nah, nothing like that will happen. And then it happens immediately. Yeah, you see like one of the cords that's pulling it up gets caught on something and jerks down and loses tension for a bit. So half of the lift dips a good amount. Everyone panics.

Like, people hate it.

I've also had friends who are like, I'm scared of the elevators. And one time I got into the elevator, I'm like, this doesn't be afraid of, like, what's the worst that could happen? And as soon as I got in the elevator and alarm started going off, I'm like, I get it now. I get the terror. It's a valid fear.

First time I got stuck in an elevator was at a hospital, which seems like a really bad place for an elevator to stop working.

Yeah.

And then in a recent apartment building, I got stuck in the elevator and was like, Fuck. But it was as the guy was there to work on the elevators, he was like, oh, yeah, I just put it back into service for a test run. Obviously not going great, so I'm working on it. Thank you.

I've never been stuck in an elevator, but I am afraid of heights, so this is not fun.

Yeah, no, thanks.

And so the lift tilts, but it stops. And everyone like, gains are bouncing. All right, we're good. And while they're recovering, she opens her eyes and notices just a bag of Kanizala's maps sliding. And it's like, oh, that's probably and then it falls off.

I was so, like, upset as I saw it sliding. I was like, is that his maps? That's his maps. Somebody wait.

No, I saw it sliding. I was like, you have, like, five resources. It doesn't matter what that is. Just grab it. You don't have anything you can lose.

Reach out, please. You're supposed to be the smart one.

And yeah, we see his bag full of maps go tumbling over, and he goes diving out after him without a second hesitation. And the girls grab kanazawa and he just shot just short of getting the bag. And it goes and we just see all the maps scattering to the winds across the city.

No.

And he's just hanging there being like, you can let me go. That's fine.

Just drop me.

Yeah. For a split second, I wondered if you was actually an eleven.

I thought, again, we're just waiting for something to happen. I thought he was just going to fall, like they wouldn't grab him.

Yeah.

And it would just be this moment of like, wow, he died for those.

Maps made in a business, hurt us, and we're scared to open up again. And so they pull him back up. They fix the slack that was on the lift that got stuck, and he's just in a full depression spiral. Like, what am I going to do now? That was my life's work. And also, I was like, you know what fair? It just happened. He's going through a lot. And we see that as it gets tonight fall. They're able to make it up to the top of the tower, or at least I'm not sure if there's a top of the tower, just top of the lift, and there's still more tower, but these are the top of the lift, so they're able to get out. And they're over and look in the city, and they see all the street lights coming on. And in the far distance, they see like a very bright light, like a bright orb or something, like just on the horizon. I wonder what that is. And the whole time, kanazawa is still super bummed out. And he's just kind of like sitting on the ground, just like, spiraling. And he comes over and gives them some of the rations that they have to cheer him up. She says, sometimes you don't always need a reason to live. Sometimes you just need nice things you don't need to have. Like, you don't have to have a goal. Like, I'm going to map out this whole city, and that's going to be in my life. Sometimes you just live, man. Sometimes you just go through life and that's all you need.

Yeah.

And so she shares the food with him, and then she sits down with him, and then she suspends her and snaps one of the ration parts in half and gives it to you. So they all just have a little quiet moment, just enjoying a little meal. And he thanks them for it. And then they get back up and he goes, all right, well, you brought me to the entrance. That's all I needed. Time to head on in separate ways. First, let me give you a look. Let me pay you back for the food, for helping me out this far. And he gives them a camera. This will help you take pictures of stuff and help with the memories to keep them locked in. That way you don't have to write it all down. He says, all right, that I'm going to head north. What are you going to do? It's like we're going to start mapping again. It's all I know. It's all I got.

It's my whole deal.

And the girls are all right. And they say they're goodbye. And they say, oh, time to head to that big bright spot in the distance. Don't know what the fuck that is. Time to figure that out. And that's it. We get the credits. And the little short after credit scene is just kanazawa, like, walking around by himself. And I'm like, huh, I wonder if I can make it on foot. And that's episode three.

Yeah, me.

Yes. This was so chill. I don't know what I was expecting. I was like, post apocalyptic, but chill. How chill can it really be? The answer is extremely chill.

We were just tense from, like, our own paranoia, but nothing actually in the show.

Our inherent distrust of the medium to show you have to punish these girls having a good time somehow.

There's going to be something. I certainly expected sorry, go.

Oh, no, go for it.

I certainly expected, like, a war. When I first looked up the show and it was like, girls, last tour, I was like, there's still going to be an active war going on. So I was expecting an enemy insurgent popping out somewhere. So I was always tense with that. But yeah, it looks like it's after the war, like after fallout, after the bombs drop, after the war ended. It's just people surviving with whatever they can, but not a lot of people, at least three.

There are unchilled implications here. The actual vibe of the content of the narrative is very chill.

I really enjoyed it. I watched them all dubbed and I thought the performances were really great. And I think they have to be because as far as we know, there are only three characters in this show and two of them are there all of the time. So they really got to carry it and I think they did a really good job. And the writing is also good. The translation, yeah, I liked it a lot. And it's a fun twist on this chill girls doing things with godaddy because it is a very unchilled setting. It's a harsh, scary setting that you think anything could happen. Yeah, I think we are afraid just because of the shows we've watched in the past, but at the same time, it's like warranted. Here you are, just like sitting there waiting for something terrible to happen. And so far nothing has. But I also wouldn't be surprised if something did. And I don't know, it'd be nice if it didn't, but at the same time, I'd be like, excited by it.

There has to be setbacks. There has to be possibly the bike breaking down at some point. There's going to be that they have to go through. But I doubt we're going to get like, oh, no, you died in a surprise. minefield like that sort of left field, like, tragedy doesn't seem like it's going to come, but something they're going to have problems. So it's sort of that like, yeah, managing resources, that organ trail of like, yeah, we'll see what happens after this next little bit. But things seem chill so far.

Yeah, so far. The upper levels have a lot of implication or like a lot of like, that's where all the conflict is going to be. Like, I'm thinking they go further, they find more people, they find out a civilization. It's like, oh, now here's the conflict up. They have to either work with these cannibals or get away from them or something like that, or they find a functioning society, but they're all dicks or something. But that's just going off of previous expectations set by other animes rather than specifically just this one.

Yeah. And I think Paul and I just watched Mad Max purey Road again recently. And that's a movie that does a very good job of showing as opposed to telling. But it's all there. Like, you understand what's happening. And I feel like in this show there are moments where kanazawa was explaining some stuff, but for the most part, just like seeing those pillars and that they are supporting an upper level, all they have to say is, oh, we're going to go to the upper level. And maybe things are better up there because they were better before.

Yeah.

So? I don't know. I think it does a really good job of storytelling subtly.

Yeah, we never got that heavy info dump of, like, well, the ancient society that built all these god, please stop. It's more like, I wonder what's up there.

Well, that explains exactly how this came to me.

Sounds like we barred it there.

Shit, we are there now.

We be there. But yeah, just a chill fun time. So what chill fun time are we going to have next week?

I'll tell you, I don't know how chill it is or fun, but we'll find out. We're going to watch kaku Rio. A bed and bed and breakfast for spirits, which sounds cute.

If this isn't chill or fun, I will be very surprised by that time.

All the ghosts are of serial killers. That's what they okay.

What a joy. What a time that would be if.

You have a serial killer. I always try to do, like, a fun transition, but after a joke of like, no, that's exactly what we aren't looking for. Yeah. If there's a show that you like but don't mind us roasting if we don't like it, those recommendations to us. Our email is rwedveriet@gmail.com or you can reach out to us on twitter or instagram at rweedveriet on both. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan.

You can find me on instagram at honeyperiod on twitter at honey d eight and honey d art. And honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E. You can.

Find me on twitter at aBTS brendan that's it. I don't do much else.

Sick.

Thank you to camille ruley for her artwork. And thank you to Louisong for our theme song stories. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong dot bandcamp.com. Thank you and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

We built this city built this city on rocket rock I don't know why we did that.